Head boy; How André Breton policed a movement for artistic freedom
‘Finally, at a benefit gala at the Grand Central Gallery in New York in April 1917, Arthur Cravan was set to deliver a lecture on “the Independent Artists of France and America”; having sunk too many pre-show drinks with (here they are again!) Duchamp and Picabia, he instead swore at the audience, did a striptease, waved his cock around and was promptly arrested. Cravan was a one-man awkward squad: painter, poet, provocateur, publisher, critic, hoaxer, athlete, amateur diplomat, dandy, draft dodger, merde-stirrer, tango dancer, early tattoo adopter, professional loose cannon. He advertized one performance promising that it would end with his suicide.’
May 12, 2024 at 07:37PM