Les couleurs de Jean Vilar: Avignon Festival's Artistic Collaborations Explored in Sète
The Musée Paul Valéry in Sète is currently hosting the exhibition "Les couleurs de Jean Vilar," which runs until November 8. This showcase commemorates the formative years of the Avignon Festival, established by Jean Vilar (1912–1971). It includes items on loan from the Maison Jean Vilar and private collections, featuring models, artworks, and costumes created by Léon Gischia, Édouard Pignon, Jacques Lagrange, Mario Prassinos, and Gustave Singier. Vilar, who was mentored by Charles Dullin, developed his connections in the 1940s and married engraver Andrée Schlegel. The exhibition highlights Gischia's role in productions like Murder in the Cathedral, as well as the contributions of Pignon, Lagrange, Alfred Manessier, Maurice Béjart, Maurice Jarre, and a planned collaboration with Pablo Picasso that never materialized.
Key facts
- Exhibition 'Les couleurs de Jean Vilar' at Musée Paul Valéry, Sète, until November 8.
- Focuses on collaborations between Jean Vilar and visual artists from 1940s to 1970s.
- Loans from Maison Jean Vilar, Avignon, and private collections.
- Features works by Léon Gischia, Édouard Pignon, Jacques Lagrange, Mario Prassinos, Gustave Singier.
- Vilar founded Avignon Festival in 1947, directed TNP from 1951 to 1963.
- Gischia designed costumes for Le Cid and Lorenzaccio.
- Pignon created sets for Mother Courage (1951) and On ne badine pas avec l'amour.
- Lagrange designed costumes for Ubu roi (1958).
- Prassinos contributed to L'Histoire de Tobie et Sara (1947) and Macbeth (1954).
- Singier collaborated from 1960 on Antigone, L'Heureux Stratagème, Turcaret.
- Also includes works by Alfred Manessier, Maurice Béjart, Maurice Jarre, and reference to missed Picasso collaboration.
- Vilar's family connections: wife Andrée Schlegel, sisters Suzanne and Valentine Schlegel.
Entities
Artists
- Jean Vilar
- Léon Gischia
- Édouard Pignon
- Jacques Lagrange
- Mario Prassinos
- Gustave Singier
- Alfred Manessier
- Jean Bazaine
- Alexander Calder
- Marcel Jacno
- Maurice Béjart
- Maurice Jarre
- Pablo Picasso
- Andrée Schlegel
- Suzanne Schlegel
- Valentine Schlegel
- Charles Dullin
- Jacques Tati
- T. S. Eliot
- William Shakespeare
- Bertolt Brecht
- Alfred de Musset
- Alfred Jarry
- Paul Claudel
- August Strindberg
- Sophocles
- Marivaux
- Alain-René Lesage
- Pierre-Henry
Institutions
- Musée Paul Valéry
- Maison Jean Vilar
- Avignon Festival
- Théâtre National Populaire (TNP)
- Palais de Chaillot
- Palais des Papes
- Jeune France
- Théâtre de l'Atelier
- Connaissance des Arts
- ADAGP
- Musée d'art moderne de Céret
Locations
- Sète
- France
- Avignon
- Paris
- Alpilles
- Céret