Arthur Cravan

In the course of his brief life, the adventurer, poet and boxer, Arthur Cravan (1887-1918) galvanized the avant-garde circles of Paris and New York with his pugnacious attitude, handsome looks, his romance with Mina Loy, his commitment to the Dada cause and his Dadaist journal Maintenant. In early 1917 he left Europe for the US, where he continued to sow scandal, notably when arrested for indecent exposure at the opening of an exhibition by the "Independents" (Picabia, Duchamp and co.) in New York. America's entry into the war made him eligible for conscription, and in the last days of 1917 he crossed the border into Mexico. He was last seen in October 1918 and is thought to have drowned somewhere off the Mexican coast. This book focuses on Cravan's Barcelona years. Also presented here for the first time are the works of Cravan's painter alter-ego, douard Archinard. This volume constitutes the most substantial book on Cravan in English yet published.