Guillaume Apollinaire
French poet, 1880-1918
"Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the early 20th century, as well as one of the most impassioned defenders of Cubism and a forefather of Surrealism. He is credited for adopting the term Cubism (1911) to describe the new art movement, and for coining the terms ""Orphism"" (1912) and ""Surrealism"" (1917). He wrote one of the earliest works described as surrealist, the play The Breasts of Tiresias (1917, used as the basis for a 1947 opera). The prix Guillaume Apollinaire, a French poetry prize first awarded in 1941, was named in honour of him."
Source: Wikipedia
Poète français (1880-1918). Lettre autographe signée. Secteur Postal 139. 8vo. 1 page. Avec adresse et tampon.
$ 7,990 / 7.500 €
(44358)
À "Mon cher ami" [José Théry]. Il fut l'avocat d'Apollinaire lors de son inculpation pour complicité de vol dans "l'Affaire de la Joconde" en 1911. Il n'a pu se rendre chez son ami, le prie de le pardonner et lui demande de lui écrire. Cette lettre a été écrite depuis les tranchées. L'auteur avait le grade de sous-lieutenant, il fut blessé à la tempe par un éclat d'obus le 17 mars 1916. Évacué à Paris, il fut trépané le 10 mai. « Mon cher ami, Il n'y a pas eu moyen d'aller chez vous, cher ami, ni même de m'excuser.
Je vous prie de me pardonner. J'ai eu trop peu de temps devant moi. J'ai en tout cas été très, très heureux de vous revoir, vous et votre charmante femme. Ecrivez-moi de temps à autre, si cela n'entrave pas trop vos occupations vous me ferez plaisir. On reçoit toujours ici avec joie les lettres de ses amis vous ne l'ignorez pas. Je souhaite avoir bientôt l'occasion de vous revoir et vous serre la main. Guillaume Apollinaire »..
French poet (1880–1918). "M. Anatole France et les Arts – Écrivains d'art – Futurisme". Manuscript signed with autograph title and corrections. N. p., [October 1913]. Small 4to. 9 pp. French manuscript on paper.
$ 5,859 / 5.500 €
(47527)
Charming manuscript for his column "La Vie anecdotique" in the review section of the Mercure de France that he wrote from 1911 to his death in 1918. The article that was published in the October 1913 issue of the Mercure, vol. CV, no. 392 is divided into three sections. The first concerns Anatole France and his research of publication "concerning painters of the Revolution and the Empire" in Parisian bookshops and his support of a Catalan engraver named Louis Jou: " M. Anatole France ne protège pas seulement les peintres de la Révolution et de l’Empire, il va lancer un jeune graveur catalan, M.
Louis Jou, qui, après avoir frappé en vain à un grand nombre de portes parisiennes, décida enfin de soumettre à son auteur préféré quelques bois qu’il avait gravés pour illustrer les opinions de Jérôme Coignard […]". - The second section offers charming portraits of art critics ahead of the opening of the Salon d'Automne: "It is perhaps not without interest to fix the physiognomy of a few of those who have imposed their particular conception of the plastic arts on the public. This year, we will no longer see Marshal Niel, who has withdrawn from the struggle. We will no longer hear from this kindly old man, who once lent Baudelaire half a louis […] M. Étienne Charles will patiently pass countless times through all the rooms of the Salon in search of a little painting he can't find; he is conscience itself, good-natured and good-humored. For the hundredth time, he'll ask me to explain Cubism to him […] We probably won't be seeing André Salmon this year, a poet with the disillusioned look of a Habsburg. He now reserves his critical activity for special artistic events." (transl.) - Finally, Apollonaire offers an anecdote concerning the Futurists Ardengo Soffici and Carlo Carrà: "Mr. Ardengo Soffici, who last year rallied to Futurism, writes a Diary in Lacerba, published in Florence, for which he recently received the following registered letter from his friends, which I translate: "[…] Your Diary is appallingly sentimental despite the great genius it contains […] we conclude by affirming that you constitute an excessively serious case of spermatic engorgement and cardiac diarrhea […].".
écrivain français (1880-1918). ALS in French. s. l. s. d. 8vo. 1 page.
$ 4,474 / 4.200 €
(48514)
Untranslated letter to a colleague, L. Besse, accepting an invitation to meet at a cafe and agreeing to say a few words at the end of the banquet if “Roinard” wants. Toning and a couple tiny tears to edges, and slight mirroring and brushing to ink, otherwise fine condition. Paul-Napoleon Roinard was a painter, poet, and close friend of Apollinaire. They had co-authored La Poesie Symboliste together in 1908, which contained lectures delivered at the Salon des Artistes Independants. A very scarce letter from the poet who would be wounded in World War I and never recover before succumbing to the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 at age 38.