Jean Cocteau had many interests as a child
Jean Cocteau was born on 5 July 1889 in Maisons-Laffitte near Paris. As children, he and his brother Jean Luc - three years his elder – accompanied their mother on numerous trips which provided a variety of stimuli for Jean Cocteau’s sensitive artistic nature. His father was a successful lawyer, but took his own life when Jean was only ten years old. Cocteau received an exceptional school education, attending the respected Lyzeum Condorcet in Paris. At the age of twenty, he could already look back on several successful lyrical publications including the two volumes Le prince frivol and Lampe d’Aladin, which contributed significantly to his early fame. He owed valuable inspiration to his literary circle of friends who included André Gide, Catulle Mendès, Marcel Proust and Edmond Rostand. Although he primarily saw himself as a poet his whole life, he showed a continuous lively interest in other disciplines. Theatre, in particular ballet, fascinated him greatly, and this passion led to his acquaintance with Igor Strawinski. Despite this, writing remained the young artist’s first calling, and in 1913, Jean Cocteau’s first novel, Potomac, was published.
Jean Cocteau, a universal artist
At the start of the First World War, Jean Cocteau volunteered for military service but was deemed unfit for the front and therefore took on the organisation of wounded transports on his own initiative. For a time, he came into conflict with the authorities because of alleged illegal activity, but was later rehabilitated. After his return home, he wrote the libretto for the Cubist ballet Parade in 1917. Pablo Picasso was also involved in this project, creating the stage set, as was Erik Satie who composed the music and Léonide Massine who was the choreographer, whilst members of the Ballets Russes were brought in as dancers. Jean Cocteau went on to make a name for himself as a novelist, wrote original plays such as Orphée, which was later also filmed by himself, and developed as a universal artist into the maître de plaisir of the cultural city of Paris. As a writer he was accomplished in all literary forms, writing poems, short stories, aphorisms, novellas, novels, dramas and screenplays. Despite this, he remained connected to the fine arts and often demonstrated his talent as a draughtsman. He also cultivated exchanges with other great artists of his time such as Charlie Chaplin and Pablo Picasso.
Cocteau viewed his whole oeuvre as a poem
Jean Cocteau received prizes and awards in old age and was elected poet laureate to France in Forges-les-Eaux at the age of 70. Healthwise, opium poisoning as a result of long-term drug addiction necessitated ongoing medical treatment. Although he made respectable achievements in almost all artistic fields, he wished for his complete oeuvre to be understood exclusively as poetry. He was considered a leading Surrealist, and exerted a great influence on numerous other artists including the group Les Six, which was comprised of friends, all composers, and was based in the famous Parisian artist’s district of Montparnasse.
Jean Cocteau died of a heart attack on 11 October 1963 in Milly-la-Forêt near Paris. On request of the artist, his diary was published posthumously on the occasion of his 100th birthday.
Jean Cocteau - Works that have already been sold at Kunsthaus Lempertz:
