Roland Topor
Encyclopedia
Roland Topor was a French
illustrator
, painter
, writer
and filmmaker, known for the surreal
nature of his work. He was of Polish
Jewish origin and spent the early years of his life in Savoy
where his family hid him from the Nazi peril.
in 1976. The Tenant is the story of a Parisian of Polish descent, a chilling exploration of alienation and identity, asking disturbing questions about how we define ourselves. The later novel Joko's Anniversary (1969), another fable about loss of identity, is a vicious satire
on social conformity.
A new presentation of The Tenant by Roland Topor was released in October, 2006. The book has Topor's original novel, a new introduction by Thomas Ligotti
, a selection of short stories by Topor, a representation of Topor's artwork and an essay on the famous Roman Polanski film version. There is a working possibility of having Mr. Polanski write a new foreword to this edition.
Thomas Ligotti's introduction clocks in at 3500 words and concerns the affirmative themes of world-renowned authors, focusing on Luigi Pirandello
, with the negationist themes of Roland Topor's The Tenant.
, "Je m'aime" and "Monte dans mon Ambulance"
, Topor made "The Dead Times" ("Les Temps morts", 1964), "The Snails" ("Les Escargots", 1965) and their most famous work, the feature length La Planète Sauvage
(1973).
Topor also worked as an actor, his most famous part being Renfield
in Werner Herzog
's Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
(1979).
collection
Stories and Drawings (1967). His carefully detailed, realistic style, with elaborate crosshatching, emphasises the fantastic and macabre subject matter of the images.
1962 – Creates the Panic Movement
(mouvement panique), together with Alejandro Jodorowsky
and Fernando Arrabal
.
1961 to 1965 – Contributes to French satirical magazine Hara-Kiri
.
1965 – Creates, with partner René Laloux
, the animated short film "Les Escargots." The movie won Special Jury Prize at the Cracow Film Festival.
1966 – Illustrates Daniel Spoerri
's An Anecdoted Topography of Chance (Re-Anecdoted Version) published by the Something Else Press
.
1971 – Creates the drawings for the bizarre introduction of Fernando Arrabal
's film Viva la muerte.
1973 – Topor designs and René Laloux
directs La Planète sauvage
, a 72-minute long animated film, based on a novel by Stefan Wul
.
1974 – Topor has a cameo in Dusan Makavejev
's Sweet Movie
.
1976 – Roman Polanski
directs a movie version of Topor's book The Tenant.
1979 – Plays the role of Renfield in Werner Herzog
's movie Nosferatu the Vampyre.
1983 – Creates with Henri Xhonneux the popular French TV series Téléchat, a parody
of news broadcasts
featuring puppet
s of a cat
and an ostrich
.
1989 – With Henri Xhonneux co-writes the screenplay for the film Marquis
, loosely based on the life and writings of Marquis de Sade
. The cast consisted of actors in period costumes with animal mask
s, with a separate puppet for de Sade's anthropomorphised
"bodily appendage."
2011 – The Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne
mounted a survey exhibition of 22 promotional posters designed by Roland Topor.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
, painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and filmmaker, known for the surreal
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
nature of his work. He was of Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Jewish origin and spent the early years of his life in Savoy
Savoy
Savoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....
where his family hid him from the Nazi peril.
Literature
Roland Topor wrote the novel The Tenant (Le Locataire chimérique, 1964), which was adapted to film by Roman PolanskiRoman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
in 1976. The Tenant is the story of a Parisian of Polish descent, a chilling exploration of alienation and identity, asking disturbing questions about how we define ourselves. The later novel Joko's Anniversary (1969), another fable about loss of identity, is a vicious satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
on social conformity.
A new presentation of The Tenant by Roland Topor was released in October, 2006. The book has Topor's original novel, a new introduction by Thomas Ligotti
Thomas Ligotti
Thomas Ligotti is a contemporary American horror author and reclusive literary cult figure. His writings are unique in style, have been noted as major continuations of several literary genres – most prominently Lovecraftian horror – and have overall been variously described as works of...
, a selection of short stories by Topor, a representation of Topor's artwork and an essay on the famous Roman Polanski film version. There is a working possibility of having Mr. Polanski write a new foreword to this edition.
Thomas Ligotti's introduction clocks in at 3500 words and concerns the affirmative themes of world-renowned authors, focusing on Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
, with the negationist themes of Roland Topor's The Tenant.
Songs
Roland Topor wrote two songs for Megumi SatsuMegumi Satsu
Megumi Satsu was an eccentric singer. Megumi Satsu released a few singles in Japan early in her career and then moved to France at the end of the seventies. She was discovered by Jacques Prevert who wrote an album of new songs especially for her...
, "Je m'aime" and "Monte dans mon Ambulance"
Cinema
With René LalouxRené Laloux
René Laloux was a French animator and film director.-Biography:He was born in Paris in 1929 and went to art school to study painting. After some time working in advertising, he got a job in a psychiatric institution where he began experimenting in animation with the interns...
, Topor made "The Dead Times" ("Les Temps morts", 1964), "The Snails" ("Les Escargots", 1965) and their most famous work, the feature length La Planète Sauvage
Fantastic Planet
Fantastic Planet is a 1973 animated science fiction film directed by René Laloux, production designed by Roland Topor, written by both of them and animated at Jiří Trnka Studio. The film was an international production between France and Czechoslovakia and was distributed in the United States by...
(1973).
Topor also worked as an actor, his most famous part being Renfield
Renfield
R. M. Renfield is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.-In the novel:A description of Renfield from the novel:R. M. Renfield, aetat 59. Sanguine temperament, great physical strength, morbidly excitable,...
in Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
's Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
Nosferatu the Vampyre is a 1979 West German vampire horror film written and directed by Werner Herzog. Its original German title is Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht...
(1979).
Chronology
Topor published several books of drawings, including Dessins panique (1965) Quatre roses pour Lucienne (1967) and Toporland (1975). Selections from Quatre roses pour Lucienne were reprinted in the English languageEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
collection
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
Stories and Drawings (1967). His carefully detailed, realistic style, with elaborate crosshatching, emphasises the fantastic and macabre subject matter of the images.
1962 – Creates the Panic Movement
Panic Movement
Panic Movement was a collective formed by Fernando Arrabal, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Roland Topor in Paris, France in 1962...
(mouvement panique), together with Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky, known as Alejandro Jodorowsky, is a Chilean filmmaker, playwright, actor, author, comic book writer and spiritual guru...
and Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal Terán is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist and poet. He settled in France in 1955, he describes himself as “desterrado,” or “half-expatriate, half-exiled.”...
.
1961 to 1965 – Contributes to French satirical magazine Hara-Kiri
Hara-Kiri (magazine)
In 1960, Georges Bernier, Cavanna and Fred Aristidès created the monthly satirical magazine Hara-Kiri. Hara Kiri Hebdo, its weekly counterpart, was first published in 1969....
.
1965 – Creates, with partner René Laloux
René Laloux
René Laloux was a French animator and film director.-Biography:He was born in Paris in 1929 and went to art school to study painting. After some time working in advertising, he got a job in a psychiatric institution where he began experimenting in animation with the interns...
, the animated short film "Les Escargots." The movie won Special Jury Prize at the Cracow Film Festival.
1966 – Illustrates Daniel Spoerri
Daniel Spoerri
Daniel Spoerri is a Swiss artist and writer born in Romania, who has been called "the central figure of European post-war art" and "one of the most renown[ed] [artists] of the 20th century." Spoerri is best known for his "snare-pictures," a type of assemblage or object art, in which he captures...
's An Anecdoted Topography of Chance (Re-Anecdoted Version) published by the Something Else Press
Something Else Press
Something Else Press was founded by Dick Higgins in 1963. It published many important Intermedia texts and artworks by Higgins, Ray Johnson, Gertrude Stein, George Brecht, Daniel Spoerri, Bern Porter, John Cage, Emmett Williams and others. The Something Else Press was an early publisher of...
.
1971 – Creates the drawings for the bizarre introduction of Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal Terán is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist and poet. He settled in France in 1955, he describes himself as “desterrado,” or “half-expatriate, half-exiled.”...
's film Viva la muerte.
1973 – Topor designs and René Laloux
René Laloux
René Laloux was a French animator and film director.-Biography:He was born in Paris in 1929 and went to art school to study painting. After some time working in advertising, he got a job in a psychiatric institution where he began experimenting in animation with the interns...
directs La Planète sauvage
Fantastic Planet
Fantastic Planet is a 1973 animated science fiction film directed by René Laloux, production designed by Roland Topor, written by both of them and animated at Jiří Trnka Studio. The film was an international production between France and Czechoslovakia and was distributed in the United States by...
, a 72-minute long animated film, based on a novel by Stefan Wul
Stefan Wul
Stefan Wul was the nom de plume of French science fiction writer Pierre Pairault . He was a dental surgeon, but science fiction was his real passion. Most of his books reflect that, showing a deep knowledge of scientific data...
.
1974 – Topor has a cameo in Dusan Makavejev
Dušan Makavejev
Dušan Makavejev is a Serbian film director and screenwriter, famous for his groundbreaking films of Yugoslav cinema in the late 1960s and early 1970s...
's Sweet Movie
Sweet Movie
Sweet Movie is a film by the Yugoslavian director Dušan Makavejev. The film follows two women: a Canadian beauty queen, who represents a modern commodity culture, and a captain aboard a ship laden with candy and sugar, who is a failed communist revolutionary. Director of photography is Pierre Lhomme...
.
1976 – Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
directs a movie version of Topor's book The Tenant.
1979 – Plays the role of Renfield in Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
's movie Nosferatu the Vampyre.
1983 – Creates with Henri Xhonneux the popular French TV series Téléchat, a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of news broadcasts
News broadcasting
News broadcasting is the broadcasting of various news events and other information via television, radio or internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or television studio newsroom, or by a broadcast network...
featuring puppet
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
s of a cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
and an ostrich
Ostrich
The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a...
.
1989 – With Henri Xhonneux co-writes the screenplay for the film Marquis
Marquis (film)
Marquis is a 1989 French-language film, produced in Belgium and France, based on the life and writings of the Marquis de Sade. All the actors wear animal masks, and their voices are dubbed...
, loosely based on the life and writings of Marquis de Sade
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
. The cast consisted of actors in period costumes with animal mask
Mask
A mask is an article normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance or entertainment. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes...
s, with a separate puppet for de Sade's anthropomorphised
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
"bodily appendage."
2011 – The Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
mounted a survey exhibition of 22 promotional posters designed by Roland Topor.
External links
- Covers of works by professor Gilles Methel an his student Marijan Rubesa from E.S.A.V./Université Toulouse II le Mirail
- The Very Rich Blog of Frantz Vaillant (in French)
- An interview (in French) with Daniel Colagrossi about his then-recent book Topor traits