Philippe Saunier

The cover of L'art du pastel, 2014, showing Mary Cassatt's Lydia Leaning on Her Arms (in a theatre box). Pastel, 1879.

Philippe Saunier (born 1972) is a French art historian who is chief curator at the Bureau de l'inventaire des collections et de la circulation des biens culturels. He was formerly with the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée Picasso in Paris. He is the author with Thea Burns of L'art du pastel (2014) which was translated into English and published by Abbeville Press in 2015 as The art of the pastel.

Career

Saunier was a curator of pastels at the Musée d'Orsay and later technical advisor for archeology and museums in the office of the French Minister of Culture and Communication from 2006 to 2007. From 2007 he was a curator at the Musée Picasso in Paris.^[1] He was the commissioner of the exhibition Picasso and his Collection^[2] and wrote the catalogue for the exhibition with Anne Baldassari which was published by the Queensland Art Gallery in Australia in 2008. Saunier is now chief curator at the Bureau de l'inventaire des collections et de la circulation des biens culturels.^[3]

Saunier is the author with Thea Burns of L'art du pastel (2014) which was translated into English and published by Abbeville Press in 2015 as The art of the pastel. The book was described by the publishers as "The only comprehensive history of pastel art".^[4]

Selected publications

French

• Les couleurs du ciel: vitraux de création au XXe siècle dans les cathédrales de France. Henri Gaud, Moisenay, 2002. ISBN 978-2840800934
• Degas. Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, 2010. (contributor)
• Le voyage. Hachette, 2011. (With Rosa Djaoud) ISBN 978-2011711991
• L'art du pastel. Citadelles et Mazenod, 2014. (With Thea Burns) ISBN 978-2850886003

English

• Picasso & his collection. Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2008. (With Anne Baldassari) (ISBN 9781876509330)
• The art of the pastel. Abbeville Press, London, 2015. (With Thea Burns) (Translated by Elizabeth Heard) ISBN 978-0789212405

References