The chair-poem dedicated to the Fondation Haraucourt pays tribute to the poet, novelist, and playwright Edmond Haraucourt. It is part of the artistic installation Prendre position.
Biography of Edmond Haraucourt, poet, novelist, and playwright
Edmond Haraucourt (1856–1941) was a French poet, novelist, and playwright. He began his career with La Légende des sexes (1882), a provocative collection published under the pseudonym “Sire de Chambley.” He served as curator of the Musée du Trocadéro (1894–1903) and then the Musée de Cluny (1903–1925), and was president of the Société des gens de lettres (1920–1922). His poem Rondel de l’adieu, famous for the line “Partir, c’est mourir un peu,” was set to music by Francesco Paolo Tosti. A friend of Victor Hugo, he attended Hugo’s coffin and wrote several novels, including Daâh, le premier homme. A Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, he bequeathed his property on the Île de Bréhat to the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris.
The quote on the chair
To leave is to die a little, to die to what we love: we leave a part of ourselves at every moment and in every place.
A poem-chair
“I adopted the chair, this familiar object, a few decades ago, at a time when I wanted to create art on a human scale in public spaces, while everywhere else people opted for the monumental: it is an object shaped like the body and serves the body. It is difficult to feel exclusive ownership of an object so universally shareable. It is mine when I occupy it, but if I leave it, someone else can claim it as their chair.” Michel Goulet, artist-sculptor
The project Prendre position
A permanent artistic installation
Prendre position is a sculpture-installation project of 47 chair-poems to mark the 100th anniversary of the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris. They were installed in a flowered meadow created especially for the occasion by the campus estate service.
Meeting the designers
This artistic installation was conceived by the Quebecois artist-sculptor Michel Goulet, in collaboration with François Massut, founding director of the collective Poésie is not dead.
The 47 chairs gallery
Each house on the campus is represented by a chair, thanks to a donation from the Maison des étudiants canadiens and the support of the Labrenne group. Each of the 47 chairs is a unique work.
History and architecture of the house
As early as 1920, the poet and writer Edmond Haraucourt, a great admirer of André Honnorat’s work, wished to be associated with the Cité internationale. Having no descendants, he decided, together with his wife Mathilde, to bequeath their residence on the Île de Bréhat to the Cité internationale.
