Rediscovering Cocteau’s artistic output, from perfume boxes to sketches of Peggy Guggenheim

The multifaceted and surprising artist Jean Cocteau was undoubtedly one of the major figures of the Paris cultural scene in the years between the World Wars. In addition to his literary works, Cocteau was a brilliant visual artist: draftsman, filmmaker and muralist and fashion, jewelry and textile designer. The Juggler’s Revenge embraces the versatility for which the artist was often criticized by his contemporaries, retracing the development of his aesthetics and the key moments of his tumultuous life through works created by a variety of techniques and mediums.
Attention is paid to his ambivalent relationship with Cubism, Dadaism and Surrealism, as well as his central role in the “new classicism” of Europe between the wars. A selection of surprising drawings highlights the centrality of desire and sensuality in Cocteau’s practice. His little-studied fashion and jewelry designs show the artist’s incorporation of “high” and “low” culture. This volume corresponds with an exhibition at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, an appropriate setting through which to explore his work. Cocteau had close ties with Guggenheim, who in 1938 opened her first gallery with an exhibition of his drawings. He also had a great love for the city itself, traveling there for the first time at the age of 15 and returning regularly for the Film Festival in the years following World War II.
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) was an author, artist, film director and a key member of French avant-garde culture. Cocteau preferred to be called a poet and referred to his various works as different forms of poetry. He collaborated with dozens of artists throughout his career, including Erik Satie, Guillaume Apollinaire and Pablo Picasso.