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Andre Malraux.

post #1 of 20
3/8/08 at 5:35am
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post #2 of 20
3/8/08 at 5:58am
:drama:
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post #3 of 20
3/8/08 at 1:56pm
One in a great line of french intellectuals, of which I'd include Camus and the one I'm currently reading, Paul Virilio. Oh the clothes- sorry, I forgot what was important. Apparently he could take the most conservative items and make them dramatic (by striking a pose, clearly). The coat over the shoulders- when was this image taken? The most famous portrait of the conductor Karajan, by Fred Stein in 1955, had him wearing is coat in the same way. Oh, they are using them as two-armed capes, aren't they? Since one cannot wear a Julius Caesar cape, but one can wear an overcoat...
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post #4 of 20
3/8/08 at 3:14pm
The pose is quite as striking as the prose in his Antimemoirs
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post #5 of 20
3/8/08 at 8:27pm
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Andre Malraux seemed quite fond of the draped overcoat: That first picture was taken in 1972. Quite interestingly, he was arrested in former Indochina for stealing sculptures from one of the Angkor complexes.
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post #6 of 20
3/8/08 at 11:46pm
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Originally Posted by LabelKing View Post
Quite interestingly, he was arrested in former Indochina for stealing sculptures from one of the Angkor complexes.

For all of his existential palaver about suffering and dying, he was quite the brave fellow. No slurs about cheese-eating surrender monkeys fit his escapades. He was a freedom fighter in the Spanish Civil War. During WWII twice the Nazis captured him. The first time he was in the French Army. He escaped and later joined the Resistance only to be captured a second time.

Malraux did his share of Indiana Jones adventuring. He decided to liberate those temple sculptures in Cambodia and, ironically, it was the French Indochina authorities (his own people) that arrested him. He claimed some sort of local jungle authority authorized the whole thing and that the pieces were destined for the Louvre back home. Lord Elgin fared better with the Ottomans.

You may already know that his Man's Fate was written about the unsuccessful revolution in your Shanghai. As part of a high school literature class in the 1960s, our communist sympathizing teacher put this book on the reading list. I believe it was either Life or Look magazine that had a few photos of him as part of some de Gaulle issue at about this same time. Malraux was quite the natty dresser.

___
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post #7 of 20
3/9/08 at 4:50am
I think what's more notable is that the guy never wore any shirt other than white.
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post #8 of 20
3/9/08 at 6:03am
that's an interesting signature style, the draped coat. I've always been fascinated by this look, but never tried doing it myself as I am afraid the coat may fall off when I am on the go.
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post #9 of 20
3/9/08 at 6:07am
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I do it all the time with coats and outerwear, and it rarely falls off unless you move your arm too much. Another Malraux with draped coat:
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post #10 of 20
3/9/08 at 6:17am
great photo, love the cigarette smoked down to the filter...
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post #11 of 20
3/9/08 at 6:34am
I just read Voices of Silence last year. One of the best books on art and culture I've ever read, but after I finished it I wondered whether I would ever meet someone else who's read it.
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post #12 of 20
3/9/08 at 6:52am
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Originally Posted by landho View Post
I just read Voices of Silence last year. One of the best books on art and culture I've ever read, but after I finished it I wondered whether I would ever meet someone else who's read it.

I feel that way about many books I read.
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post #13 of 20
3/9/08 at 7:20am
I prefer Romain Gary.
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post #14 of 20
3/9/08 at 7:29am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RJman View Post
I prefer Romain Gary.
Look at all that fur; good taste, I think.
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post #15 of 20
3/9/08 at 6:07pm
The french public intellectuals have this admirable need to be both in the government and to write philosophically oriented books. In France these gentlemen were involved in government or business while writing the kinds of books that in America only academics and thinktank folks write. These books are not aimed at getting elected, the only books that modern American politicians write. Amazing.

I'd love for style to include dramatic clothes and dramatic books, while working
in the real world.

Is it only me, or does Andre have the air of a 5 year old playing superman as he comes down the airplane steps?

Here is Andre Malraux in another Fred Stein portrait. No coat/cape, but another short cigarette.
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