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Ozenfant, Amédée

(Encyclopedia)Ozenfant, Amédée ämādāˈ ōzäNfäNˈ [key], 1886–1966, French art theorist and painter. He criticized the cubists after 1912 for creating a merely decorative art form. Ozenfant advocated a dis...

Queneau, Raymond

(Encyclopedia)Queneau, Raymond rāmôNˈ kĕnōˈ [key], 1903–76, French author and critic. He was an advocate of surrealism during the middle and late 1920s. Queneau is best known for his manipulations of style ...

absolute

(Encyclopedia)absolute, in philosophy, the opposite of relative. The term has acquired numerous widely variant connotations in different philosophical systems. It means unlimited, unconditioned, or free of any rela...

Gabin, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Gabin, Jean zhäN gäbăNˈ [key], 1904–76, French film actor, b. Paris; his original name was Alexis Moncourge. Gabin's work as a cabaret entertainer led to a career in films. He was one of France'...

Thomas, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Thomas, Albert älbĕrˈ tômäˈ [key], 1878–1932, French statesman and Socialist leader. He worked with Jean Jaurès on the journal Humanité and was active in socialist politics. In 1910 he was e...

Mignard, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Mignard, Pierre pyĕr mēnyärˈ [key], 1612–95, French painter. In 1657 he was summoned by Louis XIV to portray the king and celebrities of the court. In 1664 he decorated, in fresco, the cupola of...

Auber, Daniel-François-Esprit

(Encyclopedia)Auber, Daniel-François-Esprit dänyĕlˈ fräNswäˈ ĕsprēˈ ōbĕrˈ [key], 1782–1871, French operatic composer. His greatest successes resulted from his collaboration with the librettist Scribe...

Coppée, François

(Encyclopedia)Coppée, François fräNswäˈ kôpāˈ [key], 1842–1908, French poet and dramatist. He won fame with the one-act comedy Le Passant (1869, tr. 1881), in which Sarah Bernhardt made her first successf...

Pisan, Christine de

(Encyclopedia)Pisan, Christine de krēstēnˈ də pēzäNˈ [key], 1364–c.1430, French poet, of Italian descent. She wrote many verse romances and works in prose, as well as the lyric poems for which she is most ...

Restif de la Bretonne, Nicolas Edme

(Encyclopedia)Restif de la Bretonne, Nicolas Edme nëkôläˈ ĕdˈmə rĕstēfˈ də lä brətônˈ [key], 1734–1806, French novelist. A printer by trade, he wrote and published over 250 novels, mostly based on ...