Creative Calligrammes

In his lifetime, Picasso formed many friendships with writers and intellectuals. Apollinaire and his friends, 1909, by Marie Laurencin shows the poet Guillaume Apollinaire (pictured centre) with a group of poets, artists and intellectuals. From left to right we see the art collector and writer Gertrude Stein, Picasso’s muse Fernande Olivier, who appears to be wearing a crown of fruit, Guillaume Apollinaire in the centre, Picasso, poets Marguerite Gillot and Maurice Cremnitz, and Marie Laurencin on the far right, seated at a piano.

These artists and poets wanted to depict their changing world in new and interesting ways and to challenge the way we see and represent reality. Where Cubist artists often presented multiple viewpoints simultaneously, modernist poets experimented with ideas of time and place in their poetry. Cubism often involved reducing an object to basic geometric parts while modernist poetry sometimes involved reducing or simplifying a scene into a series of descriptive fragments.

The painting Apollinaire and his friends can be seen as celebration of this group of artists and writers and of the exciting art scene of the time.

• Look closely at Apollinaire and his friends by Marie Laurencin. Comment on the way the artist represents the personalities and the friendships of the group – you might comment on her choice of colour, composition, line or other elements and principles.
• What other elements suggest that Marie Laurencin might be referencing the art of the time? Students may notice the use of fruit, the background, the mask-like features on the faces.
• Look at these poems by Gertrude Stein and Guillaume Apollinaire. Discuss the way the poets have described ordinary objects in new ways and other interesting features of their poetry.

Gertrude Stein, A carafe, that is a Blind Glass

Gertrude Stein, The house was just twinkling in the moonlight

Guillaume Apollinaire, Autumn III

• How are poetry and art similar?
• Which tools and methods do artists use to communicate meaning? Think of materials but also elements and principles.
• What are some methods poets use to communicate meaning? Possible responses might include imagery, descriptive language, varied sentence length.

• Coloured paper or card
• Black paper or card
• Grey lead pencil
• Soft tipped markers
• White pencil or pen
• Scissors
• Glue

Guillaume Apollinaire developed a form of poetry called the calligramme in which words are arranged to form a picture. We are going to take inspiration from some of the artworks in The Picasso Century and write a short poem which we will then transform into a calligramme.

You can read about Apollinaire’s book of poetry which featured the use of calligrammes and see some examples here.

Stage one: Exploring the artworks

Begin by looking at the two artworks The Matador (1970) by Pablo Picasso and The City, no.2 (1910) by Robert Delaunay. In your group, discuss how each artist has used the elements and principles of design to communicate meaning.

Discuss

The Matador (1970)

1. What is a matador?
2. What qualities or characteristics do you think a matador might possess?
3. How has Pablo Picasso used colour, line, shape, movement to suggest the qualities or characteristics of the matador?
4. Pablo Picasso loved bullfighting. What qualities do you think a matador has that Picasso might have admired or related to?

The City no.2 (1910), Robert Delaunay

1. What words would you use to describe the mood or appearance of the city depicted in this work? Some ideas might be: grey, chaotic, jumbled, energetic, dynamic, towering.
2. This artwork has been painted as a view from a window – you can see the soft white curtains on the edges of the canvas and if you look carefully you can see the red silhouette of the Eiffel Tower. List words to describe what you might see, smell, hear, taste and feel looking at this city from a window above.
3. How has the artist used line, colour, movement and other elements to communicate his experience of the city?

Stage Two: Experimenting with language

Choose one of the works discussed and complete the following activities:

1. Make a list of art elements that are noticeable in this work. (e.g. line, colour, shape, texture, tone, form)
2. Write interesting phrases to describe the artist’s use of the elements. You might like to experiment with collective nouns, alliteration or metaphor.

Collective nouns: ‘a tangle of sharp lines’

Alliteration: ‘a cacophony of colour’

Metaphor: ‘a dissonant symphony of geometric shapes’

3. List interesting verbs that might be associated with the subject matter. They might relate to principles such a sense of rhythm and movement evident in the work.

Examples:

‘The city’: spiraling, towering, exploding

‘The matador’: Brandishing, daring, fighting

Stage three: Composing your poem

Now that you have generated some ideas, write your poem following the structure below:

• Title
• A collective noun or alliterative phrase which describes an element (like shape or line)
• A simile or metaphor relating to an element
• Three verbs relating to elements in the work
• Title rephrased, or a deeper reflection/meaning

Examples:
The city no.2

A jumble of broken rectangles,

Dark and light checkerboard reflections,

Overlapping, exploding, cascading,

Chaotic metropolis.

The Matador

A cascade of curly unravelling lines,

Golden hair vibrant against the deep blue sky,

Brandishing a sword, laughing at death!

Fierce bullfighter.

Stage Four: Experimenting with letters and text

Think about how you can illustrate the meaning or imagery in your poem by using different types of text or font.

Practice some different writing styles you think might suit your poem for example bold, sharp, curvy, cursive, small, or scratchy. You may even consider some of the verbs in your poem and how these could be communicated through your writing style.

Stage Five: Constructing your calligramme

1. Choose a shape or symbol that suits your subject matter – e.g. a sword, a curl of hair, the Eiffel Tower, a building or city skyline.
2. Draw an outline of your shape on coloured paper and cut it out, paste it on the black or grey card. This will form the background for your poem. Alternatively, you may wish to make a background by cutting out your shape from the black card and using the negative space to form your background (as per sample)
3. With a contrasting coloured pen or pencil, write your poem around the contours of your shape or to fill the space of your shape. You may need to adjust the size of your letters or break up words to fit your poem into the shape.

Extension

As a class group you may wish to make a collaborative work by placing your calligrammes on a single background. For example you might make a city scape where each student’s poem forms the shape of a building

In small groups or as a class discuss the following questions:

• What idea(s) did you represent in your poem and what text and shape did you use to demonstrate the idea(s)?
• How does your final work relate to the artwork that inspired you?