impasse du Rouet
When The Chicago Tribune closed its Paris edition at the end of November, 1934 Alfred Perlès found himself jobless and in search of cheap lodging. In Montsouris, he discovered a “rat hole” apartment at 7 impasse du Rouet, about a five minute walk from Henry Miller’s new address in the Villa Seurat. His neighbors included Hans Reichel and David Edgar, who quickly joined Perlès in Miller’s close circle of friends.
Hans Reichel was a German abstract painter with a mercurial personality. Sensitive and gentle when sober, he was prone to violent, deranged outbursts when drunk. Miller dreaded the alcoholic rages, but admired Reichel’s talent and devotion to his art. He would later regard the watercolor lessons Reichel gave him as “life therapy”. A description of Reichel’s ground-floor studio appears in “The Cosmological Eye”:
when you enter his room, which is in a cheap hotel where he does his work, the sanctity of the place breaks you down. It is not quite a hovel, his little den, but it is perilously close to being one. You cast your eye about the room and you see that the walls are covered with his paintings. The paintings themselves are holy. This is a man, you cannot help thinking, who has never done anything for gain.
The association of Reichel with a “cosmological eye” is due to the frequent inclusion of eye-like designs in his paintings, of which he said, “I want that the pictures should look back at me; if I look at them and they don’t look at me too then they are no good.” Reichel’s paintings are often compared to those of Paul Klee. You can see examples of his work here.
David Edgar, described by Perlès as “the most lovable neurotic America ever produced”, was an intellectual whose pedantic fascination with esoteric subjects both charmed and exasperated Miller. Perlès recalled that, along with Miller,
We often spent whole days or whole nights together, the three of us, in speculative talks on life, after-life, post-after-life, the Lemurian age, Atlantis, the meaning of myths and legends, occult powers and principalities, the relative spheres of influence of Lucifer and Ahiram, life in Devachan, and so on and so forth.
—My Friend Henry Miller
Unlike Perlès and Reichel who chose this address in the impasse du Rouet for its cheap rent, Edgar he could have easily afforded more luxurious quarters. He occupied a “squalid little room” two floors below Perlès’ and his living conditions seemed to match his neurotic intelligence.
Edgar was always seen carrying around some unusual book or other which he relentlessly impressed upon his friends. Miller credited Edgar’s pestering with opening him up to some entirely new avenues of thought, including a deeper appreciation of Zen Buddhism.
Location
7 impasse du Rouet
Paris, 75014
map
Resources
More information on Hans Reichel can be found here. He is buried in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris.
For more information on David Edgar and Alfred Perlès, consult these posts from the Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company:
The Booster Editorial Staff: David Edgar
Alfred Perlès – A Biography
Alfred Perlès – Renegade & Writer (Part 1)
Alfred Perlès – Renegade & Writer (Part 2)
