Tristan Tzara and the plays of the Douanier

some

generate waltz

of

last years

as

salmon

in

remarked

1927,

Henri

just

as the

capital

to the actual writings 'Rousseau

pathetic:

letters

of great

But

painting.'1

about

However, the Douanier

a

been

having

painter

in his

the flaws

talent

even if the idea were Rousseau's

with

being were writer

avant-garde

paintings in later and

Weber,

in his

Undoubtedly, but drawings,

and years

studio

recalled

organised

these

concerts

the

also

when

fact

the

the

of

of

remains

into

that

and La

works

have

a musician

and

old man

and

a

literary

the painter would

he be

published said of

a his

?

century

en

L'Etudiant

Une

goguette,

the

of Robert

possession

one

Delaunay,

of Rousseau's

sing

and play the violin with a distincdy 'Rousseau-esque' technique (Fig.25).3 But, although eccentric, the artist's musical activities did

century.7

the more

surprising,

then,

that when

Tristan

Tzara

pub

in lished an important new assessment of the Douanier Rousseau 1947, he chose to do so in conjunction with publishing and analysing two of the forgotten plays Une visite ? Vexposition de 1889

to the idea of his

friend,

and cannot

accompanied his exhibits in the Salon laughter, and the plays he wrote in the

nineteenth

twentieth

It is all

successful

musical

celebrated

has

to the majority

his most

(Fig.24). Rousseau's

one

the

lessons same

The

friends and earliest admirers (Fig.26).6 Unpublished, and were the half for the first rarely mentioned, plays virtually ignored

conscience.'2

lend credence he was

no

of

music

closest

it came

genius and I have

a clear

admirers,

artist.

his

gatherings Max

all-round

came

handwriting when

a poet,

and not

unacceptable

his range of creative activities might an

not

of his late friend, the critic was rather less sym

ever supported the idea that [he] was a complete written

was

Rousseau

visually illiterate: 'He could decipher nature's muddled as well

gave

visite ? Vexposition de 1889 and La vengeance d'une orpheline russe- fell into obscurity. Unperformed, the incomplete text of UEtudiant en goguette came to be owned by the artist's landlord, a Monsieur the texts of the other two pieces Quevel.5 Similarly unknown,

IRESON

andre

he

composition.4

writing. The poems which des Ind?pendants met with

Rousseau

by NANCY

income: own

his

vengeance

contemplated

d'une for

russe. This is one project orpheline some in the 1920s and time, for,

that he must 1930s,

Tzara

published excerpts from La vengeance in the review Orbes, and unpublished letters exchanged between him and Robert and Sonia in show that he had attempted to buy the manuscripts Delaunay in 1945 ? the plays having possibly had another 1921.8 However, owner in the interim period - Tzara at last secured the texts.9 They were printed as two limited edition volumes two years later, and

25. Henri Rousseau with his violin in his studio, rue Perrel, Paris. May 1906. 24. Henri Rousseau C.1909. Photograph.

(seated at far left) and friends in his studio, rue Perrel, Paris. nationale, Paris). (Fonds Delaunay, Biblioth?que

I am grateful to Christopher Tzara and Christel Jans for allowing me access to the and Delaunay archives and to the Leverhulme Trust for funding my research. Iwould also like to thank Christopher Green and Yann Le Pich?n for their help in

Tzara

the writing of this article. 1 'Il savait lire, d?chiffrant aussi bien le graphisme confus de la nature que les majuscules d'imprimerie de lagrande peinture'; A. Salmon: Henri Rousseau dit leDouanier, Paris 1927, p.21. 2 'Rousseau ayant ?t? peintre et non po?te . . .Personne n'a jamais soutenu que Rousseau f?t un g?nie complet et j'ai tranquillement ?crit de son d?faut de talent'; ibid., pp.3 5-36. 3 M. cited in S.E. Leonard: Henri Rousseau andMax Weber, New York 1970, Weber, P-39 4 Rousseau's

in waltz, Cl?mence, named in honour of his first wife, was published de Clichy, Paris. 1904 by L. Barbarin, 17 Boulevard 5 I have discovered in the Fonds Delaunay (box 30) in the Centre Correspondence Sonia Delaunay and Tristan Tzara, reveals that Paris, between Georges Pompidou, to Quevel. On 28th October the text of L'Etudiant en goguette belonged 1945 Delau 'Mon cher Tzara, Par un extraordinaire hazard, en rangerant dans l'atelier . . . nay wrote: . . . des lettres deMme Quevel, la veuve du J'ai trouv? propri?taire de Rousseau, c'est elle qui pos?de le j?me manuscrit qui s'appelle 'leNichon Rose' ou 'l'Etudiant en goguette'.' 6l6

SEPTEMBER 2OO4

CXLVI

Photograph. unknown).

(Whereabouts

6 M. Terrier:

auMus?e du 'Le Portrait du Douanier Rousseau par Robert Delaunay Laval', Bulletin desMus?es 4 (May 1949), pp. 103-04, suggests that the plays were given as payment for a posthumous to Delaunay portrait that Rousseau's daughter had from the artist. Alternatively, Tzara writes that she presented them to commissioned as a gift, in recognition see T. to her father's memory; of his devotion Delaunay Une visite ? l'exposition de 188g, Geneva 1947, p.30. preface to H. Rousseau: extracts from La visite ? l'exposition de 188g in 1922 Delaunay published Le Bulletin de la Vie artistique. A few sections of La vengeance d'une orpheline russewere 3 (1932), pp. 101-06; and 4 (1933), printed by T. Tzara in Orbes 2 (1929), pp.41-57; As No?l Arnaud has commented, the appearance of these extracts was pp.49-67. largely ignored; see N. Arnaud: Henri Rousseau: Th??tre, Paris 1984, p. 14. Extracts of La vengeance d'une orpheline russe also appeared in R.H. Wilenski: Modem French Tzara, 7 In

is included, it 1940, pp.372-75, Painters, London although as no new information seems that these were taken from Orbes. 8 Tzara wrote to R. Delaunay, 29th July 1921: 'Le sans pareil se trouve actuellement dans les grandes difficult?s materielles, il lui sera donc difficile de vous payer le somme que vous demandez pour lapi?ce de Rousseau. J'ai demand? aussi ? Lafitte qui est directeur de la "Sil?ne?" (qui ?dite en ce moment un livre de moi) - il m'a dit qu'il voudrait voir lemanu scrit, mais qu'Une croitpas ? un grand succ?s de librairiepour lapi?ce de Rousseau. ?Je crois

THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE

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®

Tzara

took

length, of irony, sance

opportunity to Une in a preface set about

he

He

man'.

to learn

all-round

the

'like

between in

'naive'

an

initial

of

to

accustomed

appropriate

of

artist

he If'naive'

was argued, art has

This feeling'.10 and the chosen to meet

Fonds

with

sim 'craft'

incon subject

as outside

technique

come reality'

cally maladroit

was,

bery. Rejecting the ruins of Douanier's novel

The

the

realm

closer

to presenting the Surrealists.

of in his

criticism; to ability differ

traditional

Tzara

academicism',

ingenuity.12 construction

are

of Rousseau's

as techni

to intellectual constructed

being set

about

visite

and La

vengeance

the Douanier's

images

lying tion of Rousseau's relatively the Douanier was

from no

the compositional canvas. In view

it may

paintings, unknown plays

the

poraries

and on

well

of

seemed

have

to reassess

the

strategies the wide

artist.

assessment.

this

-

en goguette

lost - it has so far been

the piece

to

impossible

However,

the

following

of two typed copies of the play in the can now

be undertaken.15

clear

It becomes

visite well

de 1889 and La vengeance ? l'exposition have the conventional reinforced the writer

hoped

to overcome,

d'une

orphe about

views

and

lessen

the

reassessment.

Tzara was certainly justified in his claim thatUEtudiant engoguette was a light work, for its theme ? the sexual escapades of amedical - ismore student in Paris obviously comic than those of Une visite ? russe. But when d'une 1889 and La vengeance orpheline to discuss of the other relevance the contemporary plays he to demonstrate the period feel of Rousseau's writing,

l'exposition Tzara chose

upon the

Une

specific

de

have

moment

introduced in time

That Une visite relates to a

the work.

is, of

course,

clear

from

the

tide:

the

play

follows a group of country visitors on their trip to Paris to see the famous exhibition, of which details in the play reveal thatRousseau had himself been an attentive visitor.16 Likewise, although set in the

under circula to use

fitting

him by views about held stereotypical were who task. Even those writers

impact

in order

argued,

to free

However,

simple

Tzara,

of his

could well

could be illuminated by a study of the organisation of the scenes and action of his plays. Analogies could be drawn between the narrative in Une

discovery

might which the Douanier

snob

praising Tzara

paintings,

a

than

rather

itself, 'reality see Rousseau To

that

a way,

In such

activity.11

to subscribe

opinion, clich?s

new

'the

of artistic

of L'Etudiant

of Tzara's

accuracy

Tristan

alongside line russe

ent, and no doubt informed by the restraints of this convention, was Tzara's new proposal: that it might be desirable to consider painter might the 'imagined

the

ROUSSEAU

DOUANIER

THE

thatUEtudiant is not without merit and that Tzara having gone to - must have the trouble of finding and transcribing the manuscript given it careful consideration. But the plebeian theme of the play, its surprising language and use of slang would undoubtedly have made Tzara's task more difficult. To publish L'Etudiant en goguette

end,

to a method,

is reduced

their artists upon judging for their Radically subject.

technique

an

to

OF

of amanuscript

absence

present writer's

tradition.

'popular' a means

PLAYS

long been considered

judge

this

between

In the

having

degree 'Renais

or

vision

expression them caused

had

works

were

audiences

an

to express the means

with

drawn

is merely

Technique, other skill'.

any

a

as a modern be

at

the Douanier

albeit

that,

'the act of painting

it is because in order

choose

and

on

views

here

technique explained, aim. the ultimate

something

qualities, gruity matter

Itwas

visite.

being

expression

applied

air his

Rousseau considering could that parallels

noted ideal

lofty humanist For both, he

ply

to

the

THE

AND

TZARA

TRISTAN

contem sympa

thetic to Rousseau's painting had been guilty of 'mixing their admiration with a gende irony'; the quotation from Salmon cited at the beginning of this article is representative of many.13 By doing so, ? Tzara believed that they had failed to see the artist's true brilliance a controversial ber were

his

statement friends

critical

responses

of

authors

their

or

Rousseau would

in view

of

the fact Being

acquaintances. had provoked, read

his

that many of their num aware of the previous and knowing that many

interpretation,

may

well

have

caused

Tzara to marshal his material with care. In this light, his decision to publish only two of Rousseau's plays is of considerable interest. He omitted the third work, UEtudiant engoguette, because itwas 'light'; itwas, he claimed, less original than Une visite ? l'exposition de 1889 and La 'it does his

d'une

vengeance not aid our

russe.

orpheline to free

attempt

Furthermore, the

spirit

of

he

claimed

the Douanier

26. Portrait of Henri Rousseau, by Robert 1914. Delaunay. 71 by 60 cm.

that

(Centre Georges from

Pompidou, Paris).

legend'.14

d'ailleurs aussi qu'une seule ?dition de luxe, ? tirage limit?, aurait un succ?s. Or pour cela le vous arranger avec le prix que vous demandez est beaucoup trop haut. Vous devriez peut-?tre sans pareil, pour recevoir les droits d'auteurlesplus hauts qu'on paie sont de 17% sur leprix vous donnerait 2fois par an le pourcentage sur les fort. Le sans pareil imprimerait le livre et vous conviendrait, je leproposerai au Sans exemplaires vendus. Ecrivez-moi si cette solution Biblio Pareil, elle me parait juste et avantageuse.' Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Fonds Delaunay, box 30, Tzara dossier. Yann Le Pich?n saw the th?que Kandinsky, and recalls that manuscript copies of the two complete plays at the Tzara household conversation (S?vres, 27th August 2003), they had been sold to Tzara by S. Delaunay; in June 2003 of the dactyl copies of the play the present writer's discovery following Paris. at the Fonds Tristan Tzara, Biblioth?que Litt?raire Jacques Doucet, 9 S. to Tzara, 25th May 1945, offering him 'les 2 manuscrits d'Henri Delaunay wrote Rousseau, que j'ai achet? cet hiver, trouvant qu'ils ?taient dans lesmains de gens qui ne sauront rien enfaire. Je crois que cela vousferait plaisir et pour lesmanuscrits ils seraient dans de bonnes cited at note 5 above. mains'; document 10 'L'art, ? la lumi?re de cettefiguration, est une entit? indivisible, les moyens par lesquels il prend forme n'en ?tant que les accidentsfortuits. L'artiste r?agit ainsi contre toute sp?cialisation dans les domaines diff?rents de l'art, la technique pouvant s'apprendre comme tout autre m?ti

l? le caract?reartisanal des peintures dites na?ves: l'action d?peindre se r?duit ? un moyen ou d'un sentiment pr?alable'; Tzara, op. cit. (note 6), p.9. appliqu? ? l'expression d'une vision 11 '. . . cette mani?re de consid?rer la technique comme d?tach?e de l'activit? de l'artiste, peut er.De

aussi constituer un but en soi'; ibid., p. 10. 12 '. . . [les] nouveaux poncifs qui sont en train de s'?difier sur les ruines de l'acad?misme traditionnel'; ibid., p.ii. 13 'C'est un ?clat incomparable que toutefois dans lapeinture que Rousseau s'est ?lev?jusqu'? ses souvent le sentiment d'une l?g?re ? leur admiration de m?laient peu qui contemporains ? ironie ont vu briller de sesfeux v?ritables'; ibid., pp.i 1?12. 14 ' "L'Etudiant en nous ne publions goguette", com?die en deux actes et trois tableaux, que pas dans la pr?sente ?dition, est une pi?ce l?g?remoins originale que les deux premi?res. Elle nous a paru ne pas apporter ? notre essai de d?gager de sa l?gende l'esprit du Douanier, un ?l?ment d'information suffisamment fond?'; ibid., p.30. 15H. Rousseau: L'Etudiant en goguette, unpublished typescript, Paris, Biblioth?que Litt?raire, Fonds Tristan Tzara, T2R762. Jacques Doucet 16Numerous to the exhibition were produced, and the exhibits listed guidebooks describes in his play; one such guide is Guide correspond with those that Rousseau du visiteur ? l'exposition Universelle de 188g, Paris 1889. THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE

CXLVI

SEPTEMBER 2OO4

6l7

TZARA

TRISTAN

AND

THE

PLAYS

THE

OF

DOUANIER

ROUSSEAU

en goguette

L'Etudiant

was

also

to Tzara's

unsuited

argument

because, in dealing with a sexual theme (albeit in an unsophisti cated way), the play introduced the possibility of double entendre: Rigolette enterswith Jolibois fils: You see, my kitten, here's my bed room, it's stylish and we'll be happy here making love. Jolibois fils: Yes, my nymph, you can say that again. (He sniffs and ponders) It smells like a perfume factory in here. Rigolette: Certainly, and that'swhat stylish women smell like, you can

smell

scents

the

to chase

perfume

sweet

out their the many that breathe plants rooms. air of these hotel the polluted

of away

Jolibois fils moves towards the unmade bed and says:But this bed has a strange smell; is it that of love, mixed with all the other scents we can

smell

here?

it smells

Yes,

of

love

love,

that's

and

beautiful

good.20

is surprising and suggestive,

Such dialogue guage

to the

in relation

is considered

fact

its lan

especially when a time,

for

that,

Rousseau

shared his lodgings with Alfred Jarry.21Of course, the treatment of en goguette

in L'Etudiant

sexuality

that Rousseau

broached

contemporary

trends

levels

is far from

in literature.22

in the Douanier's

of meaning

The

but

avant-garde,

the fact

suggests his awareness of

it in his writing

idea

of

there well

may

writing

several being have intrigued

Tzara intellectually, but itwas fundamentally at odds with the pic ture he had created of Rousseau as a logical artist who, though not 'simple',

nonetheless

sincere,

he

incident

or

27- The football players, by Henri Rousseau. New Museum, (Solomon R. Guggenheim

1908. 100 by 91 cm. York).

'popular' ? and worked

lived

as

their

by

recognised It was

depicted. connected Rousseau

as well

quattrocento, and that of

things

and

explained, item he that

proposed,

'called

proper

The

artist was

value

of

this working method, with the Italian artists

visual

creating

name'.23

the

But the painters. late nineteenth-century

context

of

the

his work

between

affinities

each Tzara

in which Rousseau ? revolutionised

Paris

the implications of such an approach. The visual information offered La

1840s, tion

and

vengeance

handwritten the year

1899, it lacks also

on appears the Tsar Nicholas

date

the

that

of

its counterparts,

of

the

fin-de-si?cle the Parisian avant-garde

As

Tzara

Noir, the

close

decep con

remarked,

UEtudiant

known

well

late nineteenth

is if

en goguette in place in the nar

takes

century.

In

addition, the slang thatRousseau uses inwriting the dialogue given to its clientele was undoubtedly fitting. For example, the student Jolibois^/s (wearing only his underpants) exclaims upon seeing the Nichon

prostitute

a

have

say, you horse.

He

even

if this

Rose

slaps

undress:

'Yes,

pair of tits like balloons, her behind and says: Oh,

language

was

'authentic

to let's hurry, there's nothing and an arse like a brewer's that's

my, of an era',

difficult for Tzara to publish itwhile maintaining deserved

serious

good.'19 Clearly, it would have been

that the Douanier

consideration.

anticipate the more resolved working ofthat scenario in Une visite ? l'exposition de 188g. 19 'Jolibois fils en cale?on: Oui, h?tons-nous, il n'y a pas ? dire, tu as une paire de nichons on dirait des ballons, tu as une paire d?fisses comme une jument de brasseur. Il lui tape sur les fesses en disant Oh que c'est bon; Rousseau, document cited at note 15, act 2, scene 1. 20 (entrant avec Jolibois fils): Tu vois, mon petit chaton, void ma chambre, elle 'Rigolette est coquette et nous y serons bien pour faire l'amour. Jolibois fils: Oui, ma nymphe, c'est chic chez toi, ici l'on peut le dire. (Il renifle et fait la r?flexion) ?a sent la cocotte id.Rigolette: Oui certainement, et cela sent aussi lafemme chic, on y respire l'odeur des diverses plantes qui SEPTEMBER 2004

CXLVI

THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE

and

overwhelming

To

unprecedented.

a

impose

personal order on all this required pictorial synthesis; accordingly, the Douanier simplified and condensed what he saw to convey his It was of the picture his within the boundaries experience plane.24 success so that, for Tzara, in doing tied the artist 'to the blueprint was not of modern life'.25 Accordingly, Rousseau's modernity only or to in works machines visible where he chose incorporate flying other literal

new

conspicuously this

examples,

motifs.

'synthesis

More

important, beyond was in present

of movement'

such quotid

ian scenes, as in The football players (Fig.27), 'where the stripes of the jerseys transmit a poignant moment of great feeling'. Similarly, he

'the

continued,

stamp

the

rhythm

wires that telegraph of a modern optimism

cross on

some the

of his distant

landscapes solitude of

the

countryside'.26 as Tzara This dubbed 'simultaneity', Rousseau's because here the plays, synthesis successful.27 conveying

17 Tzara, op. cit. (note 6), p.32. 18 It is en goguette was written before Une visite ? l'exposition de likely that UEtudiant no historical source is available 188g and La vengeance d'une orpheline russe. Although to suggest a dating, it is likely that the work was written in the 1880s during the hey day of Le chat noir, and the theme of the piece (the provincial visitor in Paris) seems to

6l8

was

by modernity

the

the manuscript Paris.17 However,

in the work

action

of

to have

of

II visited

bar Le Chat

the notorious rative

of

'sophistication' its era.18 Much

reflects

seen

cover

the

that

about

(a melodrama

orpheline can also be in love) in which itwas written.

comeuppance to the time

nections

russe

d'une

In vision

the Douanier's in its entirety

writing, overtook

the

it, was

clearer

of movement

still was

importance placed constraints the practical

in less on of

r?pandent leur suave parfum pour chasser l'air trop souvent vid? de ses chambres d'h?tel. Joli et dit): Mais de ce lit il s'exhale une dr?le bois fils (s'en va ensuite vers le lit d?couvert d'odeur; est-ce que ce serait celle de l'amour m?l?e ? tous les autres parfums que nous respirons id? Oui, ?a sent l'amour, ce bel et bon amour'; ibid. 21 the Douanier since about 1894, stayed with Rousseau Jarry, who had known between August and November 1897, following his eviction from his home on the see J. Fell: 'Alfred Jarry: an imagination boulevard de Port-Royal; in revolt', Ph.D. so eager for fame, diss. (University of Bristol, 1997), pp.225?34. Perhaps Rousseau, was

inspired by the creator of Ubu and L'amour en visites when he chose to write his own plays. 22 I and Jarry, and the 'cinematic' com discussed the relationship between Rousseau position of the Douanier's work, in a paper entided 'Rousseau and Jarry; fragmentation and spectacle' given at a seminar atWolfeon in July 2001. College, Oxford University, 23 '. . . ne dis pas simples, mais en tout cas dispos?s ? nommer les choses par leur nom et ? je

TRISTAN

If, as a painter,

the mise-en-sc?ne.

and

importance untroubled

the Douanier

of

their

actual

regardless constraints by the practical two of the characters elope

ple,

when

La

vengeance,

is an exchange of no scenic notations

there

with spondence, in a horse-drawn

escape

of

at the

end

the

DOUANIER

ROUSSEAU

corre

An

author.

suit. Of

THE

he was

as actual

written

from

follows

carriage

OF

space. For exam of the first act of

theatrical

letters

PLAYS

on their

as a writer

size,

THE

conventions

ignored

figures larger or smaller depending

of perspective, making

AND

TZARA

actual

this

course,

train

of

events would

have been impossible to stage; the Douanier's first explained that the Th??tre du Ch?talet rejected one of

biographer

as Tzara reason.28 for this very But, plays a wealth to express of information ability new reflected the way modernity demanded concepts movement. For him, the artist's of action' 'economy matic of new ways of seeing, making Rousseau's work Rousseau's

the explained, so succincdy of time and

artist's

was

sympto a natural pre

cursor to film. Broken up into frames, the viewer's mind and eye are forced to connect the tableaux that the Douanier describes: 'Having become

to a scene',

accustomed

Tzara

on us, from is imposed past an effort of abstraction, demands

which tion,

that

tinuity

that

en

could

in the

point

second

to theatrical

practice,

of as broken rather

of examples 'cinematic' way.

characters

loca our by removes of con

condensed

informa

at one example, costumes in different For

appear

than theory than suggesting this

Rousseau

the

part was

confusing

than

if the

scene

were

it is a less appropriate he

passage a

disregard of L'Etudiant of

ignorant

seems hurriedly written; ismore

sense

make

might

into frames. But

composition, 'naive'

the

act,

swift movement

to a different

and deduction

analogy

offers

in this

read

or

future

having undressed or left the stage. This action, quite alien

without

Tzara's

also

goguette be

'the

wrote,

as to a staircase, opposed to accept the same principle of cinema.'29

us

forcing at the very heart

lies

L'Etudiant tion

a ladder

like

which, intelligence all that is unnecessary,

to

selected for

was the

from

La

a conventional potential

conceived

illustration of vengeance,

for,

approach evidence

that

craft.

playwright's

the presence of such oddities

to

The

piece

consider

use of language in L'Etudiant

en goguette

his apparent haste of execution. Here, go beyond the use of slang by the Douanier's characters extends occasion, own aware Tzara would have been that this stage directions. creative into the artist's Rousseau's question. bring authority even have in this context informal language might encouraged to make

literal

ters in his plays,

associations

as some

between

the painter

and

he

himself

arrive,

via

the

on to his could use

of

read

charac

admirers had already done. Robert in Une

for example, the rural family upon Delaunay, reflecting that 'Rousseau knew them and depicted ite, observed didn't

the

same

railway

station,

them from

vis

well; his

vil

the details of Rousseau's biog lage, attracted by city life?'30When are it is clear that considered, raphy Delaunay's image of his friend was

romanticised.

The

Douanier,

portrait-landscape, by Henri Rousseau. (N?rodni Galerie, Prague).

who

inch the artiste-peintre in his famous

depicted

self-portrait

110 cm.

1890. 143 by

in this work

suggestive.

The problems posed by Rousseau's

ers

28. Myself,

himself

as every

(Fig. 28), did not

se contenter de leur ?vocation, se scarifier, s'envelopper d'une coque imperm?able aux influences de l'ext?rieur; Tzara, op. dt. (note 6), p.24. 24 Ibid., p.24. 25 'Rousseau s'y trouvait intimement li? et quoique situ? sur leplan strict de la vie moderne'; ibid., p. 13. 26 Je pense non seulement ? la repr?sentation de l'avion et du dirigeable dans une de ses toiles, . . ., mais surtout ? l'admirable composition des Joueurs de Football o? les rayures des mail lots servent ? rendre ? un instantan? la valeur v?cue d'un moment path?tique, comme lesfils t?l?graphiques qui parcourent certains de ses paysages, impriment le rythme d?termin? d'un modernisme optimiste jusque dans la solitude ?loign?e des campagnes'; ibid., pp. 16-17. 2? Ibid., p.23. 28W. Uhde: Henri Rousseau, Paris 1911, p. 15. 29 'Apr?s avoir ?t? impr?gn?s d'une sc?ne, le brusque transport qu'on nous impose dans lepass? ou l'avenir ou dans un endroit diff?rent, suppose de notre intelligence un effort d'abstraction,

as

himself

sharing

the

same

status

as the

in

visitors

country

his play. Indeed, this is suggested in Une visite, for here the artist gives accents to the Breton he describes, while family writing or less correct the piece in more In La vengeance, French. a similar ser distance is imposed between the writer and the comic vants whose tone of the work contrast with the and with speeches caricatured the

rest of

the

artist's

goguette. ters, a

directions.

stage

Here,

the writer

language

removed,

classical books'.31 The is much ble

difference

for

character style

of

ably

that of

course,

as one

the

same

a common of

them

is not

puts

reader is left wondering

between

the

characters

true

dialect

and

Tzara

his

it, from

of Rousseau's the

artist's

.

[.

.]

there really

author

one

'les petits gens9, the people was aware that many of

charac

'that of

whether the

en

of L'Etudiant with

in his directions, Rousseau point as at his notes, shouting 'screaming pitch', In this instance, the action itself.33 the language

them.32

At

But shares

responsi describes

adopting is unmistak social

admirers

a the

class. Of had made

d'analogie et de deduction qui, pareil ? une ?chelle par rapport ? un escalier, supprime ce qui n'est pas essentiellement n?cessaire, tout en nous contraignant ? accepter leprindple de continu it? sur lequel est bas?e lafonction m?me du dn?ma'; Tzara, op. dt. (note 6), p. 14. 30 'Rousseau les conna?t et les d?peint bien; lui-m?me n'est-il pas venu par lam?me gare, de son patelin, attir? par la vie de la dt??'; R. Delaunay: 'Mon ami Henri Rousseau', Tous lesArts (21st August 1957), pp.n-12. 31 to Nichon Rose's heated advances, says: 'Oh que me dis-tu Jolibois^??s, responding document cited l?, quel est ce language, ce n'est pas celui de mes livres classiques'; Rousseau, at note 15, act 2, scene 1. 32 In a fight at the start of ibid., act one, the prostitutes Titine and Nichon Rose exchange a stream of insults, in a tone that is typical of the play: 'sale chipie, vieille saudsse ravageuse [...], sale cholera, vieux boudin ? resort.' 33At the end of ibid., act one, Jolibois p?re is described as calling for his manservant at 'tue-t?te'. THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE

CXLVI

SEPTEMBER 2004

6l9

TRISTAN

much from

TZARA

AND

THE

PLAYS

of the fact that Rousseau his

THE

DOUANIER

ROUSSEAU

had been of a different

The

peers.34

avant-garde

OF

critic

Alfred

standing

for

Basier,

example,

claimed that both the artist's life and artwere imbued with features typical of'the little people from the suburbs'.35 This was precisely the kind of reading that Tzara wished to surpass by looking beyond the prejudices of the 'so-called greats' who described Rousseau and his kind as 'little people'.36 By denying exposure to UEtudiant en goguette, Tzara deprived admirers such as Basier of ammunition to reinforce so he

their

also

of his work.

reading

his own

protected

about

argument

characters'

voices -

and

'technique' in Rousseau's

and

the voice two

those ?

painting

of

become

artist's

to

approach

in L'Etudiant en goguette

the

author

overlap, that Tzara

entities

separate

in doing

However, the

for it could be said thatwhen

composition, the

class-driven

'content' recognises

inseparable.

Tzara's fear of supporting analogies between the Douanier's life and his works might have been a further reason behind his disregard of L'Etudiant.

One

ate Philippe dences

other

critic

who

knew

the

Soupault, had already invoked

between

the

play

and Rousseau's

Tzara's

play,

associ

it to support correspon on

works

example

stration of how rather

painting, group.

By

of Rousseau's

'simultaneity',

the artist was giving L'Etudiant

avoided openly contradicting

perfect

demon

able to synthesise information an

than

omitting

a

en

of

illustration goguette,

Tzara

267 by 406 cm.

1910-12.

in an

canvas,

analogy of exacdy the kind Tzara wished to avoid. In 1926, Soupault had concluded an article for L'Amour de l'art by explaining how Rousseau had 'left unfinished a charming comedy that brings to mind [his] paintings of weddings, and the one known asM.Juniet's cart9.wFor Tzara, P?rejunier's cart (Fig.29) was, like The football play ers, a prime

of Paris, by Robert Delaunay. (Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris).

30. dry

in his

a

social particular made his point and

Soupault.

Another incendiary The

ideas

issue

have

may

friendship

The

preface.

shaped Tzara's writing

of Rousseau's

was

'simultaneity'

in the light of Tzara's friendship with that Tzara

in Rousseau's

recognised

art

-

of his

potentially

Sonia Delaunay. and

in particu

lar his interest in presenting a seen reality - connected with those thatRobert and Sonia Delaunay had explored in the years follow ing their friendship with the Douanier. As a young painter, Robert Delaunay had clearly been influenced by Rousseau. He frequently his

acknowledged

his

own

initiatives:

as a

greatness

could to perpetuate his Rousseau's self-portrait revealed in a letter he believed that his artistic

painter,

'Rousseau,

old

my

in the

friend,

didn't he arrange the stars in the sky according Our

vision

reaches

the

to do

vowing

all

that

can

stars. We it would

taneously.'38 Delaunay, artists as inspired by Rousseau,

see

seem, but

the whole saw

Snake-charmer,

to his own free will?

the

not

universe

simul

new

of generation as followers of his

necessarily in contrast, that Rousseau believed Tzara, particular practice. on the young had a far more effect 'From profound avant-garde:

oil lamp of Rousseau

he

friend's memory, and even quoting from in his own City of Paris (Fig. 30). But, as is sent to August Macke in 1913, Delaunay endeavours at that time were the fruit of

had the

to the guitar, the newspaper, playing cards and

... and Gris, the route the passes Braque of Delaunay and his "Windows".'39 the However, that critics art of about in Delaunay's 1913 'simultaneity' recognised ? a theoretical to law Chevreul's approach painting incorporating ? of the contrast was simultaneous not same as of colours the of Picasso,

tobacco-packet "Eiffel Tower"

that which 29. P?rejunier's cart, by Henri Rousseau. (Mus?e de l'Orangerie, Paris).

1908. 97 by 129 cm.

34 See C. Green: 'The "Otherness" of Rousseau', lecture given at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, in 2001; to be published as 'The Great and the Small: Picas and "The People", in C. Green: Picasso. Architecture and Vertigo, so, Henri Rousseau New Haven and London, Green argues that, in the early twentieth forthcoming. was regarded as one of the 'petites century art world, Rousseau gens' to the avant garde's 'grands hommes' such as Picasso. 35 'Notre Douanier, ne se confondait-il pas avec les petites gens du faubourg qui fuient, le dimanche, ? la belle saison, leur morne quartier pour aller s'?tendre sur l'herbe, aux talus des lui de fortifs, dans les bois de Vincennes ou de Clamart? Le r?ve de Rousseau ne d?passait pas ces humbles. C'?tait leur vision du paysage 'Le qu'il r?alisait sur la toile'; A. Basier: "Douanier" Henri Rousseau', L'Art Vivant (15th October 1926), p.778. 36 Tzara, op. dt. (note 6), p.25. 37 'H laissa inachev?e une charmante com?die et ? celui quifait penser aux tableaux desNoces de M. Juniet'; P. Soupault: 'La l?gende du Douanier que l'on intitule La Cari?le L'Amour de l'art 7 (October 1926), p.377. Rousseau', ?20

SEPTEMBER 2004

CXLVI

THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE

course, methods.

Tzara

more Thus,

to

identified

in Rousseau

Delaunay's

art

although

he might

than

in 1947.40 There was,

a mere have

been

aping

of

tempted,

of

the Douanier's Tzara

bare

38 selon sa volont?, distribu? les 'Rousseau, mon vieil ami, n'a-t-il pas dans laCharmeuse, ?toiles dans le del! Nous voyons jusqu'aux ?toiles. Nous pouvons voir tout l'Univers Simul to A. Macke, tanique'; undated letter from R. Delaunay [1913], quoted in G. Bernier andM. Schneider-Maunoury: Robert et Sonia Delaunay, Naissance de l'art abstrait, Paris 1982, p. 122. w 'De la lampe ? p?trole de Rousseau ? laguitare, au journal, aux cartes ? jouer et au paquet de tabac de Picasso, de Braque et de Gris, le chemin . . .passe par la "Tour Eiffel" de Delau nay et ses "Fen?tres"'; Tzara, op. dt. (note 10), p. 17. 40 For reactions to the Delaunays' see examples of contemporary 'simultaneity', P. Rousseau: in exh. cat. Robert Delaunay de l'impressionnisme igo6-igi^: 'Anthologie', ? l'abstraction, Paris (Centre Georges Pompidou) 1999, pp.238-64. 41 For the at the Bal Bullier, see P. Rousseau: 'La Parisienne de Robert Delaunays La mode simultaniste ou les couleurs de lamodernit?', in exh. cat. Robert Delaunay: 1997, esp. pp.95-104. (Mus?e de l'Annonciade) Delaunay, Saint Tropez

TZARA

TRISTAN

ly mentions his discreet

to

sufficient

to the a

evoke

'simultaneous'

two

Surprisingly, its similarity

no

makes

and are

kinds

of

mention

to Rousseau's

despite

ROUSSEAU

DOUANIER

series

'Windows'

between

connection

THE

OF

of Rousseau

appreciation Tower' and

he

team,

Cardiff

'Eiffel

possible

painting.

Delaunay's

PLAYS

in his

work

Delaunay's references

THE

AND

of

Football

Parisian living be said,

as

of Tzara's

the Delaunays

to leave

decision

en goguette

L'Etudiant

to

thus have added weight

towards this friendship may

Sensitivity Tzara's

As well

unpublished. the third

a Rousseau disservice, rendering potential the of Robert and also have novelty brought into question. the last act of UEtudiant Notably, as

Sonia en

play

might art

Delaunay's

a location that had become closely associated with the formation of the couple's artistic originality: the Bal Bullier. Here, where Rousseau's

characters

imaginary

Picabia's

real

life

the Delaunays

cast

the

of

'Am?ricaine'

of'391',

it would

CAUDILL

and

to

Picabia

often

1910SAND 1920s appropriated to construct the realm of science and technology his from images and in some of these works he associated Dada creations, electricity torso was women.1 A corset in the shape inte with of a woman's an

in his De

automobile

woman

was

Zayasl as a spark

presented

plug in Portrait d'une jeune fille am?ricaine dans l'?tat de nudit? (1915).2 In 1917, Picabia was in New York City where he published issues

several

of his

journal

391.

For

the July

cover

of

the magazine,

to electricity when he acquired a the artist again linked women a of it by adding the (readymade) photograph light bulb, modified words 'flirt' and 'divorce', and entitled itAm?ricaine (Fig.31).3 The work

has

type. Wanda as athletically ent decision

generally Corn

been

interpreted that Picabia

argued

muscular, makers,

characteristics with

and

as a

robust sexually she suggested

the stocky,

depiction

perceived

of

on

1 W.A. Camfield: 'The machinist style of Francis Picabia', Art Bulletin 48 (1966), see also M.C. Dennison: 'Automobile pp.309?22; parts and accessories in Picabia's magazine machinist works of 1915-17', the burlington 143 (2001), pp.276-83. 2 Both works in the July?August issue of 2g 1. by Picabia were published 3 W.A. Camfield: Francis Picabia: His art, life and times, Princeton 1976, p. 104. Picabia included English words inAm?ricaine, but the French tide suggests that he was depict ing a European view of the American woman. 4 W. Corn: The great American thing: modem art and national identity, igi$?igj5, 'Edison Mazda' 1999, p.66; the words appear more clearly in Corn's fig.47 Berkeley to Corn than in most published reproductions of Am?ricaine. According (p.66), the pendence

'flirt' and

refer to the American

woman's 'sexuality and her inde in Comments surrounding marriage'. published of the day suggest that Europeans were astonished by young popular magazines to flirt. In 1903, Mrs Philip Gilbert American women's ability and willingness ? even as a ? was Hamerton remembered that in the early 1860s 'flirtation word

words

from

'divorce'

the conventions

that

simply

but more

of

Tzara's

fol

the

artist's

importantly,

reassessment creativity,

long-forgotten

on

artist

the

of

Tzara's

play.

the

on

words

photograph.5 that the bulb

are

illustration. used

a

known and widely aggressively women. American If the symbolise were is characters that inverted, 391 to

product cover of

the

on

inscribed

additional

Picabia

twentieth

century.

The Edison Lamp Works 1880s.6

and

1914

on

Trademarks 1915 make

began manufacturing

the

shown lamps the source

clear

in Edison of

the

light bulbs in the of

advertisements

lettering

on

Picabia's

bulb (Figs.32 and 33). The squat proportions of the globe and the distinctive configuration of the filament confirm the identification of

the

as an Edison

image

in the mid-19

mythological To

of

the

type

that was

manufactured

was

registered from

Elec by the General the name of a Persian

figure who was associated with

light and knowledge.

the Mazda The

understand

that Mazda

Mazda

ios (Fig.34).

tric Company.

were figures who independ that the artist equated these

energy-filled

impact illuminate

the

American

In 1909,

women

bulb published

the

etched in the glass of the bulb can be discerned near itsmetal base. They are the first letters of the words Edison andMazda, registered trademarks. A portion of the famous GE (General Electric) logo is also visible on the lamp, the term used for a light bulb in the early

an American

American

the Delaunays

the

overlooked

understanding

illustration

of

terms

have

In Am?ricaine,

Francis

into the electrical system grated De Zayasl and an American (1915),

softened

the

Researchers

DENNISON

the

takes

Tzara had more his preface, curious would have comedy

of writing This

its release.

to its ability the Douanier's surpasses

far

advertised

during

time

In

preface

key

byMARIEA

have

character),

company

play's

the reputation of the Douanier,

jeopardised

Delaunay,

'popular'

en goguette is of interest to those studying

at the by

for Robert

songs at the Bullier; Tzara

that

suggest

if

location by

the cover of 391A William Camfield asserted that in Am?ricaine Picabia was drawing parallels between the "'on/ofF' action of a light

from

1917

July

to

wanted

today, than gain

lose

bulb'

the cover

have

lowed their lead. Although L'Etudiant Rousseau

The

goguette.

even

though,

far removed from those of

to drink and sing comic

not

would

en

L'Etudiant

Rousseau.

outfits to the delight of the

their self-designed

later danced, wearing

Francis

in

revel,

that remembering was his authentic

it could

versions,

to this popular

it is worth

to be

themselves

sophisticated Rousseau. Clearly

introduced

appeal

'AM?RICAINE'

considered

they

their activities there after his death were

to

invokes

goguette

PICABIA'S

had been

(and

opportunity

Delaunay.

FOR

'Renaissance'

of Rousseau's

part

SOURCE

In doing so, avant-garde.41 ? as more 'all-round artists'

Rousseau

players. Perhaps he omitted this in order to avoid any suggestion of mirnicry; Robert Delaunay had only recently died and Tzara had acquired the Rousseau manuscripts solely with the help of Sonia

A

trademark word

use

Picabia's was

not

was

a

derived

of

product;

the bulb, it was

it is necessary the name

to of

recognise a service.

in France'; see 'The modern French girl', Scribner's Magazine (June 1903), denounce in the young American is the abuse p.757. 'What the European women in 'Those American of flirtation', explained Julliette Adam girls in Europe', North American Review (October 1890), p.401. The French writer C. de Varigny, who visited the United States to observe American women, devoted a full chapter to flir unknown

and tation in his book La femme aux Etats Unis, Paris 1893; see 'Girls American French', Littell's Living Age (August 1893), p.443. Picabia's inverted reflection of the words 'divorce' and 'flirt' could suggest the contrary views or behaviour of French and American women. Even some US writers criticised the young American woman and one noted: 'We throw up our for 'the lightness with which she enters marriage', at the increasing divorce statistics'; see 'The American hands to Heaven girl', Ladies Home Journal (May 1908), p. 5. 5 Camfield, op. cit. (note 3), p. 104. 6 and H. Schroeder: History of the incandescent lamp, Schenectady 1927, J.W. Howell pp.64-65. THE BURLINGTON MAGAZINE

CXLVI

SEPTEMBER 2OO4

021