Prints, Drawings, and Photographs Portrait of Guillaume Apollinaire 1912 Louis Marcoussis (Louis Casimir Ladislas Markus), French (born Poland), 1878 - 1941 Drypoint Currently not on view 1950-134-128 The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950 |
LabelThe Polish-born artist Louis Marcoussis was born Louis Casimir Ladislas Markus; in 1910 he changed his surname at the suggestion of his friend, the poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire, whom he met in the French village of Marcoussis. In this celebrated portrait, the artist depicted Apollinaire at his writing desk composing his 1912 poem Cortège. The fourth stanza of the poem is clearly legible; reading in English: “One day / One day as I invited my soul / I said to myself Guillaume it’s time to come / So I at last may find out who I am / I who know the others.” |
