Homage to Commerce: letters and arts in Paris, 1920-1935

Tribute to COMMERCE
LETTERS AND ARTS IN PARIS
1920 - 1935

Exhibition under the patronage of the French Embassy in Italy, the City of Rome, the Primoli Foundation, and the French Association of Artistic Action.
December 5 - January 30
Palazzo Primoli, Piazza Zanardelli 1, Rome

Commerce, a literary magazine founded in 1924 by Marguerite Caetani, introduces itself in the form of twenty-nine “quarterly notebooks published by” Valéry, Fargue and Larbaud. It fits masterfully into the field competitive with the magazines of the 1920s. Commerce plays the role of “discoverer” important, opens up to the best foreign authors of his time and rediscovers ancient capital texts: through his “modern classic” spirit, Commerce reinvents the classic heritage.

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You ask me how Commerce started. I'll tell you. At the time of the Villa Romaine (this is the name of the residence where Marguerite Caetani stayed, in Versailles, for many years), we brought together a crowd of artists for our Sunday lunches, lunches which extended until they became “Sunday dinners”. Among those present, a small group of friends, which included Valéry, Valery Larbaud, Fargue, Adrienne Monnier, Paulhan, a painter or two, a musician or two, got into the habit of having lunch together every two weeks. We met in a restaurant, always different, if possible, and generally chosen by Fargue.
_One day, Valéry suddenly said: “why don’t we continue our meetings by publishing, in review, our dialogues. As a title, I suggest Commerce: Trading in Ideas”. This idea enchanted everyone present. Directors were appointed immediately. Adrienne Monnier and I took charge of getting it ready and we started straight away. As for the result, it's up to you to judge. I was enormously helped by Paulhan who allowed me to search among the manuscripts he received for the Nouvelle Revue Française, as well as by Alexis Léger who chose the poems that we published.
(Marguerite Caetani, extract from the exhibition catalogue)

Sommaires de la revue Commerce

Page de l'institution