Peter Read, Professor of Modern French Literature and Visual Arts in the Department of Modern Languages, has recently published an edition of correspondence between the French poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire and the art dealer and collector Paul Guillaume.
In 1911, when Paul Guillaume was 19 years old, Apollinaire became his guide and adviser, introducing him to Picasso, Braque, Giorgio De Chirico and to Russian avant-garde artists working in Paris. Their correspondence, which lasted until Apollinaire’s death in November 1918, shows how he and Paul Guillaume together organised a series of important exhibitions and publications and successfully promoted appreciation of African and other tribal arts. Their 120 letters also, however, reveal increasing friction and disagreements, resulting from the contrasting priorities and values of the poet and the dealer.
For details of the book, please see: www.gallimard.fr/Catalogue/GALLIMARD/Art-et-Artistes/Correspondance10
The correspondence has been published to coincide with Guillaume Apollinaire. Le regard du poète, an exhibition at the Orangerie, in the Tuilerie Gardens in Paris, running until 18 July 2016, featuring works by many major artists defended by Apollinaire, but also representing his passion for cinema, theatre and all aspects of popular culture. Peter Read is on the Advisory Committee for the exhibition and has contributed three chapters to the exhibition catalogue, published jointly by Gallimard and the Musée d’Orsay.
A 50-minute tour and discussion of the Apollinaire exhibition, presented by Peter Read and the curators Laurence des Cars and Cécile Girardeau, was broadcast on 14 April in the series ‘La compagnie des auteurs’, on the national radio station France Culture. It is now available as a podcast at www.franceculture.fr/recherche?q=La+compagnie+des+auteurs
Peter Read and Laurence Campa will also present a public lecture with readings from the Apollinaire-Paul Guillaume correspondence at the Orangerie on 18 May 2016 at 7 pm.
The Apollinaire exhibition is twinned with Picasso.Sculptures, an exhibition currently at the Picasso Museum in Paris and running until 28 August 2016. Peter Read chaired a session at the Picasso.Sculptures international conference hosted by the Museum from 24-26 March 2016. He will also be giving a public lecture at the museum on 7 June 2016 at 6.30pm, where he will discuss a series of welded metal sculptures Picasso made between 1928 and 1932 as monuments to Apollinaire. The lecture will include conversation with the curators Cécile Godefroy and Virginie Perdrisot.
Further details of the event are available at www.museepicassoparis.fr/conference-monument-apollinaire/