Chapter 13 I Anarchists on the hills of Montmartre (1) Street performers

The child takes my hand, and I protect him from bad luck. Max Jacobs Picasso envied Braque and Derain for boxing. 有一次，他也戴上拳击手套试图狠揍德朗一通。Contrary to his expectations, the other party easily knocked him to the ground with a frontal punch.Since then, he has never dabbled in this business again, and is only content to watch the fierce fighting scenes of you coming and going in obsessively in the boxing ring where his gang gathers. They also go to the acrobatic arena to watch acrobatic performances.In the past their favorite place was the Fernando Circus, and later they preferred to go to the Medrano Circus, which was painted by Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas and Sorat.Go several times a week.Acrobatic troupe clowns Alex, Rico, Elise, Antonio, and Groc, who has just joined the profession, have become their friends.Apollinaire's strong interest in acrobatics remained unchanged until his death.He even went to the Bute-Commons during World War I to applaud Guignol, who had become a member of the Union of Our Puppets. In 1905, he published an article in the magazine "Immoralism" (the magazine only published one issue, and Apollinaire once served as the columnist of painting, literature and drama for the magazine), talking about the Italian comedy clowns and clowns he saw in Rome. Cunning and treacherous characters, and linking them to Picasso:

These slender buskers wear flashy, tacky old clothes.People can indeed feel the breath of common people's children from them.Among them are: the half-hearted, the vacillating, the cunning, the just, the needy, and the liar. It was these people who would surprise Picasso. After Picasso left the Montmartre Heights and went down to the Rocheshuar Boulevard where the acrobatics are located, it was like returning to a joyful and open world.He had never smiled so much as he did at Medrano's.He doesn't like the front stage of the acrobatic arena, but prefers the backstage.When he painted the circus performers, he did not paint them in the performance, but painted them on the road, in rehearsal, in family life, in short, they were in daily life.Picasso's paintings of street performers from 1905 fully reflect this was a very happy period for him. (Figure 13, Figure 14) His contact with street performers brought an end to his "blue period".From then on, Picasso entered the "Rose Period".This period is relatively long.It is wrong to attribute the "rose period" to Fernand entering Picasso's life.In fact, the style of the rose period originated from the opening of his thoughts and vision to the outside world, and this opening began when Madeleine came into his life.

Madeleine was a woman Picasso knew before Fernand, and she was the main pillar in every aspect of Picasso's life, from his emotional to his artistic path.For some rather mysterious reason, Picasso kept silent about Madeleine's existence until her death.When Madeleine told the outside world about her own role in Picasso's success, the latter was noncommittal.According to Pierre Dax, only Max Jacob knew this woman.Picasso personally revealed some inside information to Pierre Dax. One day in 1968, when I arrived in Mugan, Picasso took out a profile portrait from his studio.He said he couldn't find it until that day because it was in a frame in his studio.He said to me: "This is Madeleine." Seeing my surprised expression, he continued: "She almost bore me a child..." The details he narrated took us back to 1904 .However, for anyone wondering how motherhood can be represented in a painting, look no further than Picasso's Rose of Madeleine.You can see how subtly he used the beautiful gouache on the face of the character, showing the beauty of the woman just right.The face in the painting resembled more Madeleine than Fernand.

[Excerpt from Pierre Dax's book "The Creator Picasso" published in 1987] Picasso always regarded the theatrical buffoon as his own embodiment.His works "A Family of Clowns" and "A Family of Acrobats and a Monkey" (Fig. 15) reflect his own fatherhood.Therefore, it can be seen from every stroke that the hostess in that painting is Madeleine, not Fernand.It can be seen that it is no accident that "Rose Madeleine" is the beginning of Picasso's rose period. Not having children of their own became a real problem for Picasso and Fernand: Fernand Olivier was barren.This may be a tragedy for her, but it is indeed a tragedy for her lover Picasso.The rose period of their lives hid a dark episode that remained a secret for many years.

In 1907, Fernand Olivier decided to adopt a child.She herself brought back a little girl from the orphanage on Golancourt Street. No one could determine her exact age, perhaps in her teens.People called her Raymond, and André Salmon called her Leontina.For the first few weeks, everyone adored her, and the reopened little world of Hunter's Mansion.The artist Picasso, who appeared as a good father, painted a portrait of her "Raymond 1907" in Chinese ink.But the little girl is very active and noisy, very restless, and takes up a lot of space at home.The child entered their family and brought about a complete change in their lives: Picasso could no longer sleep during the day and paint at night as before.A solution must be found.

They racked their brains and thought hard, but they couldn't find a way to have the best of both worlds.In fact, the problem is quite simple: if an extra weight is too heavy, remove it and put it elsewhere.Send it back wherever you took it from, that is, return her, wouldn't all problems be solved?And so, after three months of playing with her new parents, Raymond was sent back to the orphanage in the Rue Galancourt, with much reluctance from his father to see him off himself.It was good man Max Jacob who took on the job. André Salmon depicted this scene in his novel "The Negro Woman of the Sacred Heart".It is written in the novel that an employee of the orphanage took the loyal and benevolent good man Max Jacobs as the girl's incompetent father, and cursed him severely.He explained to Max the rules and regulations of the orphanage: If he doesn't change his mind now, he will never be able to adopt this girl again in the future.Raymond cried like a weeper, and so did Max.He took the little girl to a restaurant for lunch with the little money he had.When it was dark, he went back to Golancourt Street and delivered Raymond to the orphanage.Then he ran away.

Then, did Max Jacob take drugs in his heartache? This was also confirmed by Hubert Fabiro in his 1953 book "Max Jacobs".But neither Fabiro nor Salmon mentioned Fernand and Picasso at all.The two authors only talk about "artist couples".In André Salmon's The Negro Woman of the Sacred Heart, Max Jacob appears as Setim Fabre. Why do they all treat Picasso so cautiously?Why did his advocators protect him so closely, for so long, only to break their silence much later?Why do they only remember the anecdote of Picasso, a very great artist, in the first period of the "laundry boat" (that is, the period before the birth of Cubism)?

Because after five years in Paris, Picasso became the central figure of the group of people around him.He is like a torch, whether it is the beneficiary or the victim of his rights, he has a strong temptation and awe to all who come close to him.In "The Laundry Boat", he is everywhere: people admire him, everyone measures themselves by him, he inspires others, and can also get inspiration from others... There is an inexplicable mutual affinity between them Exchange inspiration.What he does and who he is is attractive to other people.People treat him with caution, think about him, protect him, and accommodate him, but he does not treat other people with the same attitude.Even after he left the "laundry boat" and made money in a different way from other people, Guillaume Apollinaire, who was in a special situation, still learned his way of acting, treated people according to his attitude, and was often treated by others. At the mercy of his friend, let him lead by the nose.Picasso was condescending and arrogant when he treated his friends, including when his poet friends asked him to provide illustrations for their works, he didn't care about the theme and content of the poems, and gave whatever he had at hand. even unfinished sketches.It is valuable only because it has Picasso's signature on it.

As the central figure of the stars, Picasso also likes couples and often revolves around him.In this respect, he is more generous.He personally introduced Marie Laurence to Guillaume Apollinaire, Marcel Dupret to Georges Braque, and it seems that he also introduced Alice Plancey to André de Lang... There was also constant jealousy among his friends over his closeness to them, and he was often at the center of disputes between them.Until the release of "The Maiden of Avignon", few people criticized his work.Reviews of his work have always been unanimously positive, and with it he is completely positive. The "laundry boat" is like a big laboratory, where people can exchange ideas, express opinions, and discuss new discoveries in art in a brotherly atmosphere.It was also in this atmosphere that the mutual jealousy among friends was temporarily contained.Not as safe as their Juan Gris exception.Everyone knows very well that one day, the long-term accumulation of ice and snow will melt immediately after seeing the sun.Just wait.People waited patiently for this day while constantly displaying new paintings and poems.

Art is not the cause of the great antagonism between them, the only cause is the artist. Which artist? picasso. Picasso's jealousy itself.He is jealous of men, women, men who revolve around women, women who do not pursue him, men who are unwilling to be his tame lambs and men who do not admire him.It was perfectly natural for his growing jealousy and domineering behavior to arouse the same envy of his personality in those around him. This jealousy is purely personal.Apollinaire, Max Jacobs, and Andre Salmon did not measure people by the number of works. They were dissatisfied with Picasso's granting this or that person a certain status or title based on personal preferences.The most pitiful should undoubtedly be Max Jacobs.His champion in poetry was replaced by Apollinaire; his position in Picasso's emotional field was replaced by Fernand Olivier; his highest position in artistic creation will also be replaced by Braque in the near future.

One can believe that all these acts of so carefully orchestrated collusion have done an indelible wound to the hearts of the people.All this has been going on in times of poverty and hardship and in times of artistic revolutions.Picasso loved Max Jacob, then dumped him.He had loved André Salmon and had abandoned him.He loved Guillaume Apollinaire, and later Apollinaire took the top spot. After his death, Jean Cocteau took over the chair... All these people agree that the painter Picasso is a modern artist. standard bearer.Many of them suffered from falling out of favor emotionally, and some of them gradually forgot all this after a short period of torture, but they were deeply hurt spiritually.And what about Picasso himself?He is indifferent and dismissive of the sadness of the poor little people around him and what people think of him, and he dangles among them with his head held high and domineering at all times, enjoying the "leader" position he has occupied to the fullest.