Drawings by François Tanguy for Théâtre du Radeau

François Tanguy left a profound mark on the art of theatre. At once scenographer, builder, musician, actor, and poet, he became the director of Théâtre du Radeau, founded by Laurence Chable and her companions in 1977. A few years later, they moved into a former garage in Le Mans, which became La Fonderie in 1994, a place of hospitality and artistic research. Until his death, he created a dreamlike and poetic body of work, always seeking to restore to the spectator their power of imagination, intimate emotion, and resistance to order.
But François Tanguy was not only a director. Drawing was a common practice for him. In October 2023, Actes Sud published a book bringing together around sixty of his drawings, opening this facet of his work for the first time.
The exhibition presents a series of stage visions, storyboards, sketches, excerpts from notebooks or rehearsal journals, as well as poster preparations. Flowers and various materials placed on a photocopier testify to his unique creative process.

With Bibliothèque nationale de France