The Cubist poets in Paris

the long version

At the height of the Cubist movement in Paris, no fewer than fifteen significant poets kept company with the painters. "Every writer had his painter," said Blaise Cendrars. "I myself had Delaunay and Leger, Max Jacob had Picasso, Reverdy Braque, and Apollinaire had everybody.". The painters illustrated the poets' poems and painted their portraits; the poets wrote the painters' praise and defended them in journalistic wars. They loaned each other money, gave shelter to each other in times of need, inspired each other, and fortified each other's resolve through thick and thin.