Bastiaan D. van der Velden
(this is a translation of my text in Dutch)
Utrecht is the city where Dutch surrealism took shape.
The painters Willem Wagenaar, Louis Wijmans, Van ’t Net, Perdok, Van Leusden
and J. Moesman were active in this mediaeval town, the writers Hendrik Cramer
and Theo van Doesburg were born here, the 1 copy magazine De Schone Zakdoek was published here by Van Baaren and Gertrude
Pape; in the 1930ties French surrealist magazines were for sale in the Nord
gallery situated in the Vinkenburgstraat and Johan Brouwer situated his novel Vandaag geen spreekuur in the labyrinth
of the inner city of Utrecht. These facts, however, are not the reason to pay
attention to André Breton, Utrecht and the year 1713. Breton only learned about
Moesman's paintings long after the painter's most productive period, most probably
Breton had no knowledge about the other facts.
The reason to investigate Utrecht and 1713 is the
place this city occupies in the mythology André Breton created around himself. It is a complex of
facts and events related to Utrecht brought together in a poem-object he made
in 1941. There are several "totem cities" in the personal mythology
of Breton. Next to Paris, the town of Nantes plays an important role in
Breton's work and people from Nantes were important in his life. Now back to
Utrecht as a totem city for Breton. In the poem-object entitled "Portrait
de l'acteur AB dans son rôle mémorable de l'an de grâce 1713” (Portrait of
Actor A.B. in his memorable Role, in the Year of Our Lord 1713) several facts
and fascinations of Breton come together.[2] The poem-object from 1941
got lost, only a small photo exist, and there are several short notes on the
object written by Breton that will guide us.
From the early 1920s, Breton used 1713 as his initials,
since this number or year 1713 has strong similarity with AB: the A is shaped
into a 17 and the B is similar to 13. Arcane
17 is the title of a book he published in 1945, since the 17th card from
the tarot game signifies hope; and 13 is in his own words ‘un nombre sûr’.[3] Around the numbers 1713 he
created a mythology, including the historical events that took place in the
year 1713.
1713 is the year of the Treaty of Utrecht, which
established the Peace of Utrecht, which ended the Spanish succession wars. In
the poem-object the peace returns, the ‘Paix pattes de velours’. The Peace with
velvet paws is a reference to Utrecht as the center of the velvet trade. In the
Treaty of Utrecht, the island of Ile de Cap Breton, which is located in Canada,
was allocated to France.
The ‘Paix pattes de velours’ seems a reference to the
words Breton wrote in Les Champs
magnétiques: ‘Pneus pattes de velours’.[4] The significance of the velvet-legged tires is
explained in notes in the copy of Les
Champs magnétiques that belonged to René Gaffé:
‘Cette phrase, ai-je déjà dit, m’a joué les plus mauvais tours. C’est à
elle que j’ai dû de me croire, une après-midi (les Champs magnétiques ayant dès le matin même définitivement pris
forme), de me croire traqué place de l’Etoile par des chats qui étaient
peut-être (mais je vous prie de croire : seulement peut-être) des autos.’ (This
sentence, I said, haunted me. It was due to this line that I had to make myself
believe, one afternoon (les Champs
magnétiques had taken shape in their final version that very morning), to
believe that I had been hunted down at Place de l'Etoile by cats who were
perhaps (I have to stress: only maybe) cars.)
For completeness, Breton wrote in his own analysis of
the Portrait de l’acteur A.B.:
‘Paix pattes de velours, par
l’intermédiaire de l’expression « faire patte de velours »[5] qui veut dire rentrer ses
griffes, et Utrecht, célèbre universellement par ses velours, engendrent ici un
chat qu’il n’est pas trop difficile d’apercevoir dans les six cases inférieurs
: tête et corps, pattes, queue.’ (Peace of the velvet paws, by means of the
expression 'to make velvet paws' which means to hide its claws, and Utrecht,
universally famous for the velvet made there, generate here a cat that it is
not too difficult to see in the six boxes at the bottom of the object-poem:
head and body, legs, tail.)
The next reference to Utrecht is the sentence ‘Les
Diplomates s’arrêtent devant la Kleine Poortje’. Het Kleine Poortje should have
been a seventeenth-century Utrecht restaurant or brothel. In an analysis Breton
made of his object in 1942, he explains that it refers to the many diplomats
who were involved in the preparations for the Treaty of Utrecht. These
diplomats visited "Het Kleine Poortje" because, according to rumors
and gossip, the place was frequented by cardinal De Retz. The cardinal, writer
and politician played an important role in French politics during the affaire
of Cardinal Mazarin in 1651, then falls into disgrace in 1654, is imprisoned,
flees and travels through Europe as a nomad for years. On the run, he ends up
in Utrecht, where - after many temptations - he falls for the charms of the
waitress Annetje in this pub. The secretary of De Retz, Guy Joly, provides some
information about this period:
‘Cependant [1658] sa vie obscure et vagabonde continuoit toujours,
tantôt d’un côté et tantôt d’un autre, à Amsterdam, à La Haye, à Rotterdam, à
Utrecht, et en plusieurs autres villes de Hollande. Mais on se plaisoit
particulièrement à Utrecht, dans une auberge qui avoit pour enseigne : ’t
Kleine poortje (la petite porte), dont la servante, nommée Annetje, ou Nanon,
occupoit une assez bonne place dans la cœur du cardinal.’[6] (‘However [in 1658] his
obscure and wandering life still continued, sometimes on one side and sometimes
on the other, in Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht, and in several other
cities in Holland. But he particularly liked Utrecht, where, in an inn with the
sign ’t Kleine poortje (the small door), there was a servant, named Annetje, or
Nanon, who occupied a preferred place in the heart of the cardinal.)
Breton will have consulted one of the many editions of
Joly's Memoirs, or a biography of De
Retz in which Joly's Memoirs are
incorporated. However, in De Retz's Œuvres
published in 1984, is written : ‘rien permet d’accréditer ces allégations.’,
there is no proof for these allegations.[7] Breton attached great
importance to De Retz, in the surrealist game ‘Ouvrez Vous?’, Breton was asked
if he would open the door for De Retz: ‘Oui,
à toute heure, toujours, pour parler bas’ (Yes, anytime, always, to speak quietly).[8] There used to be a hotel
called 'Het Witte Poortje' on the
Ganzenmarkt, but my research in the city archives was not fruitful, no trace in
the files stocked there on this place.[9]
Breton gives in his comment on the poem-object a third
hint connected to Utrecht. 1713 is the year of the publication of the papal Bull
Unigentius by pope Clément XI, a
document that led to the persecution of the Jansenists in France. In the poème-objet:
‘D’un judas de Port-Royal détruite mais invulnérable je te vois pape Clément
XI, vieux chien.’ Breton was very interested in the Jansenists, fareinists and
convulsionaires ('la beauté sera convulsive ou ne sera pas'), various religious
sects with ties to the Old Catholic church. Many Jansenists were forced to
leave France after the ratification of the Bull Unigentius and settled in the
region around Utrecht where a certain level of freedom of religion existed.
Breton wrote about this in a note from 1938, when he was searching for traces
of the fareinists in the region of Ain: ‘Café devant l’église : aucun
renseignement. Vu ensuite l’instituteur […]’[10] " The local teacher
recommended to visit an old shoemaker:
‘un vieux cordonnier, chef actuel de la communauté. Chez le vieux
cordonnier (86 ans) – Reconnaît que le fareinisme a perdu beaucoup de terrain
[…]. Il y avait une église du culte à Paris, l’église St-Denis, avenue
d’Italie, qui groupait 300 fidèles. D’autres existent toujours aux Pays-Bas (Utrecht
?) D’après le vieillard, leur religion est purement l’ancienne religion
catholique.’ (An old shoemaker, current head of the community. Visiting the old
shoemaker (86 years old) - Recognizes that fareinism has lost a lot of
importance […]. There was a church in Paris, the St-Denis Church, avenue
d'Italie, where 300 people gathered 300. Others still exist in the Netherlands
(Utrecht?) According to the old man, their religion is identical to that of the
Old Catholic Church)
1713,
the peace conference, the derive of De Retz, and the exiled Jansenists, for the
city of Utrecht, the period between 1650-1720 when the visit of De Retz took
place and the diplomats stayed in the town, was a short period of economic
revival, on the eve of a long period of stagnation. Breton could have found the
city of Utrecht in 1938 as it had been left by the diplomats anno 1713 (tough
visiting The Netherlands in the 1930ties and 1950ties several times searching
for ethnographic objects, I have found no trace that he made a detour to Utrecht
(only visiting Amsterdam and Leiden)). The Old Catholic Church can still be
found in Utrecht. The dormant
atmosphere, prolonged stagnation, centuries of black nonmoving water in the channels,
derelict objects on the quays, an atmosphere that has been praised by many, the
ideal breeding ground for that strange Utrecht surrealism and like in a hazard objectif
also one of the totem cities of André Breton.
B.D. Utrecht, 1994
[1] L’Aigle Bleu, no. 18, septembre 2001.
[2] Breton: Le surréalisme et la peinture (1965), p.
284.
[3] A. Breton, Œuvres complètes, tome I, p. 66.
[4] A. Breton, Œuvres complètes, tome I, p. 65. En dat
veertien jaar voor het fameuze kopje van Méret Oppenheim.
[5] ‘Faire patte de velours, Lors qu’un chat retire ses griffes en donnant la
patte.’ Dictionnaire de L’Académie
française,
1ere Edition, 1694.
[6] Guy Joly, Mémoires de Guy Joly [publ.] par MM.
Michaud et Poujoulat: Nouvelle collection des mémoires pour servir à l’histoire
de France (Paris: Ed. du commentaire analytique du Code civil, 1838) p. 139. Er
zijn ook andere edities: Gui Joly, Mémoires
de Mr Joli,... contenant l’histoire de la régence d’Anne d’Autriche et des
premières années de la majorité de Louis XIV jusqu’en 1665, avec les intrigues
du cardinal de Retz à la cour. Tome premier (Amsterdam: J.-F. Bernard,
1718) en Gui Joly, Mémoires de Gui
Joly,... ouvrage qui sert de supplément aux Mémoires du cardinal de Retz. Nouvelle édition, augmentée
de remarques et d’éclaircissemens curieux sur l’histoire de ce temps là (Amsterdam: chez Jean-Frederic Bernard 1738-1739).
[7] Cardinal de Retz
[Jean-Francois-Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz] Œuvres; édition établie par Marie-Therese Hipp e.a (Paris:
Gallimard 1984) p. 1671.
[8] In: Legrand, 1976, p.
202.
[9] Stadsarchief van Utrecht,
inventaris 820 no. 655 & inventarisnummer 820 / 64 - 65.
[10] Vente Breton 2003, lot 2224.
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