Ever heard of a street named after a tormented soul? Here at Impasse Artaud we find ourselves on such a path.
Impasse Artaud is a small street in Marseille. It is a silent tribute to Antonin Artaud. This man was a French artist of many talents.
Who was Antonin Artaud? Born Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud in Marseille in 1896 he became an actor. He was also a playwright. Artaud wrote essays and poetry. He even drew. His life was a constant quest for artistic expression. Each activity was a tool. Each was a means to develop his unique art.
Antonin’s childhood in Marseille was cherished. He had fond memories of tenderness and warmth. Yet it was disturbed by illness. At age five Artaud was diagnosed with meningitis.
Artaud attended Collège Sacré-Cœur. There he discovered Arthur Rimbaud. Stéphane Mallarmé also inspired him. Artaud also enjoyed Edgar Allan Poe’s work. He even started his own magazine with friends.
The artist explored many different art forms. These included poetry and stage design. He also expressed himself through pilgrimage, drug use drawing and radio. He fought lifelong physical pain. Doctors said it came from hereditary syphilis. This pain affected his relationships. It also affected his art.
Artaud also endured electroshock therapy. This happened during several stays in psychiatric hospitals. He spent his final years in mental institutions. One was in Rodez. His mental instability complicated relationships. But it fueled his creativity.
Antonin Artaud invented the Theatre of Cruelty. He set forth the concept in his book The Theatre and Its Double. Artaud sought to radically change literature. He particularly wanted to transform theatre. He did not fully succeed during his lifetime. But Artaud influenced generations after May 1968. American theatre was especially affected. The Situationists of the late 1960s claimed his revolutionary spirit. His work influenced the anarchistic Living Theatre. The Living Theatre put Artaud’s theories into practice in the play The Brig.
Gilles Deleuze was a big fan. He said that Artaud made art delirious. He made theory delirious around the body without organs. Artaud’s graphic work is important too. In 1994 his work was given to the Centre national d’art et de culture Georges-Pompidou. Some of his works were displayed in 2011.
Antonin Artaud was born in Marseille. The Impasse Artaud is a quiet acknowledgement of that fact. His family had roots in Malta. There was Armenian blood. Some ancestors came from Venice. Others were Greek or French. His father Antoine-Roi Artaud was a long-distance captain. His mother Euphrasie Nalpas were cousins. Both grandmothers were sisters.
Antonin Artaud constantly battled what he called his syphilis. It caused him extreme pain. He fought it with medicine and drugs. Ultimately Artaud died in 1948 in Ivry-sur-Seine near Paris. He was only 51.
So when you walk Impasse Artaud remember the artist. He was a complicated and tormented genius. His impact on the world is still felt today.