The Avant-Garde Book: Precursor of Concrete and Visual Poetry and the Artist's Book

Author(s): Ruth Sackner

Source: The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Vol. 2 (Summer - Autumn, 1986), pp.
60-77
Published by: Florida International University Board of Trustees on behalf of The Wolfsonian-FIU
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The
Avant-Garde Book:
of Concrete
Visual
and
the
Artist's
Book

Precursor
and
Poetry

By RuthSackner

he Ruthand MarvinSacknerArchive of Concrete and Visual

Poetryin MiamiBeach is our personal collection of books, paintings, objects, prints, photographs, and collages which artistically
combine words and images (fig. 1). We are repeatedly asked
what concrete and visual poetry means. Scholars, poets, and artists have all defined, categorized, and described the poetry.Perhapsthe
clearest understanding comes from the work of the founders of the movement.
Concrete and visual poetry emerged simultaneously in the fifties with artistpoets in Brazil and Switzerland.The poets Augusto and Heraldo DeCampos,
Decio Pignatari,and Eugen Gomringer visualized letters and words as specific
objects or icons upon a page. They had beauty and meaning in their own forms

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DAPASummer/Fall1986

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and related to other letters and words within a visible structureor cluster.The
works have been called "worded-images"or "imaged-words."Concrete and visual poetry has a mystical simplicity and grace which, to be fully appreciated,
must be seen as well as read.

RuthSackner and her husband,

Dr.MarvinSackner,have
amassed an archive of concrete and visual poetryconsisting of 24,000works dated 1897
to the present Theycollect
Russianavant-gardeart,1910
to 1930,and also have an indepthcollection of the works
of TomPhillips.
4
Fig.1.The SacknerArchive.
Photograph,TomRickles.

We began collecting the poems of those contemporarywriter-artistswho

worked with the integration of text and image during the 1960s and 1970s.
During our travels,we met most of the poets of this period. Our collection continues with verbo-visual materialof the 1980s with particularemphasis on
unique and limited edition artists'books. We also commission new works from
contemporary artists.These current works continue the tradition of the historic
materialwe collect-books and pictures of the RussianConstructivists,Dadaists, ItalianFuturists,and Surrealistsas well as European and Americanworks
of the twenties and thirties which demonstrate the avant-gardespirit in print.
The importance of early twentieth-centurywriters cannot be overestimated. By
selectively describing several avant-gardebooks in the SacknerArchive,their
pivotal influence on concrete and visual poetry and on contemporary artists'
books can be illustrated.Furthermore,the avant-gardebook also demonstrates
a decorative quality of literature.The letter itself may become an object of embellishment and beauty by the singular perfection of its typographicstructure,
or in its relationship to the surrounding words and images, or in its unusual
placement on the pages. Letters,words, and paragraphsare designed not only
for their literarymeaning but also as symbols and structures.Therefore, they
present dynamic messages to the reader-viewer.Size, form, ink, space, paper,
and binding become as importantand creative as the text itself. The use of pictures, patterns, icons, symbols, codes, and letters in works of art is as ancient as
Egyptianmummies or Chinese amulets. They are seen in Arabicprayer pages,
Hebrew manuscripts,and Latinpattern poems. Undoubtedly,these works form
the foundation of concrete and visual poetry.The avant-gardewriters and artists synthesized an innovative literaryform hoping to influence the artisticand
cultural levels of their society.We trace this evolving, revolutionarybook-asworded-image movement by startingour collection with Mallarme'sUn Coup
De Des, for it is this text which scholars believe changed the structureof the
printed page in contemporary times.

LeHasard
UnCoupDe Des JamaisN'Abolira
The Symbolist poet Stephane Mallarmelived in the brilliantperiod of the
avant-gardefrom the mid-1880s until WorldWarI. He was an influential member of the group of painters, musicians, writers, and poets which included
AlfredJarry,Henri Rousseau, ErikSatie,and Guillaume Appollinaire.Their art
led the way into twentieth-centurymodernism. As a Symbolist,Mallarmewas
concerned with "everythingfrom intense verbal lyricism to spiritual defiance....
Forthe Symbolists-Mallarme above all-language was endowed with a mystery of meaning that increased with the number of different directions in which
each word could point."'Particularlyin Un Coup De Des, the work of Mallarme
exemplifies visual poetry and musical scoring sensibility.
1. Roger Shattuck,TheBanquet Years(VintageBooks, 1968), p. 36.
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61

The poem was first published in 1897 in the journalCosmopolis, one year before Mallarme'sdeath. "UnCoup De Ds Jamais N'AboliraLe Hasard/AThrow
of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance"is a single, long complex sentence with
multiple levels of meaning derived from the type print of the words, their
placement on the page, the white spaces, and the original philosophical references.

Fig.2. Stephane Mallarme,unnumberedpage fromUn Coup

De Des Jamais N'AboliraLe
Hasard,Editionsde la Nouvelle
RevueFrangaise,Paris,1914.
Photograph,Lee Rickles.

The form of the poem in Cosmopolis was disappointing to Mallarme.Although

radicalat the time, his preferred typographicaldesign spread the poem over
two facing pages and created deeper meanings and textual symbolism.
Mallarme'ssecond version was published in 1914, after his death, by Gallimard
in Nouvelle Revue Franoaise. It was infinitely more successful. The large softcover volume begins with a preface by Mallarmein which he suggests that the
skillful reader not read or skim as it "mayconfuse an artless person having to
direct his gaze at the first words of the poem in order that the following ones,
placed as they are, may lead to the last, the whole without novelty other than
that of spaced reading."2Nonetheless, a reader must have a degree of skill to
discern the four themes of the poem, much like the four movements of a symphony. The words of the title are all upper case with secondary themes and
ideas carried out in a smaller upper case, lower case, and italics. Daisy Aldan
analyzes the poem in the introduction to her 1956 translationof Un Coup De
Des.
The central idea is that "Thought"or the creative act, "AThrow of the Dice
Death, the
(UN COUPDE DES)," will never (AMAIS),abolish (N'ABOLIRA),
the
the
Chance
Master, Artist,the
Absolute,
(LEHASARD)....TheBoatswain,
stands
at
the
helm
of
his foundering ship,
Creative
Man,(LEMAITRE),
Poet,
all
the
creative
forces
over
which
he
once
held control which
Life,energy,
now he has lost... in a tornado which is pulling him into the whirlpool....
Driven wild by the indifferent neutralityof the abyss,...he hesitates to make
the last throw of the dice which he holds in his clenched fist, which might
save the ship, (himself); finally realizing that nothing (Rien), not even the
"unique Number,'(the great work of art,the supreme act), can save him
the
from the anonymity of Death (the Absolute, perdition, the final "Hasard,"
all
is
dissolved....
in
which
void)
reality
Yet,a point of light saves the poem from complete darkness. Perhaps,(PEUTETRE), in the altitude, beyond human comprehension and perception, there
is a lost single, dying constellation which retains a point of consciousness
which reflects onto the void where he tried to conquer oblivion.(fig. 2)3
The generation of the avant-guerre/avant-gardeartistsinfluenced the Dadaists
and Surrealistswho followed them. However,it is also interesting to note that
scholars have reason to believe that Mallarme'sunique poem was also well
known toJamesJoyce. Joyce had a copy of the 1914 edition of Un Coup De Des
and was familiarwith the text when he was working on Finnigan 'sWake.Copies of Cosmopolis of 1897 were also on sale in second-hand bookshops in
Dublin duringJoyce's time. In fact,on our personal seach for that journal,after
2. Stephane Mallarme(Brian Coffey,transl.),Dice ThrownNever WillAnnul Chance (Dolmen Press,
1965), preface.
3. Stephane Mallarme(Daisy Aldan,transl.), Un Coup De DsJamais N'AboliraLeHasard
(Tiber Press, 1965), translator'snote.

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C'ETAIT

LE NOMBRE

isim
mfir

EXISTAT-IL
autrement
qu'hallucirution
parsed'agonie

COMMEN(AT-IL ET CESSAT-IL
sourdant
quenitet ca quapd
apparu
enfin

parquelqueprofusion
rpndue en raret6

SE CHIFFRAT-IL
lvidencede a ommepourpeuqu'une

ILLUMINAT-IL

CE SER1AT

."__
.^.
.-

LE HASARD
Choit
la plume
rythmique suspens du sinistre

s'ensevelir
aux 6cumesoriginelles
d'o
dglire
sursauta son
jusqu'dl une cime
nagu,ercs
flitrie
par la neutralitg identique du goufre

incorrectly assuming a French Symbolist poet's work would most likely be

found in a Parisbookshop, we eventually bought Cosmopolis from an antiquarian bookdealer in London!Our quest would have been shortened if we had
known about the Mallarme-Joyce connection.

LaProse Du Transsiberien
et la PetiteJehannede France
In his definitive book on Sonia Delaunay,the authorArthurA. Cohen states:
Indeed, the poem of Blaise Cendrarswith Simultaneous color by Mme
Delaunay-Terk.. and collaborative typographyis one of the early miracles of
the modern movement in poetry,painting, and design extending the innovative exploration of Mallarme'sbook-poem "UnCoup De DesJamais N'Abolira Le Hasard,"and the typographicinvention of the Futuristsbeyond the
graphic innovation to an interchangeable iconography of word and image.
This particularinvention of Delaunay,already anticipatedin her earlier
work in collage and decorative arts,signals a new beginning in graphic design to which Cendrarsmade a contribution no less profound and equally
unappreciated.4
The Transsiberienis a remarkablybeautiful example of the simultaneous art of
Delaunay and the innovative poetry of the gifted Cendrars.Even a simplified
description of the book elicits a wonderous reaction. The volume is 79"high
4. ArthurA. Cohen, Sonia Delaunay (HarryN. Abrams,1975), p. 32.
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63

and 14"wide-a single sheet of paper folded in half lengthwise and then
folded again accordian-styleinto a closed book of 73/4" by 4".The left side of the
sheet is the radiantsimultaneous pochoir by Delaunay;the right side is the text
by Cendrars.The poem tells the story of a young man's trainjourney from Moscow to the Sea ofJapan with personal descriptions of the route and references
back to France.The words are set in several different type styles which relate to
the poetic message.
Published in 1913, the book was planned by the collaborators as an edition of
150 which, if opened and spread end to end, would have equaled the height of
the EiffelTower.However difficult to imagine, they were unable to sell the
work and only 62 volumes were actuallyassembled. This was in spite of the fact
that the book was covered by Delaunay in parchment with a simultaneous pochoir in oil. Is it any wonder thatwe consider this volume of historical design,
inventive typography,avant-gardepoetry,and successful collaboration to be
one of the gems in our Archive?

Blast
InJune 1914, afterworking several years on his theories for a new art movement, WyndhamLewis published Blast. It was the journalof Vorticism-probably the only original English art movement of modern times. The group was
founded by Lewis,Henri Gaudier-Brzeska,and EzraPound,and it was Pound
who invented the term Vorticism.The Vorticistswere concerned with dynamic
forms represented by a vortex which was calm and stable in the center with
motion and spacial activitysurrounding it. The paintings and drawings of these
artists,who included David Bomberg,Jacob Epstein,WilliamRoberts,and
EdwardWadsworth,were not totally abstract,but used interlocking geometrical forms with some degree of representationalfigures. These figures were not
the pears and guitars of the Cubists (which the Vorticistsconsidered boring) or
the automobiles of the Futurists(which were thought to be cold and meaningless). By their own definition, the Vorticistssaw their paintings as the synthesis
of Cubistform and Futuristmovement. As Reed WayDavenbrock says in his
bookBlast 3, Vorticism"wasarticulatedthrough the style of dynamic formism.
These figures are dynamic and in motion, usually engaged in combat or in
physical labor.But the non-naturalisticway in which these figures are
portrayed stylizes them, making them seem like machines or robots."5
The subject matterof the pictures related directly to the world of its time. The
cities, people, and events which were depicted reflected the Vorticisttheories.
Although the avant-gardeartiststried to establish alternativeexhibition spaces
and workshops (one was called the Rebel ArtCenter), they could not successfully organize themselves into a dedicated group. Thus, the eccentrically brilliantWyndhamLewis,leading Vorticistpainter,writer,and philosopher felt
compelled to publish a journal announcing his artisticand political views. This
journalwas Blast.

5. Seamus Cooney, ed.,Blast3 (Black SparrowPress,1984), p. 42.

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The first issue was published inJune 1914. Blast was modeled on Marinetti's
FuturistManifesto of 1909 in that it attempted to open the minds of the public
to a new art form. The journalwas printed in a large format,on coarse paper,
with innovative typography,and had a bright pink cover clearly printed with
the title. It was meant to explode Englandout of its culturalcomplacency and
create a favorable context for poets, writers, and artists.It was a prime example
of art as propaganda and propagandaas art.
The volume opens with the rebellious manifesto:
Blast first (from politeness) England
Curse its climate for its sins and infections
Dismal symbol set round our bodies,
of effeminate lout within.
VictorianVampire,the London cloud sucks
the town's heart.6
The manifesto continues to blast an amazing list including Francefor its "sentimental gallic gush,"the "amateurjournalist,"the "postoffice,"the years "1837to
1900,"and "sport"(fig. 3).
The dynamic message then reverses itself and begins to bless particularpeople
and institutions.
Bless the English Humour...
Bless Swiftfor his solemn bleak
wisdom of laughter
Shakespearefor his bitter Northern
Rhetoricof humour...
Bless the separating,ungregarious
British Grin.7
Withthese contrasts of blasts and blessings-a seemingly Dadaist sensibilityWyndamLewis did not attempt "tochange the appearance of the world, because we are not Naturalists,Impressionists or Futurists...anddo not depend
on the appearance of the world for our art.We only want the world to live and
to feel its crude energy flowing through us."8Lewis even suggested a Vorticist
king!This first volume of Blast was signed by eleven Vorticistmembers, and included illustrations,poems, a play,stories, and philosophical essays which typified their innovative and energetic output. As EzraPoundstated, "Vorticismis
art before it has spread itself into a state of flaccidity,of elaboration, of secondary applications."9
So where did all this lead?WyndamLewisby virtue of publishing the iconoclastic, serio-comic Blast became somewhat of a society celebrity.According to
RichardCork in his definitive book on the Vorticists,"ThePresssimply treated
it as the latest in a long series of crankyBohemian publicity stunts, inseparably
connected with the colorful propagandaof that arch-showmanMarinetti...
6. WyndamLewis,Blast No. 1 (John Lane,London, 1914), p. 11.

7. Ibid.,p. 26.
8. Ibid.,p. 7.
9. Ibid.,p. 154.
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65

CURSE
the flabbysky that can manufacture no snow, but
can onlydropthe sea on us in a drizzle like a peMm
by Mr.RobertBridges.

[2

OHBLAST
FRANCE
pig plagiarism

CURSE

BELLY
SLIPPERS
POODLE
TEMPER
BADMUSIC

th la

air that annt stiffe th be of

SERPENTINE,
teL
er putAuaticstel alf waydowmte IANCHESTER
CANAL
ibtt
iee ker

years g we saw disttlhw betk mew ua

Maysomevuluarly
Inventi, butmgetfl s, uri,
ud retoreto u the necesry BLIZZARDS.

SENTIMENTAL
GALLIC
GUSH
SENSATIONALISM
FUSSINESS.

LET
USONCE
MORE
WEAR
Complacentyoungman,
THEERMINEPARISIANPAROCHIALISM.
so much respect for Papa
OFTHENORTH.
and his son I-Oh I-Papa
Is wonderful:but all papas
relI
WEBELIEVE
INTHEEXISTENCE
OF
THISUSEFUL
BLAST
LITTLE
CHEMIST
APERITIFS
(Pernots,Amer plon)
INOUR
Badchange
MIDST!
NaivelyseduotiveHourisalonpictureCcottes
Slouchingblue porters (can
carry a pantechnicon)
Stupidlyrapaciouspeople at
everystep
Economymaniacs
BouillonKub(for beinga bad
pun)

Fig.3. WyndhamLewis, pages

12and13fromBlast, No.1, John
Lane,London,1914.Photograph,
Lee Rickles.

London refused to regard it as anythingother than the work of verbose madThere were invitationsto soirees for Lewis and imitations of his dress
men."10
and eccentricities; but there were no long lasting influences on the philosophy
and structureof art and culture. RichardCorkwrites that "It[Blast]will, of
course, be amusing for an issue or two, and connoisseurs will purchase early
numbers as an investment for their old age, but will it encourage discussion,
the one thing needed?""
The second issue did not appear untilJuly 1915 by which time WorldWarI had
blasted its way into the lives and society the Vorticistswere attempting to
change. Fromour viewpoint, scholars place the importance of Vorticismnot
primarilyin the visual arts,but in literature.EzraPound,T.S.Eliot,JamesJoyce,
and WyndamLewis all continued to develop the tendencies of Modernistpoetry and prose.

Lesmots en libertefuturistes
Filippo Tommaso Marinettiis undoubtedly the name most strongly associated
with ItalianFuturism.He was its founder, inspirationalleader, most visible performer,and prolific poet and publisher. Born in Egyptin 1876 of wealthy and
10. RichardCork,Vorticismand AbstractArtin the FirstMachine Age, 2 Vols.(Universityof California
Press, 1976), p. 264.
11. Ibid., p. 266.
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artisticparents, he studied law in Italy,but was drawn to Parisin 1893. Afterthe

death of his parents, Marinettiinherited their extravagentMilanese apartment.
This was the elegant setting from which he launched the avant-gardepublication POESIAin 1905. By that time, Marinettihad established relationships with
writers and philosophers who were attemptingto change the artisticmillieu in
Franceand Italy.He was influenced by the Symbolist poets, by AlfredJarryparticularlyhis bombastic play Ubu Roi-and by the philosophers Nietzche
and Bergson. Combining the prevailing artswith the new technology and
science, the brilliantMarinettifused the energies, disruptions, inventiveness,
and changing political landscape into a movement which he called Futurism.
The poet was so energetic and visible in the cause of Futurismthat he was
known as the "Caffeineof Europe."12
In 1909, his first manifesto appeared on
the front page of LeFigaro in Paris.Needless to say,the document vilified the
past and celebrated the future. It read in a forthright,combative style which
typified the movement and its positions.
It is from Italythatwe launch through the world this violently upsetting, inbecause
cendiary manifesto of ours. Withit, today,we establish FUTURISM
we want to free this land from its smelling gangrene of professors, archaeologists, ciceroni, and antiquarians.Fortoo long has Italybeen a dealer
in second hand clothes. We mean to free her from the numberless museums
that cover her like so many graveyards.13
The manifesto of 1909 was just the beginning. In the years before sophisticated
communication systems, Marinettiwrote, distributed, and performed his multitudinous manifestoes throughout Europe, England,and Russia.He subsequently surrounded himself with a dedicated group of visual artists- starting
with Balla,then Boccioni, Severini, Carra,and Russolo. They themselves
published the TechnicalManifesto of FuturistPainting in 1910 in Parisstating
"thatthe chief aim of painting was to capture the dynamic sensation of life and
to put the Spectator in the centre of the picture."14
The Futuristswanted the
viewer to participateactively in the work of art.They followed the leadership of
Marinettiand developed an energized style of painting and sculpture. The subjects were crowds, cities, vehicles, battles, electricity,all in motion. The first major exhibition was in Parisin 1912, and it toured to London, Berlin, and Moscow. The cosmic dynamism of the Futuristshad a major impact among the
painters, writers, photographers, sculptors, and performers of a broadly based
cultural society. Perhapseven more importantwas the influence the first
generation Futuristshad on Italianpolitics.
The relation of Futurismto revolution is well spelled out in the first Manifesto.
"Exceptin struggle, there is no beauty.No work without an aggressive character can be a masterpiece. Poetrymust be conceived as a violent attackon unknown forces, to reduce and prostratethem before man....Wewill glorify war
- the world's only hygiene."15
12. MarjorieG. Wayneand Luce MarinettiBarbi,FT.Marinetti and Futurism,exhibition catalogue in
the Beinecke RareBook and ManuscriptLibrary(YaleUniversity,1983), preface.
13. R W.Flint,ed., Marinetti:Selected W-itings(Farrar,Strausand Giroux, 1972), p. 42.
14. Anne d'Harnoncourt,Futurismand the International Aant-Garde, exhibition catalogue
(Philadelphia Museum of Art,1981), p. 15.
15. ChristianaJ.Taylor,Futurism:Politics,Painting and Performance (UMIResearch Press, 1979), p. 4.
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67

pagefromLesmotsen liberte

SCRIIJ3rV

foldout
Marinetti,
Fig.4. F.T.

rraa4r0
tC

(,?

,,,,,,I,
,,

Futuriste
Di
Edizioni
futuristes,

'

Poesia,Milan,1919.Photor

4'r

graph,LeeRickles.

In 1911, Marinetticampaigned successfully for Italianintervention in Tripoli

with his performances, publications, meetings, and rallies. When Italyaligned
itself with Franceand England,Marinettibecame involved with the cause of irredentism or the reacquisition of the Austrian-heldprovinces on the northern
Italianborder. Now,it was the Balkanfighting that intrigued him, and it has
been thought that the trenches of war inspired his style of poetry calledparole
in liberta or "wordsin freedom."Firstin the poem "LaBataille de Tripoli"and
then in "ZangTumbTumb"of 1913, the Italianconfrontation influenced the
concept and form of Marinetti'spoetry.In his TechnicalManifesto of Futurist
Literature,he stated that the works should destroy syntax,scatter nouns at ran68

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dom, abolish the adjective,adverb, and punctuation, and use mathematicaland

musical symbols. Antonella Ansaniwrites in the YaleFuturistexhibition catalogue, "Poetry,which may be considered predominantly acoustic in nature,was
thus transformed by the Futuristconception of typographyinto a visual rather
than an auditory message. In its most creative moments, then, poetry would acThe typographicinnovations of
quire the additional status of visual art."16
Marinettideserve more careful study,not only because of their influence upon
Futuristpoetry,but also because of their role as precursors of contemporary
visual poetry.
In his book, Lesmots en libertefuturistesof 1919, Marinettidemonstrated his
genius as both art propagandist and visual poet. It was written in Frenchto attracta wider reading audience. The small volume is divided into two sections.
The first half consists of manifestoes which discuss the breakdown of syntax,
the typographic revolution, free expressive orthography,geometric and mechanical splendor, onomatopoeia and abstractverbalisation,and numerical
sensibility.The second half of the book is composed of eight examples of mots
en liberte.Eachpoem is on a separate page which can be opened and unfolded. Illustratedis the poem "Inthe evening, lying on her bed, she reread the
letter from her artillerymanat the front."(fig. 4)
Just as with Futuristpaintings, the reader of Lesmots en libertefuturisteswas to
involve himself directly in the poem by opening his mind to the innovative
form and intention of the work. By seeing the sounds and feeling the weight of
the letters and words, an emotional reaction was to be created between the
reader and the poem.
It was said WorldWarI arrivedjust in time to save the Futuristsfrom destroying
themselves. By 1914, dissention had fracturedthe original group. In true
Futuristfashion, many artistsand writers went off to the battlefield. Boccioni
was killed and Marinettiwas seriously wounded. Thus the war thatwas to
cleanse society actuallywashed awaythe inter-disciplinarycreative forces, and
by 1915 the Futurismof the first generation was finished.
Marinettihimself lived until 1944 when he became ill while serving in the Italian army at the Don Riverin Russia;he returned home and died at Bellagio,
LakeComo. He was a Futuristto the end.

le Phare
Ledentu
"Iliazdwas the unparallelled master of the modern book; his work assured the
book the status of an art object in the 20th century,transformingit from a serviceable vehicle into an aesthetic work. He recognized the potential of the page
to be the scene of theatricaldrama,of the letters to be living characterscapable
of antics undreamed of by previous generations of printers and of the materials
of paper and parchment to provide the tactile experience of dynamically
This vivid description byJohanna Drucker,typographer and
sculpted form."17
and Cangiullo'sDancing Letters,"TheFuturistImagination,
16. AntonellaAnsani, "Words-in-Freedom
exhibition catalogue (YaleUniversityArtGallery,1983), p. 51.
17.Johanna Drucker,Iliazd: A Sketchfor theLife of theArtist,unpublished manuscript(1986), p.1.
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69

scholar at the Universityof Californiaat Berkeley,introduces her primarystudy

in English of the life of Ilia Zdanevitch,Russiantypographer,scholar,and book
designer. Born in Tiflis, Georgia in 1894, Zdanevitchpersonified the close relationship of poets and visual artistsin Russiaduring the early twentieth century.
Forexample, he worked closely with the painters Larionovand Goncharova in
developing their ideas of Rayonism.While it is true that the ItalianFuturist,
Marinetti,visited and performed in Moscow and St. Petersburgin 1914, he did
not leave a positive impact on the Russianartistsand poets. In fact,the Russian
avant-gardistswanted to pelt him with eggs, and they probably attended his
performances with painted clothing and faces as was the mode of the day.
Futurismto them was not a reflection of war,speed, and politics, but rathera
movement which related Russianprimitive painting, folk history,and Symbolist
poetry to a new art of the future. Thatis not to say that the RussianFuturistartists did not loudly declaim their theories. The poets Khlebnikov,David Burliuk,
and Kruchenykhperceived their work to be innovative in spirit and form. They
were closely aligned with the Russianpainters who worked and exhibited in
groups vividly named "Hylaea,""Jackof Diamonds,""Unionof Youth,"and
"Donkey'sTail."According to VladimirMarkovin his book Russian Futurism,
the lattergroup led by Larionov"whichincluded also Malevich,Tatlin,Von
Wiesen, MikhailLedentu, and MarkChagall,took issue with Jackof Diamonds'
'conservatism'and predilection for theorizing, insisting that subject matterwas
of great importance in painting and stressing its own ties with RussianPrimitive
folk art,as well as with Oriental art."18
During these early years of 1910 through 1913, poets and writers, working in
conjunction with the painters, published avant-gardebooks with creative typography,new poetic rhythms,inventive language forms, artisticimages, and special book design. The Futuristwriters were particularlyactive in Tiflis. It was
here that the group 41?was formed in 1917 and Ilia Zdanevitchwas a founding
member. One of the primaryaccomplishments of 41?was the creation and use
of ZAUMor transrationallanguage.According to the 1921 ZAUMManifestoof
Kruchenykh,"Thoughtand speech cannot catch up with the emotional experience of someone inspired; therefore, the artistis free to express himself not
only in a common language (concepts) but also in a privateone (a creator is individual) as well as in a language that does not have a definite meaning (is not
frozen) that is transrational.A common language is binding; a free one allows
An explicit and fascinatingdescription of ZAUM
more complete expression."19
can be found in the Markovbook.
In the Tiflis environment, Zdanevitchwrote five plays or DRAS,as he called his
dramaticpresentations. They were remarkableexamples of Futuristtheater.
Thematicallythe DRASwere based on Russianfolk tales with villains and heroines, a bizarre king, performing donkeys, androgynous characters,and finally
Zdanevitch'sfriend MikhailLedentu,the avant-gardeartist.Only in the fifth play
titled Ledentu le Phare did Zdanevitchuse a real life protagonist, and this book
is considered to be his masterpiece of ZAUM(fig. 5). It was his first use of the
name Iliazd.
The plot ofLedentu le Phare is complicated in a seemingly Dada fashion. Two
18. VladimirMarkov,Russian Futurism:A History (Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1968), p. 39.
19. Ibid., p. 345.
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portraitsof the same woman are painted and come to life. Ledentu symbolizes
true art,and the charactersin the play recite in duets or in chorus with frequently overlapping sounds. The vocalizations and pronunciations are complicated, ever-changing,mysticalZAUM.Pitch,volume, and tempo are indicated
symbolically "Aglance at the first page of the play'stext makes it clear that
something else has been introduced, namely,the use of a varietyof typefaces,
sizes, and line positions, purely for visual effect ratherthan for practicalpurposes. An actor might find this hodgepodge counterproductive because it
makes the script much harder to read than conventional typesetting;however,
it makes the text a visual feast with a graphic value all its own, which in its own
BothJanecek and Drucker have
right might be stimulatingto an interpreter."20
described the work of the Tiflis period as using typefaces "fromposter-size to
petit and from italic to elizevir.Between individualwords were inserted various lines, rows of dots, clefs, letters from Georgian and Arabicalphabets, musical notes, upside-down exclamation points, ducal crowns,...vignettes depicting
cupids and rose garlands."2Withall these symbols, the play contained hidden
obscenities and erotic situationswhich were far too complex for the censors to
fathom!
By 1923, when Ledentu le Phare was published, Iliazd had already left Russia
because of the political turmoil and established himself in Paris.He never returned to his native country.He met with little success in interesting the French
in his ZAUMworks, probably because the transrationallanguage was so closely
related to Russian.He met the DadaistsTzaraand Picabiaand established relationships with MaxErnst,Picasso,and Mir6.Withall the latter,he developed a
brilliant career as producer and typographerof exquisite artists'books. However, startingin the late twenties, a period of personal and financial difficulties
followed and his typographicwork ceased. It was not until almost 1940 that
Iliazd returned to a productive artisticlife. Worksof the period which are
prominent in our collection include Poesie de mots inconnus of 1949 and
Maximiliana produced in collaboration with MaxErnstin 1964. Iliazd'slast
decades were spent creating books which called upon his past life as a Futurist,
typographer,archeologist, fabric designer, lover of papers, and artisticcollaborator."Iliazd'sgenius was that he understood the limits of the typographic medium and was able to use them to advantage,to play upon the very features
which traditionallypose a limit to the varietyand invention of the printed page.
He manipulated the very squareness, spacing and arrangementof type to emphasize its graphic rhythm,its visual presence, and its capacityto underscore
the verbal features of a text, while orchestratingthe relations among all of the
elements of a book, the ink, the paper,the text and the illustrations,so that the
whole was a synthetic and harmonious unity ratherthan a collection of disparate elements."22
In the years since his death in 1975, little has been published in the English literature on this remarkableman. Because his work spanned distinct cultures,
art forms, and movements, a definitive biography of Iliazd would be extremely
enlightening. As Susan Compton has written,Ledentu le Phare "isto be consid20. GeraldJanecek, TheLook of Russian Literature:Avant-GardeVisualExperiments,1900-1930
(Princeton UniversityPress, 1984), p. 176.
21. Ibid., p. 183.
22. Drucker,op. cit., p. 24.
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71

coverof
Fig.5. N.Granowsky,
Ledentu
le PharebyIliazd,Editionsdu41?,Paris,1923.Photograph,LeeRickles.

i
::;:r:
?

?.
:"'-'?d..,

ered as a summing up of graphic design, ideas about staging and a culmination

of Kruchenykh'sZAUMlanguage, treated in a masterlyway by Zdanevitch."23
Thatdescribes Iliazd completely-he was a master.

Pressa
El Lissitzkywith his multiple talents was an influential designer of the twentieth
century.This artistwas an architect,typographer,propagandist,social philosopher, book creator,and designer of exhibitions. He was born in 1890 in Russia,
23. Susan P Compton, TheWorldBackwards:Russian FuturistBooks, 1912-16 (The BritishLibrary,

1978),p. 46.

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was educated in Germany,travelled extensively in Europe, and finally returned

to Russiain 1914 at the outbreak of WorldWarI. He knew the avant-gardeartists
well and designed their book covers and exhibited paintings with the 'Jackof
Diamonds"group. In 1917,Lissitzkywas invited to the art academy in Vitebsk
by MarcChagall,but he was soon drawn to the theories and work of Kasimir
Malevich.It was in VitebskthatLissitzkybegan his work with the PROUNS(Project for the Affirmationof the New). The PROUNSwere abstractworks of spatial
qualitywhich dealt with the cosmic aspects of both life and art.They were between drawing and architecture,and they visualized Lissitzky'sbelief that art
should relate to society and benefit all mankind. In 1923, the Constructivist
manifesto was published which stated that "Thematerialformation of the object is to be treated as a whole and thus will be of no discernible 'style'but simply a product of an industrialorder like a car,an aeroplane and such like. Constructivismis a purely technical masteryand organization of materialson three
principles:
a. the tectonic (act of creation)
b. the factura(manner of creation)
c. the construction."24
The ConstructivistsRodchenko, Popova,Stephanova,and Lissitzskyworked in
designing functional objects which would bring art into everydaylife, including furniture,fabrics,posters, ceramics, fashions, book design, and typography.
Lissitzkyabove all, perhaps because of his early relationship with Malevich,
brought the spiritualityof Suprematismto his artisticdesigns in the PROUNS,
the books, and the posters. In the mid-twenties, Lissitzkystarted to incorporate
photography and photomontage into his work. He also became interested in
three-dimensional environments and created a PROUNroom in the Hanover
Museum.
During this period in Europe, Lissitzkycollaborated with van Doesburg, van
der Rohe, Hans Arp,and KurtSchwitters.In Germanyhe met Sophie Kuppers
who devotedly followed him to Russiaand married him in Moscow in 1927.
Their life together was productively shared. Then in 1928, Lissitzkywas asked
to produce'the Soviet pavilion at the internationalpress exhibition in Cologne
called PRESSA.The exhibition brought into focus all his talents and was widely
praised by the public and press. As Sophie Lissitzky-Kupperswrote in her definitive book on Lissitzky,"Whenthe final version of the plans for the Russian
exhibit at PRESSAhad been agreed, providing for twenty different sections, a
startwas made with the construction of 227 stands in the vast halls of a former
riding-school in the Lenin Hills. Thirty-eightartistswere concerned in finding
the right solution to this gigantic problem. Lissitzsky,small as he was, managed
to be everywhere; he was like a conductor directing a huge orchestra. He was
capable of combining contrastingtalents to effect a harmonious unity,and of
uniting a heterogeneous collection of artistsso that they worked with general
enthusiasm. Withan iron will he carried through the overall architectonic plan
in such a way that it remained a clear and distinct whole in spite of the multiplicity of talents involved in it. The RussianPRESSAexhibit was a collective

24. CamillaGray,TheRussian Experimentin Art 1863-1922 (Thames and Hudson, 1976), p. 257.
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73

foldoutpage
Fig.6. ElLissitzky,

triumph, and in it Lisstzkywas able to realize many ideas which had been in his

fromUSSRPRESSA,
exhibition

mind for years."25

MadameLissitzky-Kupperswrote an article in 1976 on the occasion of an exhibition of her husband'swork in the renowned Galerie Gmurzynskain Cologne. She recalled that "thepavilion drew a large group, it aroused the people's interest. This was not a mere looking at show cases, but a colorful
dynamic experience of everything printed... .Lissitzkyworked at the catalogue
to which he added a foldable photomontage similar to the fresco of the walls of
the pavilion."26

Pho1928.
catalogue,
Cologne,
Lee
Rickles.

Whatspecial elements in the exhibition caused the stunning impact?First,the

space itself was soaring and open. In it, Lissitzkydesigned a three-dimensional
world of information.A five-pointed star topped with a spacial disk with floating planets was a central figure. Six floor-to-ceiling belts covered with photomontages and posters were in motion. Futuristmale and female figures were
designed representing Soviet worker-citizens.A reading room and library
were integrated into the space. A photo-frieze entitled "TheFunctionof the
Press is the Education of the Masses,"surrounded the exhibition hall. "Theindividual elements were either pushed out from the wall or were recessed into it
It was this dynamic
...and they 'destroyed' the boundaries within the pavilion."27
photomontage that Lissitzkyincorporated into his exhibition catalogue as a
long fold-out page (fig. 6).
25. Sophie Lissitzky-Kuppers,El Lissitzky(New YorkGraphicSociety, 1968), p.84.

26. SophieLissitzky-Kuppers,
in Cologne,"
exhibitioncatalogue(Galerie
"Lissitzky
ElLissitzky,
1976),pp. 18-19.
Gmurzynska,
27. Boris Brodsky,TheAvant-Gardein Russia, 1910-1930: New Perspectives,exhibition catalogue

(LosAngelesCountyMuseumof Art,1980),p. 96.

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The PRESSAexhibition brought into focus the talents of El Lissitzkyfor uniting

artwith life. His use of design, architecture,and typographywas unique and
dramatic;the elements brilliantlydemonstrated the power of the press in educating the people and influencing society.
Aftermany years of poor health, Lissitzkydied in Russiain 1941. The article by
Sophie Lissitzky-Kuppersin the Gmurzynskacatalogue ends with a tribute
from an architecturalcolleague:
Lissitzsky
was a character
full of enthusiasm and overflowing with ideas
all he wanted to do was
to contribute to the welfare of a future generation
in order to create a significant environment.28

A Humument
Latein 1966, when Iliazd was at the height of his productivityin Paris,a young
artistin England created a remarkablenew book form. Tom Phillips, a graduate
of Oxford Universityand Camberwell School of Art,using his background in
classical literature,painting, music, and film, conceived of making an artwork
from an unknown Victoriannovel. Phillips found the obscure book in a secondhand shop. It was titled A Human Document by W.H.Mallockand was
28. Sophie Lissitzky-Kuppers,op. cit., p. 20.
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75

published in 1892. The volume was metamorphosed by Phillips into a visual

and literarygem which he retitledA Humument. At night, perhaps to leave the
daytime for his more "serious"art,Phillips reworked the rich Victoriantext using gouache, ink, typing, and collage. His intellectual approach transformedthe
book into a visually poetic text. Forexample, the linear first page in its new
form now reads:
The following
sing I
a book
a book of art
of mind art
and th-atwhich he hid

reveal12
Although the page size is only five by seven inches, the poetry of the revealed
text coupled with the lush imagery create an outstanding book-work (fig. 7).
Tom Phillips writes in his notes:
The numerical order of the pages is not the chronological order of their
making. The initial attackon the book was made by taking leaves at random
and projecting the themes that emerged backwardsand forwards into the
volume. In the end the work became an attemptto make agesamtkunstwerk
in small format,since it includes poems, music scores, parodies, notes on
aesthetics, autobiography,concrete texts, romance, mild erotica as well as
the undertext of Mallock'soriginal story of an upper-class cracker-barrel
Fig.7.TomPhillips,pages7 and
19fromA Humument-A
Treated
Vi'ctorian
Novel,Thamesand

A 1IL'MAN bOCUMENT.

o?iiui

tu

LeeRickles.
Photograph,

.i

fl
iave.

ilP
ii

GreatBritain,
Hudson,
1980.I

7-

ill

fmle,

]-i%o
4,i the hoe,asie
pr-oduceed
offered it. disteridedi

product ot Vienna--and
gor~~~~~~~~~(1geous

4kri/
C'X

....W
---...
\---

29.
Philhips,AHumument-A
Tom
V.t..an
Noel(haesad.udo,.98).p1
Trea~~4ted

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philosopher, ex-poet and diplomat, who falls in love with a sexy prospective
widow from Hampstead.30
The manuscriptwas completely finished in 1973; it was published in 1970 as
silkscreen, lithograph, and letterpress pages. In 1980, a bound version was
published.
A Humument inspired Phillips to write an avant-gardeopera titled Irma. The
revealed text appeared in Phillips'subsequent print series and was the fertile
source of poetic imagery when he translated,illustrated,designed, and
published Dantes Inferno in 1983. Following his monumental work, Phillips
created TheHeart ofa Humument, a miniaturizedversion of the original novel
which focuses on a small portion of the page and uses different images and
words.
The blending of literature,poetry,and visual art is extremely successful in the
work of Tom Phillips.Although he claims not to be a policital artist,South
Africaand the Berlin Wallare the subjects of several of his paintings. In the
main, his work derives from personal intellectual explorations, mythological
languages, historic paintings, postcard images, and classical literatureand poetry.These are presented in an amazingvarietyof artisticformats.Tom Phillips
has used the book in particularto span the distinction between word and image, for as he says, "ina sense, because A Humument is less than what it started
with, it is a paradoxicalembodiment of Mallarme'sidea that everything in the
world exists in order to end up as a book."3'
"Endingas a book" may very well be the credo of contemporagyjbQo_kartists
who knowingly continue the ideas of the avant-gardeand the concrete and visual poets into our time. We,too, plan to continue to collect, exhibit, and
describe the words, images, and objects from our Archivein the spirit of the
artist-poetswhose work we so greatly admire. 1

SELECTEDBIBLIOGRAPHY
Cendrars, Blaise, and Delaunay-Terk, Sonia
La Prose du Transsiberienet la PetiteJehanne de Prance, Editions des Hommes Nouveau (Paris,
1913).
Iliazd
Ledentu lePhare (Editions du 41?,Paris,1923).
Lewis, Wyndam
Blast, No. 1 (John Lane,London, 1914).
Lissitzky, El
USSRPRESSA,exhibition catalogue (Cologne, 1928).
Mallarme, Stephane
"UnCoup De DesJamais N'AboliraLe Hasard,"Cosmopolis,Vol.VI (London, May1897).
Un CoupDe DesJamais N'AboliraLeHasard, (Editions de la Nouvelle Revue Francaise,Paris,
1914).
Marinetti, ET.
Lesmots en libertefuturistes(Edizioni FuturisteDi Poesia,Milan,1919).
Phillips, Tom
A Humument-A TreatedVictorianNovel (Thames and Hudson, GreatBritain,1980).
30. Ibid., notes on A Humument.
31. Ibid., notes on A Humument.
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17