Max-Pol Fouchet

(Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue: 1^er May 1913 - Avallon: 22 August 1980)

Television made its appearance in homes in the early 50s, and with it the image of Max-Pol Fouchet, who established himself as a defender of culture on the small screen. He hosted the programme "Lectures pour tous", which ran for 15 years.

Known to the general public through his television persona, Max-Pol Fouchet had already, during the Occupation, built up a large network of artists around the magazine Fountainwhich he had taken over in 1939. Based in Algiers, he published the works of poets who were opposed to the Vichy regime, in an act of "Resistance in the full light of day". Louis Aragon, André Frénaud, Jules Supervielle, Henri Michaux and René Char were among the contributors to the magazine, which published 63 issues and is considered one of the major publications of the "Intellectual Resistance". It was in the pages of Fountain that "Liberté" appeared for the first time.

Michel Leiris

(Paris: 20 April 1901 - Saint-Hilaire in the Essonne: 30 September 1990)