Calligrammes by guillaume apollinaire biography

Who was Guillaume Apollinaire and why did he make pictures of words? We unpack three of his ‘calligrammes’ – an early contribution to concrete poetry

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880 – 1918) was a French poet and writer of Polish descent.

He was one of the foremost poets of the early 20th century, as well as an ardent defender of Cubism and a forefather of Surrealism. In fact it was Apollinaire who coined the term ‘Cubism’ in 1911 to describe the emerging art movement, He also came up with the term ‘Orphism’, an offshoot of Cubism, in 1912, and the term ‘Surrealism’ in 1917 to describe the works of Erik Satie.

Calligrammes by guillaume apollinaire biography

He wrote poems without punctuation, and tried to be modern in form and subject. He was also a journalist and art critic, and co-founded the arts and literary magazine Les Soirées de Paris. He enlisted to fight with the artillery in World War I in 1