Guillaume Apollinaire

Guillaume Apollinaire (August 26, 1880 – November 9, 1918) was a poet, writer, and art critic. The foremost French poet of the early 20th century, he is credited with having coined the word surrealism and having written one of the earliest works that can be described as Surrealist, the play Les Mamelles de Tirésias (1917) (the subject of an opera by Francis Poulenc that premiered in 1947). Two years after being wounded in World War I, he died at thirty-eight of the Spanish flu during a worldwide pandemic that killed between twenty and fifty million people.

Related Topics:
August 26 - 1880 - November 9 - 1918 - Poet - Writer - Art critic - Surrealism - Surrealist - Play - 1917 - Opera - Francis Poulenc - 1947 - Spanish flu

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Born Wilhelm Albert Vladimir Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky/Kostrowicki in Rome, Italy, and raised speaking French, among other languages, he immigrated to France and translated his given name to Guillaume (French for William/Wilhelm) Apollinaire. In his youth he was one of many artists who worked in the Montmartre district of Paris during an era of great creativity. His mother, Angelica Kostrowicki, was a noble from near Navahradak (now Belarus). His father is unknown but may have been Francesco Flugi d'Aspermont, a Swiss-Italian aristocrat who disappeared early from Apollinaire's life.

Related Topics:
Rome - Italy - Montmartre - Paris - Navahradak - Belarus

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One of the most popular members of the artistic community in Montparnasse, his friends and collaborators during that period were Pablo Picasso, Max Jacob, André Salmon, Marie Laurencin, André Derain, Blaise Cendrars, Pierre Reverdy, Jean Cocteau, Erik Satie, Ossip Zadkine, Marc Chagall and Marcel Duchamp. In 1911, he joined the Puteaux Group, an offshoot branch of the cubist movement. On September 7 of the same year, police arrested and jailed him on suspicion of stealing the Mona Lisa, but released him a week later.

Related Topics:
Montparnasse - Pablo Picasso - Max Jacob - André Salmon - Marie Laurencin - André Derain - Blaise Cendrars - Pierre Reverdy - Jean Cocteau - Erik Satie - Ossip Zadkine - Marc Chagall - Marcel Duchamp - 1911 - Puteaux Group - Cubist - September 7 - Mona Lisa

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Apollinaire's first collection of poetry was L'enchanteur pourrissant (1909), but Alcools (1913) established his reputation. The poems, influenced in part by the Symbolists, juxtapose the old and the new, combining traditional poetic forms with modern imagery. Also in 1913, Apollinaire published the essay Les Peintres cubistes on the cubist painters, a movement which he helped to define. He also coined the term orphism to describe a tendency towards absolute abstraction in the paintings of Robert Delaunay and others.

Related Topics:
Poetry - Symbolist - 1913 - Essay - Cubist - Orphism - Robert Delaunay

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He fought in World War I and, in 1916, received a serious shrapnel wound to the temple (see photo). He wrote Les Mamelles de Tirésias while recovering from this wound. Earlier, he had coined the word surrealism in the program notes for Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie's ballet Parade, first performed on 18 May 1917. He also published an artistic manifesto, L'Esprit nouveau et les poètes.

Related Topics:
World War I - 1916 - Surrealism - Jean Cocteau - Erik Satie - Ballet - Parade - 18 May - 1917

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In 1907, Apollinaire wrote the well-known erotic novel, The Eleven Thousand Rods (Les Onze Mille Verges). Officially banned in France until 1970, various printings of it circulated widely for many years. Apollinaire never publicly acknowledged authorship of the novel.

Related Topics:
Erotic - Novel

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Another erotic novel attributed to him was The Exploits of a Young Don Juan (Les exploits d'un jeune Don Juan), in which the 15-year-old hero fathers three children with various members of his entourage, including his aunt. The book was made into a movie in 1987.

Related Topics:
Don Juan - 1987

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The war-weakened Apollinaire died of influenza during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. He was interred in the Le Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, which is also the final resting place of Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, Édith Piaf, Richard Wright, Jim Morrison, Balzac, Molière, Chopin, Héloïse and Abélard, and many more of the greatest artists and thinkers of the last thousand years. Shortly after his death, Calligrammes, a collection of his concrete poetry (poetry in which typography and layout adds to the overall effect), was published.

Related Topics:
Influenza - Spanish Flu - 1918 - Le Père Lachaise Cemetery - Paris - Marcel Proust - Oscar Wilde - Sarah Bernhardt - Édith Piaf - Richard Wright - Jim Morrison - Balzac - Molière - Chopin - Héloïse - Abélard - Concrete poetry

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