Francis CarcoBorn in Noumea, New Caledonia in 1886, FRANCIS CARCO arrived in Paris during the winter of his 24th year, in January 1910. Making a beeline for the soon-to-be legendary cabaret, Le Lapin Agile, he was quickly accepted into the inner circle of a Parisan bohemia. There, on La Butte Montmartre, he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Picasso, Modigliani, Utrillo, Max Jacob, Pierre Mac Orlan, Apollinaire, and many of the other leading lights of a Parisian avant-garde. As the author of over 100 books, Carco's talents were plentiful. He composed poetry, fiction, plays, memoirs, and biography, and was also known as a witty and engaging chansonnier. But with each of these creative expressions his manner remains that of a poet - utilizing a personal vision to unravel and portray the spiritual enigmas that life presents. He was also possessed by a prescient perception and published the first critical essay on Modigliani, whose work he began to collect during a period when other French critics merely scoffed at the contributions of this modern master. In 1922, Carco was awarded Le Grand Prix du Roman for his novel L'Homme traque (The Noose of Sin), and in 1937 he was elected to the Academie Goncourt. Read More Read Less