Inspiration: Tristan Tzara Godfather de Dada
Tristan Tzara was a poet, essayist and performer who was the founder of the antiestablishment movement named DaDa. The movement and Tzara’s early work was based on the style of symbolism. During WWI he befriended and worked with fellow Romanian artist Marcel Janco and duo created the new Dada movement. Tzara & Janco brought the movement to life while living in Switzerland and brought the likes of Hugo Ball, Hans Richter, Sophie Tauber to the movement and it’s birth landed in Cabaret Voltaire. The movement flourished for two years with art, performances expressing disgust for the first world war. The Cabaret closed and the Dada poets and writer took the baton and ran to spread Dada. Hugo Ball recited the first Dada Manifesto and Tzara wrote the second in 1917. Tzara’s manifest received great acclaim in the Dada community and was published in 1918. So began the spread of Dada with Tzara as it’s helm.
Tzara brought Dada to Germany and then to Paris where it flourished but Tzara’s relationships with some of it’s prominent voices had the art form slowly falling out of favor with the Paris set in the early 20’s. Tzara along with Max Ernst and Hans Arp spread their wings and made way for Austria and Czechoslovakia. Tzara continue with his prose poetry guised as Dada manifestos. Also during this period he began creating collage poetry art pieces as an alternative medium. Following this period of change came more change with Tzara moving into the realm of theatrical art form. Tzara premiered his first play in 1921. During this period Tzara also became friends with Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Tolkas and frequented some of the many circles they had created in Paris.
By 1924 Surrealism was on the rise and Dada was slowly becoming muted. Tzara adapted and adopted the new movement and during this same period he got married to Greta Knutson and had a son. Moving into the 30’s Tzara continued with his writing and lived a life of peace until the faithful day in 1935 in which he added his name to the scathing attack on Stein after the publication of her biography of Toklas tired The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. Tzara reached a new low calling his former friend a megalomaniac. Tzara found new ground when he saw the rise of the Nazi’s and at the beginning of the of the Spanish Civil War he left Paris for Spain to join the Republican forces. During this period Tzara also began a long affair with heiress and artist Nancy Cunard. With the start of WWII eminent, Tzara moved back to Paris and joined the French Resistance. Early in the war, Tzara was one of the first names to be added to the list of degenerate artists by the Nazi’s. Back in his homeland, Tzara works and books were ordered out of publication and to be destroyed. In this same period he was stripped of his Romanian citizenship.
With the end of the war and the restoration of France underway, Tzara found a new home and became a French citizen. Post war Tzara’s works flourished greatly as so did his friendships and collaborations. He journeyed back to Romania and Hungry and picked up a new fight again as an anti-Stalinist, fighting for Hungry’s liberation. Tzara’s strong voice became the start of a new revolution in the art world and introduced harsh criticism of Tzara back home in France. Upon his return, his peers asked him to pull back but his friend Brenton labeled him as voice for Hungarian people. Tzara lived out the rest of his life in Paris at his historic home in Montparnasse designed by Adolf Loos.
I choose Tzara’s name for Margot’s middle name because Tzara is one of the most memorable artists from my college years. As for why am I dressing up as him for the Cabaret……Why not! I get to wear a Monocle!
Constantin Brancusi, Tzara, unidentified woman, Mina-Loy, Jane Heap, Margaret Anderson
Rene Crevel, Tzara & Jacques Baron
Tzara, Elmar, Jaque Brenton, Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Yves Tanguy, Jean Arp, Rene Crevel, Man Ray