Tristan Tzara

Born in Romania to a Jewish family, Tzara studied in Bucharest, where he met Marcel Janco and Ion Vinea, with whom he collaborated on the journal Simbolul. In 1915, he moved to Zurich to continue his philosophical studies and reunited with Janco, with whom he attended Cabaret Voltaire from its opening in 1916. In 1918, he publicly recited the Manifeste Dada 1918 and published the third issue of Dada, helping to spread the movement internationally. After moving to Paris in 1920, he joined André Breton’s circle, continued editing Dada, and contributed to the journal Littérature. He organised exhibitions and provocative performances designed to surprise and disorient audiences, and published Sept manifestes dada in 1924. Tensions with Breton and Francis Picabia contributed to the crisis of Paris Dada, which culminated in the tumultuous staging of Le Cœur à gaz in 1923. Relations with Breton remained strained even as Tzara later became involved with Surrealism. In 1936, he took part in the Spanish Civil War and, during the Second World War, joined the French Resistance, taking refuge in southern France. After the war, he remained politically active, criticising the Soviet invasion of Hungary and French colonial policy.

André Breton / Francis Picabia