Guillaume Apollinaire/Paul Guillaume, Correspondance (1913-1918)

One could never exaggerate the importance of Apollinaire (1880-1918) in the genesis of avant-garde movements. He was the friend of Picasso, of Derain, of Chirico, of Douanier Rousseau, among others, and a little more than that in regard to Marie Laurencin! As is confirmed in this correspondence, he was also the mentor of a young ambitious mechanic, Paul Guillaume (1891-1934), who rounded out his income by selling African statues and ended up becoming one of the most important art dealers in Paris. The latter advised, oriented and put the former in contact with painters that mattered. He ended up writing on his own, under various pseudonyms, his magazine, Les Arts à Paris. Their relationship wavered when the art dealer forgot to go to the poet’s wedding and stood him up a number of times for lunch. The poet’s last letter, dated 11 October 1918, is explicit: “Your way of behaving with me is worthy of a good-for-nothing (…)”. The poet died a month later and we will never know how this amazing two-some could have evolved.

• Guillaume Apollinaire/Paul Guillaume, Correspondance (1913-1918), directed by Laurence Campa and Peter Read, Gallimard, 192 p., €19.50.