Luc Benoist (born Luc Didier Marie Benoist-Lucy; 22 December 1893 – 28 July 1979) was a French art historian, essayist, and museum curator. He published extensively on art history, and his later work focused on spirituality, esotericism, and symbolism.
Biography
Benoist was born in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, on 22 December 1893. He began his career as an assistant curator at the Palace of Versailles. He later served as curator of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes (Museum of Fine Arts of Nantes) from 1947 to 1959, and was also a curator for the Musées de France.
In 1928, Benoist encountered the works of the traditionalist writer René Guénon, which prompted a significant intellectual reorientation. He became a correspondent of Guénon (who was then based in Cairo) and contributed regularly to the journal Études Traditionnelles. In 1943, at the request of Jean Paulhan, he published an article on Guénon's work in La Nouvelle Revue française.
Publications
Benoist authored numerous books, including several volumes in the Presses Universitaires de France "Que sais-je?" series. His notable works include:
- La Sculpture romantique (1928)
- Coysevox (1930)
- La Cuisine des anges. Une esthétique de la pensée (1932)
- Michel-Ange (1941)
- Art du monde, la spiritualité du métier (1941)
- La Sculpture française (1945)
- Versailles et la monarchie (1947)
- La Sculpture en Europe (1949)
- Musées et muséologie (1960)
- L'Ésotérisme (1963) — in the "Que sais-je?" series
- Le Compagnonnage et les métiers (1966)
- Histoire de la peinture (1970)
- Signes, symboles et mythes (1975) — in the "Que sais-je?" series
- Le Château des ducs de Bretagne et ses collections (1979)
His work L'Ésotérisme was translated into English as The Esoteric Path: An Introduction to the Hermetic Tradition (1988).
Death
Benoist died on 28 July 1979 (some sources list 1980) in Mauves-sur-Loire, Loire-Atlantique, France.
