Jean Cocteau
(1889-1963) French

Cocteau was a playwright, a novelist, artist, poet, designer, and filmmaker. He truly was a renaissance man living in Paris through the city’s great artistic heyday. During the years of the Great War, Cocteau began to associate himself with artists across differing spheres, including the Russian ballet director Diaghilev, composers Stravinksy and Satie, and Picasso; however, it was not until his later life that Cocteau added art to his creative endeavors and experimented with pastels, prints, and posters. He eventually took up easel painting in 1950.