Sarane Alexandrian (15 June 1927,

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...

– 11 September 2009, Ivry-sur-Seine) was a French philosopher,

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

ist, and art critic.

Early life

Alexandrian was born to a French mother and Armenian father, Vartan Alexandrian, a stomatologist under the service of Faisal I. At the age of six, he was sent to

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. ...

to stay with his maternal grandmother.Sarane Alexandrian: French art historian, poet and right-hand man to André Breton

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

obituary by Marcus Williamson

Literary career

Alexandrian's initiation to

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

and

surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

came in the summer of 1943 when, aged 16, he met Raoul Hausmann who was staying in

Peyrat-le-Château Peyrat-le-Château (; ) is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in west-central France. Inhabitants are known as ''Peyratois'' or ''Castel Peyratois'' in French. Notable people *Gilles Lalay (1962–1992), mo ...

near

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

as a refugee. From 1947, he served as the last secretary of

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...

and became an essential figure of the surrealist current. Alexandrian was an advocate of the philosophy

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ca ...

advanced in ''The Gay Science'' ('' Die fröhliche Wissenschaft''). He headed the journal '' Supérieur Inconnu'' (a title provided by Breton), which exalts four values shared by the surrealists and Alexandrian:

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, al ...

love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is disti ...

, and

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

. Catherine Millet is one notable contributor to the magazine. Alexandrian was a friend of Victor Brauner, and remained an admirer of

Charles Fourier François Marie Charles Fourier (;; 7 April 1772 – 10 October 1837) was a French philosopher, an influential early socialist thinker and one of the founders of utopian socialism. Some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical i ...

, and an ardent defender of Mata Hari.

Works

Alexandrian has more than 40 books to his credit. His best known works are: *''André Breton par lui-même'', 1971 (''André Breton in His Own Words''); *''Hans Bellmer'', 1971; *''Les Libérateurs de l'amour'', 1977 (''The Liberators of Love''); *''Surrealist Art'', 1985 (Thames & Hudson World of Art); *''Max Ernst'', 1986; *''Histoire de la littérature érotique'', 1989 (''The History of Erotic Literature''); *''LJUBA'', Paris, Cercle d'Art, 2003.

Texts and Prefaces

Préfaces in Musculatures of

Nathalie Gassel Nathalie Gassel (born 19 June 1964) is a Belgian writer and photographer. Life Gassel was born in Brussels, she is also known as a Muay Thai sportsperson. She contributed to the 1999 work entitled ''Picturing the Modern Amazon'', which was trans ...

References

External links

Official Website

in The Independent by Marcus Williamson
Obituary
in Le Monde by

Claire Paulhan Clair or Claire may refer to: *Claire (given name), a list of people with the name Claire *Clair (surname) Places Canada * Clair, New Brunswick, a former village, now part of Haut-Madawaska * Clair Parish, New Brunswick * Pointe-Claire, Que ...