Lacie Darby
Instructor A. French
FTCA 4400
15 April 2015
Title
Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, best known as Antonin Artaud, was an anomalous yet astonishing French artist of the early 20th century who held an array of titles including poet, playwright, actor, director, and dramatic theorist. Artaud is profoundly associated with the Surrealist Movement of the 1920’s as well as avant-garde, or experimental, radical theatre. Although his innovative ideas surrounding theatre have influenced many popular writers and dramatists in history, Artaud received little to no success for his poetry, acting, or directing during his lifetime. His greatest contributions to theatre were his harsh and elaborate criticisms of dramatic art, which influenced playwrights
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Antonin’s parents, Euphrasia Nalpas and Antoine-Roi Artaud were wealthy residents of Marseille and came from a Greek/Turkish background. At the young age of four years old Antonin was diagnosed with a deadly case of spinal meningitis, a disease affecting the protective cells around the brain and spinal cord. A year later at age five, Artaud nearly died from the disease and began to suffer with chronic pain and a stammering speech. The mental and physical hardships commenced into his teens, causing severe bouts of clinical depression and nervous anxiety. Artaud was schooled at Coll’e du Sacre Coeur in Marseille where he first experimented with theatre, but he spent much of his childhood institutionalized in rehabilitation clinics due to his poor health. When Antonin suffered a neurasthenia attack causing extreme fatigue and damage to his nerves at age 19, he was treated in a resting clinic and prescribed opium for the first time (Hamm …show more content…
He was discharged only a year later for mental health issues, instability, and drug addiction. After leaving the army, Artaud checked himself into a Swiss clinic where he was prescribed more drugs and remained for 2 consecutive years. During his stay at the clinic, Artaud read often and was influenced by writers such as Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe. (???). Upon his discharge, Artaud decided to move to Paris and pursue writing. While composing a collection of poetry and essays in Paris, he also found a niche in avant-garde theatre—experimental theatre, astray from the norms of playwrights of the
Another feature in his works was simplicity. For example, in 1977, in one of his productions called ‘Curious Schools of Theatrical Dancing: Part 1.’ This is reflected in costume, props and choice of music. He did not use any props but the production was effective in the choice of costume being a simple black and white unitard with big stripes going diagonally over his body. In this p...
The French Neo Classical era of theatre has influenced today’s society in a number of ways including woman’s fashion, dance, architecture and theatre performance. We have seen this throughout history and it still has continued into today’s society.
During his childhood he suffered from Chorea, a rare neurological disease which caused various physiological dysfunctions (Ho, n.d.), leaving him bedridden, he would spend time drawing, listening to the radio, and surrounding himself with pictures of celebrities. This period in his life heavily influenced his personality and interests which developed further into his career in art (Mackin, 2010).
Jean Kilbourne, Richard Pollay, Sut Jhally, Bernard McGrane and other noted critics, performing a cultural
Modern man can respond to Artaud now because they share so many psychological similarities and affinities.” In the same book she also states that Artaud was unable to adapt to society and its schemes and rules. He built an entire world of artistic production around his sickness and fed this world with madness and disease in order to cure himself through his art. Theatre became his medication and relief at a time when he was completely alienated from the reality surrounding him. For Artaud all there is is the body in itself: "The body is the body, alone it stands" (McKeon,1977, p59).
English Psychiatrist, Anthony Storr, once said that, “Originality implies being bold enough to go beyond accepted norms.” In everyday life, ideas and art that play by the ideas of typical “norms” do not stand out like new ideas and perspectives. During the Age of Enlightenment in the1800’s, most authors created literature pertaining to logical facts and reason. This was a very non-expressive, rational epoch that made imaginative artists stand out. As many new world events were taking place during these ages, Romantic artists developed unique ways to express the changes around them and how it made them felt unlike anyone else. Romanticism was an new, artistic movement in which artist’s works were mirror images of their own characters; It represented
In order to understand the motives and experiences that are involved in all of his books, an understanding of some of Antoine’s background is required. Born of aristocratic parents, Antoine lost his father as a small child and watched his brother die as a young teenager. As a young man he adored his mother, who spoiled him frequently. Through the years he kept in touch with her by writing letters, which portrayed the love
The arts portray what humanity feels about itself, making it very important as a self-refection of society. The movie Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen deals with a screenplay writer named Gil, who wants to move from the simple screenplays to writing actual novel. He travels to Paris with his fiancé, Inez, and her family. Every night at midnight he enters a taxi, and travels to the 1920’s meeting famous writers and artists. Through people Gil meets like the writer Ernest Hemmingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein, Gil receives help with his novel. By the end of the movie, Gil realizes that Inez is having an affair, and that he wants to live in Paris with it’s art and beauty. Gil juxtaposes his fiancé Inez because he realizes the importance
The complexity of art can be defined no greater than in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s quote, “One cannot escape the world more certainly than through art, and one cannot bind oneself to it more certainly than through art.” Through this quote, von Goethe emphasizes the beauty and dialectical aspect of art; specifically, he addresses how works of art relate to contemporary times while simultaneously providing a realm of escape for people to invest themselves. Next to Normal, a musical about a mother suffering from a mental disorder, exemplifies this principle.
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud, short as Arthur Rimbaud was born on October 20, 1854 in Charleville, France. His parents were Frederic Rimbaud and Marie Catherine Vitale Cuif (NNDB). His father was an irresponsible army captain who spent only a little time with his family and then left the family when Rimbaud was six (Encyclopedia Britannica). His mother, though under the hardships of life, raised up her children and made them become pious and well-mannered (Encyclopedia Britannica). Before Rimbaud was nine, his mother taught him at home, then they moved to the Cours d’Orleans in 1862 for a better neighborhood (Encyclopedia Britannica). His mother would punish the children by making them learn Latin verse in a strict way if they had made
The Modernism movement brought about profound and all-encompassing changes in society affecting not only art, but literature and music as well. Much of its cause can be attributed to historical reasons, particularly the tumultuous happenings of the early 1900’s. After the atrocities of the Great War, many people were left questioning what they knew and had once thought. Much of this questioning resulted in radical changes of the Modernist movement. Artists, composers, and authors alike now sought to create works that mirrored the chaos of the period they lived in. Moving sharply away from the normality of the period, they created something people had never seen before. Much like the time period itself, these new creations were met with resistance
What is the first thing that comes to mind when the word “art” is presented? Is it a magnificent painting, such as the Mona Lisa? Perhaps it is a pop song that is heard on the radio. Perhaps it is an orchestral combination that unites with an operatic solo to create the symphonic finale of a Broadway production. Maybe it is a poem or a story. It could be a grand display of architecture, a pencil sketch of this display, or a photograph of a glorious sunset on a mountain range. It may possibly be a flawless plot line in a Hollywood production. It could even be a public address presented with excellent communication skills. There are so many different types of art. The varieties in which it comes are endless. Though some art forms are similar
Commedia Dell’ Arte was a distinctive form of stage art in the 1600’s and the famous playwright Moliere furthered its acceptance and import throughout his life. Originating in Italy, the popular art form spread quickly with the aid of traveling troops. One area that was greatly affected by this form of theater was France. The French people adored this theater and made it fit in with their culture. This can be seen in an essay by Gustave Lanson when he states, “In Paris Italian farce had replaced French farce.” The success of Commedia Dell’ Arte during the reign of Charles IX is well-known” (Lanson, 137). This effect can be seen through one of the country’s most famous playwrights, Moliere. Moliere was a renowned playwright and actor that continues to be well-known today. He was greatly influenced by Commedia Dell’ Arte. “Well-known definitions of the Commedia Dell’ Arte are that it was a semi-literary form of theatrical performance based primarily upon effective gestures and lazzi, and involving a limited number of generally accepted types who in their contrasting relation provide the setting for a light and flimsy action linked somehow by the eternal theme of love”( 704). His showing of the art form can be seen through his three most famous plays Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, and The Imaginary Invalid. As Lanson stated, “From soiling the noble and pure conception of comic genius given to us by The Misanthrope and Tartuffe” (Lanson, 134). With the progression from an earlier play to his final play, we can see where Moliere used aspects of Commedia Dell’ Arte and where he veered away to fit his own personal tastes and that of France’s. Moliere was born Jean-Baptise Poquelin in 1622 to a father who was an upholsterer for th...
Youth: The contrasting personality of his stepfather spurred on Baudelaire’s youthful rebellion leading to, amongst many things, his contraction of syphilis, which was his eventual cause of death (Norton, 467).
Maupassant (1850-1893) was a French writer who wrote from a naturalist/realism point of view. Swimming, boating and studying law were some of his interests when not writing. He was kicked out of a seminary, contracted syphilis in his twenties and started writing poetry. He had to withdraw his first volume of poems which were so scandalous they caused a lawsuit. He wrote novels, articles, travel books and short stories. At a young