He makes fun of everything from life the art

In the important exhibition dedicated to the Dada movement, which was held until January 9 at the centre Pompidou in Paris, an entire section was devoted to the artists who had imagined actions Dada before even the birth of the movement. Among them was a very whimsical and fascinating being who was early in the century a star of the boxing rings and an anti-tout, a son of English bourgeois, nephew of Oscar Wilde. This character was called Arthur Cravan. Since then, he has made dream of the Apostles of fantasy, nihilism and the avant-garde. But it is one which still devoted much energy to celebrate the worship of this singular character. It's a French dealer installed rue Bonaparte, Marcel Fleiss.

It is now the head of one of the largest collections of the world, if not the largest, dedicated to Arthur Cravan. A secret garden that nourishes the spirit of challenge. "Cravan is not an artist is a poet", explains the passionate man. "He makes fun of everything from life, the art." And describe his mysterious hero: "I see as a giant of 2 meters, very square shoulders as it appears in a 1916 film where he is training of boxing it." It is a giant, but it is not strong enough to beat the American champion. That said, it has gained much fighting fans as seen in the journal "Boxing and boxing". "Although little talkative, Marcel Fleiss continues his hesitant voice:"Nobody did through his eyes". And especially not the painter Marie Laurencin. He was not entirely wrong. His interest lies in its spirit of subversion. It is provocative, critical, as today person would dare to do so.

Remember the facts. Arthur Cravan, real name Fabian Lloyd, was born in 1887 in Lausanne of English parents. He died in unknown circumstances in 1918 in South America. Raised in Lausanne in a difficult environment, it retains most of filiation "uncle Oscar Wilde, who had married the sister of my father, Constance Lloyd". The man, of imposing stature, excels in the fighting in boxing fans. But it is also known by his artistic activities. He edited as between 1912 and 1915 five issues of a magazine called "Now" that he writes fully and that it distributes itself.

Also suspected of having painted under another pseudonym of paintings at the famous galerie Bernheim Jeune. Cravan is a mystery. The man is fascinating because he applied, before time, in their daily lives the principles of the Dada movement challenge.

Once it find in the work of an artist who has not produced much Everything: documents, memories and other inserts... "I have about 200 pieces, photographs, letters, journals, posters, manuscripts..." ", explains Marcel Fleiss. All evidence to try to trace a course extraordinary, from Paris to the Mexico, filled areas of shadow. The history of this fascination began for merchant-collector in the 1960s when he reads an article André Breton devoted to Cravan in an American magazine.

In the 1970s, Marcel Fleiss located in Granville, in an auction, a portrait of Arthur Cravan painted by a Polish artist, Henry Hayden. He buys and resells it to a US publisher. "I did more never nothing sold later." It is the regret of this sale which certainly gives rise to its vocation of collector in the matter. Therefore, it track all traces of the nephew of Oscar Wilde. "I'm looking to have pieces of the puzzle but it has been written by historians and André Breton." In 1992, as to make public his efforts, he produced an exhibition devoted to the subject in his gallery. "For the pleasure." Of course, nothing was for sale.

Original documents

It publishes on this occasion a catalogue extensively documented with fourth cover Cravan text: "I would like to be in Vienna and Calcutta, take all trains and all ships, forniquer women and bâfrer all the dishes (...)". I am all things, all men and all the animals! "The operation is. "I realized 150 exhibitions in my Gallery." It is this which attracted the most visitors. "Among them, a host of choice, the daughter of Arthur Cravan. It must be said that on the death of the poet, his young wife, Mina Loy was pregnant. It will give the day a small press.

Seventy-four years later, Fabienne is affected by the tribute to his father. The rest of the story is both fiction and drama. "The daughter of the poet who never knew his father was seriously ill," says Marcel Fleiss." She decides to commit suicide but previously sends three people who worked in my exhibition "Arthur Cravan, Boxer and poet", original documents on his father. It's like this that I have received a series of documents on him in an anonymous envelope kraft paper. "Later, when the daughter of André Breton decides to separate from the content of the apartment of his father, rue Fontaine, Marcel Fleiss negotiates with it, before the famous Drouot auction sale, the purchase of all the elements relating to his"hero ".

Today, the merchant continues its investigation of Cravan painter who was probably under the name of Edouard Archinard. This production is not really remarkable but it feeds the legend. Last winter, Fleiss collection was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in Strasbourg and was the subject of a small catalogue (1). It shows all the relics of the Dada before time. Photos and posters of the boxing bout against American black champion Jack Johnson in 1916, the "tart" painted in a style Fox of Edouard Archinard, photo of the mother of Arthur Cravan and also, among other things, a handwritten letter from 1917 to Mina Loy, where he wrote: "I had new ideas." I live in an almost perpetual delirium (...) Expect me Monday. I crush you in my arms.

Marcel Fleiss said coyly: "I often think to him." Arthur Cravan is a great meeting. "Identifies with the Boxer "I think that my way of writing takes him." It is quite violent. I am known for my virulent fax. I routinely denounces the false passing auction. This week I even wrote three letters for this purpose. "Another boxer...