Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (UK:/ˈkɒktoʊ/KOK-toh,US:/kɒkˈtoʊ/kok-TOH;French:[ʒɑ̃mɔʁisøʒɛnklemɑ̃kɔkto]; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremostavant-garde artists of the 20th century and highly influential on theSurrealist andDadaist movements, among others.[1] TheNational Observer suggested that "of the artistic generation whose daring gave birth to Twentieth Century Art, Cocteau came closest to being aRenaissance man".[2]
Though his body of work encompassed many different media, Cocteau insisted on calling himself apoet, classifying the great variety of his works — poems, novels, plays, essays, drawings, films — aspoésie,poésie de roman,poésie de thêatre,poésie critique,poésie graphique andpoésie cinématographique.[4]
Cocteau was born inMaisons-Laffitte,Yvelines,[5] to Georges Cocteau and Eugénie Lecomte, a socially prominent Parisian family. His father, a lawyer and amateur painter, died by suicide when Cocteau was nine. From 1900 to 1904, Cocteau attended theLycée Condorcet where he met and began a relationship with schoolmate Pierre Dargelos, who reappeared throughout Cocteau's work "John Cocteau: Erotic Drawings".[6]
He left home at fifteen. He published his first volume of poems,Aladdin's Lamp, at nineteen. Cocteau soon became known inBohemian artistic circles asThe Frivolous Prince, the title of a volume he published at twenty-two.Edith Wharton described him as a man "to whom every great line of poetry was a sunrise, every sunset the foundation of the Heavenly City..."[7]
Russian impresarioSergei Diaghilev persuaded Cocteau to write a scenario for a ballet, which resulted inParade in 1917. It was produced byDiaghilev, with sets by Picasso, thelibretto by Apollinaire and the music byErik Satie. "If it had not been for Apollinaire in uniform," wrote Cocteau, "with his skull shaved, the scar on his temple and the bandage around his head, women would have gouged our eyes out with hairpins."[9]
An important exponent ofavant-garde art, Cocteau had great influence on the work of others, including a group of composers known asLes Six. In the early twenties, he and other members of Les Six frequented a wildly popular bar namedLe Boeuf sur le Toit, a name that Cocteau himself had a hand in picking. The popularity was due in no small measure to the presence of Cocteau and his friends.[10]
In 1918, he met the French poetRaymond Radiguet. They collaborated on literary projects, socialized, and traveled together. Cocteau also assisted in obtaining Radiguet's exemption from military service. Admiring of Radiguet's great literary talent, Cocteau promoted his friend's works in his artistic circle and arranged for the publication by Grasset ofLe Diable au corps, a largely autobiographical story of an adulterous relationship between a married woman and a younger man, exerting his influence to have the novel awarded the "Nouveau Monde" literary prize. Some contemporaries and later commentators thought there might have been a romantic component to their friendship.[11] Cocteau himself was aware of this perception, and worked earnestly to dispel the notion that their relationship was sexual in nature.[12]
There is disagreement over Cocteau's reaction to Radiguet's sudden death in 1923, with some claiming that it left him stunned, despondent and prey toopium addiction. Opponents of that interpretation point out that he did not attend the funeral (he generally did not attend funerals) and immediately left Paris with Diaghilev for a performance ofLes noces (The Wedding) by theBallets Russes atMonte Carlo.
His opium addiction at the time,[13] Cocteau said, was only coincidental, due to a chance meeting withLouis Laloy, the administrator of theMonte Carlo Opera. Cocteau's opium use and his efforts to stop profoundly changed his literary style. His most notable book,Les Enfants Terribles, was written in a week during a strenuousopium weaning.[14]
InOpium: Diary of a Cure, he recounts the experience of his recovery from opium addiction in 1929. His account, which includes vivid pen-and-ink illustrations, alternates between his moment-to-moment experiences ofdrug withdrawal and his current thoughts about people and events in his world. Cocteau was supported throughout his recovery by his friend and correspondent, Catholic philosopherJacques Maritain. Under Maritain's influence, Cocteau made a temporary return to the sacraments of theCatholic Church. With Maritain, he founded the literary magazineLe Roseau d'Or.[15] He again returned to the Church later in life and undertook a number of religious art projects.[16]
On 15 June 1926 Cocteau's playOrphée was staged in Paris. It was quickly followed by an exhibition of drawings and "constructions" calledPoésie plastique–objets, dessins. Cocteau wrote the libretto forIgor Stravinsky's opera-oratorioOedipus rex, which had its original performance in theThéâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris on 30 May 1927. In 1929 one of his most celebrated and well-known works, the novelLes Enfants terribles was published.[4]
In 1930 Cocteau made his first filmThe Blood of a Poet, publicly shown in 1932. Though now generally accepted as asurrealist film, the surrealists themselves did not accept it as a truly surrealist work.[citation needed] Although this is one of Cocteau's best-known works, his 1930s are notable rather for a number of stage plays, above allLa Voix humaine andLes Parents terribles, which was a popular success. His 1934 playLa Machine infernale was Cocteau's stage version of theOedipus legend and is considered to be his greatest work for the theatre.[17] During this period Cocteau also published two volumes of journalism, includingMon Premier Voyage: Tour du Monde en 80 jours, a neo-Jules Verne around the world travel reportage he made for the newspaperParis-Soir.[4]
Tribute to René Clair: I Married a Witch, Cocteau's 1945 set design for theThéâtre de la Mode
Throughout his life, Cocteau tried to maintain a distance from political movements, confessing to a friend that "my politics are non-existent".[18] According toClaude Arnaud, from the 1920s on, Cocteau's only deeply held political convictions were a markedpacifism andantiracism.[19] He praised the French republic for serving as a haven for the persecuted, and applauded Picasso's anti-war paintingGuernica as a cross that "Franco would always carry on his shoulder".[20] In 1940, Cocteau signed a petition circulated by the Ligue internationale contre l'antisémitisme (International League Against Antisemitism) which protested the rise ofracism andantisemitism in France, and declared himself "ashamed of his white skin" after witnessing the plight of colonized peoples during his travels.[19]
In his diary, Cocteau accused France of disrespect towards Hitler and speculated on the Führer's sexuality. Cocteau effusively praised Breker's sculptures in an article entitledSalut à Breker published in 1942. This piece caused him to be arraigned on charges of collaboration after the war, though he was cleared of any wrongdoing and had used his contacts for his failed attempt to save friends such asMax Jacob.[22] Later, after growing closer with communists such asLouis Aragon, Cocteau would nameJoseph Stalin as "the only great politician of the era".[23]
In 1940,Le Bel Indifférent, Cocteau's play written for and starringÉdith Piaf (who died the day before Cocteau), was enormously successful.[24]
Cocteau's later years are mostly associated with his films. Cocteau's films, most of which he both wrote and directed, were particularly important in introducing the avant-garde intoFrench cinema and influenced to a certain degree the upcomingFrench New Wave genre.[3]
In 1945, Cocteau was one of several designers who created sets for theThéâtre de la Mode. He drew inspiration from filmmakerRené Clair while makingTribute to René Clair: I Married a Witch. Themaquette is described in his "Journal 1942–1945", in his entry for 12 February 1945:
I saw the model of my set. Fashion bores me, but I am amused by the set and fashion placed together. It is a smoldering maid's room. One discovers an aerial view of Paris through the wall and ceiling holes. It creates vertigo. On the iron bed lies a fainted bride. Behind her stand several dismayed ladies. On the right, a very elegant lady washes her hands in a flophouse basin. Through the unhinged door on the left, a lady enters with raised arms. Others are pushed against the walls. The vision provoking this catastrophe is a bride-witch astride a broom, flying through the ceiling, her hair and train streaming.
In 1956, Cocteau decorated theChapelle Saint-Pierre inVillefranche-sur-Mer with mural paintings. The following year he also decorated the marriage hall at the Hôtel de Ville inMenton.[25]
Jean Cocteau never hid hishomosexuality. He was the author of the mildly homoerotic and semi-autobiographicalLe Livre blanc (translated asThe White Paper orThe White Book),[26] published anonymously in 1928. He never repudiated its authorship and a later edition of the novel features his foreword and drawings. The novel begins:
As far back as I can remember, and even at an age when the mind does not yet influence the senses, I find traces of my love of boys. I have always loved the strong sex that I find legitimate to call the fair sex. My misfortunes came from a society that condemns the rare as a crime and forces us to reform our inclinations.
Frequently his work, either literary (Les enfants terribles), graphic (erotic drawings, book illustration, paintings) or cinematographic (The Blood of a Poet,Orpheus,Beauty and the Beast), is pervaded with homosexual undertones,homoerotic imagery/symbolism orcamp. In 1947 Paul Morihien published a clandestine edition ofQuerelle de Brest byJean Genet, featuring 29 very explicit erotic drawings by Cocteau. In recent years several albums of Cocteau'shomoerotica have been available to the general public.
In the 1930s, Cocteau is rumoured to have had a platonic affair with PrincessNatalie Paley, the daughter of aRomanov Grand Duke and herself a sometime actress, model, and former wife of couturierLucien Lelong.[27]
Cocteau died of a heart attack at hischâteau inMilly-la-Forêt,Essonne,France, on 11 October 1963 at the age of 74. His friend, French singerÉdith Piaf, had died the previous day. Her death was announced on the morning of Cocteau's day of death. It has been said, in a story which is almost certainlyapocryphal, that his heart failed upon hearing of Piaf's death.[29]
Cocteau's health had already been in decline for several months, and he had previously had a severe heart attack on 22 April 1963. A more plausible suggestion for the reason behind this decline in health has been proposed by authorRoger Peyrefitte,[30] who notes that Cocteau had been devastated by a breach with his longtime friend, socialite and notable patronFrancine Weisweiller, as a result of an affair she had been having with a minor writer.[31] Weisweiller and Cocteau did not reconcile until shortly before Cocteau's death.
According to his wishes, Cocteau is buried beneath the floor of the Chapelle Saint-Blaise des Simples in Milly-la-Forêt.[32] The epitaph on his gravestone set in the floor of the chapel reads: "I stay with you" (French:Je reste avec vous).
During his life, Cocteau was commander of theLegion of Honor, Member of the Mallarmé Academy, German Academy (Berlin), American Academy,Mark Twain (U.S.A) Academy, Honorary President of theCannes Film Festival, Honorary President of the France-Hungary Association and President of the Jazz Academy and the Academy of the Disc.
Film criticPauline Kael mentions that revivals of the filmBlood of a Poet led to Cocteau being considered one of the most important filmmakers of his time, because he was "an artist using the medium for his own end." She said that he caused audiences to start looking at films in a new way, as invited filmmakers and no longer as merely audience members.[33]
Collection of three vinyl recordings ofJean Cocteau includingLa Voix humaine bySimone Signoret, 18 songs composed by Louis Bessières, Bee Michelin and Renaud Marx, on double-pianoPaul Castanier,Le Discours de réception à l'Académie française, Jacques Canetti JC1, 1984
Derniers propos à bâtons rompus avec Jean Cocteau, 16 September 1963 à Milly-la-Forêt, Bel Air 311035
Jean Cocteau: A Self-Portrait, A Conversation with William Fifield in French /Jean Cocteau: Un autoportrait, une conversation avec William Fifield en français, TheWilliam Fifield Collection, Times Two Publishing Company. Part of the bilingual Cocteau Series / La série Cocteau, reissued works that include a bilingual French-English transcript of the recording; a full, book-length text of the recording in French originally published by Éditions Stock,Jean Cocteau par Jean Cocteau: Entretiens avec William Fifield; and a monograph in English originally published in the Columbia Essays on Modern Writers series, Columbia University Press,Jean Cocteau.
Anthology, 4 CD containing numerous poems and texts read by the author,Anna la bonne,La Dame de Monte-Carlo andMes sœurs, n'aimez pas les marins byMarianne Oswald,Le Bel Indifférent byEdith Piaf,La Voix humaine byBerthe Bovy,Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel withJean Le Poulain,Jacques Charon and Jean Cocteau, discourse on the reception at the Académie française, with extracts fromLes Parents terribles,La Machine infernale, pieces fromParade on piano with two hands byGeorges Auric andFrancis Poulenc, Frémeaux & Associés FA 064, 1997
Poems by Jean Cocteau read by the author, CD EMI 8551082, 1997
^Francis Steegmuller (1970).Cocteau, A Biography. Boston, Little, Brown.Monsieur, I have just received your letter and must reply despite my regret at being unable to explain the inexplicable. It is possible that my friendship for your son and my deep admiration for his gifts (which are becoming increasingly apparent) are of an uncommon intensity, and that from the outside it is hard to make out how far my feelings go. His literary future is of primary consideration with me: he is a kind of prodigy. Scandal would spoil all this freshness. You cannot possibly believe for a second that I do not try to avoid that by all the means in my power
^Schloesser, Stephen (2016).Jazz Age Catholicism: Mystic Modernism in Postwar Paris, 1919-1933. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 179-184.ISBN9780802087188.
^"Francine Weisweiller".www.telegraph.co.uk. January 2004.Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved19 August 2019.
^Wilson, Scott.Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3rd ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 8971). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle edition.
