Gaston Diehl

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gaston Diehl (born August 10, 1912 in Paris ; † December 12, 1999 ) was a French professor of art history, as well as art critic , journalist and filmmaker , who was awarded an Oscar in 1950 .

biography

The son of the teacher René-Charles Diehl and his wife Céline Snacken attended the schools Lycée Henri IV and Lycée Saint-Louis and received further training at the famous Sorbonne . In 1934 Gaston Diehl graduated from the Institut d'Art et d'Archéologie and in 1936 the École du Louvre . From 1937 to 1939 he worked as an editorial secretary for the weekly Marianne and devoted himself to an art chronicle entitled The Tribunal of Young People (“La Tribune des jeunes)”. Also in 1939 he founded the Charpentes magazine .

During the occupation of Paris by the National Socialists in October 1943, Diehl founded the "Salon de Mai" together with Henri-Georges Adam , Alfred Manessier , Edouard Pignon , Jean Le Moal , René Iché , André Marchand , Édouard Pignon and Gustave Singier as well as other artists in a café near the Palais Royal , with which he also wanted to set a counterpoint to the ideology of the Nazis and their conception of degenerate art . Many of the aforementioned had participated in an exhibition of 20 young painters in 1941, which was dedicated to the French tradition. From October 1944, Diehl and his Friends of Art movement endeavored to bring modern art to the outskirts of the capital through lectures, presentations, films, picture exhibitions and the like. He also helped with exhibitions by Pierre Bonnard , Henri Matisse , Pablo Picasso , Jacques Villon , Georges Braque , Bernard Buffet and Hans Hartung . In 1948 Diehl played an important role in the creation of the International Art Film Festival , including as producer and writer of the documentary short films Van Gogh , Gauguin (each directed by Alain Resnais ) and Les fêtes galantes (Watteau) (directed by Jean Aurel ) contributed.

For this work, Diehl was awarded an Oscar in 1950 together with Robert Hessens in the category “Best Short Film” (2 film roles) for the documentary short film Van Gogh about the life and work of Vincent van Gogh .

After Diehl was appointed professor at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and the School of Fine Arts in 1950 , he taught art history there and wrote articles for the European and Latin American press. Not only during this time he had to do with numerous well-known artists. He also held the office of cultural attaché at the embassy and headed the Franco-Venezuelan Institute. During this time he helped artists like Carlos Cruz-Diez and Jesús Rafael Soto to achieve acceptance and recognition in Europe as well.

From February 1966 Diehl was the coordinator of the French Foreign Office as far as artistic activities were concerned. Until his retirement, which took place in 1977, he also took on other tasks relating to art exhibitions in France, which were carried out with the help of curators, critics and friends. I would particularly like to refer to the exhibition "Le Trésor de Toutankamon" from 1966. 1983 chose one made him president of the Museum for Latin America (Maison de l'Amérique Latine), whereupon he tried to introduce Latin American artists in Europe. One of his last exhibitions, which he initiated as an art historian, was a joint exhibition by France and Italy with the title: "Mystérieuse légende de l'Ecole de Paris à Montparnasse" ("Mysterious legend of the Paris school in Montparnasse"). He never stopped his commitment to art and supported it all over the world until his death in 1999.

Private

Diehl had been married to Marie-Louise Delpoux since October 5, 1939; the couple had three children (two daughters and one son).

Filmography

except for 'Pictura', all of which are short films

as an author

  • 1948: Malfray
  • 1950: Les fêtes galantes (Watteau)
  • 1950: Gauguin
  • 1951: Pictura

Award (selection)

literature

  • Who's Who in France, 16th edition 1983–1984. Editions Jacques Lafitte SA, Paris. Page 448

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Gaston Diehl ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at dictionaryofarthistorians.org (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / dictionaryofarthistorians.org
  2. ↑ a b c d Pierre Roissard: Personnalités de France , published in 1986 by the author, 629 pp.
personal data
SURNAME Diehl, Gaston
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French art historian, university professor, art critic, journalist and filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris , France
DATE OF DEATH December 12, 1999