Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) The cook

Lot 141
5 0008 000
Pencil on paper studio stamp (lower right) 27 x 21 cm Executed in 1960 «Poets don’t draw (...) They unravel their handwriting and then tie it up again, but differently.» (Arnaud, Claude, Jean Cocteau, Editions Gallimard, France, 2013) Known for his poetry, films and novels, the French artist Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) also experimented with drawing from childhood, and his caricatures are representative of his unique vision of people and life. Self-taught, Cocteau often drew his friends and relatives in a fluid and distinctive style inspired by the Cubist movement, with a strong interest in psychoanalysis and Catholicism. This provoking drawing is from an erotic series where Cocteau depicted young men, many of whom were his friends and some, lovers. Jean Cocteau was a leading creative force in Paris, known as one of the major figures of Dada and Surrealism. An icon of modernism and the avant- garde, along with Pablo Picasso, Tristan Tzara, Francis Picabia and Man Ray he is best known for his novel Les Enfants Terribles (1929), his movie Le Sang d’un poète (1930) and his play La Machine Infernale (1934).