Louis Aragon, 1897-1982
27 May - 21 Dec 2015
From Surrealism to Communism
Curator : Mnam/Cci / Clément Cheroux
Born in 1897, in the 1920s Louis Aragon was involved in Dadaist and then Surrealist activities. Joining the Communist Party in early 1927, in 1930 he attended the Congress of Revolutionary Writers in Kharkov, where he took his distance from the Surrealists. On returning from the Soviet Union he published the poem Front rouge, whose violence – “Bring down the cops, comrades [...] Fire on Léon Blum” – saw him convicted for incitement to murder. This was the “Aragon Affair” that prompted a number of Surrealist leaflets and pamphlets. But unlike most members of the group, who would leave the Party, Aragon remained loyal, taking posts of responsibility in its press, at Commune, Ce soir and Les Lettres françaises. In 1935-1936, Aragon organised several lecture series on realism, provoking a fundamental debate on artistic matters, uncommon during that decade.
Clément Chéroux, assisted by Aurélien Bernard et Chloé Goualch"
Curator : Mnam/Cci / Clément Cheroux
Born in 1897, in the 1920s Louis Aragon was involved in Dadaist and then Surrealist activities. Joining the Communist Party in early 1927, in 1930 he attended the Congress of Revolutionary Writers in Kharkov, where he took his distance from the Surrealists. On returning from the Soviet Union he published the poem Front rouge, whose violence – “Bring down the cops, comrades [...] Fire on Léon Blum” – saw him convicted for incitement to murder. This was the “Aragon Affair” that prompted a number of Surrealist leaflets and pamphlets. But unlike most members of the group, who would leave the Party, Aragon remained loyal, taking posts of responsibility in its press, at Commune, Ce soir and Les Lettres françaises. In 1935-1936, Aragon organised several lecture series on realism, provoking a fundamental debate on artistic matters, uncommon during that decade.
Clément Chéroux, assisted by Aurélien Bernard et Chloé Goualch"