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Roger Vitrac
Roger Vitrac (; 17 November 1899 – 22 January 1952) was a French surrealist playwright and poet. Early life Roger Vitrac was born in Pinsac on 17 November 1899, before his family moved to Paris in 1910.:527 As a young man, he was influenced by the period's theatre and poetry, in particular the works of Lautréamont and Alfred Jarry.:527 In the late 1920s he married Kitty Cannell, a dancer and actress who performed at the Provincetown Playhouse.:265 Career In 1919 he published his first collection of poems, ''Le Faune noir''. In 1920 he began his obligatory three-year military service.:527 While serving, he was introduced to Dadaist performances in Paris and became interested in the movement. He even 'took to distributing Dada manifestos in the barracks'.:358 He also 'presented a play in Dadaistic character' entitled ''La Fenêtre Vorace,'' which has since been lost.:358 It was during this time that he met Marcel Arland, François Baron, Georges Limbour and René Crevel, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to leader André Breton, to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality", or ''surreality.'' It produced works of painting, writing, theatre, filmmaking, photography, and other media. Works of Surrealism feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and '' non sequitur''. However, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost (for instance, of the "pure psychic automatism" Breton speaks of in the first Surrealist Manifesto), with the works themselves being secondary, i.e. artifacts of surrealist experimentation. Leader Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was, above all, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dada
Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Paris. Dadaist activities lasted until the mid 1920s. Developed in reaction to World War I, the Dada movement consisted of artists who rejected the logic, reason, and aestheticism of modern capitalist society, instead expressing nonsense, irrationality, and anti-bourgeois protest in their works. The art of the movement spanned visual, literary, and sound media, including collage, sound poetry, cut-up technique, cut-up writing, and sculpture. Dadaist artists expressed their discontent toward violence, war, and nationalism, and maintained political affinities with Radical politics, radical left-wing and far-left politics. There is no consensus on the origin of the movement's name; a common story is that the German artis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1899 Births
Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a customs office in Puerto Alonso, leading to the Brazilian settlers there to declare the Republic of Acre in a revolt against Bolivian authorities. **The first part of the Jakarta Kota–Anyer Kidul railway on the island of Java is opened between Batavia Zuid ( Jakarta Kota) and Tangerang. * January 3 – Hungarian Prime Minister Dezső Bánffy fights an inconclusive duel with his bitter enemy in parliament, Horánszky Nándor. * January 4 – **U.S. President William McKinley's declaration of December 21, 1898, proclaiming a policy of benevolent assimilation of the Philippines as a United States territory, is announced in Manila by the U.S. commander, General Elwell Otis, and angers independence activists who had fought against ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Anouilh
Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ''Antigone'', an adaptation of Sophocles' classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's Vichy government. His plays are less experimental than those of his contemporaries, having clearly organized plot and eloquent dialogue. One of France's most prolific writers after World War II, much of Anouilh's work deals with themes of maintaining integrity in a world of moral compromise. Life and career Early life Anouilh was born in Cérisole, a small village on the outskirts of Bordeaux, and had Basque ancestry. His father, François Anouilh, was a tailor, and Anouilh maintained that he inherited from him a pride in conscientious craftmanship. He may owe his artistic bent to his mother, Marie-Magdeleine, a violinist who supplemented the family's m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Le Sabre De Mon Père
''Le Sabre de mon père'' () is a surrealist play by Roger Vitrac which premiered at Théâtre de Paris in 1951. Original cast * Mise-en-scène : Pierre Dux * Settings : Félix Labisse * Costumes : Rosine Delamare * Roles and interpreters : ** Françoise Dujardin : Sophie Desmarets ** Édouard Dujardin : Pierre Dux ** Pierre Martignac : Max Palenc ** Adélaïde Poinsot : Claire Gérard ** Boussu : Noël Roquevert ** Albert Feuillade : Jean Lagache ** Docteur Laborderie : Charles Dechamps ** Nini : Anne Vitrac ** Clémence : Luce Clament ** Simon : Serge Lecointe ** Flore Médard : Marcelle Arnold ** Diane Condé : Geneviève Berney ** Popaul : Jean-Jacques Duverger ** Isabelle Laborderie : Janine Liezer ** Pierril: René Génin Critics Initially the play was unsuccessful and disliked by critics, even by those who were at the time supporting surrealist arts of this kind. Some of those critics said that the title was not explicit as they had wished. The play was defende ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boulevard Theatre (aesthetic)
Boulevard theatre is a theatrical aesthetic that emerged from the boulevards of Paris' old city.Brunet, Brigitte"Le Théâtre de Boulevard".''French Studies'' 59: 417–418, July 2005 Origin Starting from the second half of the 18th century, popular and bourgeois theatre alike took up residence on the boulevard du Temple, then nicknamed 'boulevard du Crime' due to the many melodramas and murder stories shown there. In addition to the many attractions on display there – fireworks, pantomime, acrobats, etc. – a so-called 'boulevard' repertoire emerged separate from upper-class theatre. Then, starting from the Second French Empire, vaudeville theatre and comédie d'intrigue arrived on the scene. Style Boulevard theatre consists mostly of comedies but also dramas. In general, the characters are simply drawn, ordinary or easily understandable. There is a strong tendency to avoid touchy subjects, such as politics and religion. The style is not designed to challenge preconceived ide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Documents (magazine)
''Documents'' was a Surrealist art magazine edited by Georges Bataille. Published in Paris from 1929 through 1930, it ran for 15 issues, each of which contained a wide range of original writing and photographs. ''Documents'' was financed by Georges Wildenstein, an influential Parisian art dealer and sponsor of the Surrealists. Given its title and focus, the magazine initially listed an eleven-member editorial board including Wildenstein himself (with Bataille listed as "general secretary"); however, by the fifth issue, Bataille was the only editorial member to remain on the masthead. Called "a war machine against received ideas" by Bataille, ''Documents'' brought together a wide range of contributors, ranging from dissident surrealists including Michel Leiris, André Masson, and Joan Miró, to Bataille's numismatist colleagues at the National Library's Cabinet of Coins and Medals. The publication's content was even more wide-ranging, juxtaposing essays on jazz and archaeology wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Un Cadavre
''Un Cadavre'' (''A Corpse'') was the name of two separate surrealist pamphlets published in France in October 1924, and January 1930, respectively. Pamphlet of October 18th, 1924 The first pamphlet, arranged largely by André Breton and Louis Aragon, appeared in response to the national funeral of Anatole France. France, the 1921 Nobel Laureate and best-selling author, who was then regarded as the quintessential man of French letters, proved to be an easy target for an incendiary tract. The pamphlet featured an essay called ''Anatole France, or Gilded Mediocrity'' that scathingly attacked the recently deceased author on a number of fronts. The pamphlet was an act of subversion, bringing into question accepted values and conventions, which Anatole France was seen as personifying. The effect of the pamphlet was twofold; on the one hand, it brought considerable attention to the movement of surrealism and its aims; but on the other, its disrespectful nature alienated certain sympathi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georges Bataille
Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (; ; 10 September 1897 – 9 July 1962) was a French philosopher and intellectual working in philosophy, literature, sociology, anthropology, and history of art. His writing, which included essays, novels, and poetry, explored such subjects as eroticism, mysticism, surrealism, and transgression. His work would prove influential on subsequent schools of philosophy and social theory, including poststructuralism. Early life Georges Bataille was the son of Joseph-Aristide Bataille (b. 1851), a tax collector (later to go blind and be paralysed by neurosyphilis), and Antoinette-Aglaë Tournarde (b. 1865). Born on 10 September 1897 in Billom in the region of Auvergne, his family moved to Reims in 1898, where he was baptized. He went to school in Reims and then Épernay. Although brought up without religious observance, he converted to Catholicism in 1914, and became a devout Catholic for about nine years. He considered entering the priesthood and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the European avant-garde. In particular, he had a profound influence on twentieth-century theatre through his conceptualization of the Theatre of Cruelty. Known for his raw, surreal and transgressive work, his texts explored themes from the cosmologies of ancient cultures, philosophy, the occult, mysticism and indigenous Mexican and Balinese practices. Early life Antonin Artaud was born in Marseille, to Euphrasie Nalpas and Antoine-Roi Artaud. His parents were first cousins—his grandmothers were sisters from Smyrna (modern day İzmir, Turkey). His paternal grandmother, Catherine Chilé, was raised in Marseille, where she married Marius Artaud, a Frenchman. His maternal grandmother, Mariette Chilé, grew up in Smyrna, where she married Louis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Aron
Robert Aron (1898–1975) was a French historian and writer who wrote a number of books on politics and European history. Early life and career Robert Aron was born in Le Vésinet on 25 May 1898 to an upper-class Jewish family from eastern France.:132 He attended the Lycée Condorcet and served in the French Army during World War I. He was wounded in action in 1918. Interwar Period In 1922, while at university studying for a degree in Languages and Classics, Aron was the President of the ''Cercle International d'Etudiants.'':132 In this role he organised a series of lectures focused on avant-garde literature, music, film and painting. Among the participants were Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie. The series success attracted the attention the Nouvelle Revue française, where he was invited to join the staff as an Editor, a position he remained in for many years.:132 After University he joined the Éditions Gallimard publishing house where he was briefly secretary to Gaston Gallimard. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
