Michaux, Henri ___ 1899-1984 ___ Belgian ___ artist poet

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Michaux was born in Namur, the son of a catholic lawyer, and educated at a Jesuit school in Brussels. He toyed with the priesthood and with medicine (starting studies at Brussels University), but chose to go travelling in North and South America, working as a ship's stoker in the French merchant navy. Having returned to Belgium, Michaux began writing for the magazine 'Le Disque Vert' but, faced with his parents disapproval, he moved to Paris. There he supported himself by working as a teacher and secretary. He became interested in the art of the time, that being produced by Paul Klee and Salvador Dalí for example, and wrote for avant-garde reviews. His friend, the photographer Gilberte Brassaï, encouraged his writing of poetry. In 1927, Michaux travelled to Ecuador and then published his diary of the journey. Is said that Michaux 'used the pen to write and draw' and 'explored the boundaries of different forms of expression'. Michaux's most well-known book, 'Un Certain Plume, was published in 1930. It contains fifteen sketches of his alter ego, Monsieur Plume. His writing attracted other writers such as Andre Gide, Lawrence Durrell, and Octavio Paz. From 1937 to 1939 Michaux edited the mystical magazine 'Hermès'. Also in 1937, he held his first exhibition. During the Second World War, Michaux lived in southern France, and he married Marie Louise Ferdiere. After the death of his wife in a fire during 1948, Michaux focused on his painting, and on taking drugs and writing about the experiences.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1929 ___ literary travel self Ecuador

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext
googlebooks

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
 

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Ecuador: A Travel Journal
 

November 2005, July 2008
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.