Culture
Words by Michel Wlassikoff
Blaise Cendrars, preface to “Le spectacle est dans la rue” by Cassandre
This publication culminates Cassandre’s illustrious career in poster art. It is prefaced by avant-garde writer Blaise Cendrars, who praises Cassandre for uncovering the essence of contemporary life in advertising and for being a dynamic force in modern urban culture.
This publication culminates Cassandre’s illustrious career in poster art. It is prefaced by avant-garde writer Blaise Cendrars, who praises Cassandre for uncovering the essence of contemporary life in advertising and for being a dynamic force in modern urban culture.
Cassandre published Le Spectacle est dans la rue, with Draeger frères, Paris, in 1936. This impressive finale to Cassandre’s work as a poster artist — he would scarcely create anything more in this vein thereafter — sums up more than a decade of achievements that brought him to the pinnacle of his art, worldwide. In 1937, he was exhibited at New York’s MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), the first graphic artist to grace the prestigious museum’s walls. Blaise Cendrars, the committed writer and fellow traveler of the avant-garde since the 1910s, wrote the preface. A reminder: the research carried out with Sonia Delaunay and Fernand Léger for La Prose du transsibérien (1913) and La fin du monde (1921). Cendrars summarized and slightly modified the text he had delivered to the newspaper Aujourd’hui on February 26, 1927. In Caractère Noël 1951, we find a new version of this ode to advertising, “the warmest manifestation of the vitality of today’s men”.
“THE STREET, the street of Paris, is certainly one of the most prodigious spectacles imaginable. When you see today’s life passing by, when you are caught up in its whirlwind, when you realize at every step that the buildings, the palaces, the store windows and the stores are changing every day, that the cars, the planes, even the old railways and the gigantic liners renew their shapes and colors at least once a year, that not only has the traditional decor of cities been transformed and turned upside down, but that even the manners, customs and habits of society are evolving at a new pace, so that for just a few decades now, even the most homely of city dwellers have been driving, flying and travelling - it’s legitimate to ask: who are the instigators and artisans of such a metamorphosis?
A.M. Cassandre is one of those men, and I’m grateful to him for having discovered in advertising the flower of contemporary life, for having understood that it was an affirmation of optimism and health, the warmest manifestation of the vitality of today’s men, of their power, their childishness, their gift of invention and imagination; I’m grateful to Cassandre for having been not only a painter, but above all one of the most fervent animators of modern life: the first director of LA RUE.”
Blaise Cendrars
[Original French text below]
« LA RUE, la rue de Paris est assurément l'un des spectacles les plus prodigieux qui se puissent imaginer. Quand on voit défiler la vie d'aujourd'hui, quand on est pris, emporté dans son tourbillon, quand on se rend compte à chaque pas que les immeubles, que les palaces, que les vitrines, les magasins font tous les jours peau neuve, que les autos, que les avions, que même les vieux chemins de fer et les gigantesques paquebots renouvellent au moins une fois l'an leurs formes et leurs couleurs, que non seulement le décor traditionnel des villes est transformé, bouleversé, mais que même les mœurs, les coutumes, les habitudes de la société évoluent sur un rythme nouveau qui fait que depuis quelques décades à peine le citadin le plus casanier roule, vole, voyage, il est légitime de se demander quels sont les instigateurs et les artisans d'une pareille métamorphose ?
A.M. Cassandre est un de ces hommes-là et je lui suis reconnaissant d'avoir découvert dans la Publicité la fleur de la vie contemporaine, d'avoir compris qu'elle était une affirmation d'optimisme et de santé, la plus chaleureuse manifestation de la vitalité des hommes d'aujourd'hui, de leur puissance, de leur puérilité, de leur don d'invention et d'imagination ; je suis reconnaissant à Cassandre de n'avoir pas seulement été un peintre, mais surtout un des plus fervents animateurs de la vie moderne : le premier metteur en scène de LA RUE. »
Blaise Cendrars
