Guillaume Apollinaire

Art Historical Context

In the vibrant avant-garde circles of post-World War I Paris, Polish-French artist Louis Casimirislas Marcoussis captured the essence of poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire in intimate 1921 drawing. Executed in vivid red crayon on wove, the modest 28.3 x 19 cm sheet (11 1/8 x 7 1/2 in.) exemplifiesoussis's shift from early Cubist experiments toward more fluid, personal expressions. Apollinaire, who died in 1918 from the Spanish flu pandemic, was a towering figure in modernism—coining the term "Surrealism" and championing Cubism through his writings, making this posthumous portrait a poignant...