Gelett Burgess (January 30, 1866 - September 18, 1951) was an American artist, art critic, poet, author and humorist.
He was an important figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary renaissance of the 1890s, particularly through his iconoclastic little magazine, "The Lark", and association with The Crowd literary group.
"The Lark was founded in 1895. "The double meaning of its name was intended. While it would sing at heaven's gate, it would do so as a merry adventure and have fun with the little-magazine movement." It was more successful than its makers intended, eventually reaching a circulation of over 3,000.
Burgess is also known as a writer of nonsense verse, such as "The Purple Cow", and for introducing French modern art to the United States in an essay titled "The Wild Men of Paris." He was the illustrator of the Goops murals, in Coppa's restaurant, in the Montgomery Block and author of the popular Goops books.
The word "blurb", meaning a short description of a book, film, or other product written for promotional purposes, was coined by Burgess in 1906, in attributing the dust jacket of his book, Are You a Bromide?, to a "Miss Belinda Blurb" depicted "in the act of blurbing". His definition of "blurb" is "a flamboyant advertisement; an inspired testimonial".
Burgess moved to New York City, where he wrote several books and articles for magazines including The Smart Set, Collier's, and Century. He made several trips to France and was evidently fluent in French. Eventually he returned to California, where he died in Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1951.
Burgess also coined the phrase, "Love is only chatter; friends are all that matter." (source: wikipedia) |
