Marcel Lecomte (25 September 1900, Saint-Gilles (

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

) – 19 November 1966, Brussels) was a Belgian

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

, member of the Belgian

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 ...

movement. In 1918 he was introduced to

dadaism Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

and

Eastern philosophy Eastern philosophy (also called Asian philosophy or Oriental philosophy) includes the various philosophies that originated in East and South Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Korean philosophy, and Vietnamese philoso ...

by Clément Pansaers. He also started to study literature and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the

Université libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

that year, but he left the studies in 1920. In 1922, he published the highly acclaimed ''Demonstrations'', his first collection of poetry. In 1924 he founded a group named ''Correspondence'' with Paul Nougé and Camille Goemans from which he was excommunicated the following year; however, they became close again thanks to common interest in surrealism. Yet he was not a strict surrealist, being more interested in the

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

of the dailiness. The same year he was excluded from the group, Lecomte published his second book of poetry entitled ''Applications''. The work featured two illustrations from his friend

René Magritte René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgium, Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature ...

. Magritte's growing interest in

Surrealism 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 ...

maybe have begun with Lecomte. The artist often recounted the moment Lecomte took him to view a reproduction of

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( ; ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. His ...

's '' The Song of Love'' as a moment when he uncontrollably wept. Lecomte also inspired a number of Magritte's paintings and was portrayed in his "Souvenir de Voyage" ("In Memory of a Journey", 1955). Between 1934 and 1945 he was a teacher at a secondary school. While he continued to write poetry, Lecomte focused on critical work and reviews of art, philosophy and poetry, writing for a variety of newspapers, including a weekly column in La Laterne. From 1958, he also worked as a counsellor for the Brussels´ Museum of Art. In 2013, University of Maryland doctoral student K. A. Wisniewski began translating selected poems by Lecomte into English. These poems have appeared in the '' Chariton Review'' at Truman State University and ''basalt'' from the Eastern Oregon University.

Bibliography

* ''Démonstrations'', 1922 * ''Applications'', illustrated by

, 1925 * ''L'Homme au complet gris clair'', 1931 * ''Les Minutes insolites'' ix récits 1936 * ''Lucide'', 1939 * ''La Servante au miroir'', 1941 * ''Le Règne de la lenteur'', 1943 * ''Rencontre dans Paris'', illustrated by Raoul Ubac, 1944 * ''L'Accent du secret'', 1944 * ''L'Œuvre de Suzanne Van Damme'', 1946 * ''Rachel Baes'', 1947 * ''Le Sens des

tarot Tarot (, first known as ''trionfi (cards), trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play t ...

s'', illustrated by Pierre Alechinsky, 1948 * ''D'un nouvel espace'', 1956 * ''Univers et signes de Rem'', 1957 * ''Le Carnet et les instants'', preface by Jean Paulhan, 1964 * ''Le Cœur et la main'', illustrated by Jane Graverol, 1968 * ''Le Sens de la vie'', illustrated by René Magritte, 1968 * ''Le Suspens'', 1971 * ''Œuvres'' (''L'Homme au complet gris clair. La Servante au miroir. Le Carnet et les instants''), 1980 * ''Les Minutes insolites'', note by Jean Paulhan, 1981 * ''Les Voies de la littérature''. Choix de chroniques littéraires suivi d'une bibliographie établis par Philippe Dewolf, coll. "Archives du Futur", 1988 * ''Le Regard des choses''. Choix de chroniques artistiques et de préfaces d'expositions établi et annoté par Philippe Dewolf, coll. "Archives du Futur", 1992 * ''Comment j'ai entendu une jolie fille se faire dresser par un spécialiste'' suivi de ''Le jeune Gérard'', 1995

References

External links

About Belgian surrealism, in French

Bibliography of Belgian surrealism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lecomte, Marcel 1900 births 1966 deaths Surrealist poets Belgian poets in French 20th-century Belgian poets Belgian male poets 20th-century Belgian male writers People from Saint-Gilles, Belgium