
Maisons-Laffitte/Essonne 1889
- Milly-la-Forêt/Seine-et-Oise 1963
Art Directory
Jean Cocteau created comprehensive and varied works of art. His œuvre combines literary talent with an enthusiasm for film and the theater. The artist wrote, adapted film scripts and sometimes even directed them himself. After Cocteau's debut 'Le Sang d'un Poète', his main works include 'La Belle et la Bête' (1946), 'L'Aigle à deux têtes' (1947), 'Les parents terrible' (1949), 'Orphée' (1950) and 'La Villa de Santo Sospir' (1951). Jean Cocteau wrote and directed his own plays at the theatre and sometimes even designed the props like he did in 'Les Chevaliers de la table ronde' in 1937. The artist's love for music stired his interest in Russian ballet and 1912 saw the performance of his first ballet 'Le Dieu bleu'. His cooperation with musicians inspired intensive theoretical studies, which are reflected in his musical manifesto 'Le coq et l'Arlequin' and elsewhere. Cocteau also worked with Picasso on two pieces: 'Antigone' and 'Parade'. In 1926 the artist, who had always also enjoyed drawing, became famous through a number of his poems, which he had illustrated himself. The artist's drawings and drafts show a clear love for the theater, always showing the harlequin as the archetypal dramatic character. From 1948 Cocteau extended his artistic energies to tapestries. During the fifties he spent a lot of time in Saint-Cap-Ferrat, where he painted murals in the Villa Santo Sospir. He also painted murals in the Menton city hall. In 1959 he turned to chapel frescos and mosaics. The artist was also enthusiastic about ceramics in the shape of grotesque sculptures and decorated vessels. At the end of the 1950s Jean Cocteau designed jewlery, which was actually made by the Parisian jeweller Fred two years after his death.