Georges Malkine

Georges Alexandre Malkine (10 October 1898 – 22 March 1970) was the only visual artist named in André Breton’s 1924 Surrealist Manifesto among those who, at the time of its publication, had “performed acts of absolute surrealism." The rest Breton named were for the most part writers, including Louis Aragon, Robert Desnos, and Benjamin Peret. Malkine's 1926 painting Nuit D'amour was the precursor of the lyrical abstract school of painting.

Georges Malkine chose not to expose his private life and, apart from his career in film and theatre, his work was known only to his collectors. He avoided social gatherings, as well as group meetings and anthologies and other methods of categorizing (and, to his mind, demeaning) artists. His example, as suggested in the above quote by Breton, championed the concept of individualism. In his 1970 monograph of Malkine, Patrick Waldberg (French art historian) wrote, "[Malkine] is perhaps the only artist about whom it can be said that through his life and his work, reality and dreams may cease to be viewed contrarily." Indeed, Malkine lived Surrealism and eschewed all attachments to fame, money, career, and other things that he felt sought to confine, define, and in the end, confuse the real issues. He believed a man's wealth was contained in the inner landscapes, and didn't like to talk publicly about himself; his paintings were the only personal glimpses he provided for those who might be interested.

Georges Malkine had a musical soul, and especially loved the piano, which appears in many of his paintings. His highest love was for poetry. Among his closest friends were the poets Robert Desnos and Louis Aragon. Upon Malkine's death, Aragon wrote a lengthy poetic tribute to Malkine, published in his magazine Les lettres françaises.

A historian of Surrealism has erroneously suggested that Malkine was homosexual based on a Man Ray photograph of him kissing his first wife, Yvette, who wore her hair short like a man's. This 1930 photo, in addition to Malkine and his wife, included André de la Rivière, Robert Desnos, and the Swiss sculptor André Lasserre.

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