Nougé, Paul (1895-1967). A founder member of the Belgian Communist Party, Nougé brought an austere and trenchant intellect to the service of Surrealism, founding the review Correspondance in 1924 with Marcel Lecomte and Camille Goëmans and masterminding a collective strategy for the Brussels group, whose diplomatic deflection of Parisian influences fostered a deceptive blend of seeming modesty and occasional abrupt assertiveness. A biochemist by training, Nougé wrote aphoristically, producing tracts, open letters, and theoretical essays, gathered in Histoire de ne pas rire (1956). His assiduous commentaries on the surreal canvases of his friend René Magritte, printed as Les Images défendues in 1943, are as gnomic and provocative as the paintings.
[Roger Cardinal]




