Pierre de Massot (April 10 1900, Lyon – 3 January 1969, Paris) was a French writer associated with the Dada and surrealist movements.

Biography

He was born as the sixth child of the Count and Countess of Massot de Lafond. Massot attended the Lycée Saint-Marc of the Jesuit Order in his hometown. He then went to Paris to study there. There he made the acquaintance of

Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, poet and typographist. After experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillism, Picabia became associated with Cubism ...

, through whose support he soon met the publisher

Pierre Seghers Pierre Seghers (5 January 1906, in Paris – 4 November 1987, in Créteil) was a French poet and editor. During the Second World War he took part in the French Resistance movement. Career He founded, among other things, the famous line of boo ...

. He later had a close relationship with André Gide whom he considered to be a father figure. He was also friends with many other representatives of the French avant-garde such as

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

René Crevel René Crevel (; 10 August 1900 – 18 June 1935) was a French writer involved with the surrealist movement. Life Crevel was born in Paris to a family of Parisian bourgeoisie. He had a traumatic religious upbringing. At the age of fourteen, hi ...

Max Jacob Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic. Life and career After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic ca ...

Tristan Tzara Tristan Tzara (; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, comp ...

and many others. On July 6, 1923, Tzara had invited a group of Dadaists to the soirée “Cœur à Barbe” in the Théâtre Michel. A group around

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...

violently disrupted this event, in which Massot's arm was broken by a blow from Breton's cane and the police had to intervene. This marked the break between Dadaists and Surrealists. Nevertheless, two years later, Massot was one of the signatories of Breton's ''La révolution d'abord'' manifesto and became close to the Surrealists. Massot joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...

and was a supporter of

Léon Blum André Léon Blum (; 9 April 1872 – 30 March 1950) was a French socialist politician and three-time Prime Minister. As a Jew, he was heavily influenced by the Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century. He was a disciple of French Socialist le ...

's Popular Front. During the German occupation and Vichy France, he played a key role in the protecting of the French-Jewish writer

André Suarès André Suarès, born Isaac Félix Suarèshttp://data.bnf.fr/11925703/andre_suares/fr.pdf (12 June 1868, Marseille – 7 September 1948, Saint-Maur-des-Fossés) was a French poet and critic. From 1912 onwards, he was one of the four "pillars" o ...

by telling the authorities he was his father. After the liberation of France he wrote for the ''

Nouvelle Revue Française ''La Nouvelle Revue Française'' (; "The New French Review") is a literary magazine based in France. In France, it is often referred to as the ''NRF''. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1909 by a group of intellectuals including And ...

.'' Massot left the Communist Party after the events of the

1956 Hungarian Revolution The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

. He was an opponent of the French doctrine towards Algeria and was a signatory of the

Manifesto of the 121 The Manifesto of the 121 (french: Manifeste des 121, full title: ''Déclaration sur le droit à l’insoumission dans la guerre d’Algérie'' or ''Declaration on the right of insubordination in the Algerian War'') was an open letter signed by 121 i ...

. The last years of his life were in obscurity and poverty. Massot fell in to depression after the death of his longtime friend Breton. He died on 3 January, 1969.

Notable works

* ''De Mallarmé à 391'', 1922 * ''Essai de critique théâtrale'', with a portrait of the author by Pablo Picasso, 1922 * ''The Wonderful Book. Reflections on Rrose Selavy'', with jokes from Marcel Duchamp, Paris-Passy, imprimerie Ravilly, 1924. * ''Saint-Just ou le divin bourreau'', 1925 * ''Portrait d'un bull-dog'', with photographs by Berenice Abbott, 1926 * ''Soliloque de Nausicaa'', with paintings by Jean Cocteau, 1928 * ''Prolégomènes à une éthique sans métaphysique'', with a drawing by Kristians Tonny, 1930 * ''Mon corps, ce doux-démon'', (with a portrait of the author by Jacques Villon and a preface letter by André Gide), 1959 *''Oui'', notules sur Erik Satie et lettres du compositeur à l'auteur, with a drawing by Georges Braque, 1960 *''Le Mystère des maux'', 1961 *''Marcel Duchamp'', 1965 *''Francis Picabia'', 1966 *''D-S'', 1967 *''André Breton ou le Septembriseur'', 1967 *''Le Déserteur. Œuvre poétique 1923-1969'', texts collected and presented by Gérard Pfister, with portraits of the author by Pablo Picasso, Francis Picabia, Max Ernst, Georges Malkine, Éditions Arfuyen, 1992

References

{{Authority control 1900 births 1969 deaths French male poets 20th-century French writers 20th-century French poets French surrealist writers Dadaists 20th-century French artists French Communist Party members French art critics French Trotskyists Surrealist poets