calendario eventi  :: 

X

25/10/2007

Life and works by Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891)

La Casa Encendida, Madrid

A selection of texts, photographs, drawings, portraits...

Curated by Lola Martínez de Albornoz

The Casa Encendida presents the exhibition "Vida y hechos de Arthur Rimbaud The Casa Encendida, funded by Obra Social Caja Madrid, is pleased to present an exhibition on the life and work of Arthur Rimbaud, not only one of the most charismatic and remarkable literary figures but also one of the most profound influences on modern world poetry

A selection of texts, photographs, drawings, portraits, manuscripts, editions, documents and personal items, plus chronologies and texts on wall panels, will provide a fascinating insight into the artist

The exhibition has been jointly organised by Huerta de San Vicente Casa-Museo Federico García Lorca (Granada) and the Casa Encendida of Obra Social Caja Madrid (Madrid)

The exhibition, which has been curated by Lola Martínez de Albornoz on an idea by Gonzalo Armero, the authors of a special issue of Poesía magazine, entitled Vida y hechos de Arthur Rimbaud (Life and Deeds of Arthur Rimbaud) (Madrid, TF Editores, 2002), will be on display at the Casa Encendida of Obra Social Caja Madrid from 26 October, and at the Huerta de San Vicente Casa-Museo Federico García Lorca (Granada) from January 2008. It is organised in association with a number of institutions, including the Musée Arthur Rimbaud, the Bibliothèque Municipale in Charleville-Mézières, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Bibliothèque Royale in Brussels, the British Library in London, and others.

Enfant terrible, precocious poet, tireless traveller

The exhibition traces the intensive evolution of the exemplary and gifted pupil, the precocious - almost child - poet, who does everything in his power to publicise his poetry, escape from an oppressive background and discover a new, life-changing style of poetry. It continues with the obstinate adolescent, now a "visionary poet", who finally manages to move to Paris, where he both amazes and shocks literary circles; with the "infernal" companion of Verlaine, with whom he engages in the "disorder of all the senses" in the quest for a new language and an absolute form of poetry, a turbulent lifestyle that ends with the bullet wound inflicted by Verlaine in Brussels, the ensuing trial and the latter's imprisonment. It is at this point that Rimbaud publishes his pseudo-autobiography, A Season in Hell, and, after a brief period devoted to learning languages and completing his latest poems, published years later under the title Illuminations, abandons literature forever at the tender age of 21.

The exhibition also narrates the second phase of a life dedicated to the eternal leap in the dark of the tireless traveller who wanders the world, largely on foot, and finally, exiled in Africa, becomes a trader, arms dealer and explorer. Rimbaud's short existence ends dramatically at the age of 37 in Marseilles.

Verlaine never stopped thinking about his friend, exchanging drawings about their eventful life together with mutual friends Ernest Delahaye and Germain Nouveau, and, later, overseeing the publication of his poems and striving to ensure the posterity that Rimbaud had rejected but which nevertheless came to him during his lifetime and survives to this day. This fact is also illustrated in the exhibition, as well as the poet's reception in Spain, the early translations of his work and the influence he exerted from the beginning of the 20th century over the nascent Spanish avant-garde.

The exceptional items on display for visitors include some of the most famous portraits of the poet, such as the photographs taken by Carjat in 1871, the portraits by Delahaye, Verlaine, Régamey, his sister Isabelle and Jef Rosman, and the photographic self-portraits that he took in Harer.

Opening 26 October 2007
with a concert by Patti Smith that will show a selection of her songs.

La Casa Encendida
Ronda de Valencia, 2 Madrid
Free Admission

stampa

permanent link