François Dufrene
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
| Revision as of 14:59, 6 February 2018 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Current revision Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| + | '''Francois Dufrene''' ('''François Dufrêne''') (born Paris, September 21, 1930 - died Paris, December 12, 1982) was a French [[Nouveau réalisme|Nouveau realist]] visual artist, [[Lettrist]] and [[Ultra-Lettrist]] [[poet]]. He is primarily known as a pioneer in [[sound poetry]] and for his use of [[décollage]] within [[Nouveau réalisme]]. | ||
| - | '''Décollage''', in [[art]], is the opposite of [[collage]]; instead of an image being built up of all or parts of existing images, it is created by cutting, tearing away or otherwise removing, pieces of an original image. Examples include [[collage|inimage]] or [[Surrealist techniques|etrécissements]] and [[surrealist techniques|excavations]]. A similar technique is the ''lacerated poster,'' a poster in which one has been placed over another or others, and the top poster or posters have been ripped, revealing to a greater or lesser degree the poster or posters underneath. | + | ==Lettrist, Ultra-Lettrist and Nouveau réalisme movements== |
| + | Dufrene, along with [[Gil J Wolman]] and [[Brion Gysin]], was one of the stalwarts of the experimental [[poetry]] in France. Dufrene's abstract poetry has led many to regard him as a member of the first generation [[Sound poetry|sound poets]] - following in the footsteps of [[Filippo Tommaso Marinetti]], [[Richard Huelsenbeck]], [[Hugo Ball]], [[Tristan Tzara]], [[Kurt Schwitters]] and [[Antonin Artaud]] (among others). | ||
| - | The French word "décollage" translates into English literally as "take-off" or "to become unstuck." It is now commonly used in the French language in regard to aviation (as when an aeroplane lifts off the ground). More recently the term has been used in space flight; the web page for [[ESA]] indicates its use equivalent to "We have lift-off!" at a [[NASA]] launch center. | + | Francois Dufrene joined [[Isidore Isou]] and the [[Lettrisme|Lettrist movement]] in 1946 and continued to participate until 1964. Dufrene's talent was evident in the fact that he was already a member of the [[Lettrist]] Group at only 16 years old. |
| - | The lacerated poster became an artform as early as 1949, and the term was coined in avante-garde journals by Emilio Villa in 1955. The exact chain-of-influence among artists is still to be determined by art historians. Although artist Mark Kostabi claims that "[[Mimmo Rotella]] invented the technique of using torn posters to make art in the early 1950s"[http://www.markkostabi.com/shout/nov00.htm], examples of the genre done without any surrealist or artistic intent predate this, as do Raymond Hains'. The lacerated poster was an [[artistic intervention]] that sought to critique the newly emerged advertising technique of large-scale colour advertisements. In effect, the decollage destroys the advertisement, but leaves its remnants on view for the public to contemplate. | + | Dufrene then created a [[phonetic]] poetry which breaks the structures of language he called [[Ultra-Lettrist]]. The Ultra-Lettrist movement was an art form developed by Dufrene along with Jean-Louis Brau and [[Gil J Wolman]] in the 1950s, when they split from Isidore Isou's Lettrism. Dufrene explored vocal possibilities of [[concrete music]], a form of expression based on spontaneity directly recorded to tape, exploiting the [[noise music]] of sound, meaning and [[nonsense]]. |
| - | Lacerated posters are closely related to [[Richard Genovese]]'s practice of "excavations." | + | Dufrene became friends with [[Yves Klein]] in 1950 and with [[Raymond Hains]] and [[Jacques Villeglé]] in 1954. In 1957 he discovered décollage and in 1960 - with [[Pierre Restany]], [[Yves Klein]], [[Jean Tinguely]], [[Arman]], Hains and Villeglé - and helped found the art group known as [[Nouveau réalisme]]. He is considered one of the important artists in that [[Neo-Dada]] art movement. |
| - | The most celebrated artists of the décollage technique in France, especially of the lacerated poster, are [[François Dufrene]], [[Jacques Villeglé]], [[Mimmo Rotella]] and [[Raymond Hains]]. Often these artists worked collaboratively and it was their intention to present their artworks in the city of Paris anonymously. These four artists were part of a larger group in the 1960s called [[Nouveau Réalisme]] (New realism), Paris' answer to the American Pop movement. This was a mostly Paris-based group (which included [[Yves Klein]] and [[Christo]] and was created with the help of critic [[Pierre Restany]]), although Rotella was Italian and moved back to Italy shortly after the group was formed. Another important practitioner of the décollage was [[Wolf Vostell]]. Some early practitioners sought to extract the defaced poster from its original context and to take it into areas of poetry, photography, or painting. | + | ==Crirythme performances== |
| + | Dufrene earned fame for his performances called ''Crirythmes'', which was in a vocal style of [[sound art]] different from those of his contemporaries. The ''Crirythme'' work inspired generations of experimental poets, such as [[Henri Chopin]], [[Bernard Heidsieck]], [[Ake Hodell]], [[Charles Amirkhanian]], [[Bob Cobbing]], [[Gregory Whitehead]], [[bpNichol]], [[Tracie Morris]], [[Clive Fencott]], [[Ada Verdun Howell]], [[Mitch Corber]] and [[Jaap Blonk]]. | ||
| - | A contemporary artist employing similar décollage techniques is [[Mark Bradford]], who lives and works in Los Angeles. | + | ==Film without a screen== |
| + | Dufrene is the author of a film called ''Tambours du jugement premier'' (''Drums of the first judgment'') (1952), a fantasy film presented on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival the same year. In 1973 it was presented at the Atelier de Création (France Culture), in 1981 as part of the exhibition ''Paris-Paris'' at the [[Centre Georges Pompidou]], and in 1982 at ''Thirty Years of Experimental Cinema in France'' also at the Centre Georges Pompidou. | ||
| - | [[Brian Dettmer]], another contemporary artist, employs a novel method of decollage by removing material from books, leaving behind select images and text to form sculptural collages. | + | ''Tambours du jugement premier'' is a "film" without screen, projector or film, which eliminates not only the dictatorship of the image over the word, but abandons the projected image altogether, because it’s no longer a matter of perceiving it passively, but rather one of imagining or recreating it. Originally however, Dufrene had indeed anticipated a visual part of the film, never taken to fruition, which was not even complete when the [[Screenplay|script]] was published. The weight of the work lay clearly in its [[soundtrack]], which is all that the initial project finally became. It could therefore be considered a piece of [[sound art]] rather than a [[film]] in the conventional sense. |
| - | It can be argued that the depliage is a form of decollage, as it is made by initially removing the staples from a staple-bound [[magazine]]. | + | The first presentation of ''Tambours du jugement premier'' as an ''imaginary film without screen or film'' took place in [[Cannes]] in 1952, at the Alexandre III cinema. The scant resources it required enabled the imaginary film to be improvised. The voices were situated in the four corners of the hall and while the performers recited the texts, the house lights flashed on and off and the [[stage curtain]] opened and closed repeatedly. Dufrene’s ''Tambours du jugement premier'' is a play on the exhaustion of [[cinematographic]] medium, situating itself as a film beyond [[Movie projector|film projection]] machinery. The frustration of the public’s expectations - and its invitation to the viewer’s imagination - is what creates a rupture and liberation from the impositions of the standard image. |
| + | The soundtrack for ''Tambours du jugement premier'' contains an important phonetic work which includes almost all of the compositions and scores that Dufrene had produced up to that time in the form of lettrist poems and sung aphorisms as experimental [[sound poetry]]. The compositions renounced any type of discursive content and consisted in improvisations recorded on a [[tape recorder]], employing all the possible capabilities of voice and body. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Works== | ||
| + | *''Bottom'' (1960), torn posters pasted on wood; in the collection of the [[Toulon]] Art Museum | ||
| + | *[http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/sound/poesia_sonora/Poesia-Sonora_11_Francois-Dufrene.mp3] François Dufrêne's ''Crirythmes'' on ''Cramps Records'' LP (1975), a disk curated by Maurizio Nannucci with assistance by Arrigo Lora-Totino and produced by [[Giancarlo Bigazzi]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Further reading== | ||
| + | *Dufrene, Hains, Rotella, Villegle, Vostell: ''Plakatabrisse aus der Sammlung Cremer'', Staatsgalerie Stuttgart 1971 | ||
| + | *Benjamin Buchloh u.a.: ''Hains, Villegle, Dufrene, Rotella, Decollage: les affichistes'', Zabriskie, New York 1990 | ||
| + | *''TPL'', François Dufrêne, Alain Jouffroy, [[Wolf Vostell]], Verlag Der Kalender, Wuppertal 1961. | ||
| + | * ''Poesie der Großstadt. Die Affichisten''. Bernard Blistène, Fritz Emslander, Esther Schlicht, Didier Semin, Dominique Stella. Snoeck, Köln 2014, {{ISBN|978-3-9523990-8-8}} | ||
| + | ==Sources== | ||
| + | *''Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', Paris, Éditions Hazan, 2006, p. 217 | ||
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Current revision
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Francois Dufrene (François Dufrêne) (born Paris, September 21, 1930 - died Paris, December 12, 1982) was a French Nouveau realist visual artist, Lettrist and Ultra-Lettrist poet. He is primarily known as a pioneer in sound poetry and for his use of décollage within Nouveau réalisme.
Contents |
Lettrist, Ultra-Lettrist and Nouveau réalisme movements
Dufrene, along with Gil J Wolman and Brion Gysin, was one of the stalwarts of the experimental poetry in France. Dufrene's abstract poetry has led many to regard him as a member of the first generation sound poets - following in the footsteps of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Richard Huelsenbeck, Hugo Ball, Tristan Tzara, Kurt Schwitters and Antonin Artaud (among others).
Francois Dufrene joined Isidore Isou and the Lettrist movement in 1946 and continued to participate until 1964. Dufrene's talent was evident in the fact that he was already a member of the Lettrist Group at only 16 years old.
Dufrene then created a phonetic poetry which breaks the structures of language he called Ultra-Lettrist. The Ultra-Lettrist movement was an art form developed by Dufrene along with Jean-Louis Brau and Gil J Wolman in the 1950s, when they split from Isidore Isou's Lettrism. Dufrene explored vocal possibilities of concrete music, a form of expression based on spontaneity directly recorded to tape, exploiting the noise music of sound, meaning and nonsense.
Dufrene became friends with Yves Klein in 1950 and with Raymond Hains and Jacques Villeglé in 1954. In 1957 he discovered décollage and in 1960 - with Pierre Restany, Yves Klein, Jean Tinguely, Arman, Hains and Villeglé - and helped found the art group known as Nouveau réalisme. He is considered one of the important artists in that Neo-Dada art movement.
Crirythme performances
Dufrene earned fame for his performances called Crirythmes, which was in a vocal style of sound art different from those of his contemporaries. The Crirythme work inspired generations of experimental poets, such as Henri Chopin, Bernard Heidsieck, Ake Hodell, Charles Amirkhanian, Bob Cobbing, Gregory Whitehead, bpNichol, Tracie Morris, Clive Fencott, Ada Verdun Howell, Mitch Corber and Jaap Blonk.
Film without a screen
Dufrene is the author of a film called Tambours du jugement premier (Drums of the first judgment) (1952), a fantasy film presented on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival the same year. In 1973 it was presented at the Atelier de Création (France Culture), in 1981 as part of the exhibition Paris-Paris at the Centre Georges Pompidou, and in 1982 at Thirty Years of Experimental Cinema in France also at the Centre Georges Pompidou.
Tambours du jugement premier is a "film" without screen, projector or film, which eliminates not only the dictatorship of the image over the word, but abandons the projected image altogether, because it’s no longer a matter of perceiving it passively, but rather one of imagining or recreating it. Originally however, Dufrene had indeed anticipated a visual part of the film, never taken to fruition, which was not even complete when the script was published. The weight of the work lay clearly in its soundtrack, which is all that the initial project finally became. It could therefore be considered a piece of sound art rather than a film in the conventional sense.
The first presentation of Tambours du jugement premier as an imaginary film without screen or film took place in Cannes in 1952, at the Alexandre III cinema. The scant resources it required enabled the imaginary film to be improvised. The voices were situated in the four corners of the hall and while the performers recited the texts, the house lights flashed on and off and the stage curtain opened and closed repeatedly. Dufrene’s Tambours du jugement premier is a play on the exhaustion of cinematographic medium, situating itself as a film beyond film projection machinery. The frustration of the public’s expectations - and its invitation to the viewer’s imagination - is what creates a rupture and liberation from the impositions of the standard image.
The soundtrack for Tambours du jugement premier contains an important phonetic work which includes almost all of the compositions and scores that Dufrene had produced up to that time in the form of lettrist poems and sung aphorisms as experimental sound poetry. The compositions renounced any type of discursive content and consisted in improvisations recorded on a tape recorder, employing all the possible capabilities of voice and body.
Works
- Bottom (1960), torn posters pasted on wood; in the collection of the Toulon Art Museum
- [1] François Dufrêne's Crirythmes on Cramps Records LP (1975), a disk curated by Maurizio Nannucci with assistance by Arrigo Lora-Totino and produced by Giancarlo Bigazzi
Further reading
- Dufrene, Hains, Rotella, Villegle, Vostell: Plakatabrisse aus der Sammlung Cremer, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart 1971
- Benjamin Buchloh u.a.: Hains, Villegle, Dufrene, Rotella, Decollage: les affichistes, Zabriskie, New York 1990
- TPL, François Dufrêne, Alain Jouffroy, Wolf Vostell, Verlag Der Kalender, Wuppertal 1961.
- Poesie der Großstadt. Die Affichisten. Bernard Blistène, Fritz Emslander, Esther Schlicht, Didier Semin, Dominique Stella. Snoeck, Köln 2014, Template:ISBN
Sources
- Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art, Paris, Éditions Hazan, 2006, p. 217
