Henri-Pierre Roché

Henri-Pierre Roché, (May 28, 1879 – April 9), 1959, was a French writer.

Born in Paris, France, Henri-Pierre Roché was a respected journalist as well as an art collector and dealer. At the turn of the 20th century, he became close friends with a number of young artists from the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris including those in the photo seen here (left to right): Manuel Ortiz de Zárate, Marie Vassilieff, Henri-Pierre Roché (in uniform), Max Jacob and Pablo Picasso.

As well, Henri-Pierre Roché was a friend of Francis Picabia, Constantin Brancusi, and Marcel Duchamp with whom he traveled to New York city in 1916 following his discharge from the French army. There, he and Duchamp teamed up with Beatrice Wood to create "Blind Man," a magazine that was one of the earliest manifestations of the Dada art movement in the United States.

Noted for his womanizing, Roché was married twice. In his later years, he wrote two successful novels. His 1953 story titled Jules et Jim is based on the relationship between himself, Franz Hessel and Helen Hessel. His second major novel, also based on an episode of his life, was published in 1956 as Les deux anglaises et le continent. Both novels were adapted to film by director François Truffaut.

Henri-Pierre Roché died in 1959 in Sèvres, Hauts-de-Seine.