René Guilly (pseudonym René Désaguliers), born 27 July 1921 in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
and died 11 June 1992, was a French
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
art critic
An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogu ...
,
museum curator
A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...
Martinist
Martinism is a form of Christian mysticism and esoteric Christianity concerned with the fall of the first man, his state of material privation from his divine source, and the process of his return, called 'Reintegration'.
As a mystical traditio ...
.
Biography
Coming from a family of the republican bourgeoisie (his father is a
doctor
Doctor or The Doctor may refer to:
Personal titles
* Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree
* A medical practitioner, including:
** Physician
** Surgeon
** Dentist
** Veterinary physician
** Optometrist
*Other roles
* ...
and a
free-thinker
Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods ...
), he was first marked by the work and ideas of
Jean Giono
Jean Giono (30 March 1895 – 8 October 1970) was a French writer who wrote works of fiction mostly set in the Provence region of France.
First period
Jean Giono was born to a family of modest means, his father a cobbler of Piedmontese descent a ...
and he studied literature. He frequented the artistic circles of
post-war
In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period ...
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
and began at
Combat
Combat (French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, o ...
in the pages of "Parisian life" and "art criticism". In particular, he published a memorable interview with
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...
and important discussions with
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the E ...
. After a first career in journalism, he devoted himself to the
history of art
The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic vis ...
and became assistant to
Germain Bazin
Germain René Michel Bazin (24 September 1901 – 2 May 1990) was a French art historian, curator at the Louvre Museum from 1951 to 1965.ené Michel">Bazin, Germain
Louvre museum
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
. His professional life then unfolds as chief curator of the Museum of France, museums of france, head of the restoration service of classified and controlled museums, full professor at the École du Louvre.
Martinism
René Guilly was initiated into Martinism in 1961, with the order name of Sâr Athanasius Indagator, by Pierre Mariel. He got closer to Louis Bentin, Grand Master of the Martinist and Synarchic Order, from whom he received on 12 April 1975 a founding charter from the Parisian lodge Scala Jacobi, which operated until 1977 and subsequently became an independent group, to finally join the Martinist Tradition, working on the basis of the Martinist ritual of Papus.
Bibliography
He is the author of a large number of articles, most of them published in his traditional Renaissance magazine, some of which have been collected in three posthumous works:
* ''Les Pierres de la Franc-maçonnerie, de la première pierre à la pierre triomphale'' (texts collected and adapted by Roger Dachez), Dervy, Paris, 1995.
* ''Les Deux Grandes Colonnes de la Franc-maçonnerie'' (new edition revised by Roger Dachez and Pierre Mollier), Dervy, Paris, 1997 (reissue, 2011).
* ''Les Trois Grands Piliers de la franc-maçonnerie. Colonnes et chandeliers dans la tradition maçonnique'' (new edition revised by Roger Dachez), Véga, Paris, 2011.