Saunier Hector

Hector Saunier (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1936 – Paris, 2024) was a painter and printmaker. After completing his architecture studies, he left Argentina in 1961 to move to Europe. In England, he initially focused on making jewelry and metal accessories for the theater. From 1966, he settled in Paris, where he began working in the influential experimental studio of Stanley William Hayter, the renowned Atelier 17. Since its founding in the late 1920s, this studio had been considered the center of creative intaglio printing in the twentieth century. Saunier acquired his craftsmanship primarily under the guidance of Hayter and rose to become an assistant at the studio, marking the beginning of a twenty-year collaboration. In 1978, he became deputy director and was responsible for printing many of Hayter's later intaglios. Following Hayter's death in 1988, Saunier took over the management together with Juan Valladares. The studio was given a new name — Atelier Contrepoint — and remains active to this day at 10 rue Didot in Paris. Hayter once spoke as follows about Saunier's work: "His exploration of the use of color in full saturation, the mutual permeability of gradually transitioning color planes, not only creates an imaginary space that transcends our ordinary experience, but also draws us into another dimension of color consciousness itself — and makes us aware of the unsuspected richness of one of the most joyful aspects of life."