User:Suryudaya/Valentine de Saint-Point

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Literary Debut

In January 1905 she published an article in The New journal entitled, Lamartine Unknown (Lamartine Inconnu), the title of which alluded to her poetic lineage. Following this she published her first collection of poetry, Poems of the Sea and the Sun which had been inspired by her trip to Spain with Canudo the previous year. In 1906, A Love, the first part of a trilogy, was well received by critics. She began her collaborations with several magazines such as The Artist Europe, The Mercury, The New Review, The Age, La Plume, and Gil Blas, whose founder was the poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Incest which appeared at the beginning of the year 1907 collected mixed reactions from the public and critics. The theme of a mother initiating her son to physical love was the most controversial. The year 1909 was dedicated to theater. 28 May, Valentine Theatre Arts presents a one-act drama, The Fallen which was published by The New Review. Criticism was harsh, but the work was the first part of her dramatic trilogy The Theater of Women. In 1910 she published A woman and desire, an unacknowledged autobiographical confession that enabled her to express a few truths about female psychology and women's roles in society. In 1911, she moved into a studio at 19 rue de Tourville where her art would become denser and its most popular. She participated for the first time in the Salon des Indépendants, where she exhibited paintings and woodcuts until 1914.

On 17 February 1912, she inaugurated her 'Apollonian' parties, which were reported in the press. Rachilde gave a reading of his play, The Seller of Sunshine and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti recited poems. Others who were present included, Philippe Berthelot, Saint-Pol-Roux, Boccioni, Gino Severini, Canudo, Florent Schmitt, Countess Venturini, and Mendes-Cattule.

In addition to her artistic works, Valentine de Saint-Point wrote pieces which discuss the ironic themes of love and death. To further elaborate, some of her writings compare and contrast the themes of love beside, what was at the time, a theoretical debate on the death of the avant-garde movement. Both her and Tommaso Marinetti are well known futurist artists who gave their hand at writing, particularly texts which spoke against love. There has been debate in regards to whether the writings are literal or theoretical, therefore these writings have incited a non-historical approach to examining such works. The works of Saint-Point and Marinetti have caused a stir amongst literary and art historians, in an attempt to determine the relationship between death and life in the study of the avant-garde.