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Jean-Denis Malclès
Set design
Biography
Jean-Denis Malclès (1912–2002) grew up in Avignon. A graduate of the École Boulle, he began his career with Ruhlmann, the renowned decorator and cabinetmaker, and designed the first textile collections for Pierre Frey. He collaborated with the Comédie-Française and the Grenier-Hussenot Company, which produced touring shows, and created the stage costumes for Les Frères Jacques (colored leotards with black tights). He designed the sets and costumes for La Fiancée du Diable, a ballet by Roland Petit (1945), and the poster for Jean Cocteau’s film Beauty and the Beast (1946).
He later met Jean Anouilh, for whom he designed the sets and costumes for Ardèle ou la Marguerite (1948). Their collaboration lasted over thirty years. The Comédie-Française continued to commission his work, as did the Renaud-Barrault Company, the Opéra-Comique, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, and the Opéra de Marseille.
At the Paris Opera, he created the sets and costumes for Oberon (Lehman, 1954), Les Mamelles de Tirésias (Ducreux, 1968), and Soir de fête (revival of Staats’s ballet, 1956). He also worked in cinema, including Le Pays d’où je viens, Marcel Carné’s first color film (1956). From 1985 onward, he resumed exhibiting his paintings in galleries while continuing his work for the theatre.
Currently in
- Palais Garnier
- from 15 to 19 April 2026
