"Breton and Picabia, after declaring that the Dada demonstrations were stupid and tedious, have the magnificent (!) plan of strolling around the boulevards and streets in groups of 12 carrying paintings by Picabia or Delaunay."
1.500€
Philippe SOUPAULT (1897.1990)
Autographed letter signed to Paul Éluard.
Two large quarto pages on paper bearing his letterhead.
Paris. No. [1926/1927].
"I was naive enough to believe that none of us had any ambition or desire for the papacy."
Excluded from the surrealist movement in 1926, Soupault looks back with sadness and regret on the betrayals of Breton and Picabia and the jeopardizing of the Dadaist movement.
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“ My dear Éluard, I am glad to have finally received news from you and to know that you are all well. Regarding your book, it’s settled, put the Six bookstore […] I hope to see your book soon. I would like to write to you at length: it would prove that I have done and seen much, but alas!”
What I see is even sadder than what I don't see. Breton and Picabia, after declaring the Dada demonstrations stupid and tedious, have the magnificent (!) plan to stroll twelve of them along the boulevards and streets carrying paintings by Picabia or Delaunay. Was it really worth all the outcry against the demonstrations, which were, after all, somewhat better? This sheds light on many obscure points and feelings, since I was naive enough to believe that none of us had any ambition or desire for the papacy. Picabia's real name, and that of another, is Papabili.
It's all so sad, so very sad, my poor friend, because it's hard to accept being deceived by people who, in doing so, speak of affection and friendship. I'll long remember the green or yellow smile when we showed one of my old friends our two works; yours or mine. Everything we did was wrong or unacceptable because they couldn't possibly do the same.
I sound much more bitter than I actually am because I'm actually too indifferent. I announced the other day, having finally had enough, that I was giving up the editorship of Littérature . So, Sans Pareil [Au sans pareil, a French publishing house founded in 1919 by René Hilsum] doesn't know whether to publish it. Anyway, never mind…
See you soon, dear friend. Please entrust one of my hands to Gala and keep the other. Don't forget your friend Philippe Soupault .