Henri-Pierre Roché

Henri-Pierre Roché (28 May 1879 – 9 April 1959) was a French author who was deeply involved with the artistic avant-garde in Paris and the Dada movement.

Late in life, Roché published two novels: his first was Jules et Jim (1953), a semi-autobiographical work published when he was 74. His second novel, Les deux anglaises et le continent (Two English Girls, 1956), was also inspired by his life. Both were adapted as films by the director François Truffaut, in 1962 and 1971 respectively. The popularity of the film Jules et Jim brought renewed attention to Roché's novels and life.

Roché was born in Paris, France. In 1898, he was an art student at the Académie Julian.

Roché became a respected journalist as well as an art collector and dealer. At the turn of the 20th century, he became close friends with a number of young European artists from the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris including Manuel Ortiz de Zárate and Marie Vassilieff; and from Montmartre, Max Jacob and Pablo Picasso. He was at home in the world of artists, collectors and gallerists. In November 1905, he introduced the Americans Leo Stein and his sister Gertrude Stein to Picasso.

Leo described Roché as "a tall man with an inquiring eye under an inquisitive forehead, wanted to know something more about everything. He was a born liaison officer, who knew everybody and wanted everybody to know everybody else." Gertrude Stein, in chapter 3 of her The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, described Roché in much the same terms. She particularly appreciated his having read her Three Lives and early recognition of her value as a writer.

Roché was also a friend of Francis Picabia, Constantin Brâncuși and Marcel Duchamp. Following his discharge from the French army, Roché and Duchamp traveled to New York City in 1916. There, they teamed up with Beatrice Wood to create The Blind Man, a magazine that was one of the earliest manifestations in the United States of the Dada art movement.

...
Wikipedia