Louis Scutenaire (29 June 1905 – 15 August 1987) was a
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
,
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
,
surrealist
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 l ...
and
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
. Born Jean Émile Louis Scutenaire in
Ollignies,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, he died in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
.
Life
Louis Scutenaire is chiefly remembered as a central figure in the
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
Surrealist
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 l ...
movement, along with
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bounda ...
,
Paul Nougé
Paul Nougé (12 February 1895 – 6 November 1967) was a Belgian poet, founder and theoretician of surrealism in Belgium, sometimes known as the "Belgian Breton".
Biography
Born of a French father who originated from the Charent region in Fra ...
,
Marcel Lecomte and his own wife
Irène Hamoir. He studied law at the
Free University of Brussels University of Brussels may refer to several institutions in Brussels, Belgium: Current institutions
* Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university established as a separate entity in 1970
*Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), a D ...
(now split into the
Université Libre de Bruxelles and the
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) () is a Dutch and English-speaking research university located in Brussels, Belgium.The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is one of the five universities officially recognised by the Flemish Community, Flemish gov ...
) and was a criminal lawyer from 1931 to 1944. In 1926 he discovered
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 l ...
and was a primary contributor to the
Revue surréaliste. He was sympathetic to
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
during the 1930s and 1940s but as the truth about
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
's regime became more apparent, he grew disenchanted with it and became an
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
. After the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
he became a civil servant in the Belgian Ministry of the Interior, a job he kept for the rest of his life.
Scutenaire grew disillusioned with the increasing
commercialisation
Commercialization or commercialisation is the process of introducing a new product or production method into commerce—making it available on the market. The term often connotes especially entry into the mass market (as opposed to entry into e ...
of Surrealism after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, but this did not apparently impair his close friendship with the most famous Belgian surrealist
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bounda ...
. Scutenaire and his wife would visit the Magritte home on Sundays, where Scutenaire would be invited to give titles to Magritte's recent paintings; 170 of the paintings still bear the titles that Scutenaire suggested. (He is also the model for the figure in Magritte's canvas ''Universal Gravitation''.)
Scutenaire's published works include a series of books entitled ''
Mes Inscriptions'', collections of gnomic and mischievous
aphorisms
An aphorism (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often hand ...
, as well as one of the earliest and most entertaining
monographs
A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject.
In library cataloging, ''monograph ...
on Magritte. He was awarded in 1985 the
Grand Prix spécial de l'Humour noir in recognition of his achievements as a writer with a lifelong distrust of authority and institution.
He died twenty years to the hour after his friend Magritte, just after watching a television programme on the painter.
Sources
*André Souris, ''Paul Nougé et ses complices'' dans "Entretiens sur le surréalisme", sous la direction de
Ferdinand Alquié
Ferdinand Alquié (; 18 December 1906, Carcassonne, Aude – 28 February 1985, Montpellier) was a French philosopher and member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques from 1978.
In the years 1931 to 1945 he was a professor in v ...
, Mouton, Paris-La Haye, 1968.
*Christian Bussy, ''Anthologie du surréalisme en Belgique'',
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, Gallimard,1972.
*
Marcel Mariën
Marcel Mariën (29 April 1920 – 19 September 1993) was a Belgian surrealist (later Situationist), poet, essayist, photographer, collagist, and filmmaker.
Mariën was a pivotal member of the Belgian wing of the Surrealist movement. In addition ...
, ''L'activité surréaliste en Belgique (1924–1950)'',
Bruxelles
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Lebeer-Hossmann, 1979.
*''René Magritte et le surréalisme en Belgique'', Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles, 1982.
*''Louis Scutenaire'', ''Plein Chant'' n° 33–34,
Bassac, novembre 1986-janvier 1987.
*''Les écrits de Louis Scutenaire (De 1913 à 1987), 1. Poèmes et proses'', note de Michel-Georges-Bernard,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, Éditions de l'Orycte, 29 juin 1987
extes présentés dans la chronologie de leur écriture
*''Le mouvement surréaliste à Bruxelles et en Wallonie (1924–1947)'',
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, Centre Culturel Wallonie Bruxelles, 1988.
*
Raoul Vaneigem
Raoul Vaneigem (; born 21 March 1934) is a Belgian writer known for his 1967 book ''The Revolution of Everyday Life''.
He was born in Lessines ( Hainaut, Belgium) and studied romance philology at the Free University of Brussels from 1952 to 1 ...
, ''Louis Scutenaire'',
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, collection Poètes d'aujourd'hui, Seghers, 1991 , 190 p.
*''René Magritte, La période "vache", "Les pieds dans le plat" avec Louis Scutenaire'',
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, Musée Cantini, 1992 , 168 p.
*''Irène, Scut, Magritte & C°'',
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 1996, 558 p.
*Jean-Patrice Courtois, ''La grammaire inachevable de Louis Scutenaire'', dans "Europe", "Les surréalistes belges", n° 912, Paris, avril 2005.
* Xavier Canonne, ''Le surréalisme en Belgique, 1924–2000'', Fonds Mercator, 2007
External links
Short biography in FrenchShort tribute in English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scutenaire, Louis
1905 births
1987 deaths
Belgian poets in French
Surrealist poets
20th-century Belgian poets
Belgian male poets
20th-century Belgian male writers