Jean Cocteau

Also known as Clément Eugène Jean Pierre Cocteau, Zhan Kokto, Eugène Jean Maurice Cocteau, Eugene Jean Maurice Cocteau

French writer and filmmaker (1889–1963)

OverviewAI-generated

Jean Cocteau was a French artist active from 1908 until his death in 1963. He is recognized in the Academie Francaise collection. His work spans genres including spoken word, poetry, dada, and surrealism.

He authored numerous works, including *Max Jacob, poète et romancier*, *Two screenplays*, *Jean Cocteau*, *La machine infernale*, and *Lucien Clergue*. His writings have been referenced by 1,738 other encyclopedia articles.

Cocteau’s artistic philosophy is captured in statements such as, "True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing." He also noted, "I am a lie who always speaks the truth."

Synthesized by Vinony from 23 facts across 9 sources: Wikidata, Last.fm, Crossref, Wikiquote, MusicBrainz, Open Library, Europeana Sparql, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born: 1889-07-05
Died: 1963-10-11
Works: 665

Top works

Max Jacob, poète et romancier
Two screenplays
Jean Cocteau
La machine infernale
Lucien Clergue

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Group
Origin: Scotland
Active from: 1979
Active to: 1997

4adambient technobritishdark wavedream popethereal wave

Discography

Official site Discogs Stream

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 5,437
Total plays: 19,950

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

Fiji: an open-source platform for biological-image analysis
· 2012 · cited 66,894x
Situated Learning
· 1991 · cited 30,538x
The ERA5 global reanalysis
· 2020 · cited 24,233x
The Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock (Sepsis-3)
· 2016 · cited 23,667x
Numerical integration of the cartesian equations of motion of a system with constraints: molecular dynamics of n-alkanes
· 1977 · cited 19,853x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

“A prig always finds a last refuge in responsibility.”
“I am a lie who always speaks the truth.”
“The Louvre is like the morgue; one goes there to identify one’s friends.”
“Poets don’t draw. They unravel their handwriting and then tie it up again, but differently.”
“True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing.”
“Wealth is an inborn attitude of mind, like poverty. The pauper who has made his pile may flaunt his spoils, but cannot wear them plausibly.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Works in European collections

10 objects attributed to Jean Cocteau, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

La jeune peinture (poster for exhibition)

Seated

Figures for “Phèire,” tragic choreography

Figure Study

Head Study

Madame Weisweiler

Self-portrait

Untitled

~26 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( UK: /ˈkɒktoʊ/ KOK-toh, US: /kɒkˈtoʊ/ kok-TOH; French: [ʒɑ̃ mɔʁis øʒɛn klemɑ̃ kɔkto]; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th century and highly influential on the Surrealist and Dadaist movements, among others. The National Observer suggested that "of the artistic generation whose daring gave birth to Twentieth Century Art, Cocteau came closest to being a Renaissance man".

He is most notable for his novels Le Grand Écart (1923), Le Livre blanc (1928), and Les Enfants Terribles (1929); the stage plays La Voix Humaine (1930), La Machine Infernale (1934), Les Parents terribles (1938), La Machine à écrire (1941), and L'Aigle à deux têtes (1946); and the films The Blood of a Poet (1930), Les Parents Terribles (1948), Beauty and the Beast (1946), Orpheus (1950), and Testament of Orpheus (1960), which alongside Blood of a Poet and Orpheus constitute the so-called Orphic Trilogy. He was described as "one of [the] avant-garde's most successful and influential filmmakers" by AllMovie. Cocteau, according to Annette Insdorf, "left behind a body of work unequalled for its variety of artistic expression".

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Jean Cocteau” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Jean Cocteau