From Booklist
An aura of making up for past neglect suffuses this complement to a retrospective of French artist-in-all-media Cocteau's work and image (he was one of the most depicted modern artists, by others as well as himself). Author after author of the volume's 16 thought-provoking essays says Cocteau (1891-1963) is near-criminally undervalued because of the ease of execution his clean, mobile line suggests and because he was openly homosexual. He exacerbated his underestimation by contributing to but not joining the great art movements of his heyday--dada and surrealism, in particular--and by deferring to Picasso, to the point of worship, as the greatest modern artist. His style and matter recall the great Spaniard's, but where Picasso is heavy and carnal, Cocteau is light and sexy (often explicitly). His films, especially Le Sang d'un poete, La Belle et le Bete, and orphee, may be his finest achievements. Although the book sadly lacks an index and data about the many names cited and seen in passing, the 500-plus illustrations make it invaluable. Ray Olson
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Book Description
Jean Cocteau (1890-1963) was his contemporary Marcel Duchamp’s exact opposite: while Duchamp retreated from creating, Cocteau embraced art in all its forms--music, opera, ballet, and film as well as theatre, novels, graphics, and poetry--while never becoming attached to one "school" (especially not the Surrealists). Angel-weight rather than heavyweight, Cocteau may seem more glitter than gold. But he deserves serious reconsideration, not only for his own art and poetry but also for his role in the process and criticism of the art and media around him, and not least as a self-aware homosexual. He had a finger in every artistic pie in Paris in its modernist golden age. This is the first comprehensive study of the man and his work since his death in 1963. It accompanies the Jean Cocteau retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in September 2003, traveling in 2004 to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. This stunningly illustrated English edition of Cocteau sur le fil du siecle makes available important essays by seventeen French authors, including some who knew Cocteau personally. They illuminatingly reassess his life and art, notably his early career.
About the Author
Dominique Paini is chief curator of the Cocteau exhibition at the Centre Pompidou.
Cocteau SYNOPSIS
A catalogue and companion to the Jean Cocteau, sur le fin du siècle exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris from September 2002 to January 2004 and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from May to August 2004. The 17 essays and 472 illustrations celebrate the life and work of the multi-genre French artist 40 years after his death. The Centre published the French edition in 2003. Distributed by the University of Washington Press. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
This wonderfully illustrated catalog accompanies the first international exhibition (Centre Pompidou, Paris, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts) on French filmmaker, poet, and artist Jean Cocteau. Covering all aspects of his oeuvre, it focuses on many of the overreaching themes in his work, such as the reinterpretation of the classical myths of Orpheus and Oedipus and their fusion with more personal myths. Cocteau was preoccupied by the theme of death as well as the symbolism of mirrors, which often bring about the metamorphosis and resurrection of the protagonists in his films or writings. This book also covers Cocteau's relationships with leading 20th-century cultural icons, including Picasso, whom he admired greatly (there is often a curling classical line in his drawing reminiscent of Picasso's), as well as the dadaists and French avant-garde filmmakers of the 1940s and 1950s. Recommended for academic libraries supporting programs in French studies and the fine arts; libraries needing a more basic introduction to Cocteau are better off considering Francis Steegmuller's older but enduring Cocteau: A Biography. Sandra Rothenberg, Framingham State Coll., Lib., MA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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