Art and Design Commons^™

Potty-Talk In Parisian Plays, Elizabeth Mix

Scholarship and Professional Work – Arts

When Henry Somm and Alfred Jarry died in Paris in 1907, they were penniless and forgotten by all but their closest friends. However, the contrast between the life and work of these two artist/playwrights is graphically demonstrated by the conditions under which they passed away. Henry Somm, best known as a lesser-known Impressionist, was sixty-three years old when he died “of natural causes” in his atelier at 27 boulevard de Rochechouart. Alfred Jarry, friend of Picasso and a member of the avant-garde, died at thirty-four in indescribable filth within a closet-sized space between two floors in an apartment house. Since …