Jean Cocteau, 1889-1963
27 May - 21 Dec 2015
Exercices in admiration
Curator : Mnam/Cci / Christian Briend
Poet, playwright, filmmaker and protean artist, Jean Cocteau’s influence extends throughout the 20th century as a protagonist just as much as a promoter of a certain Modernism. At first the exponent of a fashionable symbolism, the “frivolous prince” reinvented himself on the arrival in Paris of the Ballets Russes, notably writing the book for Le Dieu bleu, for which Léon Bakst designed the sets and costumes. During the First World War, his participation in the patriotism of the day found expression primarily in the magazine Le Mot. He also wrote the ballet Parade (1917), inaugurating his long-lasting but non-exclusive admiration for Pablo Picasso. Indeed, throughout his career, the author of Le Coq et l’Arlequin paid frequent tribute to living artists, often through the unencumbered and acrobatic line of his drawing.
Christian Briend"
Curator : Mnam/Cci / Christian Briend
Poet, playwright, filmmaker and protean artist, Jean Cocteau’s influence extends throughout the 20th century as a protagonist just as much as a promoter of a certain Modernism. At first the exponent of a fashionable symbolism, the “frivolous prince” reinvented himself on the arrival in Paris of the Ballets Russes, notably writing the book for Le Dieu bleu, for which Léon Bakst designed the sets and costumes. During the First World War, his participation in the patriotism of the day found expression primarily in the magazine Le Mot. He also wrote the ballet Parade (1917), inaugurating his long-lasting but non-exclusive admiration for Pablo Picasso. Indeed, throughout his career, the author of Le Coq et l’Arlequin paid frequent tribute to living artists, often through the unencumbered and acrobatic line of his drawing.
Christian Briend"