Laurence Iché (9 April 19219 September 2007) was a French writer.

Biography

Laurence Iché was born in

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

on 9 April 1921. She was the daughter of the sculptor

René Iché René Iché (21 January 1897 – 23 December 1954) was a 20th-century French sculptor. Life and work René Iché was born in Sallèles-d'Aude, France. He fought in World War I, where he was injured and gassed. After the war, he earned a degre ...

and Rosa Achard. As a young girl, Iché posed as a model for her father, as well as for

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Victor Brauner Victor Brauner (, also spelled Viktor Brauner; 15 June 1903 – 12 March 1966) was a Romanian painter and sculptor of the surrealism (art), surrealist movement. Early life He was born in Piatra Neamț, Romania, the son of a Jewish timber manufac ...

and other artists. In 1937, at the age of sixteen, she was placed into a Benedictine convent at the suggestion of Max Jacob, but her stay there was brief. Beginning in 1939, she began to write stories, articles and poetry. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she helped establish the

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

group ''La Main à plume'' and founded the review of the same name. In 1942, she published a collection of poems ''Au fil du vent'', illustrated by

Óscar Domínguez Óscar M. Domínguez (aka Oscar Dominguez, Oscar Domínguez Palazón, Oscar Manuel Domínguez Palazón, O. Domínguez, Oscar Manuel Domínguez) (3 January 1906 – 31 December 1957) was a Spanish-born French surrealist painter, commercial artist ...

, in which two of her poems were included: "Scissors Strokes by the Clock" and "I Prefer Your Uneasiness Like a Dark Lantern." She also translated poetry by

Camilo José Cela Camilo José Cela y Trulock, 1st Marquess of Iria Flavia (; 11 May 1916 – 17 January 2002) was a Spanish novelist, poet, story writer and essayist associated with the Generation of '36 movement. He was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Liter ...

into French. Her book of stories ''Etagère en flamme, cuentos,'' illustrated by

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

, was published in 1943 and included two of her stories, "Unpublished Correspondence" and "The Philosophers' Stone." Iché participated in the 2006 conference Surrealismo Siglo XXI. In 1940, she joined the French resistance against Nazi occupation. She modelled for

's piece, ''la Déchirée''. Sculpted from bronze, this piece was an important symbol of the resistance movement. It was gifted to

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

in London, but the sculpture has since disappeared. She married the poet in 1941. On 4 July 1944 Rius was arrested for his involvement with a maquis near Fontainebleau by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

. He was

executed by firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French , rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are usually re ...

on 21 July 1944. In 1949, she married the Spanish painter until his death in on 8 March 1987 from lung cancer. Iché died in Madrid at the age of 86.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iche, Laurence 1921 births 2007 deaths 20th-century French poets French women poets 20th-century French women