Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau[1] 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French artist, poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager, playwright and filmmaker.
In 1955 Cocteau was made a member of the Académie Française and The Royal Academy of Belgium. During his life Cocteau was made a Commander of the Légion d'honneur.
His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie,María Félix, Édith Piaf (whom he cast in one of his one-act plays entitled Le Bel Indifferent in 1940), and Raymond Radiguet.
Cocteau directed eleven films in avant-gard style, wrote scripts for six films and dialogue for three, and directed the photgraphy for one more. He published 23 books or pamphlets of original poetry, and 26 volumes of poetic criticism and collections. He illustrated 12 works of poetry, and wrote five novels. He made a number of recordings, mostly spoken poems. He wrote or worked on 21 stage performances, some of which were ballets, and some were plays.
In all his creative work, he was a 'modernist'.
Work in ballet
Cocteau was involved in Diaghilev's Ballets Russes from the first season in Paris, 1909. he wrote scenarios (librettos) for Fokine's Le Dieu Blue in 1912, Massine's Parade in 1917 and Nijinska's Le Train Blue in 1924. He also design company posters, and worked for several other ballet companies. He wrote many articles on dance, and made sketches of many in Diaghilev's circle.[2]
References
- Steegmuller, Francis 1970. Cocteau: a biography. Atlantic-Little, Brown, Boston.
- Brown, Frederick. An impersonation of Angels: a biography of Jean Cocteau, The Viking Press, New York.
- Tsakiridou, Cornelia A. ed. 1997. Reviewing Orpheus: essays on the cinema and art of Jean Cocteau. Lewisburg PA: Bucknell University Press.
Notes
- ↑ Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ kɔkto]
- ↑ Crane, Debra & Mackrell, Judith 2002. The Oxford dictionary of dance. Oxford University Press, Oxford.