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TheSalon de Mai (theMay Salon) is a group of French artists which formed in a café on the Rue Dauphine inParis in 1943 during theGerman occupation of France.[1]
In 1943, the Salon de Mai was founded as an Association (declared in 1944) in opposition toNazi ideology and its condemnation ofdegenerate art. It founder members were the art criticGaston Diehl and the painters, sculptors and engraversHenri-Georges Adam,Emmanuel Auricoste,Lucien Coutaud,Robert Couturier,Jacques Despierre (who suggested naming the salon after the month in which its first meetings were held),Marcel Gili,Léon Gischia,Francis Gruber,Jean Le Moal,Alfred Manessier,André Marchand,Édouard Pignon,Gustave Singier,Claude Venard andRoger Vieillard, who together formed it direction committee. Several of them (Coutaud, Gischia, Le Moal, Manessier, Marchand,ORAZI, Pignon, Singier) participated in the 1941 exhibitionVingt jeunes peintres de tradition française [fr].
Under its presidentGaston Diehl the first Salon de Mai exhibition took place in the art galerie "Pierre Maurs" (3, avenue Matignon) from 29 May to 29 June 1945. Its honorary committee was made up ofGermain Bazin,Jacques Dupont,René Huyghe,Bernard Dorival,Michel Florisoone,Pierre Ladoué andMarc Thiboutet. Its judging panel was headed byJean Follain. The catalogue of this first Salon had a preface by Gaston Diehl, with texts byRené Bertelé andAndré Rolland de Renéville, poems byJacques Prévert,Lucien Becker,André Frénaud,Jean Follain andGuillevic.
Even after the liberation of Paris, and subsequently of France, logistical problems in the city remained serious and the lack of public spaces was a limitation. Consequently, in 1946 theSalon de Mai was organized on the fourth floor of the famous department store "Galeries Lafayette", in 1947 it was held at the art gallery "Arts" (140, Faubourg Saint-Honoré), in 1948 at the art gallery Lambert-Marie (22, Place Vendôme). Only in 1949 theSalon de Mai was organized in the large rooms of the "Palais de New-York" (Avenue du Président Wilson), which then hosted it until 1954. In the following years, until 1968, it was held at the "Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris". From 1969 onwards, theSalon de Mai had to deal with major logistical problems, so its exhibition often changed address. The 64th and lastSalon de Mai took place from 6 to 11 May 2014 at the "Espace Commines" (17, rue Commines).
Gaston Diehl has been the Founder - President of theSalon de Mai until his death, in 1997.