27 octobre 1929
Né le 27 octobre 1929 à Saint-Malo, Michel Laclotte est historien d’art et conservateur du patrimoine. Il est spécialiste de peinture française et italienne des XIVe et XVe siècles. Il fait des études en classe préparatoire à l’Ecole des chartes au lycée Henri IV à Paris. Il est licencié ès Lettres à la Sorbonne et ensuite titulaire d’un diplôme d’études supérieures de l’Ecole du Louvre où il suit les cours de peintures française et étrangère. En 1955, il soutient sa thèse intitulée « Les Peintres siennois et florentins du XIVe et XVe siècles des musées de province français ». La même année, il commence sa carrière en tant que conservateur à l’Inspection générale des Musées de Province. Dans ce cadre, il est chargé de regrouper les primitifs italiens de la collection Campana qui avaient été dispersés à travers plus de quatre-vingt-dix musées afin de permettre l’ouverture du musée du Petit Palais à Avignon qui sera effective en 1976. Il succède à Germain Bazin comme conservateur du département des Peintures du musée du Louvre, de 1966 à 1987. Il réorganise le département à la demande d’André Malraux, ministre de la Culture. Il réaménage complètement ce département et une grande partie des espaces qui lui sont dévolus (la Grande Galerie, le Salon carré, Flore, les salles rouges) et donne une orientation nouvelle à la politique d’acquisitions, de publications et d’expositions, lançant notamment la série des Dossiers du Département des peintures. A partir de 1972 il défend le projet de transformer la gare d’Orsay en musée. Il devient directeur de l’équipe de préfiguration du musée d’Orsay de 1978 jusqu’à son ouverture en 1986. Il est chargé d’élaborer le programme muséographique, de réfléchir au fonctionnement du futur musée et de constituer des collections et des acquisitions. Il est consulté pour la programmation ou la construction de musées ou participe à des jurys de concours internationaux, notamment pour le Centre national d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, le Philadelphia Museum of Art, la National Gallery du Canada, le musée J.P. Getty de Malibu et le musée Correr à Venise. Il est directeur du musée du Louvre de 1987 à 1992 et président de l’Etablissement public du musée du Louvre de 1992 à 1994 (année de sa retraite). Il est l’un des acteurs essentiels du projet du Grand Louvre lancé par François Mitterrand et inauguré en mars 1988. Il a conduit, en concertation étroite avec les différents partenaires du projet, le vaste programme de rénovation et d’extension de ce musée marqué par plusieurs temps forts : l’inauguration de la Pyramide, celle de l’aile Richelieu et des salles de sculptures étrangères. Il préside la mission de préfiguration chargée de créer l’Institut national d’Histoire de l’Art entre 1995 et 2000 et devient ensuite vice-président de son conseil scientifique. Entre 1997 et 2000 Michel Laclotte a dirigé, avec André Larquié et Alain Pierret, le groupe de travail "oeuvres et objets d'art" au sein de la Mission d'étude sur la spoliation des Juifs en France (dite "Mission Mattéi", décidée par Alain Juppé le 5 février 1997 et confirmée par Lionel Jospin le 6 octobre 1997).
Parallèlement à ses activités professionnelles, il enseigne à l’Ecole de Louvre. Il est l’auteur de catalogues scientifiques ( Musée du Petit Palais à Avignon : Tableaux italiens du XIIIe et XVe siècle, 1976), d’articles dans des revues spécialisées d’histoire de l’art, et de livres comme L’Ecole d’Avignon, la Peinture en Provence au XIVe et XVe siècles (1960), La Peinture française, petits et grands musées de France (1962, en collaboration avec Jean Vergnet-Ruiz), French Art (Londres, 1964), Primitifs français (Milan-Paris, 1966), L’Ecole d’Avignon (Paris, 1983). Il est aussi membre du comité de rédaction de revues spécialisées ( La Revue du Louvre, Paragone et La Revue de l’Art - dont il a assuré la direction de 1988 à 1991) et membre du bureau du Comité français d’Histoire de l’Art. Il a rédigé ses mémoires sous le titre Histoire de musées, Souvenirs d’un conservateur parues aux Editions Scala en 2003. Il est commissaire d’expositions marquantes, en France et à l’étranger : « De Giotto à Bellini » (Paris, 1956), «Le XVIIe siècle français» (Paris, 1959), « The Age of Louis XIV » (Londres, 1959), « The Splendid Century » (Etats-Unis, 1961), « Trésors de la peinture espagnole » (Paris, 1963), « Le XVIe siècle européen » (Paris, 1965). Durant ses fonctions exercées au Louvre, il organise également de nombreuses expositions qui lui donnent notamment l’occasion de poursuivre ses études sur les primitifs et d’étudier l’interaction des foyers de création picturale entre le Nord et le Sud, ainsi : Ingres (Paris, 1967), La Peinture romantique en France (Moscou, Léningrad, 1968-1969), Le XVIIIe siècle vénitien (Paris, 1971), Georges de La Tour (Paris, 1972), The Age of Neoclassicism (Londres, 1972), L’Ecole de Fontainebleau (Paris, 1972), Millet (Paris, 1973), Le Romantisme allemand (Orangerie, 1976), Retables italiens du XIII au XVe siècle (Paris, 1978), Piero della Francesca, Malatesta (Louvre, 1978), Turner (Grand Palais, 1983), L’Art gothique siennois (Avignon, 1983), Paysage impressionniste (Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, 1984), Les donateurs du Louvre (Louvre, 1989), Polyptiques, le tableau multiple du Moyen Age au XXe siècle (Paris, 1990), Le Siècle de Titien (Grand Palais, 1993). Michel Laclotte est Commandeur des Arts et Lettres, Officier de la Légion d’Honneur, Commandeur de l’Ordre national du Mérite, Commande de l’Ordre du British Empire, et Grand Officier de l’ordre « Al Merito de la Republica Italiana ». Il a reçu le Grand Prix national des musées en 1993.
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