Alexandre Mercereau (22 October 1884, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

– 1945) was a French

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

poet and critic associated with

Unanimism Unanimism (French: ''Unanimisme'') is a movement in French literature begun by Jules Romains in the early 1900s, with his first book, ''La vie unanime'', published in 1904. It can be dated to a sudden conception Romains had in October 1903 of a 'c ...

and the

Abbaye de Créteil L'Abbaye de Créteil or Abbaye group (french: Le Groupe de l'Abbaye) was a utopian artistic and literary community founded during the month of October, 1906. It was named after the Créteil Abbey, as most gatherings took place in that suburb of P ...

. He founded the Villa Médicis Libre, which helped impoverished artists and operated as charitable reformatory for delinquent teenagers. Mercereau's work inspired the revolutionary artistic movement of the early 20th century known as

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

Early life and career

Born Alexandre Mercereau de la Chaume, he signed his first texts Eshmer-Valdor, a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

he quickly abandoned. In 1901, at sixteen years of age, Mercereau's first verses were published; poetry and criticism in ''Oeuvre d'art international''. In 1904 he co-founded the magazine ''La Vie'', where he became assistant editor, drama critic, and columnist.

Jean Metzinger Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...

, ''Alexandre Mercereau'', a critical essay published in ''Vers et Prose'', 27 (October–November 1911) Ernest Florian-Parmentier, ''Toutes les lyres, Anthologie-Critique des Poètes Contemporains''
1911, Paris, Gastein-Serge In 1905 he published ''Les Thuribulums affaissés'', a book of verse that attracted much attention. At the same time, he co-founded the Association Ernest-Renan. In 1906 he organized the French section of Salon exhibition and literary review ''La Toison d'Or''. In 1907 he published ''Gens de là et d'ailleurs''. From 1907 to 1908 he co-founded and participated in the experience of the

, a collective open to artists. Mercereau organized exhibitions of French artists in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Kiev, and Odessa. After World War I he published a pamphlet, ''L'Abbaye et le bolchevisme culturel'' (published by Eugène Figuière), in which he denounced the attitude of Georges Duhamel and

Charles Vildrac Charles Vildrac (November 22, 1882 – June 25, 1971), born "Charles Messager",''1971 Britannica Book of the Year'' (for events of 1971), "Obituaries 1971" article, page 532, "Vildrac, Charles" item was a French libertarian playwright, poet a ...

. From 1910 he co-directed with

Paul Fort Jules-Jean-Paul Fort (1 February 1872 – 20 April 1960) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. At the age of 18, reacting against the Naturalistic theatre, Fort founded the Théâtre d'Art (1890–93). He also founded and edit ...

the Parisian literary review ''Vers et Prose''. In 1911 he created the literary section of the

Salon d'Automne The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The ...

in Paris, called ''Comité d'initiative théâtrale'', consisting of public lectures by emerging authors at the Théâtre de l'Odéon. He subsequently co-founded the ''Revue indépendante'' and ''La Rue'', in addition to ''Vers et Prose''. Mercereau was literary director at Jacques Povolozky & Cie publishing, director of Caméléon, a ''café littéraire'' in

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...

. In ''Histoire Contemporaine des Lettres Française de 1885 à 1914'' (Eugène Figuière), Ernest Florian-Parmentier writes "... M. Mercereau seems endowed with all the qualities that lead almost inevitably to success. Abbaye de Créteil 1906

Abbaye de Créteil

The

was a ''

phalanstère A ''phalanstère'' (or phalanstery) was a type of building designed for a self-contained utopian community, ideally consisting of 500–2000 people working together for mutual benefit, and developed in the early 19th century by Charles Fourier ...

'' utopian community founded during the fall of 1906 by Alexandre Mercereau, along with the poets René Arcos, Henri-Martin Barzun,

, and the artist, theorist

Albert Gleizes Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...

. The movement drew its inspiration from the ''Abbaye de Thélème,'' a fictional creation by Rabelais in his novel ''

Gargantua ''The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel'' (french: La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel) is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais, telling the adventures of two giants, Gargantua ( , ) and his son Pantagruel ...

''. Albert Gleizes met the artists Berthold Mahn, Jacques d'Otémar and Josué Gaboriaud while in Amiens (1904), as well as the printer, Lucien Linard, who would run the printshop at the

. At this time, the art critic Jean Valmy Baysse (and soon historian of the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

), in collaboration with Alexandre Mercereau, René Arcos,

and

Georges Duhamel Georges Duhamel (; ; 30 June 1884 – 13 April 1966) was a French author, born in Paris. Duhamel trained as a doctor, and during World War I was attached to the French Army. In 1920, he published '' Confession de minuit'', the first of a se ...

were invited to participate on a new journal, titled ''La Vie''.Peter Brooke, ''Albert Gleizes, Chronology of his life, 1881-1953''
/ref> Symbolist poet and writer Henri-Martin Barzun joined the group of writers and painters in 1905. Gleizes assisted in the formation of the Association

Ernest Renan Joseph Ernest Renan (; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, expert of Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote in ...

in December at the

Théâtre Pigalle The Théâtre Pigalle was a theatre in Paris, located in the rue Pigalle in the ninth ''arrondissement''. History Opened on June 20, 1929, financed by Philippe de Rothschild on the estate of his father Henri de Rothschild, the Rothschilds' am ...

, in an attempt to counter the rise of militarist propaganda. In the process, publications and artwork tended towards a more popular and secular culture. Gleizes was in charge of the literary and artistic developments that organized poetry readings and street theatre. AlexandreMercereau

Abbaye de Créteil, interior scene, circa 1907

Mercereau, Gleizes and others throughout 1906 worked on a concept established by Charles Vildrac of creating a self-supporting community of artists. The motivation was to develop their art free of commercial considerations. In Créteil, a small village outside Paris, they invested a house and grounds. Barzun paid the rent for the first six months, financed with his small inheritance. Gleizes and Vildrac moved in during the month of December. At the outset of 1907 the

consisted of Gleizes, Arcos and Vildrac with his wife Rose, sister of Duhamel. Duhamel and Barzun joined the group periodically. The musician Albert Doyen, later to become known as founder of the ''Fêtes du Peuple'' also participated intermittently. In 1906 Mercereau travelled to Moscow, where he met a group of Russian symbolist and Art Nouveau artists called Голубая роза (Blue Rose). There worked on a magazine publication and helped organize the French section of a salon exhibition called ''La Toison d'Or'' (Golden Fleece, Золотое руно). Simultaneously, he worked as a correspondent for the Abbaye de Créteil. He returned to Paris in the Spring of 1907 with a Russian wife. At this time the Abbaye group supported itself through the printing (run by Linard and Gleizes) of high-quality material. The painters Berthold Mahn, Jacques d'Otémar and Henri Doucet visited periodically. A former student at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number ...

and a friend of

Maurice Denis Maurice Denis (; 25 November 1870 – 13 November 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist, and writer. An important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art, he is associated with ''Les Nabis'', symbolism, a ...

and

Les Nabis Les Nabis (French: les nabis, ) were a group of young French artists active in Paris from 1888 until 1900, who played a large part in the transition from impressionism and academic art to abstract art, symbolism and the other early movements of ...

, Henri Le Fauconnier was painting in a progressively geometric fashion. He exhibited his seascapes at the 1909

Salon des Indépendants Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (Pa ...

, and would soon meet Albert Gleizes through Alexandre Mercereau the same year. Mercereau, perhaps, realized the extent of their common interests.Daniel Robbins, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, ''Albert Gleizes, 1881-1953, A Retrospective Exhibition'', 1964
/ref>

Villa Médicis Libre

Mercereau founded the Villa Médicis Libre, in Villepreux, under the patronage of Fondation Georges Bonjean, to provide inexpensive accommodations for avant-garde artists living in difficulties. André Lhote and

Raoul Dufy Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textile as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted ...

resided there in 1910.

Mercereau and Cubism

According to

, Mercereau is responsible for having introduced him to

Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstra ...

and Henri Le Fauconnier in 1910—the same year that Mercereau curated and included these artists in a Moscow exhibition, probably the first Jack of Diamonds Exhibition. Prior to meeting, Gleizes and Metzinger had been linked by

Louis Vauxcelles Louis Vauxcelles (born Louis Meyer; 1 January 187021 July 1943) was a French art critic. He is credited with coining the terms '' Fauvism'' (1905) and ''Cubism'' (1908). He used several pseudonyms in various publications: Pinturrichio, Vasari, ...

' disparaging comments on "des cubes blafards" which likely referred to Metzinger's ''Portrait of Apollinaire'' (1909–10) and Gleizes' '' L'Arbre (The Tree)'' (1910) at the

. Mercereau had previously included Gleizes' ''Les Brumes du Matin sur la Marne'' in a Russian exhibition of 1908.

"Given Mercereau's long standing delight in promoting group activity", writes art historian Daniel Robbins, "it is easy to recognize his pleasure in having brought together three painters whose works exhibited similar interests and who could be identified with his own synthetic ideals, ideals which had been influential in the Abbaye's development". As organizer of the literary section of the Salon d'Automne of 1909, he was able to introduce Gleizes to painters exhibiting there and to introduce his own concepts to the world of painting.

In 1909 and 1910 a significant group of artists came together through Mercereau. The entire group—including Allard, Barzun, Beauduin, Castiaux, Jouve, Divoire,

Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist, and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye ...

, Brâncuși, Varlet and even Apollinaire and

Salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

—became sympathetic to the ideas of the Abbaye. During the Summer of 1908 Gleizes and Mercereau organized a ''Journée portes ouvertes'' at the Abbaye, with poetry readings, music and exhibitions. Participants included the Italian Symbolist poet, and soon principle theorist of Futurism,

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist, and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye d ...

, and the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuși.Jean Metzinger, ''Alexandre Mercereau'', Vers et Prose, Paris, no. 27, October–December, 1911, p. 122

"In poetry", writes Robbins, "this post-symbolist attempt to achieve new forms had to break decisively with the old unities of time, place and action. Unity of scene did not correspond with the reality of modem life; unity of time did not correspond with the culturally known and anticipated effects of change. That is why Mercereau (as Metzinger noted) shifted his scenes so violently, why Barzun tried to solve the problem of simultaneously developing lines of action by choral chanting. Similarly Gleizes and his painter friends sought to create a vision free from introverted or obscure imagery which could treat collective and simultaneous factors. This necessitated a new kind of allegory opposed to the old meaning which presented one thing as the symbolic equivalent of another. A tentative precedent perhaps existed in Courbet's ''Real Allegory'' which, however, might have been considered an allegorical failure by Gleizes and Metzinger because Courbet "did not suspect that the visible world only became the real world by the operation of thought".

This group of artists met regularly at Le Fauconnier's studio near the Boulevard de Montparnasse. Salmon and Apollinaire were only peripheral members, participating in divers literary and artistic circles, but clearly Apollinaire's conception of Cubism was influenced by the epic notions found in the old Abbaye circle. In his preface to the 1911 Brussels Indépendants, Apollinaire wrote:

...thus has come a simple and noble art, expressive and measured, eager to discover beauty, and entirely ready to tackle those vast subjects which the painters of yesterday did not dare to undertake, abandoning them to the presumptuous, old-fashioned and boring daubers of the official Salons.

This conception is not based on the studies of Picasso and Braque (what became known years later as the analytical Cubism), which had annihilated subject matter almost entirely and confined it to exceedingly flat space. Instead, it suggests the broad concepts held by the Mercereau-Gleizes circle, concepts at that time visible only in the paintings of Albert Gleizes, Henri Le Fauconnier,

and Fernand Léger. The subjects treated by these Cubists differed significantly from the isolated still lifes or figures chosen by Picasso and Braque. Mercereau attempted to represent facets of

time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

in his writings, much as Gleizes and Metzinger attempted to represent facets of space, time and form in their paintings. A painting by Gleizes entitled '' Man in a Hammock'' integrates the man into the landscape, forming a single image by virtue of a non-linear grid. This device is used by Gleizes to accommodate all aspects of the scene. One of Mercereau's books can be seen in the painting, along with the still-life next to the sitter, the man, and the environment. All are symbols of fundamental importance to Gleizes, an artist who rarely, if ever, contented himself with mundane subjects. The man represented in the painting is very likely a portrait of Jean Metzinger.Briend, C., Exhibition Catalogue, ''Gleizes - Metzinger. Du Cubisme et après'', 9 May - 22 September 2012, pp. 34, 36, Musée de La Poste, Galerie du Messager, Paris, France. Exposition in commemoration of 100th anniversary of the publication of Du "Cubisme"] The book entitled ''Paroles devant la vie'', held prominently by the model was written by Mercereau in 1913. Gleizes had collaborated in founding the

, and was very familiar with Mercereau's writings. Metzinger wrote an important text about Mercereau in 1911. Mercereau's publisher, Eugène Figuière, a year earlier had published ''

Du "Cubisme" ''Du "Cubisme"'', also written ''Du Cubisme'', or ''Du « Cubisme »'' (and in English, ''On Cubism'' or ''Cubism''), is a book written in 1912 by Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger. This was the first major text on Cubism, predating ''The Cubist P ...

'', the Cubist manifesto written by Gleizes and Metzinger. ''Man in a Hammock'' is testament to the close association between Mercereau, Metzinger and Gleizes, and to their shared social, cultural and philosophical conviction that painting represented more than a fleeting glimpse of the world in which they lived, that by showing multiple facets of a subject captured at successive intervals in time simultaneously, a truer more complete image would emerge.Joann Moser, Daniel Robbins, ''Jean Metzinger in retrospect'', 1985, The University of Iowa Museum of Art (J. Paul Getty Trust, University of Washington Press) In 1914 he curated ''Moderní umění, 45th Exhibition of SVU Mánes'' in Prague. This "Survey of Modern Art" was one of the last prewar exhibitions in Prague. The exhibition included works by

Alexander Archipenko Alexander Porfyrovych Archipenko (also referred to as Olexandr, Oleksandr, or Aleksandr; uk, Олександр Порфирович Архипенко, Romanized: Olexandr Porfyrovych Arkhypenko; February 25, 1964) was a Ukrainian and American ...

, Georges Braque, Constantin Brâncuși,

, André Derain,

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

Othon Friesz Achille-Émile Othon Friesz (6 February 1879 – 10 January 1949), who later called himself Othon Friesz, a native of Le Havre, was a French artist of the Fauvist movement. Biography Othon Friesz was born in Le Havre, the son of a long line of ...

Roger de La Fresnaye Roger de La Fresnaye (; 11 July 1885 – 27 November 1925) was a French Cubist painter. Early years and education La Fresnaye was born in Le Mans where his father, an officer in the French army, was temporarily stationed. The La Fresnayes were ...

, Louis Marcoussis, Jean Marchand,

, Piet Mondrian,

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

, Edvard Munch,

Max Pechstein Hermann Max Pechstein (31 December 1881 – 29 June 1955) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and a member of the Die Brücke group. He fought on the Western Front during World War I and his art was classified as Degenerate Ar ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, and

Jacques Villon Jacques Villon (July 31, 1875 – June 9, 1963), also known as Gaston Duchamp, was a French Cubist and Abstract art, abstract painter and printmaker. Early life Born Émile Méry Frédéric Gaston Duchamp in Damville, Eure, Damville, Eure, ...

, in addition to Czech artists. By 1914, Mercereau had met the Spanish sculptor Julio González and became his lifelong supporter and friend.''Picasso and the age of iron'', Carmen Giménez; Dore Ashton; Francisco Calvo Serraller, 1948, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
/ref>

Publications

*''Les Thuribulums affaissés'', poèmes, 1905 *''Gens de là et d'ailleurs : gens de la terre, gens de la ville, gens de Paris'', 1907 *''Contes des ténèbres'', 1911 *''La Littérature et les idées nouvelles'', 1912 *''Paroles devant la vie : la vie, le poète, la fiancée, la femme enceinte, la mère, soi-même, la demeure, la mort'', 1913 *''La Paix armée et le problème d'Alsace dans l'opinion des nouvelles générations françaises'', 1914 *''Évangile de la bonne vie'', 1919 *''Séraphyma'', 1922 *''La Conque miraculeuse'', 1922 *''Les Pensées choisies d'Alexandre Mercereau'', 1922 *''Une histoire merveilleuse'', 1928

References

External links

Alexandre Mercereau (1884-1945), Notice biographique
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercereau, Alexandre 1884 births 1945 deaths Symbolist poets Aphorists Epistemologists 20th-century French philosophers French male essayists French male poets 20th-century French poets 20th-century French essayists 20th-century male writers 20th-century French journalists 20th-century French male writers