Biography

Born May 3 1906, Arras. Died February 4, 1997 

Education and professional career

  • 1930 : Curator at the École du Louvre
  • 1933-1934 : Pursues a vast survey of museum organization, from Russia to America. Both in Paris and abroad, he organized numerous exhibitions. At the same time, he edited several magazines, particularly L'Amour de l'Art and Quadrige. He was one of the first to make films about art, including the award-winning Rubens at the Venice Biennale, and was founding president of the Fédération Internationale du Film sur l'Art.
  • 1937 : Head Curator of the Department of Paintings and Drawings and Professor at the École du Louvre
  • During the war, he was responsible for evacuating and protecting the Louvre's painting collections, and was a member of the General Staff of the Veny groups in the South-West during the Resistance.
  • 1950-1976 : Professor at the Collège de France,Chair of Psychology of the Plastic Arts
  • 1967-1968 : Called to Washington as Professor in Residence at the National Gallery of Art (Kress Foundation)
  • 1974 : Director of the Musée Jacquemart-André
  • 1975-1988 : Chairman, Conseil des Musées nationaux
  • Chairman of the UNESCO International Commission of Experts for the Safeguarding of Venice for ten years 
  • Vice-Chairman, then Honorary Chairman, Syndicat de la Presse artistique
  • President of the Friends of Delacroix
  • Member of the Coïmbra and Venice Institutes
  • Member of the Literary Council of the Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation
  • President of the Jury of the Grand Prix d'Art Contemporain de Monaco

Awards and distinctions

  • Grand Officer of the Légion d'Honneur
  • Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit
  • Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
  • Commander of the Order of Leopold of Belgium
  • Commander of the Order of Saint-Charles of Monaco and other foreign decorations
  • 1950 : Honorary doctorate from the Universities of Glasgow and Santiago
  • 1960 : Elected to the French Academy, in Robert Kemp's chair (5th chair)
  • 1966 : Erasmus European Prize, The Hague