Camille Bryen, the Forgotten Glory of Saint-Germain-des-Prés

A multifaceted poet and visual artist, Camille Bryen (1907-1977) was free-spirited and eclectic: he had sporadic contacts with the group “Cercle et Carré”, was fascinated with Dada and Surrealism , was associated with the Parisian lyrical abstraction school as well as with “Informel” after the Second World War and was the theoretician of “Abhumanism” together with playwright Jacques Audiberti (1899-1965) in the 1950s. The Debut of One of the “Glories” of the 6th Arrondissement Born in Nantes in 1907, Briand, his real name, moved to Paris in 1929-1930. He became rapidly a popular character in the neighborhoods of Montparnasse and Saint-Germain-des-Prés. He was one of the “glories of the 6th arrondissement”—as shown in Georges Patrix’s (1920-1992, a designer, architect, and filmmaker) eponymous painting from 1950—side by side with Jean-Paul Sartre, Juliette Gréco, and Jacques Prévert. His skinny, almost childish silhouette and large smiling face were recognizable by all, his spiritual answers and sharp humor were proverbial. Bryen’s first exhibition of automatic drawings inspired by Surrealism took place in May 1934 at the independent venue Le Grenier (the Attic) in the Latin Quarter, followed by five other exhibits until the…