Poetic illumination : Réne Char and his artist allies

245 Pages·2010·18.23 MB·English

by  Char

Poetic Illumination
René Char and his Artist Allies
FAUX TITRE
357
Etudes de langue et littérature françaises
publiées sous la direction de
Keith Busby, †M.J. Freeman,
Sjef Houppermans et Paul Pelckmans
Poetic Illumination
René Char and his Artist Allies
Rosemary Lancaster
AMSTERDAM - NEW YORK, NY 2010
Illustration cover: Victor Brauner, Portrait de René Char, 1934, oil on canvas,
Collections de la Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques Doucet (Université de Paris),
© Victor Brauner/ADAGP, Licensed by Viscopy, 2010.
Cover design: Pier Post.
The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of
‘ISO 9706: 1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents -
Requirements for permanence’.
Le papier sur lequel le présent ouvrage est imprimé remplit les prescriptions
de ‘ISO 9706: 1994, Information et documentation - Papier pour documents -
Prescriptions pour la permanence’.
ISBN: 978-90-420-3207-1
E-Book ISBN: 978-90-420-3208-8
© Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2010
Printed in The Netherlands
To Charles
Contents

Acknowledgements 9

Titles of Collections 11

René Char: 1907-1988 15

Introduction 17

Chapter I
Surrealism and Beyond: Kandinsky, Dali, Corot, Courbet 31

Chapter II
Picasso Reviewed: From Fact to Myth 55

Chapter III
New Horizons: “Presenting Georges Braque” 73

Chapter IV
The Fantastic Realism of Joan Miró 99

Chapter V
Georges de La Tour: Artist of Light and Shade 121

Chapter VI
The Magic of Lascaux 141

Chapter VII
Nicolas de Staël: Seeker of Summits, Child of the Pole Star 157

Chapter VIII
Vieira da Silva: A Web of Connections 177
Chapter IX
The Last Collections: Vincent Van Gogh and Alexandre Galperine
203
Epilogue
The Illumination of the Poet 223

Dramatis Personæ 229

Selective Bibliography 235

Index 247
Illustrations

Frontispiece, photograph of René Char

Pages 95 to 98
1. Wassily Kandinsky, frontispiece, Le Marteau sans maître (1934)
2. Salvado Dali, frontispiece, Artine (1930)
3. Gustave Courbet, The Stone Breakers (1849)
4. Pablo Picasso, poster, La Provence Point Oméga (1966)
5. Georges Braque, frontispiece, Le Soleil des eaux (1949)
6-8. Georges Braque, ills. for Lettera amorosa (1963)

Pages 137 to 140
9. Joan Miró, The Nightingale’s Song at Midnight and Morning Rain
(1940)
10. Joan Miró, frontispiece, A la santé du serpent (1954)
11. Joan Miró, ill. for A la santé du serpent (1954)
12. Georges de La Tour, The Magdalen with the Night Lamp (c.1640)
13. Georges de La Tour, Job Mocked by his Wife (c.1640)
14. Caves of Lascaux, rock painting of a hunting scene (c.17,000 BC)
15. Caves of Lascaux, frieze of deer (c.17,000 BC)
16. Caves of Lascaux, rock painting of a horned animal (c.17,000 BC)

Pages 195 to 201
17-18. Nicolas de Staël, two woodcuts, Poèmes (1951)
19. Nicolas de Staël, Footballers (1952)
20. Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, René Char’s Other Library (1967)
21. Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, ill. for “The Swift” (1967)
22. Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, ill. for “Mumbling” (1954)
23. Vincent Van Gogh, Wheatfield with Reaper (1889)
24. Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night (1889)
25. Alexandre Galperine, title page, Le Gisant mis en lumière (1987)
26. Alexandre Galperine, ill. for Le Gisant mis en lumière (1987)
27. Alexandre Galperine, frontispiece, Eloge d’une Soupçonnée
(1990)
28. Victor Brauner, Analogical Portrait of René Char (1945)
29. Victor Brauner, The Poet Reborn as Char Awakens Man (1950)
Acknowledgements

Certain people and institutions have helped and encouraged me during
the preparation of this book. I am especially grateful to the University
of Western Australia for supporting my work as an Honorary
Research Fellow. James Lawler, Tim Unwin and Peter Morgan have
long taken an interest in my research, and inspired me with their
scholarly expertise and personal kindness. From France I have re-
ceived the warm support of Edmond Nogacki and of René Char’s
widow, Marie-Claude Char; the artist Alexandre Galperine kindly
permitted me to reproduce two of his illustrations of Char’s work.
I would like to thank my publisher, Editions Rodopi, for their
interest in my project, in particular Christa Stevens for her valuable
editorial advice. Various people and professional bodies have facil-
itated the visual presentation of my research. Viscopy acquired
permissions for the reproduction of artistic works in copyright and I
thank Belinda Layton for expediting the process. Laura Summerton of
Bridgeman, Anne-Catherine Biedermann of Réunion des Musées
Nationaux and Elvira Allocati of Scala Archives were most helpful in
supplying me with high quality images; I am grateful to Bernard
Krespine, Vincent Reniel and Céline Gervaise of the Bibliothèque
Nationale de France for helping me to locate images of Char’s work in
its archives of documents and rare books and to Marie-Dominique
Nobécourt and Suzanne Nagy-Kirchhofer for accessing images in the
Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques Doucet. I have been inspired by other
translators of Char’s work, notably Jackson Mathews, Mary Ann
Caws and Susanne Dubroff.
Chapters II and VIII of my book are based on articles which
originally appeared in Essays in French Literature (now Essays in
French Literature and Culture ). The editorial board has kindly per-
mitted me to reproduce them in part.
I am indebted to the loyal support of my family. My husband
Charles was a fastidious proof-reader and helped heroically with the
book’s final format. My eldest son Simon proofread the bibliography
meticulously.