Yale Publications in the History of Art

Walter Cahn, Editor

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Yale University Press

New Haven and London
In

Defiance of
Painting: Christine Poggi

Cubism,

Futurism,

and the

Invention

of

Collage
 \0 t

Copyright © 1992 by Yale University.

All rights reserved.

This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part,

including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying
permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright
Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without
written permission from the publishers.

Set in Cheltenham type by Compset, Inc.

Printed in Hong Kong by Everbest Printing Co., Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Poggi, Christine, 1953-

In defiance of painting : cubism, futurism, and the invention
of collage / Christine Poggi.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-300-05109-3
1. Collage. 2. Art, Modern—20th century. I. Title.
N6494.C6P6 1992
709'.04—dc20 91-37317 CIP

A catalogue record for this book is available from the

British Library.

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for perma¬

nence and durability of the Committee on Production
Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources.

10 987654321

Frontispiece: Carlo Carra, Free-Word Painting—Patriotic

Festival, July 1914, pasted papers, charcoal, ink, and
gouache on board. Mattioli Collection, Milan.
For Bernard

rtslBo*>«**£/
tREKE Xu^h oNiar0
^80^'
 Preface vm
Contents
Acknowledgments
1 The Invention of Collage, Notes 258

Papier Colie, Constructed

Sculpture and Free-Word Poetry l Selected Bibliography 292

2 Picasso’s Earliest Constructions

Index 306
and Collages: The Arbitrariness
of Representational Signs 30

3 Frames of Reference: Table

and Tableau in Picasso’s
Collages and Constructions 58

4 Conception and Vision in the

Collages of Braque and Gris 90

5 Cubist Collage, the Public, and

the Culture of Commodities 124

6 Destroying the Cult of the

Museum: The Futurist Collage
Aesthetic 164

7 Collage Poems: From Words in

Freedom to Free-Word Pictures 194

8 Futurist Collage and Parole in

Liberta in the Service of
the War 228

9 Collage and the Modernist

Tradition 252
 In 1930 Louis Aragon wrote a remarkable essay for
Preface an exhibition of collages at the Galerie Goemans in
which he noted the critical silence surrounding the
invention of collage by the Cubists and the contin¬
ued use of collage techniques among contemporary
artists:
It is curious that almost no one has apparently
taken note of a singular occupation, whose con¬
sequences are still not entirely understandable,
and to which certain men have devoted them¬
selves in these times in a systematic fashion that
recalls more the operations of magic than those
of painting. Moreover it called into question per¬
sonality, talent, artistic propriety, and all sorts of
other ideas that comforted the tranquil sensibili¬
ties of cretinized brains. I wish to speak of that
which one calls collage for purposes of simplic¬
ity, even though the use of glue is only one of the
characteristics of this operation, and not an es¬
sential characteristic. Without doubt this subject
contains within it something that frightens the
spirits, for, in all the voluminous criticism de¬
voted to Cubism since its birth, for example, one
only finds a few superficial words to note the ex¬
istence of papier colle, as one called it at first, to
designate this first apparition of collage through
which the uneasiness of Braque and Picasso from
1911 was revealed. ... To understand more
clearly that which has occurred during nearly
twenty years, it is necessary therefore, to study
this development historically, by beginnning to
speak of papier coll& as it appeared at its birth.1
Since Aragon wrote this passage, numerous crit¬
ics and art historians have written interpretive his¬
tories of Cubism and of collage, especially during
the past twenty years. In spite of the wealth of this
literature and the important contribution it has
made to our knowledge, there is still no book-
length study of the invention of collage that seeks
 Preface ix

to understand it in relation both to modernism and and 1907 as well as the Lapin Agile, the Cirque
to the historical issues of the period. This book, it¬ Medrano, and the Closerie des Lilas. He met Pi¬
self something of a collage, explores the interrela¬ casso in 1902 or 1903 and subsequently witnessed
tionships of a number of pictorial and poetic the painting of the Saltimbanques and Les De¬
practices—collage, papier colle, constructed sculp¬ moiselles d'Avignon. During this time he also knew
ture,2 and parole in liberta (free-word poetry). It Georges Braque, Guillaume Apollinaire, Max Jacob,
represents an attempt to engage a field whose very Juan Gris, and other members of la bande a Pi¬
complexity and experimental character preclude a casso. After returning to Italy in late 1907, he began
reassuring sense of closure. to correspond with Picasso and visited him on
I take my title from Aragon’s essay of 1930, “La many subsequent sojourns in Paris. On 24 August
peinture au defi,” translated as "In defiance of 1911 Soffici published a highly laudatory article on
painting,” to capture the sense of inquietude to¬ Picasso and Braque in La Voce, which Picasso
ward the norms of painting that inspired the many wrote to say he had “read with emotion” and to ask
inventions of the Cubists and Futurists. For the for more copies.3 The surviving correspondence
most part this study concentrates on the relatively between Picasso and Soffici, which dates from
brief but highly productive period of 1912 to 1919. 1909, suggests that a real friendship and exchange
The year 1912 marks the invention of collage, pa¬ of ideas developed between these two artists. This
pier colle, Picasso’s constructed sculpture, and Fu¬ relationship complicated Soffici’s later adherence
turist parole in liberta, a new poetic style closely to Futurism, rendering it somewhat ambivalent.
related to collage. I chose 1919 as an appropriate Gino Severini, who lived in Paris during most of
terminus because this was the year Marinetti pub¬ the prewar period, was also a close friend of Pi¬
lished his most famous collection of parole in li¬ casso, Braque, and Apollinaire, seeing them almost
berta composed before and during the war, Les daily during the crucial periods of the spring and
mots en hberte futuristes. Conditions after the war fall of 1912. His collage practice was a direct re¬
were significantly different and therefore seem to sponse to Picasso’s work as well as to Marinetti’s
require a separate study. innovations in poetry, filtered through his adher¬
Throughout this book, my intent has been to ence to Divisionism. Like Soffici, he was equally at
view the artistic practice of the Cubists and Futur¬ home in artistic and literary circles and frequently
ists as structured, in part, by the historical dia¬ played the role of mediator between Cubists and
logue that existed between these two very different Futurists.
groups of artists. This dialogue has often been Umberto Boccioni, as his letters indicate, was
characterized as disdain for Futurist rhetoric and obsessed by feelings of competition with Picasso
concern with subject matter on the part of the and Braque, whom he admired privately and fre¬

Cubists, and by intense rivalry fueled by patriotism quently criticized publicly. Moreover, his interest in
on the part of the Futurists, especially Umberto sculpture was aroused by work (possibly Braque’s

Boccioni and Carlo Carra. Yet the historical record early paper sculptures,) that he saw in Paris during

reveals more complex and developing forms of ex¬ his visits to the French capital in February and

change and a constant redefinition of attitudes. March 1912. This led to his elaboration of a new

Ardengo Soffici, an artist and prominent Italian theory of multimedia sculpture during the summer

critic, frequented the Bateau Lavoir between 1903 of 1912 and eventually to the execution of con-
 Preface x

structed works that reveal an effort to challenge and theoretically. What they rejected and what they
and supersede Cubist practices. A similar aware¬ imitated tells us much about the issues of the pe¬
ness of Cubist innovations informs the works Soffici riod, especially about the controversy over the
and Carra executed early in 1914 while on a visit to kind of unity a work of art should have, the extent
Paris and just afterward. Guillaume Apollinaire’s to which materials should be transformed, the role
growing interest in Futurist ideas and his friendship of mechanical reproduction, whether pictorial or
with Soffici, Severini, Marinetti, and to a lesser ex¬ poetic language should be “motivated” or viewed
tent the other Futurists led to mutual influence and as arbitrary and conventional, the role of politics in
an exchange of ideas beginning in the fall of 1912 art, and the definition of originality. By considering
and culminating in his poemes-conuersation and the constructed and multimedia works of the Cub¬
calligrammes of 1913 and 1914, which suggest ists and Futurists as alternative and often opposed
many parallels with Marinetti’s parole in liberta. ways of addressing these issues, their meaning
If the Cubists were not as influenced by the Fu¬ emerges more clearly. Common purposes also ex¬
turists, there is still evidence of dialogue and in isted—primarily in the challenge to the existing hi¬
some cases of parodic response. Curiously, one of erarchy of genres, in the use of a variety of new
Picasso’s very earliest collages, The Letter (fig. 3), and modern materials, and in the exploration of the
executed in the spring of 1912, includes a real Ital¬ parallels between pictorial and verbal modes of
ian stamp postmarked in Florence and probably expression. No other groups of artists can be said
mailed to Picasso by Soffici. Two later collages by to have engaged these issues in the medium of col¬
Picasso, Still Life “Almanacco Purgativo” (fig. 113) lage in as direct and sustained a way before the
and Pipe, Glass, Newspaper, Guitar, Bottle ofVieux war. Kasimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin, and other
Marc (“Lacerba”) (D / R 701), and one by Braque, members of the Russian avant-garde responded to
The Violin (fig. 114), executed in early 1914, in¬ both Cubist and Futurist collage innovations before
clude excerpts from the Futurist journal Lacerba the war, but their further development is marked
and comment on Futurist style. It is also possible by the relative isolation of Russia from France, es¬
that Picasso’s ironic play with pointillist dots, pecially once the war began. Dada artists George
which emerged as a major pictorial device early in Grosz and John Heartfield made collage postcards
1914, functioned in part as an answer to the pres¬ during the war, but they have not survived. More¬
ence of Carra and Soffici in Paris at this time and to over, these works take on meaning less in relation
the continuing importance of Divisionism in Italian to Cubism or Futurism than to the immediate expe¬
aesthetics. Interestingly, one of the earliest of rience of the war. Tristan Tzara’s “collage” poetry is
Picasso’s works to exhibit this use of pointillism, plainly indebted to that of Marinetti and the Futur¬
Bottle, Newspaper and Instruments of Music ists but is a bit late for purposes of establishing a
(D / R 622), was reproduced in Lacerba on 1 May dialogue. Similarly, the collages and poetic experi¬
1914 and may therefore have been a subject of ments of Kurt Schwitters and Max Ernst were made
discussion between Picasso and Soffici. after the war and, though influenced by both Cub¬
Clearly, the work of the Futurists cannot be ism and Futurism, respond to the conditions of a
understood without an awareness of the French art greatly altered world. This book therefore focuses
they sought to challenge; but the Futurists also illu¬ first on the Cubists and second on the Futurists,
minate the work of the Cubists, both historically who were the only other artists to begin making
 Preface xi

collages and to theorize a mixed-media art as early verted (rather than affirmed) the role of the frame
as 1912. This is not to argue that the dialogue be¬ and of the pictorial ground, and brought the lan¬
tween Cubists and Futurists provides a sufficient guages of high and low culture into a new relation¬
context for interpreting the idea or works of either ship of exchange. Inquietude toward the norms of
group, but that it is an illuminating means of ana¬ oil painting and a new awareness, especially by Pi¬
lyzing many issues of importance. casso, of the arbitrariness of pictorial conventions
My thinking on the subject of collage draws on inspired the unparalleled freedom of invention to
recent semiological analyses derived from both be seen in prewar Cubist collages and construc¬
structuralist and poststructuralist sources as well tions. The Futurists shared the Cubists’ project of
as historically informed methods of interpretation questioning and subverting traditional genres and
and close visual and textual analysis of individual forms of expression, although paradoxically their
works. Although these methods cannot be entirely work is in the end more determined by the Symbol¬
separated in practice, they each provided a frame¬ ist legacy they sought to negate than the work of
work within which to pose significant and, at times, the Cubists.
new questions. The study of collage and of contem¬ This book is divided into nine chapters. Chapter
porary developments in poetry seems to invite a 1 provides an overview of the history of the inven¬
semiological approach since Cubist and Futurist tion of collage, papier colle, constructed sculpture,
artists and poets were so obviously engaged in an and Futurist parole in liberta. Many of the themes
analysis and subversion of established means of central to this book can be discerned in the earliest
representation. The value of such an approach is examples of work done in the new media: the Cub¬
primarily heuristic; it encourages us to question ists’ challenge to prevailing definitions of original¬
traditional interpretations and to see more of the ity, their interest in the use of mechanically
formal innovations of art that by now seem famil¬ produced and anti-aesthetic materials, and in par¬
iar. Despite the emphasis given to formal and ticular Picasso’s exploration of the arbitrariness of
semiological problems, historical issues cannot be pictorial conventions; and in contrast, the Futur¬
bracketed without considerable distortion. Atti¬ ists’ desire to motivate their pictorial and verbal
tudes toward craft, decoration, the public, the mar¬ signs, their use of new and varied materials to cre¬
ket, popular culture, nationalism, and the threat (or ate expressive contrasts and a sense of dynamic
promise) of war cannot be understood apart from movement, and their use of art as a vehicle of po¬
the social conditions in which they were articu¬ litical propaganda.
lated. This book, therefore, participates in what has Chapter 2 focuses on Picasso’s invention of the
emerged as a broad reconsideration of modernism first constructed rather than modeled or carved
from both a theoretical and historical point of view. sculpture in the fall of 1912, the famous Guitar
For Cubism, and especially the invention of collage, (figs. 5, 42), and on the relation of this invention to
has traditionally been defined as exemplary of his subsequent collages and papiers colies. Special
modernism’s aspiration toward anti-illusionism, pu¬ attention is devoted to the intervention of African
rity of means, unity, and autonomy. The interpreta¬ masks during this decisive moment of rupture with
tion offered here will challenge this view, focusing the classical Western tradition. African masks pro¬
instead on the ways Cubist collage undermined tra¬ vided Picasso with a powerful model for an art
ditional notions of material and stylistic unity, sub¬ based not on resemblance, but on an arbitrary,
 Preface xii

structural relation between signifying elements: elements and Gris by pasting flat images like labels
solid and void, straight and curved lines, transpar¬ or pages from books to his paintings. Implicit in
ency and opacity. In his work with collage, these this rejection of copying was a desire to define
oppositions would be expanded to include figure their artistic practice as the antithesis of the man¬
and ground, the machine-made and the hand- ual work of the artisan or painter of signs, in favor
drawn, the visual and the tactile, and the literal and of a more elevated view of artistic creation as a
the figured (or the real and the illusory). product of the imagination.
Picasso’s contemporaries understood the con¬ Despite this rejection of craft and of the kind of
structed Guitar—and his subsequent collages—as a skill valued by most viewers, the Cubists did not
challenge to the traditional distinction between aspire to the same kind of aesthetic purity and au¬
painting and sculpture. They therefore called these tonomy in their works of art as many of the Sym¬
new works tableau-objets, noting that a similar “ob- bolists and Fauves. On the contrary, their collages
jecthood” characterized African masks and sculp¬ reveal an attempt to undermine that autonomy by
tures, which seemed to be autonomous entities and allowing elements of mass-produced culture to in¬
to exist in real space independently of the picture filtrate the previously privileged domain of oil
frame or the pedestal. Picasso’s witty and subver¬ painting. This engagement with modernity in the
sive play with the two possible grounds for his col¬ form of an embrace of popular culture and its arti¬
lages and constructions, the “tableau” of classical facts suggests an alliance with artists such as
illusion, and the “table” of the three-dimensional Edouard Manet and Georges Seurat. The complex
world, is the subject of chapter 3. This play was and often paradoxical relation of Cubist collages to
founded on a willingness to view representational popular culture, to the market, to the museum sta¬
conventions as arbitrary and unstable and to sub¬ tus of their works, and to their public is analyzed in
vert any attempt on the part of the viewer to grasp chapter 5.
the work’s meaning in an unequivocal manner. An Chapter 6 opens the second part of this study
analysis of Picasso’s work from this period, there¬ with an analysis of how the Futurists conceived the
fore, reveals it to be directly opposed to the con¬ use of collage as an attack on tradition and the mu¬
temporary interpretive framework, which sought to seum status of works of art. According to this view,
explain the fragmented views and curious geomet¬ by bringing a variety of nonaesthetic materials into
rical distortions of Cubism as a mode of conceptual their compositions the Futurists avoided the stasis
realism. of previous modes of representation and at times
In chapter 4 I turn again to an examination of the introduced the possibility of real movement. Para¬
contemporary critical opposition between concep¬ doxically, in carrying out this attack on tradition,
tion and vision, but this time as it informs the col¬ the Futurists relied on the aesthetic theory of their
lage practice of Georges Braque and Juan Gris. predecessors in the French and Italian avant ;arde,
Both artists wished to signify a rejection of mere the Symbolists and Divisionists, respectively. Thus
copying or imitating the data of vision in their they tended to regard collage as a means of gener¬
works, but this rejection was manifested in differ¬ ating expressive contrasts between real and ab¬
ent ways by each artist: Braque through the para¬ stract elements or between the various kinds of
doxical introduction of trompe l’oeil collage
 Preface xiii

collage materials, much as the Divisionists had mechanical and noise-making elements. These
once sought heightened luminosity from the con¬ works reveal both a proto-Dada sense of playful de¬
trast between juxtaposed complementary colors or struction and a constructive sensibility that pro¬
between particular lines and forms. vides a glimpse of the direction in which collage
In chapter 7, I turn to related developments in techniques would be taken by the postwar
Futurist poetry and particularly to Marinetti’s in¬ generation.
vention of parole in liberta. Here too we find a The conclusion argues that the invention of col¬
strong link with the aims of nineteenth-century in¬ lage be understood as instituting an alternative to
novators in poetic form, especially Stephane Mal- the modernist tradition in twentieth-century art.
larme and Gustave Kahn, for whom the young This alternative tradition emphasizes heterogeneity
Marinetti had great admiration. But Marinetti sur¬ rather than material or stylistic unity, and a willing¬
passed his Symbolist predecessors in the boldness ness to subvert (rather than affirm) the distinctions
of his program, which destroyed the final vestiges of between pictorial, sculptural, verbal, and other
traditional unity and meaning in poetry in favor of forms of expression. A rejection of modernism can
expressive speed and dynamism. Inspired by Mari¬ also be seen in the Cubists’ recognition of the con¬
netti’s invention, nearly all the Futurists began to ventionality, and therefore iterability, of pictorial
experiment with the new, “telegraphic” style of signs, which seems to have led to the further rec¬
writing. By the summer of 1914, this explosion of ognition of a link between the signs of “high” art
parole in liberta, much of which appeared in the and those of mass culture. The many machine-
pages of Lacerba, had led to the creation of a new made materials and artifacts that turn up in Cubist
synthetic form, at once visual and poetic: the free- collages establish a parallel between these previ¬
word picture. ously distinct cultural codes. The resulting works
Chapter 8 is an analysis of the Futurists’ re¬ do not celebrate the machine or the popular com¬
sponse to the war. Encouraged by Marinetti to “live modity so much as redefine originality: no longer is
the war pictorially,”'1 Severini, Boccioni, Carra, and it the immediate expression of a unique self, but
Soffici all made collages that celebrated the mili¬ rather the manipulation of preexisting conventions
tary victories of the French and advocated Italian and schemas. In contrast, the goal of the Futurists
intervention in the war. For a time, the conviction was to overcome the arbitrariness of pictorial and
that all personal interests must be set aside for the verbal signs through onomatopoeia, the expressive
cause of the patria led to a brief and final renewal deformation of typography, and heightened con¬
of Futurist energies, one that faded again during trasts of materials, colors, and forms. Their col¬
the course of 1915. Only Giacomo Balia remained lages and free-word poems do celebrate the power
relatively unaffected by the rappel a I'ordre that and speed of the machine, even while retaining a
swept through the ranks of the avant-garde during Romantic definition of originality. Despite this and
this period, claiming the allegiance (in differing other notable differences, both groups contributed
ways) of Cubists and Futurists alike. Balia remained to the remarkable spirit of invention that prevailed
true to his vision of a “Futurist Reconstruction of before the war and paved the way for subsequent
the Universe,”5 populated with colorful decorative explorations of collage and other mixed-media
objects, toys, and abstract constructions made of works.
 Many institutions and individuals contributed in
Acknowledgments significant ways to the completion of this book,
which began as a dissertation. A Walter Read
Hovey Memorial Fund Grant, a Fulbright/Hays Fel¬
lowship for study in France, a Kress Foundation
travel grant, and a Georges Lurcy Fellowship at the
Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University, pro¬
vided financial support during the initial phases of
research and writing. The Research Foundation and
the Lenkin Fund of the University of Pennsylvania
contributed additional funding for the final phase of
work.
I would like to thank Anne Coffin Hanson for her
enthusiasm for this project and for the excellent
advice and criticism she provided along the way.
Robert L. Herbert also read several early drafts,
and the present version owes a great deal to his as¬
tute suggestions and criticisms in both content and
organization. I am also grateful to Peter Brooks and
Richard Shiff for reading the text in its form as a
dissertation; their insightful comments encouraged
me to clarify many ideas and formulations. My col¬
leagues at the University of Pennsylvania John
McCoubrey and Leo Steinberg have also contrib¬
uted to this book through many conversations
about Cubism and the art of Picasso in particular.
Many other individuals discussed the ideas pre¬
sented in this book with me or provided me with
information and access to collections or archives,
and I offer them my warmest thanks: Marie-Laure
Bernadac, Laurence Berthon, Yve-Alain Bois, Ben¬
jamin H. D. Buchloh, Celeste Brusati, Angelo Cal-
marini, Pepe Karmel, Massimo Carra, Ester Coen,
Paolo Colombo, Pierre Daix, Edward F. Fry, Jurgen
Glaesemer, Ron Johnson, Lewis Kachur, Quentin
 Acknowledgments xv

Laurens, Brigitte Leal, Patricia Leighten, Giovanni

Lista, Lydia Malbin, Luce Marinetti Barbi, Marianne
Martin, Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, Michelle Richet,
Mark Rosenthal, William Rubin, Angelica Ruden-
stine, Luigi Sansoni, Helene Seckel, Kim Sichel, An¬
dreas Speiser, and Richard Zeisler. 1 am grateful to
Marisa Poggi for her assistance with the Italian
translations and to Aline M. Elliot and Jean-Baptiste
Mounier for their assistance with the French trans¬
lations. Without their help, some nuance and clar¬
ity would no doubt have been lost. Special thanks
are due Stacy Garfinkel, my research assistant, and
Stephanie Poggi, who helped gather and organize
the illustrations. 1 am also indebted to my graduate
students at the University of Pennsylvania, espe¬
cially those who took my seminars on Cubism and
on Collage, Montage, and Assemblage in Twentieth-
Century Art.
At Yale University Press 1 would like to thank
Judy Metro, my editor, for her interest in this book
and many contributions to its publication.
Finally, I am especially grateful to Bernard M.
Elliot for participating in every stage of this proj¬
ect, from the moment of its inception to its present
realization.
“We must have been crazy,

or cowards, to abandon this!

We had such magnificent means.

Look how beautiful this is—

not because I did it, naturally—

and we had these means yet

1 turned back to oil paint

and you to marble.

It’s insane!”

Picasso to Henri Laurens,

8 July 1948, on seeing one

of his collages of 1914

(cited in Kahnweiler,

“Entretiens avec Picasso,”

1956)
Chapter 1

The Invention of Collage,

Papier Colle,

Constructed Sculpture,

and

1. Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Chair-Caning, spring

1912, oil and oilcloth on canvas, with rope frame.
Musee Picasso, Paris. Photo: Giraudon/Art Resource,
New York.
 The Invention of Collage 1

In the spring of 1912, Picasso pasted a piece of oil¬

cloth printed with a trompe l’oeil chair-caning
pattern to the surface of a small, oval canvas
representing a cafe still life (fig. I).1 This work,
which he framed with a coarse rope, has acquired
legendary status in the history of art as the first de¬
liberately executed collage—the first work of fine
art, that is, in which materials appropriated from
everyday life, relatively untransformed by the art¬
ist, intrude upon the traditionally privileged do¬
main of painting. The use of these materials, which
retain their former identity within the new pictorial
context, challenged some of the most fundamental
assumptions about the nature of painting inherited
by Western artists from the time of the Renais¬
sance. The invention of collage put into question
prevailing notions of how and what works of art
represent, of what unifies a work of art, of what

Free-Word Poetry materials artists may use; it also opened to debate

the more recent Romantic definition of what con¬
stitutes originality and authenticity in the work of
art. If the Still Life with Chair-Caning remains an
enigmatic and powerful work even now, more than
seventy-five years after it was executed, it is be¬
cause of the audacity with which it raised these
questions, which continue to be of importance to
artists and theorists today.
Picasso, however, did not immediately pursue
the possibilities suggested by the Still Life with
Chair-Caning. He spent most of the summer of 1912
working in the south of France in the company of
Georges Braque, who at that time was developing a
number of new techniques designed to emphasize
the literalness of the pictorial ground. Among these
were the addition of sand to give real sculptural
depth and texture to the surface and the use of a
house decorator’s comb to simulate the appearance
of wood grain. In addition, Braque was making pa¬
per sculptures, which unfortunately have not sur¬
vived. There is some evidence that Braque had
been experimenting with paper sculpture as early
as the summer of 1911.2 In a letter to Daniel-Henry
Kahnweiler, the publisher, theoretician, and art
dealer of Picasso, Braque, and Gris, from Ceret in
The Invention of Collage 2

2. Georges Braque, Fruitdish and Glass, September

1912, pasted papers and charcoal on paper. Private
collection.
 The Invention of Collage 3

September 1911, Braque wrote, “I miss the collabo¬

ration of Boischaud [Kahnweiler’s assistant] in
making my painted papers [papiers peints]."3 Since
Braque did not design wallpaper and had not yet
invented papier colle, the term papiers peints may
refer to painted paper reliefs, as William Rubin has
suggested. According to Zervos, these paper sculp¬
tures were “soon abandoned, for he saw in them
only an experience for enriching and organizing his
painting.”4
If Braque did not view his paper sculptures as
ends in themselves, they nevertheless contributed
to the invention of papier colle. The story of this
discovery, as Braque related it late in life to
Douglas Cooper and Andre Verdet, reveals much
about the collaborative efforts and rivalries of
Braque and Picasso during this period.5 In early
September, Braque happened to see a roll of imita¬
tion wood grain wallpaper in a shop window in
Avignon. Although he immediately perceived a num¬ 3. Pablo Picasso, The Letter, early 1912, oil and postage
ber of pictorial uses for this paper, which resem¬ stamp on canvas. Location unknown. Photo: Galerie
bled the wood grain he and Picasso had been Louise Leiris, Paris.
manufacturing with a house decorator’s comb,
Braque waited until Picasso departed for Paris on
September 3 before purchasing the paper. He
wanted to surprise his friend with his discovery,
much as he must once have been surprised by
Picasso’s inventive use of the piece of oilcloth
printed with imitation chair-caning. When Picasso
returned from Paris to Sorgues on September 12,
Braque presented him with his first papier colle,
the Fruitdish and Glass (fig. 2). Just as Picasso had
used a real stamp as a substitute for a painted
stamp in The Letter, one of his earliest collages of
spring 1912s (fig. 3), Braque used the wood grain
wallpaper in a literal manner, to represent the tex¬
ture and color of wood. In Fruitdish and Glass, two
strips of wallpaper placed in the upper part of the
papier colle denote the wood paneling (or perhaps
faux bois wallpaper?) on the wall of the cafe, while
a third strip placed horizontally at the lower edge
signifies the cafe table or, more specifically, the
drawer of the table. Thus Braque used the wall¬
paper as a substitute for the areas of wood grain
patterning he had executed with a housepainter’s
 The Invention of Collage 4

4. Georges Braque, The Fruitdish, 1912, oil and sand on

canvas. Private collection. Photo: Courtesy Thomas
Ammann Fine Art Zurich.
 The Invention of Collage 5

comb in an earlier painting, titled The Fruitdish

(fig. 4).' The literal use to which Picasso and
Braque put these ready-made materials in their
very earliest collages testifies to their interest in
questioning the value of trompe l’oeil, illusionistic
copying in painting.8 Braque would continue to use
wood grain wallpaper almost exclusively in his first
series of papiers colles while Picasso and Gris be¬
gan to experiment with other materials.
Shortly after seeing Braque’s Fruitdish and Glass
and perhaps several other early papiers colles,
Picasso created his first constructed cardboard
Guitar (fig. 5) and inaugurated his first series of
collages. On 9 October, he wrote to Braque from
Paris, “My dear friend Braque, I am using your lat¬
est paperistic and powdery procedures. 1 am in the
process of conceiving a guitar and I use a little dust
against our horrible canvas.”9 This letter, which
most likely refers to the cardboard Guitar and
works with sand such as Table with Guitar (D / R
509), is noteworthy in several respects. It reveals
that Picasso’s use of paper, sand, and other sub¬
stances had been stimulated by Braque’s experi¬
ments, but also that he viewed these unorthodox
techniques as a gesture against “our horrible can¬
vas.” What can Picasso have meant by this phrase?
It suggests a rejection of the canvas as a given pic¬
torial ground, which by its very presence evoked
the tradition of easel painting and of illusionism.10
Given what we know of the context, it also suggests
that Picasso’s subsequent collage practice—the use
of “paperistic and powdery procedures”—was
intended as a challenge to “our horrible canvas”
and the tradition associated with it.
By the late fall of 1912, Picasso had embarked on
the series of collages and cardboard constructions
that was to be one of his most remarkable achieve¬
ments, both in terms of the creative freedom and
invention it exemplifies and in terms of the critique
5. Pablo Picasso, Guitar, fall 1912, cardboard, wire, and
of representation it posed. Inspired by a Grebo string. Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, New
mask (fig. 6) Picasso had purchased during one of York. Gift of the artist.
his chasse aux negres in Avignon during the sum¬
mer, Picasso’s works of the fall and winter reflect
his recognition that plastic signifiers, like those of
writing, bear an arbitrary rather than substantive
 The Invention of Collage 6

link to their signifieds. This led him to explore the

traditional codes of representation in order to un¬
dermine their seeming transparency through a sys¬
tematic play of formal and material oppositions.
Significantly, a whole range of new materials ap¬
pears at once in these collages, including wallpa¬
per, a variety of colored papers (sometimes hand-
colored, sometimes machine printed), musical
scores, newspapers, magazine illustrations, liquor
labels. In these new works, however, the materials
pasted or pinned to the surface no longer function
in a literal or semantically stable way. Wallpaper
may represent wallpaper, as in Guitar and Wine¬
glass (fig. 7), but it will also be converted into a
means of signifying the virtual body of a violin, as
in Violin and Musical Score (fig. 8). Newspaper
undergoes a number of transformations, giving
shape to musical instruments and the wall they
hang on, in Violin (fig. 9), for example, or to bottles
and glasses, as in Siphon, Glass, Newspaper, Violin
(fig. 10). Picasso also employed newspaper to mark
the chair rail of a wall or table edge (or both)
(fig. 7) and to denote the lighter plane of a figure’s
head in Head of a Man (fig. 11.) Newspaper was the
most frequently used material in Picasso’s early
collages, just as faux bois wallpaper was Braque’s
most characteristic collage material.
Other differences in the early collage practice of
the two artists are equally significant. Despite the
unorthodox use of materials, Braque's papiers
6. Grebo mask, painted wood and fiber. Mus6e Picasso,
colies demonstrate that he retained a traditional
former Collection Pablo Picasso.
respect for craft. The wallpaper, usually limited to
very few pieces and at times to a single piece, was
carefully cut and glued to the paper support. Pin¬
holes in the wallpaper and visible pencil markings
reveal the precision with which Braque placed
these elements within his compositions. From the
beginning what comes to the fore in Braque’s pa¬
piers colles is the complex relationship between
the faux bois paper and the elegantly drawn scaf¬
folding in charcoal. Picasso’s earliest collages, on
the other hand, tended to be more crudely exe¬
cuted. It would be difficult to imagine the ripped
paper ground of Violin and Musical Score (fig. 8),
for example, appearing in a papier colie by Braque.
 The Invention of Collage 7

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7. Pablo Picasso, Guitar and Wineglass, fall 1912, pasted

papers, gouache, and charcoal on paper. Marion
Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas.
Bequest of Marion Koogler McNay.
 The Invention of Collage 8

9. Pablo Picasso, Violin, fall 1912, pasted papers and

charcoal on paper. Musee National d’Art Moderne,
Paris.

8. Pablo Picasso, Violin and Musical Score, fall 1912,

pasted papers on the cover of a cardboard box. Private
collection.
 The Invention of Collage 9

10. Pablo Picasso, Siphon, Glass, Newspaper, Violin, fall

1912, pasted papers and charcoal on paper. Moderna
Museet, Stockholm.

11. Pablo Picasso, Head of a Man, fall-winter, 1912,

pasted papers, ink, and charcoal on paper. Collection,
The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
 The Invention of Collage 10

J
12. Pablo Picasso, Musical Score and Guitar, fall 1912, In some collages, such as Musical Score and Guitar
papers glued and pinned to cardboard. Musbe National (fig. 12), Picasso simply left the pin or pins he had
d’Art Moderne, Paris. used to work out his composition in place. These
pins contribute to the fragility of these already
highly ephemeral works and emphasize their con¬
structed character. Picasso began to use pins on a
regular basis in his collages and constructions in
1913, and in these works they often function as
compositional elements in their own right. These
pins may be interpreted as Picasso’s humorous re¬
sponse to the illusionistic nails Braque painted in
two works of winter 1909-10, Violin and Palette
(fig. 31) and Violin and Pitcher (R 59). Rather than
paint or draw an illusionistic nail as a means of
emphasizing the flatness and materiality of the can¬
vas, Picasso introduced actual pins. This renders
the pictorial situation even more complex, since
the pins not only assert the flatness of the paper
they are stuck into, but also demonstrate that the
collage elements do not literally adhere to the
ground and form a unity with it. On the contrary, in
works such as Landscape of Cdret (fig. 13), the
 The Invention of Collage 11

13. Pablo Picasso, Landscape of Cdret, spring 1913,

papers glued and pinned, and charcoal on paper. Musee
Picasso, Paris. Photo R.M.N.
 The Invention of Collage 12

pinned elements float away slightly from the

ground and thus both mask and counter its sup¬
posed flatness by establishing literal rather than il-
lusionistic depth upon it." And in at least one case,
the pins take on a figurative function as well, allow¬
ing Picasso to create a literally detachable mask for
a harlequin (fig. 14).
Most significant, however, is the fact that many
of the collages in this first series contain very few,
and at times, no hand-drawn elements.12 Works
such as Violin and Musical Score (fig. 8), Musical
Score and Guitar (fig. 12), and Violin (fig. 15) exem¬
plify Picasso’s new compositional procedures.
These collages resolutely refuse to reveal the art¬
ist’s temperament through the (by-then) con¬
ventionally unique mark of the hand. For the imme¬
diacy of drawing or painting, Picasso substituted a
process of selecting, cutting, and pasting pre¬
formed materials. The collages composed in this
manner seem to issue from a series of decisions
demonstrating formal intelligence and wit rather
than the mastery of technique in the traditional
sense. One might argue that a precedent for Du¬
champ’s critique of the Romantic concept of origi¬
nality, as it was conceived in the “ready-mades,”
lies in these collages.
For both Picasso and Braque, the invention of
collage was also a means of introducing color into
14. Pablo Picasso, Head of a Harlequin, spring-summer their works without allowing it to take on the emo¬
1913, pinned paper and charcoal on paper. Musee tional and representational function it had had in
Picasso, Paris. Photo R.M.N. late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century avant-
garde painting. Both artists rejected the use of bril¬
liant, sensuous color in the early period of their
collaboration. This has often been explained as a
means of concentrating on form and structure,
color being too uncontrollable, too much of a wild
card. But the restriction of color in early Cubism
to what Gino Severini would describe as
“Corotesque”13 grays, ochres, beiges, browns, and
greens must also be seen as a self-conscious rejec¬
tion of bright color with its associations of strong
emotional or subjective expression. Before it could
be reintroduced, color would have to be divested
of these connotations as well as of the distorting
effects of chiaroscuro.
 The Invention of Collage 13

When bright color did make its reappearance in

Picasso’s works in the spring of 1912, it functioned
almost as a collage element in its challenge to the
stylistic and material unity of the work.14 Picasso
first attempted to treat color as a borrowed or ap¬
propriated element in the series of oval still lifes he
executed in the spring of 1912. In several of these
works, which immediately preceded the Still Life
with Chair-Caning, he introduced the colors of the
French flag and the slogan “Notre avenir est dans
l air” into otherwise austere, monochromatic can¬
vases (fig. 16). The effect is highly disjunctive, not
only because of the contrast in hue, but because
these bright colors are applied in commercial Ripo-
lin enamel. Flat, opaque, and somewhat glossy in
appearance, the Ripolin conflicts with the sensuous
texture and luminosity of oil paint. A similar effect
obtains in Landscape with Posters of July 1912
(fig. 17), in which Ripolin provides a vivid ground
for billboard advertisements, each with its own dis¬
tinctive typography.15 Color invades the field of
Picasso’s painting at this time much as posters and
billboards had already invaded the urban environ¬
ment. (One should not see in this a return to real¬
ity, since the areas of local color are already
constituted precisely as preexisting signs.) Given
his interest in challenging the hegemony of oil
painting, it seems no accident that Picasso’s Still
15. Pablo Picasso, Violin, fall 1912, pasted papers on
Life with Chair-Caning contains a commercial arti¬
paper. Musee Picasso, Paris. Photo R.M.N.
fact or that the newspaper text in one of his earli¬
est papiers colies, Violin of December 1912
(fig. 18), is a dry discussion of the manufacture of
artists’ colors, including statistics on the interna¬
tional production of raw materials, trade laws, an¬
nual profits, and so forth.
Whereas Picasso’s approach to color seems to
have been highly ironic and subversive of the very
medium of oil painting, for Braque the issue ap¬
pears to have been primarily one of demonstrating
the compositional independence of form and color.
Divorcing color from form was a way of preserving
it from the distortions of chiaroscuro and of return¬
ing to an ideal of pure, local color. In order to ac¬
complish this, Braque believed, color should be
 The Invention of Collage 14

16. Pablo Picasso, Still Life: “Notre Avenir est dans lAir”,
spring 1912, oil and ripolin on canvas. Private
Collection.

17. Pablo Picasso, Landscape with Posters, summer

1912, oil and ripolin on canvas. The National Museum
of Art, Osaka.
 The Invention of Collage 15

regarded as an attribute of material substance,

rather than as a changeable effect of light. As such,
the information it yielded about objects became as¬
sociated with tactile rather than optical sensations.
In an interview with Dora Vallier, Braque explained,
“I saw how much color depends on material. Take
an example: dip two white pieces of cloth, but of
different material in the same pigment; their color
will be different.”"’ Given that until the spring of
1912, Cubist painting had retained the use of chiar¬
oscuro (even while undermining its efficacy as a
device of illusion), it had evidently been difficult
for Braque to conceive of the use of unmodeled
color without destroying compositional unity. Per¬
haps because Picasso was not concerned with local
color (and its association with truth) and was will¬
ing to break the stylistic unity of analytic Cubism, it
was he who first introduced color into his works.
Braque, startled on seeing the colors in Picasso’s
Still Life: “Notre Avenir Est Dans M/'r” (fig. 16), is re¬
ported to have said with some ambivalence, “So
we’re changing our tune.”17 Shortly thereafter, how¬
ever, he turned his attention to the problem of
finding a means of introducing color as an indepen¬
dently signifying element into Cubist works. The
solution was found with the invention of papier
colle: “The problem of color was brought into fo¬
cus with the papiers colies. This is a fact that criti¬
cism has never really understood. With that we
arrived at cleanly dissociating color from form and
18. Pablo Picasso, Violin, winter 1912, pasted papers,
watercolor, and charcoal. Alsdorf Foundation, Chicago.
at seeing its independence in relation to form, be¬
cause that was the main concern: color acts simul¬
taneously with form, but has nothing to do with
it.”18
In contrast, Picasso exploited collage materials
so that color became independent not only of form,
but also of any true relationship to the depicted
object. There is neither a perceptual nor a concep¬
tual use of color in collages such as Violin and
Sheet Music (fig. 19); yellow, black, white, and blue
are the colors of the pasted papers, not of the vio¬
lin. These colors serve to clarify the oppositional
structure of Picasso’s composition, but they bear a
purely arbitrary relationship to the objects de¬
picted within that composition. This is consistent
 The Invention of Collage 16

19. Pablo Picasso, Violin and Sheet Music, fall 1912,

pasted papers on cardboard. Mus6e Picasso, Paris.
Photo R.M.N.
 The Invention of Collage 17

with Picasso’s arbitrary and highly imaginative use According to this analysis, Gris’s understanding of
of materials and with his recognition of the arbi¬ pictorial illusion presents, in some ways, an alter¬
trary and therefore mutable character of represen¬ native to that of Braque. Unlike Braque, who felt
tational signs. that the depiction of depth on a flat surface neces¬
Juan Gris also executed his first collages in the sarily involved undesirable optical distortion from
fall of 1912. In fact, Gris’s Le Lavabo (fig. 20) was the true form of an object and who therefore had
the first collage to be exhibited publicly and to introduced flat letters and numbers into his paint¬
receive critical attention. The occasion was the ing, Gris apparently believed that there was no
celebrated Section d’Or exhibition, organized by point to copying already flat images. In his view,
Jacques Villon, his brothers, and the Puteaux circle such copying reduced the artist to a merely skillful
of Cubists, and held in October 1912 at the Galerie artisan, a maker of trompe l’oeil effects. Rather
la Boetie. Maurice Raynal, writing in the single than engage in such commercially contaminated
number of a journal also titled La Section d’Or that practice, Gris simply appropriated the already ex¬
accompanied the exhibition, called attention to isting image, which in the case of Le Lavabo was a
“the curious originality of Juan Gris’ imagination,” bottle label. By carefully cutting and fitting this la¬
which had led him to glue a piece of a mirror and bel into his composition, Gris felt that his inventive
part of a bottle label to his canvas.19 Raynal ex¬ artistry, not the image itself, would draw the atten¬
plained these odd inclusions as devices intended to tion of the spectator. This notion seems to have
demonstrate the principle of anti-illusionism guid¬ guided much of Gris’s later collage practice, which
ing Gris’s art. Raynal’s commentary on Le Lavabo can be distinguished from that of Picasso and
bears citing in full, because it reads as if Raynal Braque in that the collages of Gris are character¬
were quoting a statement given to him by the ized by complex patterns of precisely cut and care¬
artist:20 fully positioned papers. Often these patterns are so
intricate and involve so many overlapping layers of
To show clearly that in his conception of pure
paper that the canvas support is completely
painting there exist objects that are absolutely
covered.
antipictorial, he has not hesitated to stick several
The anti-illusionism of the mirror fragment in Le
real objects on to the canvas. Plane surfaces
Lavabo presents a somewhat different case from
cannot, in fact, be painted, since they are not
that of the fragment of a bottle label. Whereas flat
bodies; if one does so, one falls back into imita¬
images are too easily copied, a mirror cannot be
tion or into the preoccupation with skill which is
copied at all. Kahnweiler reports the following con¬
the preserve of the painters of shop signs. If I
versation between Gris and Michel Leiris in which
think of a bottle and wish to render it as it is, the
the artist explained his inclusion of the real mirror:
label on it appears to me simply as an unimpor¬
‘“You want to know why I had to stick on a piece of
tant accessory which I might leave out, for it is
mirror?’ he said to Leiris. ‘Well, surfaces can be
only an image. If I feel I must show it, 1 could
re-created and volumes interpreted in a picture,
copy it exactly, but that is a useless labor; so I
but what is one to do about a mirror whose surface
place the actual label on the picture—but not
is always changing and which should reflect even
until I have cut it out to fit the form 1 have given
the spectator? There is nothing else to do but stick
to the bottle; this is the nicety which will deter¬
on a real piece.’”22 This statement, taken with the
mine the charm of the idea. Juan Gris has ap¬
explanation provided by Raynal, points to the lead¬
plied the same principle to the mirror he has
ing concerns of Gris’s art in 1912. The artist was in¬
placed on his canvas. This matter has led to
spired by an intellectual desire to demonstrate the
much discussion, but one can say that it has in
limits of pictorial illusion, the precise place where
no way harmed the work, and that it denotes the
the metaphor that painting is like a mirror fails.
curious originality of Juan Gris’ imagination.21
The Invention of Collage 18
 The Invention of Collage 19

And like Picasso and Braque, Gris rejected the defi¬

nition that painting is above all an art of imitation
in order to give primacy to the creative act of the
artist.
Despite notable differences, Gris’s collage prac¬
tice is closer to that of Braque than to that of
20. Juan Gris, Le Lavabo, late summer-fall 1912, oil, Picasso. Both Braque and Gris were attentive to the
pasted paper, and mirror on canvas. Private collection. inherently expressive and iconic properties of the
materials they used, whereas Picasso tended to use
materials in ways that ran counter to their natural
properties or everyday significations. Unlike
Picasso, for example, Gris most often used newspa¬
per to represent newspaper itself. His collages, like
those of Braque, engage the question of the true
and the false in pictorial representation in the hope
of finding the true. Picasso’s collages, on the other
hand, establish nonhierarchical oppositions, so
that no single form or means of representation
emerges as superior to or truer than any other.
Gris’s collages tend to emphasize the creative
process of restructuring or reassembling objects,
either from their constituent parts or on the basis
of an abstract geometrical pattern. For the most
part, however, this restructuring occurs without
entirely negating a sense of the prior integrity of
the depicted objects. In many cases, the spectator
may imaginatively reconstitute the familiar, every¬
day appearance of these objects by realigning the
vertically displaced strips that give a fragmented
appearance to Gris’s early collages. This possibility
is denied to the viewer of a Picasso collage, who
typically confronts works in which the restructur¬
ing of an object issues from a system of pictorial
oppositions rather than from a system of
displacements.
A similar diversity characterizes the collage
practice of the Futurists, the first group of artists to
take up the challenge to traditional forms of com¬
positional and material unity posed by the Cubists.
Our knowledge of the dating and sequence of the
Futurists’ collage works, however, is much less se¬
cure. Because their collages and constructions so
frequently responded to Cubist innovations or pos¬
ited a critique of contemporary Cubist practice,
 The Invention of Collage

some attention will be devoted to clarifying the his¬

torical relationship between the two groups. Only
Giacomo Balia, who worked in Rome throughout
the period examined in this study, remained rela¬
tively unaffected by Cubist style or compositional
principles.
The first Futurists to include a variety of ma¬
terials in their sculptures and paintings were
Umberto Boccioni and Gino Severini in the summer
and fall of 1912. Boccioni had visited the studios of
Picasso and Braque22 on the occasion of the first
Futurist exhibition of painting held at the Galerie
Bernheim-Jeune in February and March of 1912 and
soon thereafter conceived a passion for sculpture.
It is possible that he saw Braque’s painted paper
sculptures during one of these visits, for on March
15 he wrote from Paris to a friend, “These days 1
am obsessed with sculpture! I believe 1 have seen a
complete renovation of this mummified art.”24 Dur¬
ing the spring and summer he elaborated a theory
of Futurist sculpture that called for the use of a va¬
riety of modern materials in order to challenge the
traditional nobility and homogeneity of marble and
bronze. Fie eventually published his ideas in the
“Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture,”25 dated
11 April 1912, although it did not appear until
30 September. Although evidently inspired by what
he had seen in Paris, many of the ideas in the man¬
ifesto are new, including the suggestion that sculp¬
tures should include moving elements analogous to
mechanical devices such as pistons or cogwheels.
While working on the manifesto, Boccioni at¬
tempted to put his ideas into practice by executing 21. Umberto Boccioni, Fusion of a Head and a Window,

several new sculptures.26 His efforts culminated summer 1912, painted plaster, glass, hair, and wood. No
longer extant.
in an exhibition of Futurist sculpture held at the
Galerie la Boetie in June of 1913. Of the exhibited
works, Fusion of a Head and a Window (fig. 21)
best exemplifies the Futurist principle that a diver¬
sity of materials could signify the fusion of an ob¬
ject with elements of the surrounding environment.
According to Boccioni’s theory, the use of various
materials would not only provide a means of evok¬
ing a sense of this fusion, but would also necessar¬
ily generate a kind of inner or absolute dynamism
 The Invention of Collage 21

based on a collision of the different physical prop¬ surely an advance over the Divisionist use of sepa¬
erties—weight, density, and mass—of the construc¬ rate touches of pure, complementary colors as a
tive elements. Boccioni’s desire—one shared by the means of recreating the natural brilliance of light.
other Futurists—to develop empirical laws regard¬ In his later collages, Severini explored the more
ing the innate expressive properties of materials abstract properties of his collage elements and
and forms was fundamental to the Futurist ap¬ eventually, with the inspiration of F. T. Marinetti’s
proach to collage. It also reveals the underlying invention of parole in liberta (free-word poetry) in
continuity between the Futurists and their Symbol¬ the spring of 1912, of words and numbers as well.
ist and Divisionist predecessors, despite their In early 1914 the issue of whether an artist could
claims to have abolished all connection with his¬ interject elements of reality into works of art in lieu
tory and tradition. In this respect, the Futurist view of painting them became a matter of debate for the
of representation differed essentially from that of Futurists, as it had been in 1912 for the Cubists.
the Cubists. Picasso, in particular, emphasized nei¬ The terms of this debate were articulated, quite ac¬
ther the natural meanings of forms and materials rimoniously, in the pages of Lacerba by Giovanni
nor the intuitive, spontaneous act of the artist, but Papini and Umberto Boccioni.28 Both Papini and
a sense that representation is a matter of manipu¬ Boccioni used Picasso’s recent constructions as a
lating conventional signs. This led to an inevitable point of reference, Papini asserting that the Span¬
conflict in aims and attitudes, for the Futurists iard never used elements of reality without altering
wished to reproduce their immediate sensations in their function, and Boccioni claiming that Picasso’s
works of art that claimed to speak in a natural, em- latest works, in fact, did contain such unaltered
pathetically charged language. elements. All the Futurists, however, agreed that
The early collage practice of Severini bears wit¬ materials should be transformed by the creative act
ness to this antinomy in aesthetic outlook. Severini of the artist and ultimately be subsumed in the for¬
recorded in his autobiography that the idea of in¬ mal unity of the work. For this reason, and partly
cluding real objects in his paintings was first sug¬ to fend off attacks by critics like Papini, collage ma¬
gested to him in the fall of 1912 by Apollinaire, who terials tend to be much more manipulated and
had observed a similar usage among the Italian disguised in Futurist works than they do in the col¬
Primitives.27 Severini immediately understood this lages of Picasso or Braque. Only the highly decora¬
departure from the norms of easel painting as a tive collages Gris produced in 1914 can compare to
means of heightening the expressive contrasts in those of Boccioni, such as Charge of the Lancers
his works, much as his earlier Divisionist experi¬ (fig. 23), or those of Ardengo Soffici, such as Still
ence had led him to base his paintings on the con¬ Life with Lacerba (fig. 24).
trasts of complementary colors and of particular The latter two examples also point to another
lines and forms. Even in canvases of 1910-12, real¬ important difference in the attitudes of the Cubists
istically painted details had appeared as formal and Futurists toward political subject matter and
contrasts to other, highly abstracted shapes. toward the public. The Futurists frequently intro¬
Severini was now able to enhance this contrast by duced collage elements of an unambiguously politi¬
including real elements from the everyday world cal nature into their works, often reusing their own
into his increasingly hermetic compositions. Given manifestos or excerpts from the Futurist journal
his Divisionist frame of reference, it is not surpris¬ Lacerba as a means of addressing the public. By
ing that he frequently introduced sequins into early late 1914, this interest in advocating a Futurist po¬
collages such as The Blue Dancer (fig. 22). Here the litical program led to a series of strident and visu¬
sequins serve to capture real, flickering light, ally effective collages intended to promote the
cause of Italian nationalism and intervention in the
 The Invention of Collage 22

22. Gino Severini, The Blue Dancer, late 1912, oil and
sequins on canvas. Mattioli Collection, Milan.
 The Invention of Collage 23

23. Umberto Boccioni, Charge of the Lancers, January

1915, pasted papers and tempera on pasteboard. Jucker
Collection, Milan.

24. Ardengo Soffici, Still Life with Lacerba, late 1913 or

1914, pasted papers and gouache on paper. Private
collection.
 The Invention of Collage 24

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 The Invention of Collage 25

war. Carlo Carra’s Free-Word Painting—Patriotic

Festival (fig. 25) aspires to affect the viewer em-
pathetically through the direct power of colors,
forms, and dynamically distributed words. Al¬
though the Cubists also made use of newspaper
clippings in their collages, they did not allude to
25. Carlo Carra, Free-Word Painting—Patriotic Festival, the threat of war or to the political controversies of
July 1914, pasted papers, charcoal, ink, and gouache on their day in so direct and instrumental a fashion.
board. Mattioli Collection, Milan. The great majority of Picasso’s collages with news¬
paper clippings date from his first campaign with
pasted papers in late 1912 and early 1913. As
Patricia Leighten has observed, many of these clip¬
pings concern the war in the Balkans.29 Certainly
the war and its threat to world peace would have
been a subject of discussion among Picasso and his
friends, yet the incorporation of these texts never
reached the level of overt propaganda found in
Futurist collage. By the summer and fall of 1914,
when the Futurists increasingly pasted into their
collages news clippings on the war and on the
question of the role Italy was to play in it, Picasso
was immersed in an exploration of other, less in¬
flammatory materials: wallpaper, playing cards,
sand, and, of course, an ironic play with pointillist
dots. No allusion to the war can be found in his
collages or constructions of 1914, except perhaps
by its conspicuous absence. By this time the
German invasion had caused many anarchists and
socialists in France to reject their pacifist views in
favor of defending their country. Picasso, who was
sympathetic to the anarchist cause, wrote to Soffici
on 21 January 1915 to express his desire that the
war end, but also that France be preserved:

My dear friend. Send us news. How are you? We

are at war in France since the month of August
are you at war also in Italy? I wish all this were
over when I think of my friends and of myself
too.
I wish you the best my dear friend my dear
friend and long live France. Picasso.30

Despite the extreme divergence in their political

views (Soffici was utterly opposed to socialism and
despised the working class), the Spaniard and the
Italian found themselves allied in the hope that
 The Invention of Collage 26

France would be victorious in the war. Yet Picasso

never glorified war for its own sake and chose not
to participate in it, while the Futurists, including
Soffici, Marinetti, Carra, and Boccioni, were among
the first to enlist when Italy broke with the Triple
Alliance and entered the war on the side of France.
Moreover, by the fall of 1914, Picasso had all but
ceased to make collages, while the Futurists experi¬
enced a renewed impetus to explore its possibili¬
ties.31 This impetus originated in their desire to
generate public enthusiasm for the interventionist
cause. For Severini, Boccioni, and Carra, this meant
a retreat from the growing tendency toward ab¬
straction in their work in favor of a concern with
contemporary events and documentary facticity.
Carra’s French Officer Observing Enemy Movements
(fig. 26), published in his volume Guerrapittura of
1915, demonstrates this use of collage in a fairly
straightforward way; here the artist simply pasted a
newspaper photo of General Joffre onto an other¬
wise highly abstracted drawing of a marching sol¬
dier.32 The contrast between these two modes of
representation is startling, and ironically its mean¬
ing probably would have remained obscure to most
contemporary viewers. Other collages in Guerrapit¬
tura, however, such as the well-known The Night of
January 20, 19151 Dreamed This Picture (Joffre’s
Angle of Penetration on the Marne against Two Ger¬
man Cubes (fig. 27), made more innovative use of

26. Carlo Carra, French Officer Observing Enemy documentary elements, involving an integration of
Movements, from Guerrcipittura, 1915, pasted paper and the formal and representational levels of meaning.
charcoal on paper. Private collection. Collages such as this were intended to affect the
viewer empathetically, by conflating the “natural”
meaning of dynamic angles and static cubes with
the historical victory of Joffre at the Marne.
Another characteristic feature of Futurist col¬
lages in 1914 and 1915 was the inclusion of letters
and words, whether drawn, stenciled, or in the
form of collage elements glued to the surface of the
work. The inspiration for this is to be found in
Marinetti’s invention of a new poetic form: parole
in liberta. Departing from the French tradition of
free verse, Marinetti proclaimed in the “Technical
Manifesto of Futurist Literature” the abolition of
 The Invention of Collage 27

27. Carlo Carra, The Night of January 20, 1915 1

Dreamed this Picture (Joffre's Angle of Penetration on
the Marne Against Two German Cubes), early 1915,
pasted papers, charcoal, ink, and pencil on paper.
Private collection.
 The Invention of Collage 28

syntax, the exclusive use of infinitive verbs, the all of the Futurists had begun to experiment with
suppression of superfluous conjunctions and other parole in liberta or tavole parolibere, and they
modifiers that slow the pace of language, and fi¬ often included words or verbal collage elements in
nally, the discovery of unpredictable analogies be¬ their pictorial compositions as well, so that the dis¬
tween highly disparate objects. These were to be tinction between poetry and the visual arts became
signaled by the adoption of mathematical symbols, more and more difficult to maintain.
so that Marinetti's early parole in liberta often re¬ In this attack on the seemingly arbitrary separa¬
sembled complex, lengthy equations or scientific tion of genres, the collage practice of the Futurists
charts. resembles that of the Cubists. By 1912, both groups
Only in 1914 and 1915, however, did Marinetti had found that working between existing genres, or
and the other Futurists begin to explore more fully synthesizing the possibilities of various media,
the possibilities implied by the freedom to scatter could be a means of creating exciting new works
words dynamically about the page, to stretch and that defied traditional categorization. The brief pe¬
deform verbal elements through the use of innova¬ riod of experimentation and invention that ensued
tive typography and free orthography, and to ap¬ remains unparalleled in the history of twentieth-
propriate and redistribute existing texts to create century art. The privileged medium of oil painting
visually expressive patterns. In many ways the in¬ was challenged by collage and papier colie, while
vention of parole in liberta is the equivalent in po¬ pictorial and sculptural techniques and modes of
etry to the invention of collage in the visual arts. presentation converged in the creation of con¬
Both techniques called for a willingness to dis¬ structed sculpture. Writing entered the field of
pense with preconceived unities based on logical Cubist painting, in part as a means of calling atten¬
transitions or relations between elements. And in tion to the conventional and arbitrary character of
both collage and parole in liberta, abrupt juxtaposi¬ pictorial codes. Splintered and loosened from a
tions of images and words torn from their familiar verbal context, the words and letters in Cubist
contexts were intended to give rise to unexpected, paintings and collages exemplify the same multiva¬
new meanings. In composing parole in liberta such lence as the fragmentary pictorial forms, and in the
as Zang Tumb Tumb of 1914, Marinetti actually cut variety of their typography take on a visual charac¬
up and pasted together the mockups of individual ter in their own right. In Futurist parole in liberta
sections, so that his creative practice literally came and tavole parolibere a related but inverse devel¬
to resemble that of collage. Later works such as opment occurs. The semantic function of words is
“A Tumultuous Assembly: Numerical Sensibility” charged with a new visual presence so that words
(fig. 28), published in Les mots en liberty futuristes vie with images to become vehicles of iconic or
in 1919, expanded the principle of collage that lay seemingly motivated expression. In both Cubist
behind the earlier parole in liberta. Many of these and Futurist works, then, poetry and painting es¬
works, including “A Tumultuous Assembly,” are tablish new alliances, although these are governed
best described as tauole parolibere (free-word pic¬ by opposing principles.
tures), in that a simultaneous viewing of the whole The advent of the war eventually brought an end
takes precedence over reading. By mid-1914 nearly to the exhilarating spirit of invention that prevailed
 The Invention of Collage 29

28. F. T. Marinetti, “A Tumultuous Assembly (Numerical

Sensibility),” from Les mots en liberte futuristes, 1919.

in Cubist and Futurist circles. In part this was due

to the dispersion of artists and poets, many of
whom were mobilized and suffered injuries or
death. In the absence of the collaboration and ri¬
valry of fellow artists, poets, and supporters inno¬
vation became difficult. As Picasso once remarked
to Kahnweiler in recalling the achievement of Cub¬
ism, ‘‘But one cannot do it alone, one must be with
others. ... It requires teamwork.”33 Moreover, in
the face of a climate of intense patriotism ex¬
pressed as respect for tradition, clarity, and order,
the challenging of conventions seemed almost trea¬
sonous. Nonetheless, the changes wrought by the
invention of collage, papier colie, constructed
sculpture, and free-word poetry had already pro¬
foundly altered the artistic landscape and would
soon resurface in Dada, Russian Constructivism,
and Surrealism. Ultimately, the rappel a I'ordre
could not efface the prewar legacy.
Chapter 2

Picasso’s

Earliest

Constructions

and Collages:

The Arbitrariness

of

Representational

Signs
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 31

According to Picasso’s recollections, his first con¬ colles of Picasso and Braque grew out of insights
structed Guitar (fig. 5) preceded his first collages acquired in making constructed sculpture. More¬
and papiers colies by several months.1 A more pre¬ over, as Bois has asserted, Greenberg’s interpreta¬
cise date may be established on the basis of the tion denies the “inaugural character of the 1912
letter, cited in chapter 1, which Picasso wrote to Guitar, its role as the point of departure for syn¬
Braque on 9 October 1912: “My dear friend Braque, thetic cubism.”6 For Bois, the revolutionary role
1 am using your latest paperistic and powdery pro¬ played by the Guitar lies in its full exploration of
cedures. I am in the process of conceiving a guitar the arbitrariness of signs—an exploration that is¬
and 1 use a little dust against our horrible canvas.”2 sued directly from Picasso’s recognition of this
From datable newspaper clippings we know that principle in the Grebo mask he had acquired that
Picasso’s first papiers colles were executed no ear¬ August in Avignon.
lier than November, with the possible exception of The following interpretation, although it agrees
Guitar and Sheet Music (D / R 506). Since Picasso with Bois on the date of the Guitar and on its “in¬
remembered executing the Guitar well before the augural character” with respect to synthetic Cub¬
papiers colles, it seems likely that the “paperistic ism, will give somewhat greater emphasis to the
procedures” mentioned in his letter do indeed refer continuity in Picasso’s developing formal logic.
to this work.3 Previously, the Guitar had been situ¬ Whereas Bois describes Picasso’s encounter with
ated early in 1912, so that it preceded the Still Life the Grebo mask as an “epiphany” that led him to
with Chair-Caning and was isolated from the struc¬ understand the arbitrary, relational, and therefore
turally similar works of the fall of 1912. As both nonsubstantial nature of plastic signs, 1 will argue
Yve-Alain Bois and William Rubin observed, how¬ that to a large extent this principle can be dis¬
ever, the new chronology means that the construc¬ cerned in Picasso’s work from the summer of 1910
tions did not develop from collage techniques, as on.7 Certainly it is at the basis of the Still Life with
Clement Greenberg argued in his influential article Chair-Caning, with its play on the relational value
of 1958 “The Pasted-Paper Revolution”:4 “It was as of horizontal and vertical fields as well as of literal
though, in that instant, he [Picasso] had felt the and figured elements.6 What is more, Picasso’s in¬
flatness of collage as too constricting and had sud¬ terest in the use of heterogeneous and specifically
denly tried to escape all the way back—or for¬ mass-cultural materials, also evident in the Still Life
ward—to literal three-dimensionality. This he did with Chair-Caning (fig. 1), should be integrated

by using utterly literal means to carry the forward more fully into an account of the artist’s investiga¬

push of the collage (and of Cubism in general) lit¬ tion into the nature of the sign.

erally into the literal space in front of the picture Thus, in spite of their radical character, the inno¬

plane.”5 Greenberg viewed the invention of con¬ vations of the fall of 1912 were not unprecedented;
structed, open-work sculptures as an extension and rather they represent the culmination of earlier
literalization of the anti-illusionistic, though still formal and thematic explorations by Picasso and

pictorial, conventions of collage, whereas the Braque.9 The revelation of the Grebo mask was pre¬

opposite had occurred; the collages and papiers pared by Picasso’s prior allegorical approach to
style, which implied that style is a kind of language
 Picasso's Earliest Collages 32

rather than the necessary or transparent expres¬ observed, fragments and ruins are archetypal em¬
sion of a temperament. The facility with which blems of allegory, because in them the loss or de¬
Picasso was able to master and indeed consume cay of prior meanings is rendered visible as both a
styles no doubt contributed to his realization that natural and historical process.13 This process of
style can be a kind of mask, to be worn at will. depletion allows fragments and other borrowed
Once style was dissociated from an original author, materials to sustain the superposition of new sec¬
there was no reason to observe the law of unity. ond-order meanings within a new context. Yet the
Picasso’s early work exhibits a remarkable freedom confiscated elements—styles, objects, or mate¬
in this regard, allowing heterogeneous styles to co¬ rials—retain something of their earlier significa¬
exist within the same canvas. Leo Steinberg has tion, so that the unity of the sign is fractured from
pointed out that At the Lapin Agile of 1904-05 com¬ within. The distance that opens between old and
prises three distinct styles: Manet for the guitarist, new meanings is also to be seen in the distance be¬
Toulouse-Lautrec for the woman in the center, and tween the artist and his manipulation of codes,
Picasso's own Blue Period for the self-portrait as none of which belong to him alone. Picasso’s irony
harlequin.10 Within this context, even his own man¬ and humor are aspects of his recognition of this
ner becomes a convention from which the artist distance and of the freedom it granted him.
may quote. Picasso deployed this heterogeneity of If style could be viewed as a set of conventions
style as a means of conferring meaning through ci¬ to be borrowed, fragmented, and displaced, so too
tation and formal contrast. (At the Lapin Agile sug¬ could the traditional techniques of illusion: per¬
gests that Picasso’s own work takes its place within spective and chiaroscuro. Paintings such as The
the historical tradition of Manet and Toulouse- Factory at Horta de Ebro (D / R 279) and The Reser¬
Lautrec.) In his Portrait of Gertrude Stein, the im¬ voir, Horta de Ebro (D / R 280), both from the sum¬
position of an Iberian-inspired mask functions to mer of 1909, retain the language of illusion but
sever the relationship of resemblance and psycho¬ render it enigmatic and largely inoperative. In these
logical expression, giving Stein’s visage remarkable works, perspective orthogonals converge in a num¬
intensity but negating a sense of inwardness. Other ber of contradictory directions, so that the mech¬
prominent examples of stylistic multiplicity include anism of linear recession is rendered visible.
Les Demoiselles dAvignon of 1907“ and Bread and Similarly, chiaroscuro is divorced from its tradi¬
Fruit Dish on a Table of winter 1908-09, in which tional function of modeling; fragmented bits of light
the manners of Henri Rousseau and Cezanne op¬ and dark are dispersed throughout these canvases
pose each other.12 Style, in these works and others, without regard for a consistent source of illumina¬
is treated as a set of conventions to be learned and tion. These apparently arbitrary reversals, fragmen¬
quoted, even deliberately misquoted or satirized. tations, and displacements create a striking effect
By the time of the first collage, Still Life with Chair- of ostranenie, or estrangement," which allows the
Caning, heterogeneity and the formal oppositions it devices of illusion to be freshly perceived and ana¬
engenders were already a well-established device lyzed as conventions rather than accepted as trans¬
in Picasso’s oeuvre. parent signifiers of the external world.
Picasso’s technique of appropriation and recon- A similar effect was achieved when Picasso
textualization can be described as a form of alle¬ translated the pictorial codes of analytic Cubism to
gory, a mode of speaking as if with two or more the medium of sculpture during late 1909. In
voices. In the place of a perfect, transparent unity Woman with Pears (Fernande) (fig. 29), of summer
of form and content, we find the evident manipula¬ 1909, Picasso attempted to integrate the flatness of
tion of codes and a preference for multiple mean¬ the picture surface with the depiction of volumes
ings and fragments. As Walter Benjamin has by articulating three-dimensional organic form into
 Picasso's Earliest Collages 33

29. Pablo Picasso, Woman with Pears (Fernande), 30. Pablo Picasso, Head of a Woman {Fernande), 1909,
summer 1909, oil on canvas. The Florene May bronze. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection. Photo © The Art
Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection, New York. Institute of Chicago.
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 34

a series of angled planes defined by arrises and by

alternating light and dark zones. As a result of this
procedure, the forehead became analogous to the
pleated folds of an open accordion. This solution to
a peculiarly pictorial problem was then transferred
to the three-dimensional bronze Head of a Woman
(fig. 30) of 1909-10, where it lost its original mean¬
ing and became even more “strange” and obviously
a product of convention.15
Although potentially disruptive, the radical dis¬
continuities created by Picasso’s manipulation of
chiaroscuro and perspective were contained by the
imposition of new forms of unity: emphasis on the
integration of figure and ground, the use of a lim¬
ited vocabulary of forms, a rhythmic distribution of
light and dark across the surface, and the restric¬
tion of color to a narrow range of gray, brown,
beige, and green. But the impulse to challenge this
unity and redefine it was never far from his mind—
or from Braque’s. Thus Braque’s illusionistically
painted nail in Violin and Palette (fig. 31) and in Vi¬
olin and Pitcher (R 59), both of winter 1909-10, the
stenciled lettering and tassels in Le Portugais of
1911 (fig. 32), and the faux bois patterning in Hom¬
age a J. S. Bach of spring 1912 (R 122) serve to
break the stylistic unity of the paintings: for as
iconic signs, these elements provided a contrast to
the more abstract, fragmented style of analytic
Cubism. These references to other pictorial voca¬
bularies—trompe l’oeil painting and the techniques
of house decorators—also functioned to direct at¬
tention to the artifices of illusion, the ways in
which it must be staged and framed. Picasso’s use
of a rope frame and a piece of oilcloth printed with
trompe l'oeil chair-caning in his first collage
emerged directly from this play with different and
often conflicting modes of pictorial representation.
In the Still Life with Chair-Caning we see for the
first time the principle of stylistic heterogeneity ex¬
tended to materials.16 It seems likely that the idea
of combining different materials in making a work
of art was due in large measure to the example of
African objects. The African masks in the Trocad- 31. Georges Braque, Violin and Palette, winter 1909, oil
ero, including a Grebo mask which Picasso must on canvas. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

have known (fig. 33), contain various fibers— Photo: Robert E. Mates © 1991.
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 35

32. Georges Braque, The Portuguese, 1911, oil on

canvas. Offentliche Kunstammlung, Kunstmuseum
Basel.
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 36

straw and raffia—used to create ornamental head¬

dresses and beards. A similar use of natural fiber
appears in a Fang mask owned by Braque. Yet un¬
like the rafia or straw in these masks, the rope in
Picasso’s first collage is a machine-made product,
and its appearance there speaks of the displace¬
ment of traditional crafts by modern methods of
mass production. Interestingly, the chair-caning
pattern printed on the oilcloth also reflects the
widespread substitution of mechanically produced
synthetic materials for handcrafted artifacts at the
turn of the century. And in this collage a new twist
in the critique of illusion can also be noted: the
most iIlusionistic part of this work is the one which
the artist did not make but merely appropriated
from the existing culture, much as a primitive bri-
coleur might have done in seeking an expedient so¬
lution to a tedious task.17 This refusal to do the
work of imitation is revealing: it demonstrates the
devaluation of manual skill, in the popular sense, in
the face of the rising tide of mechanical methods of
reproduction, and it ironically calls attention to the
fact that the most illusionistically real images may
be those which are the products of this facile
reproduction.
The summer following the invention of collage
was a period of exceptional creativity, about which
at present not enough is known. Picasso spent
most of the spring and summer first at Ceret in
the company of his new mistress, Eva (Marcelle
Humbert), and then in Sorgues, near Avignon,
33. Grebo mask, painted wood, feathers, and fiber.
where he and Eva were joined by Braque and his
Collection, Musee de l’Homme, Paris.
wife in late July or early August. One of the most
interesting experiments of this summer was the at¬
tempt to incorporate true relief and, in at least one
case, an actual object onto the canvas surface, in
the only collage Picasso seems to have executed
during the summer of 1912, the canvas titled Gui¬
tar: “J aime Eva" (fig. 34). This unusual work may
have been partly inspired by a portrait by Henri
Rousseau, which Picasso surely knew since it be¬
longed to his friend Serge Ferat. The painting, titled
Myself, Portrait Landscape of 1890 (fig. 35), por¬
trays Rousseau in the traditional costume of an ar-
tiste-peintre, as he liked to call himself, complete
 Picasso's Earliest Collages 37

with artist’s beret, palette, and brush. Rousseau

wrote the names of his two (then-deceased) wives,
“Clemence et Josephine,” upside-down on the pal¬
ette in a naive but moving tribute to his beloved
muses. Picasso may have had this portrait in mind
when he wrote to Kahnweiler on 12 June 1912,
“Marcelle is very sweet and I love her very much
and I will write it on my pictures.”18 The work
which seems to correspond to this statement is
Guitar: “J'aime Eva”. In its original form, which has
been preserved only in a photograph (fig. 34),
Picasso wrote the words “J’aime Eva” in faux naif,
childlike handwriting on a heart-shaped piece of
gingerbread and glued it to the canvas.19 Yet where
Rousseau inscribed the names of his wives on his
palette, the symbol of his art, Picasso made his
declaration in a manner that mimicked a popular
format and graffitilike style.20 Within its new picto¬
rial context, the gingerbread was transformed into
a sign, referring to the language of popular culture
as well as to the work of Rousseau. The results of
this experiment, however, seem to have been delib¬
erately ephemeral, and Picasso did not again incor¬
porate three-dimensional objects into Cubist works
of art until early 1913.
According to Kahnweiler, in 1909 Picasso had at¬
tempted to replace chiaroscuro with actual plaster
relief in a lost work called The Piano.2] His objec¬
tive, Kahnweiler remembered, was to give this work
literal rather than illusionistic shadows.22 During
the summer in Sorgues, he and Braque experi¬
mented with other means of creating literally pro¬
jecting surfaces. Here Braque seems to have taken
34. Pablo Picasso, Guitar: “J’aime Eva," summer 1912, the initiative; by August he was mixing sand and
oil and gingerbread on canvas, photograph of original other rough substances with his paint, and Picasso
state. Photo: Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris. soon adopted these techniques as well. Braque’s
first papiers colles of early September, to which he
affixed strips of faux bois paper along with sand,
emerged from this effort to give his works a greater
sense of literal physicality.
During this period of searching for alternatives to
the Western illusionistic tradition, African art
proved to be of singular interest to both artists.
They visited Marseilles in early August and, accord¬
ing to Braque, “bought up all the African objects.”23
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 38

35. Henri Rousseau, Myself, Portrait-Landscape, 1890,

oil on canvas. National Gallery, Prague.
 Picasso's Earliest Collages 39

Picasso, in a letter to Kahnweiler dated 11 August,

stated that he had bought a “very fine” mask (prob¬
ably one of the two Grebo masks he owned) and
two sculptures.21 A sketch from the Sorgues sketch¬
book titled Souvenir de Marseille (fig. 36), dated
9 August 1912, records this visit. The sketch itself
exemplifies Picasso’s current understanding of the
compositional structure of African art: each object
was drawn from a particular conceptual point of
view without respect for relative scale and was dis¬
tributed across the pictorial field in a nonhierarchi-
cal manner. Picasso rendered figures and objects
alike in a schematic, pictographic style that trans¬
lated volume and depth into a series of ambigu¬
ously related planes and profiles. Yet a full
realization of the structural implications of the
Grebo mask is not yet apparent.
The first evidence of Picasso’s response to the
Grebo mask appears in several drawings in the
Sorgues sketchbook that follow (with only one in¬
tervening page) Souvenir de Marseille,25 Not sur¬
prisingly, this response initially took the form of
drawings for three-dimensional constructions
(figs. 37-40). Although no works that might corre¬
spond to these drawings survive, the clarity with
which the forms were mapped out suggests that
Picasso regarded them as working plans.26 Braque,
at this time, was already engaged in making paper
constructions, as we know from a letter he wrote
to Kahnweiler on 24 August: “I am working well and
am profiting from my stay in the country to do
things that one can’t do in Paris, among other
36. Pablo Picasso, Souvenir de Marseille, August 1912,
things, sculpture in paper. This has given me a
page from the first Sorgues sketchbook. Mus6e Picasso,
great deal of satisfaction.”27 Picasso, as his sketch¬
Paris. Photo R.M.N.
book suggests, was also thinking of things less
easily done in Paris. Unlike Souvenir de Marsedle,
these highly schematic drawings convey a new
sense of three-dimensionality, at times using al¬
ready discredited methods such as perspective and
chiaroscuro. What is most remarkable, however, is
the exploration of the possible formal equivalence
of a mask or head and a musical instrument, in this
case a violin. Here the analogy that would inspire
the constructed Guitar first comes into view. For
not only was the projecting sound hole of the Gui-
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 40

37. Pablo Picasso, Man with a Violin, August 1912, page 38. Pablo Picasso, Man with a Violin, August 1912, page
from the first Sorgues sketchbook. Musee Picasso, from the first Sorgues sketchbook. Musee Picasso,
Paris. Photo R.M.N. Paris. Photo R.M.N.

39. Pablo Picasso, Head of a Man, August 1912, page 40. Pablo Picasso, Head of a Man, August 1912, page
from the first Sorgues sketchbook. Mus6e Picasso, from the first Sorgues sketchbook. Musee Picasso,
Paris. Photo R.M.N. Paris. Photo R.M.N.
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 41

tar a translation of the projecting eyes of Picasso’s constructions survive, it is impossible to know
Grebo mask, but the slight curvature of the ground what they looked like and, in particular, whether
plane was retained in the ground plane of the Gui¬ they too were inspired by African masks. Given
tar. Picasso even converted the decorative triangu¬ Braque’s predilection for conceiving recession in
lar shapes at the top of the mask (fig. 6) into a terms of overlapping planes and his interest in cre¬
corresponding triangular scroll in the Guitar. In the ating tactile surfaces, it is likely that his works in
Sorgues drawings this analogy between a head and paper were designed to explore these ideas in three
a musical instrument becomes the subject of for¬ dimensions. Although it is evident from his letter to
mal wit. In the first two sketches of the series, both Kahnweiler that he enjoyed making them, he seems
head and violin were reduced to boxlike structures, to have thought of his paper sculptures primarily
upon which Picasso placed a few schematic mark¬ as aids to his paintings and unfortunately took no
ings indicating the placement of projecting forms measures to preserve them. His later assertion that
and possibly of incisions to signify the identifiable his papiers colies developed from his earlier con¬
characteristics of the head and violin (figs. 37, 38). structions may be literally true, but the sculptures
In the following two drawings, Picasso studied the themselves seem to have been conceived in re¬
features of the head more closely. Once again, he lation to his paintings. Because Braque’s con¬
constructed these features from symmetrically con¬ structions are lost, this important aspect of the
figured cylinders or planes, which project from a collaborative enterprise of the summer remains dif¬
basic boxlike structure, just as the eyes of Picasso’s ficult to assess.
Grebo mask project from the plane of the head.28 In We do know, however, that Braque made his first
the first of these drawings (fig. 39), the eyes and papiers colles in early September (figs. 2, 41) and
eyebrows thrust forward, while the nose is an that, according to Picasso, these works inspired
inverted wedgelike form that collapses inward, him to experiment with “paperistic and powdery
thereby reversing natural spatial relations. Re¬ procedures” as well. Braque’s technique of pasting
versals such as this, which point to the relational strips of faux bois wallpaper to his pictorial ground
character of signs, would eventually be realized in allowed him to dissociate signs for the color and
three dimensions in the Guitar. The second of texture of objects from the drawn contours of
these drawings (fig. 40) displays the recurring dou¬ those objects—a technique that has been com¬
ble arc, which would serve to designate both ears pared to the dissociation of volume and mass
and the profile of a guitar (or violin) in so many of in the Grebo mask and in Picasso’s Guitar.29 Yet
Picasso’s subsequent works. The semantic loosen¬ Braque’s disjunctive treatment of color and draw¬
ing of this simple ideogram can already be dis¬ ing did not derive from the example of African
cerned in its displacement from a natural position masks (where it is not an issue); nor is it the for¬
at the level of the eyes to a new position near the mal or conceptual equivalent of Picasso’s severing
top of the head. of volume and mass. While it is true that both
What of Braque during this fertile moment in Braque’s papiers codes and Picasso’s constructions
Picasso’s production? As we know from his letter to and collages depend on the principle of dissocia¬
Kahnweiler of mid-August, he was making paper tion, so that the organic unity of the depicted ob-
sculptures at this time. Because none of these early
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 42

41. Georges Braque, Still Life BACH, 1912, pasted paper

and charcoal on paper. Offentliche Kunstsammlung,
Kunstmuseum Basel.
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 43

jects is broken into distinct and contradictory and Medardo Rosso, for example, this surface be¬
elements, they do so with different goals in mind. came the indexical sign of the sculptor’s unique
Braque used faux bois paper to convey the local creative act, preserving all the marks of his en¬
color and texture of wood in an effort to defeat the counter with wax, clay, or plaster as well as the
distortions of chiaroscuro and perspective. It is marks of the secondary process of bronze casting.
precisely because the latter produce distortions in Thus, although the signifying function of the sur¬
their rendering of three-dimensional form that they face had undergone a radical transformation, it
must be given separately. Picasso, in contrast, de¬ continued to be the primary vehicle of sculptural
lighted in confirming the essentially arbitrary na¬ meaning.
ture of signs, since it is this principle which Conceived as an open construction of planes po¬
allowed him to reinvent the language of representa¬ sitioned in space rather than as an art of solid
tion and its syntax. This freedom of invention masses, Picasso’s Guitar swept away all of the tra¬
would be most dramatically realized in the Guitar, ditional significations of surface. The duality of sur¬
a work that would transform the history of sculp¬ face and inner structure disappeared with the
ture in this century. refusal to treat form in terms of mass. In addition,
the acts of cutting, bending, and assembling planes
The African Model
of flat cardboard and, later, sharp-edged sheet
To this day, Picasso’s Guitar (fig. 5) startles with metal (fig. 42),31 displaced the more sensual pro¬
the boldness of its new conception of sculptural cesses of modeling, carving, and polishing. Al¬
form. Whether carved or modeled, traditional though Picasso’s Guitar bears all the signs of a
sculpture had always been conceived as an art of spontaneous creative process, in comparison with
three-dimensional forms in space, and these forms the modeled sculpture of Rodin, the rough-hewn
had been presented in terms of solid masses. Even wooden sculpture of Paul Gauguin, or even
relief sculpture, which the Guitar approximates Picasso’s own previous sculpture in wood and
more closely than free-standing sculpture, provided bronze, here it is the work of the imagination that
the viewer with a continuous surface or skin. In¬ predominates. Unlike marble or bronze, the privi¬
deed, this surface could be considered the most leged materials of traditional sculpture, cardboard
crucial signifier of traditional sculpture, since it re¬ and sheet metal are not noble or durable; but nei¬
vealed the inner structural logic of the figure’s ther are they “primitive” mediums like clay or
weight-bearing position in space.30 Students of wood, which can be associated with creative (god¬
sculpture in the classical tradition were required to like) fashioning from the earth itself. Sheet metal, a
have a clear understanding of the skeletal and mus¬ modern, industrial material, is resistant both to
cular structure of the human body, so that the fine finish and to the marks of the sculptor’s hand,
outer surface of the sculptural figure could be read and in many ways it must have seemed the very
as the index of its inner core, that is, as an effect antithesis of a material suitable for sculpture. But it
causally related to this core. By the late nineteenth was precisely the inappropriateness of materials
century, however, the coherence of surface and in¬ like cardboard and sheet metal and the difficulties
ner structure began to erode, and the sculptural they presented the artist that interested Picasso. In
surface came to be regarded as an expressive ele¬ a statement recorded by Jaime Sabartes, Picasso
ment in its own right. In the work of Auguste Rodin
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 44

42. Pablo Picasso, Guitar, fall 1912-14, sheet metal and

wire. Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 45

recalled, “We sought to express reality with mate¬ tional boundaries between objects and their sur¬
rials that we did not know how to handle and rounding space. This, in turn, allowed him partly to
which we prized precisely because we knew that fuse these objects with the ground, thereby estab¬
their help was not indispensable to us, and that lishing a new coherence of depth and surface. Mass
they were neither the best nor the most itself seemed to dissolve in the flickering play of
adequate.”32 semitransparent planes that assert a position in
As many scholars and critics have observed, the space along one clearly modeled edge only to
Guitar can be interpreted as a three-dimensional bleed into the ground elsewhere. In addition, as
transposition of the semitransparent, interpenetrat¬ Kahnweiler implied, an organic view of form was
ing planes that characterized Picasso’s painting of rejected in favor of an articulated, geometrical
1910-11. Kahnweiler provides the most illuminating form of representation. Unlike traditional drawing,
testimony on this transitional phase and its mean¬ which attempts to simulate natural appearances,
ing for Picasso’s subsequent work. In his view, the geometrical drawing distinguishes itself from na¬
real turning point in Cubism occurred in the series ture as a purely intellectual form of abstraction. It
of paintings Picasso executed in Cadaqu6s in the is a form of rendering in which the existence of a
summer of 1910. Here, for the first time, Picasso prior set of conventions remains evident.
“pierced the closed form.”33 This “decisive ad¬ The essential point, then, is that Picasso’s new
vance” allowed planes to flow into the ground and method allowed him to represent objects in space
hence into each other, thereby denying any sense without recurring to traditional means of illusion.
of unified, coherent mass to objects. According to For Kahnweiler, representation and imitation were
Kahnweiler, the depiction of objects in space in no longer synonymous in the Cubism of 1910-11.
terms of “closed” forms necessarily implied the de¬ One might argue that an understanding of the con¬
piction of their depth and solidity by means of ventional rather than the imitative nature of repre¬
chiaroscuro and perspective.34 Picasso, who wished sentation had informed Picasso’s Cubist painting
to avoid both of these traditional illusionistic de¬ before 1910. But it was the specific nature of the
vices, was therefore led to break through the critique of illusion posed by the paintings of 1910
closed “skin” of objects and to depict them in and 1911 that allowed Picasso to conceive repre¬
terms of fragmented, overlapping planes.35 For sentational conventions as being inherently rela¬
Kahnweiler this meant that “Picasso’s new method tional; for once the organic integrity of objects had
made it possible to ‘represent’ the form of objects been dissolved, it became possible to compose or
and their position in space instead of attempting to construct objects out of discrete formal elements.
imitate them through illusionistic means. With the These elements would then take on meaning as a
representation of solid objects this could be ef¬ result of the oppositional structure governing the
fected by a process or representation that has a whole. Thus, for example, each assertion of volume
certain resemblance to geometrical drawing. This is countered by its negation, figure and ground un¬
is a matter of course since the aim of both is to dermine each other, bits of chiaroscuro contradict
render the three dimensional object on a two di¬ each other. Each formal element functions only in
mensional plane.”36 By “pierc[ing] the closed form” relation to its opposing term within the given pic¬
of objects, Picasso was able to dismantle the tradi¬ torial context. It is not, as Kahnweiler supposed,
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 46

that ' the painter no longer has to limit himself to in sculpture, especially as he treated more the
depicting the object as it would appear from one “orbite”—the socket of the eye—than the eye it¬
given viewpoint, but wherever necessary for fuller self; he recalled that as a young sculptor model¬
comprehension, can show it from several sides, ing in clay, he would form it by pressing in his
and from above and below.”'7 Indeed, Picasso con¬ thumb. Now the Grebo sculptor, as he pointed
ceived the Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, out, had systematically indicated both the pro¬
executed during the autumn of 1910, in a strictly jecting and the receding features of the face by
frontal manner (fig. 43). Form is rendered in terms salient forms; this he could do because he was
of rhythmically alternating light and dark planes, not illustrating a face but “re-presenting” it in
which do not correspond to a consistent source of ideographic language—a perfect example of what
light. If one of Kahnweiler’s eyes is depicted as a Picasso found “raisonnable” in tribal art.42
light plane and the other as a dark plane it is not
It is not surprising that Picasso, who had always
because light falls on the sitter from a particular di¬
been fascinated by “primitive” or conceptual means
rection; rather, the eyes oppose each other as con¬
of representing eyes, should initially have been
trasting formal elements.38 Picasso’s aim was not to
struck by the projecting eyes of a Grebo mask. In¬
give the viewer more information about the objects
fluenced early on by Gauguin, who had in turn
or people he represented but to undermine the tra¬
been influenced by Egyptian bas-reliefs, Picasso
ditional conventions of illusion by isolating them
had already placed eyes seen frontally on figures
and setting them into opposition. The New Cale¬
depicted in profile. (A notable example occurs in
donian figure and (unidentified) mask that Picasso
the left-hand figure in Les Demoiselles d'Avignon,
represented to either side of Kahnweiler’s head are
but others might be cited.) And, as discussed
emblematic of the important relation between
above, Picasso had depicted the eyes in his portrait
Picasso’s work of this period and the conventional¬
of Kahnweiler as opposing light and dark forms.
ized forms of “primitive” art.39
The treatment of eyes as projecting cylinders, how¬
In the late summer and fall of 1912, a similarly
ever, must have seemed to denote the primacy of
conventionalized treatment of form once again at¬
conception over sensation even more strongly. By
tracted Picasso to African masks. In The Rise of
rendering the eyes as salient objects, rather than as
Cubism, Kahnweiler asserted that the use of inter¬
depressions in relation to the abstracted plane of
secting and superimposed planes in Picasso’s con¬
the face,43 the Grebo artisan had reversed the natu¬
structions was directly inspired by African masks
ral relationship of depth to surface. This reversal,
from the Ivory Coast, in which the eye, nose, and
however, retained the notion of the difference be¬
mouth were rendered as distinct forms—cylinders
tween these two planes, and within a figurative
and wedges—projecting from a planar ground.40 In
context this proved sufficient for the cylinders to
a later article titled “Negro Art and Cubism” Kahn¬
be interpreted as eyes. The Grebo mask, then,
weiler more specifically related the projecting
demonstrated that what was essential to the legibil¬
sound hole of the Guitar to the similarly projecting,
ity of the cylinders as eyes was their relational
cylindrical eyes of a “Wobe” mask (fig. 6) in the
value within a given representational context,
artist’s possession (now known to be a Grebo
rather than any absolute value they might have as
mask).41 The artist himself, when questioned later
geometrical forms. Picasso based his Guitar, in
by William Rubin, confirmed that a Grebo mask
which a projecting cylinder represents a sound
had been the source of inspiration for the con¬
hole, on this very principle of the structural equiva¬
structed Guitar:
lence of opposites within a closed formal system.
Picasso noted that while noses and lips are ob¬ A number of art historians, including Leo
viously projecting facial features, he had always Steinberg, Rosalind Krauss, and most recently Yve-
thought of the eye as a receding, “hollow” feature Alain Bois, have compared the relational structure
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 47

43. Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahniveiler,

fall 1910, oil on canvas. The Art Institute of Chicago.
Gift of Mrs. Gilbert W. Chapman in memory of Charles
B. Goodspeed.
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 48

of forms in Picasso’s Guitar, as well as in his col¬ be compared to that which governs the exchange
lages, to the contemporary linguistic theories of of bills in the modern economy, in which it is the
Ferdinand de Saussure.44 Without positing that difference between a five- and ten-dollar bill, rather
Picasso had any knowledge of Saussure’s revolu¬ than the intrinsic value of the paper, which carries
tionary theories, these art historians have argued meaning. Similarly, according to Saussure, the lin¬
that a parallel understanding of the arbitrary nature guistic signifier does not bear a positive, or sub¬
of signs informs Picasso’s synthetic Cubist works, stantive, relation to a given signified; its primary
especially those executed in constructive collage relation is to the other terms in the language sys¬
techniques.45 In this light, the critique of prior theo¬ tem that might have been chosen in its stead. An¬
ries of representation that lies at the base of both other way of saying this is that terms have value
the Guitar and the subsequent collages is viewed [valeur] before they have meaning, and that value
as inaugurating a revolution in the visual arts com¬ is established as the negation of the other possibili¬
parable to that inaugurated by Saussure in ties of the system: “Instead of pre-existing ideas
linguistics. then, we find in all the foregoing examples values
A brief review of Saussure’s structural analysis of emanating from the system. When they are said to
language will clarify what is at stake in this inter¬ correspond to concepts, it is understood that the
pretation of Picasso’s collages and constructions. concepts are purely differential and defined not by
Saussure’s great innovation was to conceive lan¬ their positive content but negatively by their rela¬
guage as a synchronic, relational system, complete tions with the other terms of the system. Their
and coherent at each moment of its temporal exis¬ most precise characteristic is in being what the
tence. In opposition to his immediate linguistic others are not.”46
predecessors, Saussure proposed a model in which Saussure further argued that because of this
the temporality of language consisted of a series of differential structure, the relation of individual sig-
static systems succeeding each other in time. With¬ nifiers to their respective signifieds is purely arbi¬
out denying the importance of historical change, trary. This relation depends on social conventions
Saussure insisted that as a total system language and usage, rather than on a substantive link be¬
existed in a kind of perpetual present and that tween words and mental concepts or images:
meaning emerged only as a result of this “Everything that has been said up to this point
synchronicity. boils down to this: in language there are only dif¬
By distinguishing the synchronic from the dia¬ ferences. Even more important: a difference gener¬
chronic dimension of language, Saussure was able ally implies positive terms between which the
to direct attention to the universal, structural orga¬ difference is set up: but in language there are only
nization of language. This structure proved to be differences without positive terms. Whether we
based on a self-governing system of relational val¬ take the signified or the signifier, language has nei¬
ues or differences, which established the possibility ther ideas nor sounds that existed before the lin¬
of meaning at every level of linguistic articulation, guistic system, but only conceptual and phonic
from the smallest phoneme to larger syntactical differences that have issued from the system.”47
units. The differential nature of this system might Yve-Alain Bois, among others, has brought
Saussure’s theory of the sign to bear on Picasso’s
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 49

Guitar in order to call attention to the artist’s count must be made of the lingering presence of
awareness of the relational value of plastic signs resemblance (or iconicity) as a signifying principle
and of their “virtual” rather than substantive char¬ in this and other, related works.49 For resemblance
acter.48 Saussure’s theories provide fruitful compar¬ is there to be seen: the double curve, which defines
ison because they enable us to articulate more the left edge of the ground plane, for example, re¬
clearly what Picasso understood on the level of for¬ sembles the curved profile of a guitar. The survival
mal possibility. Indeed, as Bois argues, a full recog¬ of resemblance in a structurally defined work is
nition of the nonsubstantial nature of the sign is problematic because resemblance has been seen as
strikingly evident in the Guitar. the means by which the signs of the visual arts are
Picasso’s self-consciously structural approach to motivated. Whereas the linguistic signifier tree
representation led him to emphasize the concep¬ bears no natural or necessary relationship to its re¬
tual status of the work of art. To say that these ferent, a picture of a tree is said to be motivated by
works are conceptual, however, does not imply virtue of resembling that tree. Since a picture of a
that they are true to the essential nature of what tree appears to carry meaning in a direct or trans¬
they represent. By deploying sets of binary oppo¬ parent manner, it will not be subject to the system
sites—recessed versus projecting forms, transpar¬ of arbitrary, differential values that characterizes
ent versus opaque planes, straight versus curved linguistic signs. And indeed, Saussure limited his
edges—Picasso called attention to the relational discussion of the arbitrariness of signs to those of
value of the formal signifiers in the Guitar. This language, suggesting that further study in the new
pairing allowed him to treat his formal elements as field of semiology would be needed to analyze the
empty signifiers that would be granted meaning by principles at work in other representational sys¬
the context. Thus a projecting cylinder can signify tems. The role of resemblance in Picasso’s Guitar
the recession of a guitar’s sound hole, and a delim¬ can be taken as a kind of testing ground, then, for
ited open space can be made to read as the equiva¬ the theory that the signs of the visual arts can be
lent of a solid, sculptural form. Whereas the value produced by a differential, arbitrary structure like
of a linguistic signifier is predicated on the absence that of language.
or negation of other possible alternatives, the spa¬ In isolating the double curve at the left edge of
tial simultaneity of the plastic arts allowed Picasso the Guitar, one immediately notes that it differs
to construct his Guitar out of copresent opposites. markedly from the double curve at the right edge
This allowed the oppositional or relational value of of the foreground plane. Yet both curves are suffi¬
his formal elements to become especially evident. ciently different from the projecting straight edges,
Our ability to interpret these formal elements as which they also oppose, to read as what might be
meaningful antinomies depends on their prior exis¬ called sculptural phonemes, that is, as carriers of
tence as opposing artistic conventions, just as our meaning. In order for these curves to signify the
interpretation of the projecting sound hole as a re¬ shape of a guitar’s profile, absolute or intrinsic re¬
versal depends on its difference from our prior def¬ semblance is not required, but only a relative like¬
inition of a sound hole as a recession. ness which can be deciphered as the negation of
If we are to accept in full the structuralist inter¬ other possible forms. Moreover, these double
pretation of Picasso’s Guitar, however, some ac¬
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 50

curves function as signifiers of a guitar’s profile He showed them a photograph of himself in

only because of their placement within the whole. uniform. One member of the tribe took it, looked
In many of Picasso’s subsequent works, the same at it, turned it upside-down and sideways and re¬
double curve appears at the side of the head and turned it without having made out or understood
therefore comes to represent an ear (figs. 11, 14). what it was. The explorer took it upon himself to
Thus resemblance seems to be contingent on fac¬ teach him and explained that it was a picture of
tors similar to those that govern linguistic rela¬ himself. The man laughed incredulously, and tak¬
tions: sufficient difference from other possible ing a paper and pencil began making a portrait of
forms to take on a specific significance and place¬ the officer. He drew the head, the body, the legs
ment within a meaningful “syntactical” context. and the arms, as he saw them, in the traditional
Each of the discrete formal elements in the Gui¬ style of tribal figures, and he held out the picture
tar can be assigned a representational function. If to the officer. Having looked at it again, though,
the left-hand double curve refers to a guitar’s pro¬ and more attentively this time, he took the draw¬
file, for example, the depth of the musical instru¬ ing back in order to add the shiny buttons of the
ment is signified independently by the straight- uniform, which he had forgotten to draw. The
edged planes that lie perpendicularly to the ground amusing part of the story is that he saw no rea¬
plane. Additively, these forms signify the various son to put the buttons in their proper place. In¬
physical properties of a guitar, but they do not co¬ stead, he surrounded the face with buttons! He
here in an organic whole. As a result, each element did the same thing with the stripes, putting them
takes on a distinct, emblematic character, like the at the side of the arms and over the head. It is
individual motifs in complex allegorical composi¬ scarcely necessary to go into the conclusions
tions. Resemblance as a means of motivating the which were drawn from this story. After that a lot
signs of the visual arts is thereby at least partially of curious things turned up in cubist paintings.51
defeated; it appears as a conventional effect of the
Carco’s version is substantially the same, although
differential system out of which the Guitar is visibly
he identifies the explorer as Max Jacob's brother
constructed, rather than as a principle determining
and reveals something of Picasso’s response.
the appearance and composition of the whole.
Speaking of the portrait made by the African he
Some insight into Picasso’s understanding of the
writes,
conventional nature of resemblance at this time
(1910-12) can be gleaned from a story recounted in Resemblance, greatly neglected on this canvas in
the memoirs of both Fernande Olivier and Francis favor of volumes, immediately struck the paint¬
Carco. Olivier’s eyewitness account is the more de¬ ers, and they made the remark that the gold but¬
tailed and informative version: tons on the tunic of Max’s brother were not
represented at their ordinary place, but were ar¬
One day Deniker50 brought a naval officer and ex¬
ranged in an aureole around his face. Astonish¬
plorer to see Picasso. He came to the studio and
ing discovery! The dissociation of objects was
he told us how once, when he’d found himself
discovered, admitted, acquired, and this must
amongst a tribe who produced sculpture, he was
have inspired Picasso in his very first researches,
curious to watch their reactions to a photograph,
which was something they’d never seen.
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 51

because he decreed a short while later: “If you had governed Western art since the Renaissance.
paint a portrait, you put the legs on the canvas By offering an alternative model, African art al¬
separately.”52 lowed the relativity of Western values to come into
At stake in this story is a new interpretation of view and confirmed Picasso in his search for an
how resemblance functions as a vehicle of signifi¬ anti-idealist, anti-organic, conceptual form of art.
cation in the visual arts. If pictorial signs are in¬ In addition, Picasso certainly noted that African ob¬
deed motivated by virtue of resembling their jects created for ritual purposes could not easily be
referents, these signs should be immediately and assimilated to the Western conception of genres.

universally legible. As the story told by the ex¬ Kahnweiler recalled that, in general, African works

plorer reveals, however, even photography, which seemed to confirm the Cubist notion that a work of

most Westerners regard as the form of pictorial art is an object with a physical existence in the

representation most able to achieve an exact like¬ world of physical things.54 African masks, in partic¬

ness of its model, is not readily understood by ular, are neither sculptures nor paintings, although

those unfamiliar with its conventions. In an exam¬ they are usually both carved and painted. Picasso

ple closer to Picasso’s own experience, Gertrude and Braque solved the problem of the presentation

Stein tells us that “Picasso at this period often used of these masks, which were meant to be worn, by

to say that Spaniards cannot recognise people from hanging them on their walls next to paintings and

their photographs.”53 Resemblance, then, turns out drawings, musical instruments, and other objects

to lie in the eyes of the beholder rather than in cer¬ they collected.

tain configurations of line, color, and form. As This new means of conceiving works of art al¬

Carco suggests, Picasso was able to explore this lowed Picasso to challenge prevailing distinctions

notion in a number of ways, all of which work to between painting and sculpture and to create what

undermine the transparency or naturalness of re¬ at the time were often defined as tableau-objets.55

semblance wherever it occurs: by articulating form Indeed, Andre Salmon has described the uncer¬

into an aggregate of discrete pictorial or plastic tainty and “shock” of contemporary visitors to
Picasso’s studio when faced with his collages and
signs; by treating trompe l’oeil details in particular
constructions:
as emblematic motifs, which can be redistributed
within a composition; by making it possible to read Viewers, already shocked by the things they saw
a given shape (or an entire configuration) as refer¬ on the covered walls, and that they refused to
ring to more than one object at once; by placing call paintings because they were made with oil¬
different kinds of conventional illusion in a single cloth, packing paper and newspaper, said with a
work and setting them into opposition; and finally, raised finger pointing to the object of Picasso’s
by challenging the traditional Renaissance para¬ intelligent attentions:
digm that a picture surface is like a window or —What’s that? Do you put that on a pedestal?
mirror. Do you hang that on a wall? What is it, painting
In general, Picasso’s encounters with African art or sculpture?
and artifacts seem to have encouraged him to Picasso, dressed in the blue of Parisian arti¬
question many of the dominant assumptions that sans, responded in his most beautiful Andalusian
voice:
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 52

—It’s nothing, it’s the guitar!56 the sense that imitation of reality was not a goal. A
cowry shell could signify an eye, nails could signify
Interestingly, for these viewers and Salmon alike,
hair. For Markov, this form of symbolism “can be
the uncertainty over how to display Picasso’s col¬
intuitive or speculative, but it is always creative,
lages and constructions was experienced as one of
and we Europeans can only envy a way of thinking
their most subversive features. No longer paintings,
that engenders such a richness of forms.”59 Picasso
no longer sculptures, these works signaled the end
was attracted to African objects because of their
of the “imbecile tyranny of genres”: “And that’s it,
conceptual treatment of form, which he described
the airtight partitions are demolished. We are de¬
as “raisonnable,”60 but he must also have found the
livered from painting and sculpture, already liber¬
way these objects defied aesthetic categorization
ated from the imbecile tyranny of the genres. It’s
and the inventive use of materials they displayed
no longer this and no longer that. It’s nothing. It’s
liberating. It is in this double lesson of African
the guitar!”57
art—which embraces both a formal and a material
Picasso must also have been struck by the fact
dimension—that we may observe the convergence
that African artists were not constrained by any
of pictorial and sculptural practices in the fall of
prejudicial notions regarding the purity or unity of
1912.
their media. African masks and figures are fre¬
quently constructed from a number of different ma¬
The First Series of Collages and Constructions
terials, many of them ephemeral: wood, paint,
feathers, fibers, beads, shells, and so on. Vladimir When in the fall of 1912 Picasso initiated what

Markov, in one of the earliest structural analyses of would be the first of three series of Cubist collages,
African sculpture, L'art de negres (1914), empha¬ the themes and issues of the preceding months
sized this very heterogeneity in materials and artis¬ continued to dominate his new work. Several of the
tic processes. Writing of the “technique of treating earliest collages are clearly two-dimensional trans¬
materials,” Markov observed, lations of the cardboard Guitar and its play of posi¬
tive (opaque) and negative (transparent) forms. In
One cannot say that this technique is “pure” . . .
Guitar and Wineglass (fig. 7), for example, Picasso
It is quite rare that one has the discipline of a
assembled his collage from seven pieces of paper,
single material or a single tool, wood and an axe
cut and pasted to a wallpaper ground. Each of
for example.
these pieces of paper remains a discrete represen¬
There are fetishes that are constituted by an
tational element within the composition, which as
assemblage of numerous materials: metal plates,
a whole represents a guitar hanging on a wall. Just
rings, cowry shells, shoe-laces, hair, and so
as in the Guitar, the central portion of the guitar’s
forth, in which the choice and organization,
body appears as a negative shape, defined only by
moreover, reveals a sophisticated taste and sen¬
the paper elements that surround it. This shape is
sibility for material, because iron, bronze or
the pictorial equivalent of what Kahnweiler de¬
shell, each of these materials pleased the eye of
scribed as the open or “transparent” form of the
primitive man and was appreciated.58
constructed Guitar, transparency being an effect
Markov further noted that the use of these diverse created by an absence or break in the continuous
materials was highly imaginative and “arbitrary” in
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 53

surface or skin of a work. The effect of transpar¬ velope of laid paper, so that the forms of the musi¬
ency is all the more remarkable in the collage for cal instrument become visible only when the work
having been achieved with opaque and clearly flat is held up to the light. Here the opposition of
shapes.bl Against the seemingly transparent surface opaque (or positive) and transparent (or negative)
of the hollow and partly overlapping the blue shapes is given a literal reality it did not have in
bridge of the guitar, Picasso pasted a white circle earlier works.63 Seeing through this work is the
representing a sound hole, thereby reenacting the equivalent, therefore, of seeing it at all.64 In another
reversal of recessed and projecting forms that had collage from this period, also titled Violin (fig. 9),
animated the constructed Guitar. This reversal is, Picasso established a figure / ground reversal of a
however, just one example of the many figure / different sort by cutting a single piece of newspa¬
ground reversals that traverse the whole of per so as to represent, through the placement of
Picasso’s collage production. In Guitar and Wine¬ the resulting halves, both the right and left profiles
glass, each element is at once a figure to be read of a violin. Picasso glued one of the pieces of news¬
against the wallpaper ground and a miniature field paper near the center of the collage so that it de¬
of representation in its own right and therefore fined the left edge of the violin. He then used the
functions as a synecdoche of the picture as a other piece of paper, flipped over, to mark the vio¬
whole.62 The most obvious example of this may be lin’s right edge.65 The two sides, mirror images of
the white rectangle bearing the depiction of a Cub¬ each other, thus produce the opposing profiles of
ist glass, but each of the other pieces of paper have the violin, but only because one is treated as a pos¬
also been treated as representational surfaces. itive and the other as a negative shape. In addition,
Moreover, just as in the Guitar, pictorial signifiers as Rosalind Krauss has argued, the disparity in the
in this collage seem to take on value only because size and thickness of the two f-shaped sound holes
of the relational system within which they are of the violin must be read as a sign of foreshorten¬
imbedded. The guitar is given conflicting profiles, ing due to rotation into depth. Yet this sign for
curved on the left, straight-edged on the right. depth is inscribed in the very place where it is
These formal antinomies are repeated in the small most noticeably absent, on the rigidly frontal plane
drawing of the glass, again with the curved profile of the collage surface.66 Significantly, this inscrip¬
appearing at the left and the straight-edged at the tion of rotation in space had already appeared in
right. the cardboard Guitar, in which the depth of the
Similar oppositions and reversals can be noted in right projecting profile is nearly twice that of the
the collage titled Violin (fig. 15), also of the fall of left profile. As a result of this discrepancy, the hori¬
1912. Here the wallpaper, at once figure and zontal plane which joins these two projecting edges
ground, is allowed to bleed freely across a small recedes diagonally toward the left, implying a
gap left in the upper corner of the violin’s body. recession that is countered by the frontal geometry
And in this collage, three alternate sound holes of overall work. As Krauss has observed, in works
make their appearance, so that once again an anal¬ such as these there is “no positive sign without the
ogy to the mask is established. This format is re¬ eclipse or negation of its material referent.”67 One
peated in another Violin (fig. 44), in which Picasso might add, there is also no positive sign that is not
enclosed a single sheet of cut paper within an en¬ itself negated by another sign.
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 54

With characteristic wit, Picasso’s play on the

possible formal analogies of mask and violin (or
guitar) continued to pervade this series of works.
In Violin (fig. 44), the familiar forms of the musical
instrument are anthropomorphized, the scroll
transformed into a curl of hair, the profile at left
into an ear, the sound holes into eyes and mouth.
Even the two sets of violin strings, positioned at an
angle to each other to suggest the break in the line
at the bridge, seem to resemble a crooked nose. In
Violin and Musical Score (fig. 8) Picasso adopted
the cartoonist’s convention for signifying the
thoughts or words of a character, in order to make
his whimsically human violin sing. And in another
collage executed at this time, Head of a Man
(fig. 11), an opposing transformation seems to be
under way, the man’s head threatening to turn into
a guitar. This guitar, however, participates in the
doubling of signifiers that governs the overall
structure of this collage, so that the guitar may be
read as upside-down (the man’s neck becoming the
neck of the guitar as well) or as right-side up (an¬
other neck recedes into the distance at the left).
It could be argued that in exploring these analo¬
gies between a head (or mask) and a musical in¬
strument, Picasso sought to bring an essential
metaphorical similarity to light.68 This might seem
convincing if one considers the analogy established
44. Pablo Picasso, Violin, fall-winter 1912, pasted paper through the pictograph of the double arc which sig¬
between two sheets of laid paper, with chalk. Musde nifies both the profile of a guitar (or violin) and an
Picasso, Paris. Photo R.M.N. ear—these objects being linked through their com¬
mon relation to sound. Yet one can also argue that
these analogies are visual puns, created rather than
discovered by the artist, who was able to establish
fortuitous resemblances out of a limited vocabulary
of forms or signifiers. For it is precisely the severe
restriction of this repertory of formal elements that
allows each of them to take on an astonishing
range of value. Some of the less commonly ob¬
served visual puns in Picasso's collages of this
period confirm this view. In Still Life with Fruit
(fig. 45), for example, a glass drawn onto a frag¬
ment of newspaper at the right may also be in¬
terpreted as a small figure reading that very
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 55

45. Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Fruit, fall-winter 1912,

pasted papers, gouache, and charcoal on cardboard.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, A. E. Gallatin Collection.
 Picasso’s Earliest Collages 56

newspaper.69 It is Picasso’s play with the Cubist for¬

mal vocabulary—the tipped-up top of the glass, the
flattened curvature of the body of the glass, the
doubled profile at the left, the fragmentation of the
stem and base—that gives rise to the “[app|arition”
that a figure is there to be seen.70 In Bottle and
Glass on a Table (fig. 46), a bottle and glass con¬
tain the overlapping profiles of two open-eyed fig¬
ures staring to the right, while in another work
from this series (fig. 47), the glass, now converted
to a monocyclist, speeds off the edge of the table.
Part of our pleasure in recognizing these visual
puns seems to lie in their ability to destabilize rep¬
resentation, turning vision into a form of imagina¬
tive hallucination. Once again the motivating force
of resemblance is undercut, for if a single image
can resemble two highly disparate objects at once,
how can it maintain the illusion of being a trans¬
parent, univocal sign? And indeed, how can it be
said that Picasso’s distortions arise from his analy¬
sis of the essential structure of an object, when
more than one object is signified? Saussure, in a
statement that has been criticized for reasserting 46. Pablo Picasso, Bottle and Glass on a Table, fall-
winter 1912, pasted paper, ink, and charcoal on paper.
the notion that the sign is a transparent vehicle of
The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, The Metropolitan
communication (a notion his overall linguistic
Museum of Art.
model had sought to reject), compared the relation
of signifier to signified to the relation between the
recto and verso of a piece of paper: “Language can
also be compared with a sheet of paper: thought is
the front and the sound the back; one cannot cut
the front without cutting the back at the same time;
likewise in language, one can neither divide sound
from thought nor thought from sound; the division
could be accomplished only abstractedly, and the
result would be either pure psychology or pure
phonology.”71 Picasso, however, delighted in dem¬
onstrating that a single recto may have two versos,
and that it is always possible to fold a piece of pa¬
per so that the sides (which in any case is a rela¬
tional concept) become confused and the meanings
 Picasso's Earliest Collages 57

reversed or doubled. This, then, was the lesson of

the African masks, those silent “witnesses”72 to the
inventive dislocation and transformation of cultural
signs, the bricollage, carried out in Picasso’s
studio.
In the next chapter, the notion of the tableau-
objet as it was defined by Picasso’s collages and
constructions will be the subject of analysis. As we
have seen, both Salmon and Kahnweiler associated
the use of constructive, multimedia techniques
with a new concept of the work of art as an inde¬
pendently existing object, which for Salmon,
abolished the “imbecile tyranny of genres.”73 Kahn¬
weiler related the invention of the tableau-objet
specifically to Picasso’s interest in the objecthood
of African masks and sculpture;71 according to this
view, then, the tableau-objet would seem to issue
from insights similar to those which led to the con¬
struction of the cardboard Guitar. If this is so, how¬
ever, we cannot accept the inference that the
creation of tableau-objets exemplified Picasso’s de¬
sire to affirm the substantive reality of the work of
art as an object, for objecthood itself must be con¬
47. Pablo Picasso, Bottle and Glass on a Table, fall- structed in relation to its opposing term: the illu-
winter 1912, pasted paper, charcoal, and crayon on sionistic tableau. Beginning with the Still Life with
paper. Private collection. Chair-Caning, Picasso composed many of his col¬
lages and constructions by juxtaposing the vertical
plane of illusion (the tableau) and the horizontal
plane of reality (the table). Through this opposi¬
tion, he demonstrated that the value of each term
depends on the relational structure of the whole,
and that within this structure, seemingly natural re¬
lations might be reversed. Thus the critique of
Western conventions of representation posed by
the Guitar finds a striking precedent in the devel¬
opment of the tableau-objet. The opposing terms of
this critique—the table and the tableau—were al¬
ready fully present in Picasso’s first collage, the
Still Life with Chair-Caning.
Chapter 3

Frames of

Reference:

Table and

Tableau

in Picasso’s

Collages

and

Constructions
 Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 59

One of the most frequent assertions made about notion that Cubism was an art of realism (what was
the Cubist work of art is that it redefined the onto¬ later to be called conceptual realism) was seized
logical status of the work of art. No longer modeled with great enthusiasm by many early champions of
on the classical notion that a painting is like a Cubism, including critics such as Roger Allard,
transparent window onto the world, Cubist works Jacques Riviere, Guillaume Apollinaire, Maurice
are said to be conceived as autonomous, self-suffi¬ Raynal, and Kahnweiler. Although objections and
cient objects. Early critics—indeed some of the art¬ revisions have been proposed, notably by Leo
ists themselves—emphasized that in rejecting the Steinberg,3 and more recently by Rosalind Krauss4
norms of imitation, the artist was liberated from and Yve-Alain Bois,5 this interpretation has pro¬
the constraints of both tradition and nature. The vided the canonical explanation for the principles
Cubist artist thereby appeared to achieve an un¬ and sequence of Cubist formal innovation. It is up¬
precedented godlike power of creation, adding to held, for example, in Christopher Gray’s Cubist Aes¬
the world of things new objects whose material thetic Theories,6 in Douglas Cooper’s The Cubist
presence affirmed what was described as a new Epoch,1 and in John Golding’s major study Cubism,
kind of realism. Here, however, an essential, recur¬ A History and an Analysis 1907-1914,8 a book that
ring paradox in the interpretation of Cubism arises. has influenced many subsequent histories and sur¬
For insofar as the Cubist object is taken to exem¬ veys of modern art. In his discussion of Picasso’s
plify concrete being or autonomous self-presence, early Cubist works of 1909, Golding writes,
it must refuse the function of representation. Picasso’s dismissal of traditional perspective had
This paradox has gone largely unnoticed by most
been the result of his interest in investigating the
critics and historians of Cubism. Typically, those nature of solid form and of a desire to express it
who assert the objecthood of Cubist works also as¬ in a new, more thorough and comprehensive,
sert that Cubist formal innovations were intended pictorial way. . . . Picasso was anxious to present
to give the viewer more complete information in each image as much essential information
about the essential nature of things in the everyday about the subject as he could. When he subdi¬
world, clearly a function of representation. These vides and facets form, it is in an attempt to break
critics and art historians claim that by rejecting the through to its inner structure. . . . One gets the
Renaissance single-point perspective system and impression that Picasso is striving for some ulti¬
accidental effects of light, Cubist artists were able mate pictorial truth, some absolute representa¬
to combine different views of objects, thus present¬ tion of reality.9
ing the spectator with what was known about those
Elsewhere in his text, Golding asserts that “the
objects, rather than what might be immediately
Cubists saw their paintings as constructed objects
perceived. This argument, predicated on the binary
having their own independent existence, as small,
opposition of conception and vision, was first put
self-contained worlds, not reflecting the outside
forth in 1908 by Georges Braque1 and was amplified
world but recreating it in a completely new form.”10
into a coherent theory in 1910 by Jean Metzinger,2
Collage is for Golding “the logical outcome” of this
who tried to codify and explain the formal innova¬
conception of Cubist works as “self-contained, con¬
tions he observed in Picasso’s studio. Metzinger’s
structed objects,” for the inclusion of different ma-
 Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 60

terials in collages “emphasized in a very concrete derived from the medium itself. Yet, for the Cubist
way their weight and solidity as material objects.”" work to be interpreted as conceptually realist, the
Golding does not acknowledge any slippage or stability and actuality of the referent had to be pos¬
change in his definition of Cubist realism from 1909 ited. Pictorial unity then took the form of a creative
to 1912, but emphasizes the continuity of the aes¬ synthesis of objectively known (a priori) informa¬
thetic intent of the movement before and after the tion. In either case, favorable early critics tended
invention of collage: “While papier colle involved to see Cubist works, including the collages, as ex¬
new methods of work and initiated almost at once emplifying the ideal of pictorial unity.11 Kahnweiler,
a new phase in the art of Picasso and Braque, it for example, described Cubism as taking on and
did not involve any fundamental change of aes¬ solving problems that are “the basic tasks of paint¬
thetic. . . . Cubism continued to be an art of real¬ ing: to represent three dimensions and color on a
ism; its subject matter remained the same, as did flat surface, and to comprehend them in the unity
the interests and intentions of the painters.”12 of that surface.” And this was to be achieved with
Similar discussions of the realist intent of Cubist “no pleasant 'composition' but uncompromising,
artists dominate much of the literature on Cubism, organically articulated structure."15 Kahnweiler in¬
without any reference to the contradictions inher¬ sisted, however, that this “return to the unity of the
ent in this type of analysis. Yet a theory of realism work of art, in the desire to create not sketches,
based on the material presence of the object as a but finished and autonomous organisms”16 be rec¬
self-contained world does not coexist easily with a onciled with the representational function of
theory of realism based on the quantity of informa¬ painting.
tion conveyed about the world outside the frame.13 In so doing, Kahnweiler turned to his recent
The invention and early practice of collage pro¬ reading of Kant, which provided him with a model
vide an excellent focal point for an analysis of Cub¬ for the interpretation of Picasso’s “great advance
ist realism because individual collage elements made at Cadaques” in 1910. This advance, the
have been read as both real within the illusory con¬ piercing of the closed form, could then be seen as
text of painting or drawing and as signs for a reality a means of combining different views of objects
not physically present. The double status of these into a synthetic, perceptually unified whole: “In¬
elements recapitulates the essential paradox of the stead of an analytical description, the painter can,
Cubist work itself, which appears to exist both as a if he prefers, also create in this way a synthesis of
material object (and to call attention to itself as the object, or in the words of Kant, ‘put together
such) and as a mode of representation. the various conceptions and comprehend their va¬
In addition, Picasso’s collage works dramatize riety in one perception.’”17 For Kahnweiler, the res¬
the Cubist challenge to prevailing standards of pic¬ olution of the conflict between representation and
torial unity, both academic and avant-garde. The structure was one of the great achievements of
notion of pictorial unity was a crucial factor in the Cubist painting, yet his explanations are riddled
critical attempt to define the ontological status of with internal contradictions and fall short of doing
the Cubist work. For the Cubist work to assert its justice to the self-conscious complexity and ironic
material and formal self-sufficiency, it had to ap¬ wit of Cubist works. Nonetheless, the attention he
pear to be internally coherent, governed by laws
 Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 61

gave to this problem in his writings reveals its im¬ sion of the inclusion of real objects (such as oil¬
portance for artists and their public in the Cubist cloth with imitation chair-caning printed on it,
period. stamps, and popular songs) in the art of Picasso,
Picasso himself frequently called attention to the Apollinaire wrote: “The object, real or represented
issue of pictorial unity through the motif of the in trompe-l’oeil, is clearly called upon to play a
frame, rendering problematic its place, form of ap¬ more and more important role. The object is the
pearance, and ultimately its meaning. His manipu¬ inner frame of the picture and marks the limits of
lations of the actual frames of his collages and of its depth just as the outer frame marks its external
framing motifs, however, suggests a challenge to, limits.”18 These remarks, probably inspired by con¬
rather than an exemplification of, the ideal of the versations with Picasso,19 were written during the
unified work. In classical painting, the frame plays fall of 1912, just as Picasso and Braque were begin¬
the important role of defining the boundary be¬ ning to experiment with collage techniques.20 Curi¬
tween the fictional, unified world of the painting or ously, having established the “inner frame” as an
drawing and the real world outside. The frame thus important concept, Apollinaire goes on to apply it
plays a dual role: it establishes the difference of the to nearly all the other artists in his book, until in
fiction within the frame from the reality beyond it, the end it comes to signify merely “picturesque in¬
but it does this in order to define this fictional tensity.”21 Yet the suggestive concept of the inner
world as a coherent, autonomous reality. Picasso’s frame has a specific meaning in relation to Picas¬
frames, however, commonly appear within his so’s first deliberate collage, Still Life with Chair-
works, thereby disrupting their internal unity and Caning (fig. 1) and continues to be relevant to
the clear distinction between the worlds of reality Picasso’s collages of 1913 and 1914.
and fiction. In this, Picasso’s frames are curiously In the text cited above, Apollinaire does not dis¬
like his collage elements (newspaper clippings, tinguish between real and represented objects.
playing cards, wallpaper fragments, parts of musi¬ Either, he says, may become the “inner frame” of a
cal scores, and so forth); for both frames and col¬ picture in the sense that a piece of oilcloth or sten¬
lage elements are familiar, everyday objects and ciled words are visibly flat and thus call the specta¬
are normally excluded from the field of pictorial il¬ tor’s attention to the surface of the painting. For
lusion. Their eruption within that field represents a Apollinaire, this emphasis on the picture’s surface
subversion of prevailing notions of artistic unity, acts to limit the illusion of depth and can be com¬
and this in turn puts into question the realist inter¬ pared to the way a frame limits the picture’s exter¬
pretation of Picasso’s collages. nal boundaries. This is quite plausible, and the
ramifications of this interpretation have been elab¬
The “Inner Frame” orated by many critics and art historians. Here I
In 1913, in his influential early volume Medita¬ will argue for another interpretation, which turns
tions esthetiques, les peintres cubistes, Apollinaire on, rather than ignores, the slippery critical dis¬
presented his readers with a provocative yet unde¬ tinction between the real and the represented, or
veloped defense of collage techniques in the work the literal and the figural.
of Cubist artists. In a paragraph following a discus¬ Picasso’s collage Still Life with Chair-Caning pre¬
sents the viewer not only with the startling inclu-
 Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 62

sion of a piece of oilcloth printed with imitation found in the homes of the nobility. A photograph of
chair-caning, but also with a frame in the unusual Picasso at the age of seven further suggests that
form of a mariner's rope. This device may have the fringe may have evoked memories of the famil¬
been inspired by the use of rope or hemp frames in iar middle-class decors of his childhood (fig. 48).
popular chromo-lithographs, which Picasso is And a recently published photograph of Picasso’s
known to have collected,22 or by the use of rope to studio in 1909 shows Braque sitting next to a round
frame souvenir mirrors in port towns.23 The rope, table covered with a fringed tablecloth similar to
then, like the oilcloth, is a ready-made, mass-pro¬ those that could have been seen in wealthier
duced material associated with popular rather than homes (fig. 49).26 The presence of a cheap version
fine art and is employed by Picasso to simulate ar¬ of such a decorative object in Picasso’s studio is
tisanal skill. The rope, a low or even non- art mate¬ consistent with what we know of Picasso’s “mania
rial, serves to parody the beveled wooden frames for collecting” objects that “would not have been
that traditionally signify high art, just as the inclu¬ out of place in the concierge’s office.” This, Fer-
sion of oilcloth parodies the value accorded the nande Olivier tells us, “was part of their charm for
medium of oil painting. The prominent, gestural him.”27
smears of oil paint across the smooth surface of In two of the earliest canvases to represent the
the oilcloth further emphasize this ironic juxtaposi¬ still life table with fragments of rope, Mandolin and
tion of means. Glass of Pernod (fig. 50) and The Chess Pieces
In calling attention to the frame, however, Pi¬ (fig. 51), both of 1911, the rope serves as a framing
casso gave it a further paradoxical function. The device in two competing senses. The fragments of
rope, in marking the edge of the collage as a pic¬ rope, drawn illusionistically in the midst of an oth¬
ture of a cafe table, also makes the oval canvas it¬ erwise hermetic system of fractured pictorial
self synonymous with that table, thus conflating the forms, signify both the framing edges of the de¬
literal object with the table that it represents.24 As picted still life table and the curtain loop in the up¬
early as the spring of 1911, a year before the Still per corner of the work. As curtain loop and tassel,
Life with Chair-Caning, Picasso had occasionally the rope refers to the traditional Renaissance
defined the edges of the tables in his still lifes with model of painting, in which the canvas is seemingly
twisted ropes, at times including the fringe of a ta¬ transformed into a transparent or open window.
ble cloth, so that rope, sometimes with fringes or The curtain loop also suggests the traditional re-
tassels, came to denote the presence of a table.25 poussoir, a framing element that creates the illu¬
This use of the rope motif would probably have sion of depth by appearing to lie in the forward
been easily understood by Picasso’s contemporar¬ plane of the canvas, so that other objects may ap¬
ies, for fringes, tassels, and swags were often used pear pushed back behind it. Thus it is a motif asso¬
to decorate furniture, especially tables, chairs, and ciated with the idea of viewing as revelation, of
couches, in bourgeois homes of the late nineteenth seeing into depth as a mode of knowledge. Artists
and early twentieth centuries. The taste for such have frequently used curtains for this purpose, and
ornate furniture represented an attempt on the part Picasso’s appropriation of this conventional device
of many bourgeois and middle-class families to imi¬ is particularly significant in the Cubist context.28
tate the decorative motifs of the late Empire style
Table and Tableau in Picasso's Collages 63

49. Photograph of Georges Braque in Picasso’s studio,

1909. Photo: Beinecke Library, Yale University.
Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 64

50. Pablo Picasso, Mandolin and Glass of Pernod,

spring 1911, oil on canvas. National Gallery, Prague
 Table and Tableau in Picasso's Collages 65

51. Pablo Picasso, The Chess Pieces, fall 1911, oil on

canvas. Private collection.
 Table and Tableau in Picasso's Collages 66

Seeing the rope as a reference to traditional no¬ the viewer to the work of art without establishing
tions of transparency and illusion clarifies the irony the primacy of one over the other. In these explora¬
of Picasso’s depiction of the fragment of rope in tions of 1911, however, the opposition of the verti¬
what has been described as trompe l’oeil realism, cal plane of the tableau to the horizontal plane of
but which in its crudeness seems more like a delib¬ the table remains a matter of pictorial allusion.
erately naive caricature of trompe l’oeil. The natu¬ Nonetheless, Picasso’s isolation of this theme in
ralism of the style of drawing used to depict the paintings such as Mandolin and Glass of Pernod
rope is hardly eye-fooling and can be called trompe and The Chess Pieces demonstrates his early inter¬
l’oeil only in comparison to the geometric drawing est in analyzing the relation of illusion and object-
of the rest of the work. The curtain loop and tassel, hood in terms of the opposition of vertical and
therefore, stand as emblems or representations of horizontal planes.29
trompe l'oeil illusion and do not perform its tradi¬ A clear distinction between the literal plane of
tional functions; for the metaphorical curtain, the table and the figurative plane of the tableau is,
pulled back by the rope and tassel, fails to reveal a however, difficult to maintain in paintings such as
coherent view into an illusory depth beyond. On Mandolin and Glass of Pernod or The Chess Pieces.
the contrary, the objects and forms depicted here Once established, the opposition is deliberately ne¬
and in Picasso’s other works of this period appear gated by the fact that the rope of the curtain loop
to hover in a shallow, ambiguously defined space. has its pictorial rhyme, or alter ego, in the rope of
Picasso’s irony is not confined, however, to refer¬ the table edge. It is also difficult to determine
ences to the illusionistic devices of the past. In the whether the modernist notion of the work of art as
present two examples, the rope motif serves also to table / object is more literal than traditional no¬
establish the framing edge of the table. While the tions of the work of art as canvas / window / mirror.
canvas is the literal support of Picasso’s picture, The canvas in these paintings, after all, is literally
the table is the figurative support of the still life ob¬ present, whereas the table is not.
jects that rest upon it; by framing his table, Picasso It may have been partly in response to this latter
drew a parallel between these two, equally meta¬ paradox that Picasso eventually decided to frame
phorical supports or grounds of his art. The curtain his collage Still Life with Chair-Caning with an ac¬
loop and tassel, referring to the traditional notion tual rope, thereby heightening the possibility for a
of the canvas as transparent vertical plane, hovers literal reading of the table as a concrete object.
like a discarded talisman in the upper corners of The ambiguous oval shape of the canvas / table,
these opaque pictures. The table edge / frame, re¬ however, immediately undermines the possibility of
ferring to the alternative, modernist concept of the a univocal, literal reading, for the oval may repre¬
work of art as material object occupying a horizon¬ sent a round table seen from an oblique angle,
tal plane, also appears in fragmentary form. seen, in fact, somewhat as a person seated at a cafe
In neither sense does the use of the rope motif as table would see it. Moreover, Picasso has empha¬
a framing device succeed in establishing a defini¬ sized the divergence of his oval canvas as object
tive metaphorical paradigm for how the work is to from what it represents by painting in the edges of
be received. The rope motif thus denotes, emblem¬ a rectangular table, thickly across the horizontal
atically, two conflicting models for the relation of
 Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 67

lower edge and more thinly in a diagonal that im¬ “the simplicity of the facts” had led people to con¬
plies recession at the right. Insofar as the edge of fuse the papiers colles, that is, the use of imitation
the table is construed as a frame, these alternate wood grain materials in certain drawings, with
borders of the depicted table may be read as a fur¬ trompe I’oeil, “of which they are precisely the op¬
ther instance of Picasso’s use of inner frames. The posite.” Braque regarded these materials as “simple
edges of the table, in part synonymous with the facts, but created by the mind.”3' Similarly Picasso,
enclosing border of canvas, reappear within that in choosing to appropriate a ready-made imitation,
border, thus dismantling the traditional binary suggests that his art lies not in meticulous crafts¬
oppositions of inside / outside, work of art / manship, but in imaginative conception. Yet his
exterior world. The intrusion of the cane-printed collage takes its place within the eye-fooling tradi¬
oilcloth operates similarly: it subverts the conven¬ tion. Picasso painted over the upper three edges of
tional role of the frame to define a coherent border the piece of oilcloth so that its boundaries would
within which the work should be compositionally be obscured. Given the context of his friendly ri¬
and materially unified.30 valry with Braque, and the absence of any prior ap¬
Significantly, Picasso made it impossible for the propriations of this type, one can imagine that
viewer to determine which representational para¬ Picasso hoped to fool Braque into thinking he had
digm governs the appearance of the oilcloth. Is the painted the imitation chair-caning. This would have
oilcloth to be taken as a literal or real object, that been quite a tour de force, even more impressive in
is, does the oilcloth refer to the surface of the ta¬ its display of skill than Braque’s manipulations of
ble? or to a tablecloth resting upon it? Most early the housepainter’s comb to create imitation wood
critics, Apollinaire and Kahnweiler among them, in¬ grain.32 Picasso thus used the machine-made object
terpreted the fragment of chair-caning as just such to refer to illusionistic painting, yet, like a tradi¬
a bit of reality thrust into the fictive realm of paint¬ tional trompe l’oeil painter, he wanted the illusion
ing, but this could be the case only if Picasso had to fail in the end so that his artifice (or in this case
intended the fragment of oilcloth to refer, meto- his conceit) might be appreciated. The lower edge
nymically, to an oilcloth tablecloth. The oilcloth of the oilcloth, therefore, is unpainted and cut
cannot refer to the real chair-caning surface of a ta¬ away from the rope frame to reveal the edge where
ble without becoming a representation and point¬ oilcloth meets canvas ground. This rough edge
ing to something that is absent. The oilcloth, points to Picasso’s future collage practice, in which
however, is ambiguously placed at the lower edge it is the distinction between the collage element
of this collage. Should it, then, be taken to repre¬ and the drawing rather than their integration that is
sent the reflection of the back of a chair, which most often emphasized. It is also possible to read
would imply that we are to read the canvas surface the table as a glass surface, like a window, so that
as a mirror, the paradigm often adopted by trompe we see through it to the seat of the chair beneath.
l’oeil painters? The use of imitation chair-caning, According to this paradigm, Picasso’s collage ap¬
indeed, seems to refer to the trompe l’oeil tradition proximates the ideal framed window of classical
while reversing its priorities. Braque seems to have painting, although the fictional realm within the
argued for this view when he stated in 1917 that frame is anything but convincingly illusionistic or
coherent. The gray smears of paint on the surface
 Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 68

heighten the confusion of alternative paradigms,

since they may be read as shadows on an opaque
surface or as reflections of light on a glass or mir¬
ror surface.33 By multiplying the alternatives, Pi¬
casso denies a direct, transparent relation between
his pictorial signifiers and their referents in the ex¬
ternal world. He thereby points to the arbitrariness 52. pablo Picasso, Violin and Newspaper, fall 1912, oil
of those signifiers in the absence of a single gov- and sand on glass. Private collection,
erning interpretive context or paradigm.
The Still Life with Chair-Caning of the spring of
1912 remained a relatively isolated experiment in
Picasso’s oeuvre until his collaboration with
Georges Braque during the fall of that year led the
two artists to explore a wide variety of collage
techniques. At this time Picasso made an unusual
collage, Violin and Newspaper (fig. 52), as part of a
series of multimedia works on the theme of a musi¬
cal instrument hanging on a wall. This work has at¬
tracted little notice, perhaps because like so many
of his collages and sculptural constructions it re¬
mained in the artist’s possession during his life¬
time. Painted on glass, Violin and Newspaper again
takes up the motif of the window and is interesting
to compare to an earlier work by Braque, The
Portuguese of 1911 (fig. 32). Braque’s painting is
usually described as representing a Portuguese
guitarist. But as Jean Laude has argued, Braque
represented this guitarist as if seen through a cafe
window, in such a way that the depicted scene
seems to coincide with the very pane of glass.34
That we are looking at the guitarist through a cafe
window is suggested by the curtain loop and tas¬
sels at right and by the letters and words—“d bal”
from grand bal, “oco” from chocolat, and “10,40”
(a price)—which appear to be advertisements sten¬
ciled on a pane of glass.35 Yet these words, like the
forms of the guitarist, are fragmented in arbitrary
ways, and the illusion of the cafe window’s trans¬
parency and of a clear, readable space beyond it is
thereby denied. Rather, figure and ground seem to
merge in the oscillating play of opaque and trans¬
parent forms.
Picasso’s Violin and Newspaper demonstrates
that once again he has literalized what in his pre-
Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 69
Table and Tableau in Picasso's Collages 70

vious work, and in Braque’s, had remained figura¬

tive. Here the canvas ground has given way to an
actually transparent pane of glass, which in con¬
ventional terms barely functions as a ground at
all.36 One of the things this work reveals is that the
canvas must be opaque in order to operate con¬
vincingly as a figure of transparency. For in looking
through the “unfinished” parts of the glass, we see
a section of the chair rail that is part of the wall be¬
hind the glass but that in this photograph, which
was taken in Picasso’s studio, enters the composi¬
tion of the work as a foreign element, thereby dis¬
rupting its internal unity and self-sufficiency. Yet
this reality from outside the picture fails to remain
completely foreign to Picasso’s composition since
it resembles nothing so much as a frame and,
moreover, resembles the painted fragment of a
frame (also possibly displaced violin strings)
above. And in the play of multiple substitutions—
signaled by the word “jou” (cropped from Jour¬
nal)—the chair rail which appears just beneath the
painted violin also denotes the edge of a support¬
ing table.37 Despite its unusual mode of appear¬
ance, it is not surprising that Picasso would choose
to introduce the motif of the chair rail or wainscot¬
ing as a kind of inner frame in this painting of a vi¬
olin. A related work of autumn 1912, A Violin
Hanging on a Wall (fig. 53), represents a violin with
painted wood grain wainscoting to the right. An¬
other section of painted wood grain, horizontal in
format and placed just below the violin, suggests
the presence of a supporting table. This thematic
reference to both wall and table as alternate sup¬
ports or grounds also occurs in a lost version of
the constructed Guitar as it was reproduced in Les
Soirees de Paris in November 1913 (fig. 54) and in
many other works of this period.
It would be interesting to know whether Picasso
intended Violin and Newspaper to be framed in a
conventional way, which would, of course, greatly
diminish the ambiguity this work establishes be¬
tween reality and illusion. One indication that he
did not lies in a photograph of Gertrude Stein’s stu¬
dio taken sometime in late 1912 or 1913 (fig. 55). In
 Table and Tableau in Picasso's Collages

53. Pablo Picasso, A Violin Hanging on a Wall, fall 1912, 54. Pablo Picasso, Construction with Guitar, 1913,
oil and sand on canvas. Kunstmuseum Bern, Hermann photograph published in Les Soirees de Paris,
and Margrit Rupf Stiftung. November 1913. No longer extant as reproduced.
Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 72

55. Photograph of Gertrude Stein’s studio. Gertrude

Stein Archives, Beinecke Library, Yale University.
 Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 73

the photograph, several of Picasso’s Cubist works and ideal realm through art.1" Rather, collages such
hang unframed on quite crowded walls, including a as Violin and Newspaper demonstrate the failure of
work titled Violin,38 which is very similar in compo¬ the ground to hold, of the frame to enclose, and of
sition to Violin and Newspaper. The unframed pre¬ the forms to signify a unified reality.
sentation of Violin suggests that Picasso probably
also intended Violin and Newspaper to remain un¬ The Play of Identity and Difference
framed, as part of his strategy to challenge the fic¬ Fragments of twined rope, sometimes with fringe
tional coherence of the world contained within this and molding patterns (both either drawn or cut out
picture. As Gertrude Stein declared in her essay on of wallpaper), continue to appear in Picasso’s col¬
Picasso (1938), with the creation of Cubism “the lages for the next two years. In the spring of 1913,
framing of life, the need that a picture exist in its Picasso created a series of still lifes in which the
frame, remain in its frame was over.”39 interchangeability of these framing motifs is a ma¬
In a further effort to disrupt the pictorial unity of jor theme. Rope is used to signify the supporting
Violin and Newspaper, Picasso created actual relief table in Bottle ofVieuxMarc, Newspaper and Glass
in certain areas by adding sand to the glass surface (fig. 56) and in Guitar, Wineglass, Bottle ofVieux
and by simulating wood grain with thickly applied Marc (fig. 57), whereas molding from the border of
paint. These textured areas appeal to the viewer’s a wallpaper pattern signifies the table edge in Bot¬
tactile sense, and the information they yield re¬ tle of Vieux Marc, Glass and Newspaper (fig. 58)
mains independent of the information yielded by and in the greatly simplified collage Guitar on a Ta¬
the more purely optical or pictorial forms. One can ble (fig. 59). In these examples, the wallpaper en¬
also note that in a witty reversal of the use of illu- genders a double reading analogous to that found
sionistic shadows in earlier Cubist works, here the in Picasso’s Still Life with Chair-Caning: a single
shadows are real, cast by the painted sections of pictorial element (here the wallpaper, in the earlier
the work onto the wall behind the glass. collage the rope) refers to the flat, vertical plane of
It has sometimes been argued by modernist crit¬ the wall (and, by implication, of the picture plane)
ics such as Clement Greenberg that the Cubists as well as to the horizontal plane of the table.
pasted pieces of paper to their canvas grounds in A related duality appears in Guitar, Wineglass,
order to affirm the flatness of the picture plane. Bottle of Vieux Marc, and in Guitar and Cup of Cof¬
This emphasis on flatness is taken as a confirma¬ fee (fig. 60). In both collages the wallpaper rein¬
tion of the necessary, originary flatness of the me¬ forces a sense of verticality in relation to the
dium of painting itself. Yet such works as Violin horizontality of the table, but the table itself is de¬
and Newspaper call attention to the ground in or¬ picted as both straight-edged and round. This latter
der to render it problematic rather than secure. duplication of pictorial signifiers also recalls the
The relief of certain areas and the visibility of ob¬ doubly represented table in the Still Life with Chair-
jects and cast shadows behind the picture plane Caning, in which a straight-edged table was figured
negate the homogeneity and flatness of the ground within the literal border of the oval table. In none
as ideal features of the representational field. Any of these examples, however, does the juxtapostion
interpretation of Picasso’s collages that emphasizes of signifiers represent an attempt to synthesize dif¬
the artist’s interest in calling attention to the me¬ ferent views of a table into a single, synthetic
dium in order to dramatize its integrity and pri¬ whole; rather, the signifiers remain in opposition.
macy remains blind to the radical disruptive force And in both collages the same constructive princi¬
of Picasso’s Cubist works. These are not self-con¬ ple occurs in the treatment of the guitar, which is
tained, unified works that can be easily assimilated composed of disjointed curved and straight halves,
to the modernist aspiration for a timeless, pure, and in the display of a circular and squared, mod¬
eled and flat neck of the bottle of Vieux Marc in
 Table and Tableau in Picasso's Collages 74

tana'- 3- S6rio—mmlcro 148

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log yeux.'dipassojeut cequ on pod!

56. Pablo Picasso, Bottle of Vieux Marc, Newspaper and

Glass, 1913, pasted papers, oil, and charcoal on paper
on canvas. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen,
Dusseldorf.
 Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 75

57. Pablo Picasso, Guitar, Wineglass, Bottle ofVieux

Marc, spring 1913, papers glued and pinned, crayon,
and charcoal on paper. Musee Picasso, Paris. Photo
R.M.N.
 Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 76

58. Pablo Picasso, Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass and

Newspaper, spring 1913, papers pasted and pinned, and
charcoal on paper. Musde National d’Art Moderne,
Paris. Photo Lauros-Giraudon.

59. Pablo Picasso, Guitar on a Table, spring 1913,

papers pasted and pinned, and crayon. Private
collection.
 Table and Tableau in Picasso's Collages 77

60. Pablo
Picasso, Guitar
and Cup of Coffee,
spring 1913,
pasted papers,
gouache, and
charcoal on
paper. National
Gallery of Art,
Washington.
Collection of
Mr. and Mrs.
Paul Mellon.
 Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 78

Guitar, Wineglass, Bottle of Vieux Marc. The viewer forms during 1912-14, the artist’s remark affirms
does not acquire a wealth of information about the nonidentity of his art with what it represents. In
these represented objects but comes to realize that an interview of 1923, Picasso reconfirmed this prin¬
he or she knows very little about them. Is the table ciple: “They speak of naturalism in opposition to
round or square? The image remains suspended modern painting. I would like to know if anyone
between these two contradictory, yet simultane¬ has ever seen a natural work of art. Nature and art,
ously affirmed possibilities. Albert Gleizes and Jean being two different things, cannot be the same
Metzinger had warned their readers about the dan¬ thing. Through art we express our conception of
ger of equivalent formal oppositions in their trea¬ what nature is not.”44
tise of 1912 called Du Cubisme. In this didactic text Clearly Picasso’s pictorial signifiers refer to
they had argued that “the science of design con¬ everyday objects in the world; yet they do so with¬
sists in instituting relations between straight lines out resembling those objects in the traditional (co¬
and curves. A picture which contained only straight herent) sense, nor even, as has been claimed, by
lines or curves would not express existence. It resorting to a higher conceptual realism. If realism
would be the same with a picture in which curves is understood as a mode of representation that is
and straight lines exactly compensated one an¬ in some sense true or adequate to the objects rep¬
other, for equivalence is equal to zero.”41 According resented, Picasso’s collages must fail. These works
to Gleizes and Metzinger, then, the structural are constructed through the play of differential sig¬
equivalence of straight and curved lines in a work nifiers: the straight-edged versus the curved, the
would result in a self-canceling composition, sever¬ modeled versus the flat, the transparent versus the
ing rather than affirming the tie to existence. Ironi¬ opaque, the handcrafted versus the machine-made,
cally, this seems to be the path chosen by Picasso. the literal versus the figurative, and so forth. The
His pictorial oppositions assert the artificiality of principle of difference, already operative in the dis¬
art and the arbitrary, diacritical nature of its signs. tinction between nature and art, thus becomes a
From a number of contemporary accounts, we principle governing the internal organization of the
know that Picasso could be extremely caustic to work of art as well. The formal oppositions Picasso
those who insisted on seeking to establish an es¬ employs are drawn from the history of art45 and
sential or true link between art and nature. Andre from contemporary aesthetic theories such as
Salmon, one of Picasso’s poet friends, reported the those of Signac or Leger that are based on “laws of
following humorous but enlightening incident in contrast,” and in this sense they are motivated by
Paris-Journal in 1911: “To a younger man, who convention: they belong to a shared pictorial tradi¬
asks him whether one should draw feet round or tion and are already imbued with meaning. Yet
square, Picasso replies with much authority: There these oppositions point to their own arbitrariness
are no feet in nature!’ The young man fled, and is in relation to the thing represented, even as they
still running, to the great joy of his mystifier.”42 Ac¬ allow representation to occur.
cording to Kahnweiler, the young man in question The question that remains to be asked is
was Metzinger himself.43 whether the system of formal differences at play in
Yet perhaps in answer to all those who have ob¬ Picasso’s Cubist work describes a closed field—one
served the systematic arbitrariness of Picasso’s
 Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 79

that is circumscribed or framed—or one that is also hanging from the wall. Yet Picasso inserted
open to change and rupture, perhaps through the this familiar object in a representational system
interpretive role of the spectator. The answer to that forces us to recognize it, paradoxically, as
this question can be approached only by turning both a real guitar and as a sign for a guitar. If the
again to Picasso’s collages and to the leitmotif of most fundamental definition of a sign is that it refer
the frame as it is represented in those collages. to something that is absent, or if, in other words,
In Picasso’s work after 1912 the tendency of col¬ there must be a difference between the signifier
lage elements to break through literal or figural and the referent, the status of the guitar is indeed
frames became especially marked in his construc¬ problematic. For the guitar appears to be identical
tions. Most of these extremely fragile works, made to itself47 and therefore to exist, quite simply, as a
of humble and unlikely materials, remained in real or literal object, much like the nearby table.
Picasso’s possession throughout his lifetime, and The table itself might appear to be independent of
some are known only through photographs. Ger¬ this tableau were it not for the newspaper lying on
trude Stein recalls that she was “very much struck it that is tipped up against the wall, drawing it into
at this period, when cubism was a little more de¬ the realm of fictions, just as the harlequin’s news¬
veloped, with the way Picasso could put objects to¬ paper arms reach out and appropriate the guitar to
gether and make a photograph of them. I have kept itself. Once inserted into the stagelike context of
one of them, and by the force of his vision it was Picasso’s studio, the literalness of the guitar is put
not necessary that he paint the picture. To have in question; it seems to resemble itself, to become
brought the objects together already changed them a naturalistic mode of representation in opposition
to other things, not to another picture but to some¬ to the nearby Cubist geometric drawing, much like
thing else, to things as Picasso saw them.”46 the naturalistic details that appeared in Picasso
An example of this is an assemblage from 1913 and Braque’s most hermetic paintings during 1910
(fig. 61), an invention of great irony and wit, that in to early 1912. The guitar is also reversed, a posi¬
its original form seems to have dispensed with the tion that renders it nonfunctional and suggests that
enclosing borders of a frame altogether. The work it is a reflection or reproduction of itself, rather
comprised a drawing on sized paper, hung like a than a uniquely existing object. Picasso’s manipula¬
backdrop against Picasso’s studio wall. The draw¬ tion of the guitar and other objects in this assem¬
ing represented a partially masked harlequin, with blage drives a wedge between the literal identity of
arms and hands cut out of newspaper and attached these objects and our perception of them, thus
with pins and string to a real guitar, suspended making things into signs.48 The guitar and table,
from the ceiling. There is also a real table, much then, can be read as representations of Picasso’s
like the tables in Picasso’s still lifes of this period, own contemporary still lifes but also as an ironic
with the familiar bottle, cup, pipe, and newspaper, comment on their aspiration to the status of the
all in close proximity to the wall. The guitar, in par¬ real.
ticular, seems remarkably whole and physically The image of a guitarist holding a reversed guitar
present compared with the fragmentary, indeed, may also refer to earlier representations in the his¬
unfinished drawing or with the constructed Violin tory of art, particularly Edouard Manet’s The Span¬
ish Singer of 1860 (fig. 62).49 Manet’s critics had
Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 80

61. Pablo Picasso, Assemblage with Guitar Player, 1913,

photograph of an assemblage in Picasso’s studio. No
longer extant as reproduced.
 Table and Tableau in Picasso's Collages 81

observed that the guitar in The Spanish Singer,

strung for a right-handed player, was reversed and,
further, that the positions of the guitarist’s hands
indicated he did not know how to play this instru¬
ment. Picasso may have been initially attracted to
Manet’s painting because of its Spanish associa¬
tions, but if it was a precedent for his assemblage,
it seems to have been primarily for the “mistakes”
noted by Manet’s contemporaries.50 Given Picasso’s
own effort to disrupt spatial coherence, it is not
surprising that he would have been interested in
Manet or that he might choose to refer to just
those features of Manet’s painting that critics had
found most disturbing. What would those critics
have said of the chords played by the three-fin¬
gered newspaper hands of Picasso’s harlequin? And
of the guitar and table, which are too small in rela¬
tion to the larger-than-life-size drawing on the
backdrop? Or of the musician, who appears to have
legs incapable of supporting him: made of paper
and tacked to the support, they have been allowed
to slide limply under the table? Finally, Picasso’s
guitarist, like Manet’s, is depicted in costume. In
Manet’s painting, the guitarist’s costume, some¬
thing of a pastiche, calls attention to the fact that
Manet painted a model posed in his studio.51 Picas¬
so’s assemblage makes the studio setting an even
more obvious feature of the work’s presentation.52
By transforming the objects in his assemblage
into signs of prior representations, Picasso re¬
versed the normal relation of representation to
model, a relation he reversed once again by taking
62. Edouard Manet, The Spanish Singer, 1860, oil on the photograph, thereby introducing a frame and
canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gift of subjecting these objects to “the force of his vi¬
William Church Osborn, 1949. sion.”53 The spectator’s uncertainty regarding the
status of these objects arises only in the absence of
this frame, with the merger of pictorial, stagelike,
and real-life space that existed in the original stu¬
dio setting. In that setting it might have been
possible to regard the guitar and table as real, po¬
tentially functional objects. If, however, we intro¬
duce a kind of closure or frame, as the photograph
does, these objects appear as elements of a prede¬
termined system of formal oppositions, as figures
Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 82

63. Pablo Picasso, Glass, Die and

Newspaper, spring 1914, painted
wood and tin. Musee Picasso,
Paris. Photo R.M.N.

of the real, rendered temporarily nonfunctional

through Picasso's manipulations and our own con¬
stitutive activity as spectators.
Most of Picasso’s subsequent collages and con¬
structions introduce the frame as a border to be
parodied or transgressed. In Glass, Die and News¬
paper, of spring 1914 (fig. 63), for example, cut and
twisted sections of a milk tin, crudely painted to
resemble a glass and fragment of newspaper, pro¬
ject from the bounded plane of the vertical tableau,
as if to signal a desire to attain three-dimensional
objecthood. Again the frame plays an integral role
in establishing this play between illusory and real
depth, which in turn threatens to elide the distinc¬
tion between painting and sculpture.
In Glass and Bottle of Bass, also of spring 1914
(fig. 64), Picasso created a mock frame by pasting a
wallpaper border to the four sides of his picture.
 Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 83

imiiiimniiutfntu

64. Pablo Picasso, Glass and Bottle of Bass, spring 1914

pasted paper and charcoal on cardboard. Private
Collection.
Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 84

But this frame fails to function convincingly be¬

cause the paper has been very crudely cut and
glued (scissor marks and overlapping are visible),
the orientation of the pattern alternates around the
four edges, and most crucially, a section is missing
from the upper right corner. Picasso filled this gap
with a frame drawn in pencil directly onto the
cardboard ground, without, however, making any
attempt to imitate the wallpaper pattern. Further
emphasizing the difference of this hand-drawn sec¬
tion from the wallpaper frame, Picasso made it cast
an illusionistic shadow to the right, as if only the
drawn frame had volumetric presence. Yet, because
of its isolated and fragmentary character, the
shadow cannot be confused with a real shadow and
thus calls attention to itself as an illusion. The
function of the frame as an enclosing border is also
negated by the extension of the cardboard ground
beyond the perimeter marked by the (inner) frame,
causing the literal and framed edges of the collage
to diverge. The wallpaper border thus appears as a
(badly rendered) picture of a frame. The small bit
of paper bearing Picasso’s name is similarly para¬
doxical. It functions in relation to this picture both
as a literal nameplate of the type (if not the mate¬
rial) frequently found in museums and as an ironic
imitation of such identifying labels.
Within the wallpaper frame of Glass and Bottle of
Bass, Picasso created a picture of a still life table /
tableau hanging on a wallpapered wall. A photo¬
graph of Kahnweiler’s apartment, taken about this
time, provides evidence that the Cubist dealer hung
works by Picasso and other artists on walls cov¬
ered with striped wallpaper that closely resembles
the wallpaper background in this collage (fig. 65).
Thus Picasso’s picturing of the prevailing modes of
presentation of works of art (including his collages)
includes label, frame, and wall. Ironically, a later
reference to how works of art are sold was added
to Glass and Bottle of Bass in the form of the small
blue sticker with the number 354 from one of the
Kahnweiler sales of the early 1920s.
In Still Life (The Snack) (fig. 66), also from the
spring of 1914, two alternate frames are intro-
 Table and Tableau in Picasso's Collages 85

65. Photograph of Daniel-Henry and Lucy Kahnweiler in

their apartment, 1913. Photo: Galerie Louise Leiris,
Paris.

66. Pablo Picasso, Still Life {The Snack), spring 1914,

painted wood and fringe. The Tate Gallery, London.
 Table and Tableau in Picasso’s Collages 86

duced: the beveled fragment of wood suggesting which individual terms have no essential meaning
both picture frame and chair rail and the decora¬ but only differential values, the functional identity
tive golden fringe denoting the table edge. Neither of opposed terms can be revealed.
frame succeeds in establishing a definitive bound¬ No interpretation can be regarded as stable or
ary for the work or even in claiming precedence as fixed, and Picasso plays out the consequences of
its governing paradigm. Yet the movement away this notion in his collages and constructions with
from a framed, literally flat and figuratively trans¬ great wit. Binary oppositions are continually as¬
parent field is restricted, the context paradoxical serted, then negated, only to reappear in displaced
but clearly defined. The literal is consistently signi¬ form. Yet Picasso never displaces the system of op¬
fied as such within a representational system in positions itself. This play of oppositions eventually
which it opposes the figurative, and this opposition assumes the traditional role of the frame itself, to
is enhanced by the simplicity and harmony of determine which elements belong to the work and
Picasso’s composition. The naturalistic treatment which do not. In Picasso’s Cubist collages, con¬
of the bread and sausage, which rest on the table structions, and assemblages, unity is no longer pri¬
surface, for example, contrasts with the formal and marily a question of subject matter, material, or
partially fragmented construction of the Cubist style—although these continue to be important fac¬
glass. The glass, moreover, is nailed to the vertical tors in the game. Rather, unity has become a ques¬
picture plane and hovers, ironically, just above the tion of oppositional formal structures perceived by
table. Through this inventive device, Picasso estab¬ the artist / spectator and is therefore context-de¬
lished an opposition between the bread and sau¬ pendent and subject to change.
sage, which behave like literal objects subject to
gravity and thus belonging to the real world of the The Table and the Tableau
cafe table, and the glass, which is suspended (hung Throughout this analysis of Picasso’s collages
like a picture) from the alternate ground of the ta¬ and constructions, the relation of the table, as a
bleau. These two apparently exclusive worlds col¬ sign of the modernist aspiration for the literal ob¬
lide to form a single, compelling scene that once ject, to the tableau, as a sign of traditional illusion,
again undermines as it establishes the opposition remains fundamental. Andre Lhote tells us that “on
of table and tableau. For with a shift of focus, the this new theme, Picasso and Braque embroidered
glass appears as a literal projection from the flat the most delicate and the most clever arabesques.
plane of the tableau, while the bread and sausage They strove to assimilate the table to the ta¬
are revealed as being made of rather sloppily bleau.”55 And according to Kahnweiler, the painters
painted wood. In addition, the table top is tilted up¬ themselves discussed the notion of the tableau-
ward, so that it too proves to be subject to the de¬ objet a great deal: “The Cubists, following in the
formations of perspective.54 And this means that footsteps of Cezanne, always insisted on the
the cheese and sausage (like the glass) must be independent existence of the work of art. They
nailed in place. In the end, what is affirmed is the talked about le tableau-objet,’ an object which
interchangeability of the terms literal and figura¬ could be put anywhere. . .. The Cubist poets used
tive—that is, the way in which, in a system in also to talk of ‘le poeme-objet’."56
 Table and Tableau in Picasso's Collages 87

Given the well-known enjoyment of puns and strated that the material literalness of the object it¬
other paradoxes (both linguistic and pictorial) in self was constituted within a system of oppositions,
the circle of painters and poets sometimes called just as the by-then discredited transparency of the
“la bande a Picasso,” their discussions may have picture plane had been constituted as a fiction in
led to an interest in the semantic possibilities con¬ opposition to the world outside the frame. As if
tained in the word tableau. This word, which de¬ motivated by a Nietzschean project of radical
rives from the Latin tabula,51 for wooden board or doubt, Picasso seemed to test each new claim for
plank, refers by extension to table as well as to artistic authenticity, or realism, in order to reveal
other smooth, flat surfaces available for inscription. its conventional basis.
By the thirteenth century in France, tableau signi¬ Picasso’s strategy for accomplishing this was to
fied a painting on a panel of wood, and eventually, displace the prevailing opposition of the tableau
with the rise of the aesthetic view of art in the and the tableau-objet by turning to a new para¬
eighteenth century, the self-sufficient, portable ea¬ digm, which may also be derived from the tabula.
sel painting.58 Thus tabula has historically denoted This was the notion of the work of art as a table a
both tables and paintings. Perhaps the common or¬ jouer, a gaming table. Thus conceived, the work of
igin of table and tableau in the tabula became an art became a conventionalized field of representa¬
enabling insight for Picasso, one that inspired him tion, open to the play of paradox, conflicting inter¬
to seek a reciprocity or hidden identity in objects pretations, and the collision of multiple (high and
that previously had seemed to be contradictory in low, pictorial and verbal) cultural codes. The frag¬
nature. It is this view of the paradoxical identity of mentation and dispersal of forms in Picasso’s Cub¬
the work of art as potentially both table and ta¬ ism issued from this view of artistic language as
bleau (whether derived from visual or verbal analy¬ essentially constructed and arbitrary, like the rules
sis or both) that allowed Picasso to play a game of of a game. Once a motivated relation of pictorial
infinite substitution and reversal within the opposi¬ form to referent had been rejected, Picasso was
tion of these terms / objects, as it had been con¬ able to abandon the related fictions of univocal,
structed by his contemporaries. This formal play transparent meaning (realism) and an organic or
reveals a critique of the call for the tableau-objet, perceptual form of pictorial unity. Nor do Picasso’s
insofar as it might be construed as making a new collages and constructions affirm an experience of
claim for the transparency of the signifier, or real¬ unified selfhood for the viewer who becomes en¬
ism, as Picasso’s contemporaries often called it. gaged in the game of interpretation. The viewer
In inventing Cubist collage, however, Picasso put (player) cannot hold the perceptually alternating
in question many of the fundamental assumptions planes of the table and tableau in mind at once,
of his Symbolist predecessors and, indeed, contem¬ just as he or she cannot read the pictorial forms
poraries. His collage works undermined not only and the texts of the newspaper clippings at once.
the conventional fictions of the classical tableau, Picasso’s collages call for a continuously shifting
but also those of the new, avant-garde tableau-ob¬ interpretive strategy as well as for a shifting visual
jet. By inscribing both paradigms in a paradoxical focus, and this must take place over time. This pro¬
play of identity and difference, Picasso demon¬ cess leads to an accretion of meanings but rarely
 Table and Tableau in Picasso's Collages

to the sense that one has resolved the contradic¬

tions or paradoxes presented by the work. The
question of pictorial unity itself is thus displaced
from the collage to the experience of the viewer,
where it is suspended and dispersed in the time of
interpretive analysis, like a series of moves in a
board game. Picasso himself assumes the role of 67. Pablo Picasso, Head of a Man, 1913, oil, charcoal,
the master player / dissembler who invites the ink, and crayon on sized paper. Richard S. Zeisler
viewer into the scene of play. Like Picasso’s many Collection, New York.
Blue and Rose period self-portraits in the guise of a
harlequin, the harlequin in the Assemblage with
Guitar Player—which the artist preserved as an in¬
dependent work after dismantling his assemblage—
may be interpreted as a self-portrait (fig. 67). Ironi¬
cally, the harlequin is partially unmasked; two
planes bearing the schematic marking of the ear (a
double curve) and the tangential lines of the eye¬
brows and nose fan out to the left. But the self
thereby revealed is shown to consist only in an¬
other schematic representation (a vertical line for a
nose and two dots for eyes), as if the self for
Picasso were a layering of masks, of paperlike sur¬
faces without inferiority or depth.
The work of art considered as a table a jouer
also contributes to our understanding of the role of
Picasso’s subject matter during this period. Picasso
repeatedly turned to still lifes—and especially the
cafe table—not because the subject could be re¬
garded as a mere pretext for formal innovation but
in part because of its traditional association with
realism, including trompe l’oeil painting. Thus Pi¬
casso was able to subvert the notion of realism
from within the very genre most frequently con¬
cerned with visual description and the actuality of
the referent. Additionally, many of the objects fa¬
miliar to Picasso’s cafe tables—musical instru¬
ments, cards, dice, wine, cigarettes, pipes,
wineglasses, even the fragmented word “jou”—
evoke popular scenes of play and lighthearted en¬
joyment.59 As Picasso told his friend from the
Bateau-Lavoir days, the poet and painter Andrd
Warnod in 1945, “The studio of a painter should be
a laboratory. There, one does not make art in the
manner of an ape, one invents. Painting is a play of
the spirit.”60
Table and Tableau in Picasso's Collages 89
Chapter 4

Conception

and

Vision

in the

Collages of

Braque

and Gris
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 91

Conception and vision: by means of this apparently gave Burgess as a record of the painting (R 3)
simple opposition early critics and theorists of shows three aspects of a single woman, as if a sin¬
Cubism sought to explain the unprecedented de¬ gle perceptual view provided inadequate knowl¬
partures from naturalism that characterized the edge or conceptual possession. Only in the Large
new style in painting. In so doing, these theorists Nude of spring 1908 (R 5) did Braque attempt to
drew on one of the most fundamental antinomies combine multiple views of a woman into a single
in the history of art. The opposition between an art figure, giving the viewer more of the buttocks and
based on conceptual interpretation and an art back than would normally be available to vision.
based on more purely visual data had been This opposition between conceptual knowledge
adopted as early as the sixteenth century to define and perception suggested a further opposition be¬
the differences between northern and southern tween enduring truths and merely momentary and
Renaissance styles in Italy as well as the more gen¬ superficial sensations. That such explanations were
eral differences between the Italian and Dutch tra¬ already in circulation as early as 1910 can be seen
ditions. More recently, the Symbolists had argued from the sarcasm of a relatively hostile critic such
that theirs was an art of ideas, in contrast to as Leon VVerth, who claimed that he too “could in¬
Impressionism, which they believed had remained vent a few definitive phrases on the art that must
mired in the minute transcription of mere sensa¬ give the structure of things and must not confine it¬
tions. At stake in this recurring opposition was the self to catching in a vague tremor the appearance
claim that by seeking to represent abstract con¬ and emotion of the moment, the eye’s whim.”2
cepts, or the ideal, artists did more than record or Not until early 1912, however, did Jacques
copy what they could see. In the process of ab¬ Riviere fully articulate the conception / vision
straction, essential structures were distilled from antinomy, in an important essay titled “Present
accidental details to reveal truths that lay beneath Tendencies in Painting.” Riviere had seen the as-
the surface. Ultimately, it was asserted, the imagi¬ yet-unpublished text of Gleizes and Metzinger’s
nation triumphed over the hand, and the artist be¬ forthcoming book Du Cubisme and had felt the
came a creator rather than a craftsman. need to assist these artists in clarifying their aims.
Similar arguments were made in defense of the Most notable is his analysis (and critique) of Cubist
Cubists by artists and critics alike. Georges Braque style as a means of achieving a conceptual or
himself made one of the earliest known statements essential representation of things “as they are.”
on this subject in early 1908 to an American inter¬ According to Riviere,
viewer, Gelett Burgess. Referring to a painting he the true purpose of painting is to represent ob¬
had exhibited at the Salon des Independants under jects as they really are; that is to say, differently
the title Woman, Braque asserted, “To portray from the way we see them. It tends always to
every physical aspect of such a subject required give us their sensible essence, their presence;
three figures, much as the representation of a this is why the image it forms does not resemble
house requires a plan, an elevation and a sec¬ their appearance. . . .
tion. ... I want to expose the Absolute, and not Let us now try to determine more precisely
merely the factitious woman.”1 The drawing Braque what sorts of transformation the painter must
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 92

impose on objects as he sees them in order to Cubists was not much better.6 Already a gap be¬
express them as they are. These transformations tween the theory (and Riviere’s was the most co¬
are both negative and positive: he must eliminate gently formulated theory of its time) and the work
lighting and perspective, and he must replace of the artists was beginning to make itself felt.
them with other and more truly plastic values.1 The criticism of Maurice Raynal, who was at
home both in Montmartre and in Puteaux, was also
Riviere proceeded to explain that lighting and per¬
organized by the prevailing opposition of concep¬
spective must be eliminated because they had the
tion and vision. In August of 1912, shortly before
pernicious effect of altering the true or absolute
the opening of the Section d'Or exhibition, in which
form of objects according to a merely accidental
(momentary, particular) set of conditions. Rather for the first time a collage was exhibited to the

than serve as a means of revelation, as was com¬ public, Raynal declared,

monly believed, “lighting prevents things from ap¬ The quest for truth has to be undertaken not
pearing as they are.”4 The use of perspective was merely with the aid of what we see, but of what
subjected to a similar critique, for here too, Riviere we conceive. But since the time of the primitives,
argued, an accidental position in space must not be painters have chosen to render what they see in
allowed to dissimulate the true form of an object: preference to what they conceive, and they have
“A book, seen in perspective, can appear like a done so forgetting that nothing was less legiti¬
slender rectangular ribbon when it is in reality a mate than external perception, nothing was
regular hexahedron. And this deformation, which is [more] in contradiction with the laws of reason
that of objects placed in the forward plane, is be¬ than visual sensation. ... In painting, if one
nign compared to the mutilations that other ob¬ wishes to approach truth, one must concentrate
jects undergo: partially masked, arbitrarily cut by only on the conceptions of the objects, for these
those that precede them in the order of depth, they alone are created without the aid of those inex¬
appear deformed, ridiculous, unrecognizable.”1 The haustible sources of error, the senses.7
aim of the artist, according to Riviere, was to over¬
Unlike Riviere and others, who argued that by
come the particular, partial, and indeed distorted
painting concepts artists returned to the very
views provided by traditional painting and to
origins of art, Raynal believed that the need to imi¬
achieve a total, synthetic, true representation of
tate what one sees was a primitive instinct “and, in
objects. This could be accomplished by recourse to
consequence, the antithesis of the higher aspira¬
the most revealing view of an object or to a synthe¬
tions of the mind.”8 Only an art of conception could
sis of views. The artists in whom Riviere placed
provide a means of augmenting objective knowl¬
most faith for the future realization of his project
edge. Yet Raynal also adhered to the Symbolist
for a new conceptual art were Derain, Dufy, La
view that the process of conceptualization would
Fresnaye, Dunoyer de Segonzac, and above all,
reveal the personality of the artist: “Each artist, ac¬
Andre Lhote. Unfortunately, “Picasso, who for a
cording to his temperament and his individual
moment seemed near to possessing genius, strayed
ideas of painting, will give the lines the directions
into occult researches where it is impossible to fol¬
that he, in his independent judgement, considers
low him,” and the work of Braque and the Puteaux
necessary. It is in this part of the work that the art-
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 93

ist’s personality will be affirmed most clearly.”9 uncouth and ill-matching materials become noble
Thus, by October 1912, when Gleizes and Metzin- because the artist confers on them his own strong
ger’s now-famous volume Du Cubisme appeared, and sensitive personality.”11 The ideal, for these
followed in the spring of 1913 by Apollinaire’s Les artists and critics, was an art in which objective
peintres cubistes, the opposition of conception and reality and subjective conception coincided in a
vision in the critical literature of the period was single, pure work of art. No one at this period
well established. Indeed, the explanatory force of seems to have questioned, however, that the goal
this formulation seemed incontestable, although in¬ of the artist should be the representation of a truth
dividuals argued about some basic assumptions.10 more noble than that provided by mere vision.
While acknowledging the necessity of rejecting imi¬ To a large extent, the critical opposition of con¬
tation, for example, Gleizes and Metzinger took is¬ ception and vision, as it was formulated by con¬
sue with Riviere’s postulate that a single true form temporary theorists and artists, has continued to
of an object existed. For these artists, there could dominate subsequent interpretations of Cubism.
be no objective knowledge of reality independent Yet, as we have seen, this framework does not pro¬
of individual sensation and perception. They ex¬ vide an adequate means of understanding the col¬
pressed their amazement that, “well-meaning lages of Picasso. In these works Picasso instituted a
critics try to explain the remarkable difference be¬ systematic play of the real and represented in
tween the forms attributed to nature and those of which the notion of truth is always undermined.
modern painting by a desire to represent things not And although Picasso’s forms seem to issue from
as they appear, but as they are. As they are! How the mind rather than from vision, this does not
are they, what are they? According to them, the ob¬ imply that an essential or true structure has been
ject possesses an absolute form, an essential form, revealed. Indeed, the juxtaposition of opposing for¬
and we should suppress chiaroscuro and tradi¬ mal elements—figure and ground, transparent and
tional perspective in order to present it. What sim¬ opaque forms, machine-printed and hand-drawn
plicity! An object has not one absolute form; it has elements—which characterizes Picasso’s work from
many. It has as many as there are planes in the do¬ 1912 to 1914 precludes such a possibility. For these
main of signification.”11 For Gleizes and Metzinger, oppositions point to the relational, diacritical na¬
the essential could be sought only within the sub¬ ture of pictorial signifiers within a given represen¬
jectivity of the artist. Apollinaire was largely in tational system, thereby negating a substantive or
agreement. He defined “authentic Cubism” as “the essential link to the signified (or to the referent in
art of depicting new wholes with formal elements the world beyond the frame).
borrowed not from the reality of vision, but from The collage practice of Braque and Gris, how¬
that of conception.”12 The secret aim of the Cubist ever, can be elucidated according to the terms of
painters, he believed, was to create pure, plastic the conception / vision dichotomy. These artists,
works of art, but like Gleizes, Metzinger, and whose attitudes in many ways remained more tra¬
Raynal, he insisted that the new “pure painting” ditional than those of Picasso, continued to be con¬
would affirm the personality of the artist. Writing in cerned with the possibility of finding a true means
defense of Picasso’s use of collage materials, for of representation. For both Braque and Gris, the
example, Apollinaire asserted that “these strange,
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 94

use of collage techniques was part of a broader at¬ begins to collapse—conception becomes indistin¬
tempt to overcome the limitations of an art based guishable from a certain kind of seeing, and seeing
on the imitation of appearances. What had to be is understood as an act of the mind. It is the col¬
rejected was the notion that copying was a valid lage practice of Braque and Gris that allows us to
artistic enterprise, and for both artists this was witness this paradoxical enactment and dissolution
most clearly exemplified by the trompe I’oeil tradi¬ of the structural antithesis between conception and
tion. Yet the solutions proposed by Braque differed vision.
in crucial ways from those of Gris. In Braque’s Indeed, Braque’s earliest papiers colies, in which
work, trompe l’oeil wallpaper is turned against it¬ the artist used primarily faux bois wallpaper in
self, in a sense, and made to stand not for visual conjunction with charcoal drawing in order to en¬
appearances but for a verifiable tactile reality. This gage the opposition of vision and conception as
corresponds to Braque’s belief that the sense of well as that of vision and touch, represent a telling
touch is more reliable than that of sight. For Gris, and highly coherent moment in his oeuvre. In his
on the other hand, collage elements are at first attempt to negate pictorial illusion, Braque drew
given a more purely negative role: they represent on two possible antinomies to vision: the concep¬
the artist’s refusal to copy images that are already tual and the tactile. If faux bois wallpaper became
flat and therefore serve to highlight the more cre¬ his preferred material in the early papiers colies, it
ative aspects of Gris’s conceptual schema. In Gris’s was because it seemed capable of signifying both
later collages, wallpaper, labels, newspapers, and the conceptual and the tactile at once. By late
so forth are put to more varied uses. This new free¬ 1913, however, Braque had begun to use a wide
dom eventually culminates in a series of highly variety of materials as collage elements, following
decorative compositions in 1914. Picasso’s practice, and the issues central to his
The interesting fact is that, despite the avowed earlier work seem to have been, at least in part,
intention of both Braque and Gris to make concep¬ abandoned.
tual works of art, in the course of their work the
distinction between conception and vision became The Certainties of Faux Bois: Braque’s Early
more and more difficult to maintain. Braque tried Papiers Colles
to represent the “simple facts of the mind” by elim¬ L’Art est fait pour troubler, la Science rassure.
inating the distorting effects of chiaroscuro and —Georges Braque, Le jour et la nuit
perspective. Yet the tactile sensations he wished to
In 1917, in his earliest recorded statement on the
substitute for visual sensations remain accessible
invention of papier colle, Braque made the surpris¬
only to vision. Gris conceived the workings of con¬
ing assertion that the pasting of faux bois paper to
ception as analogous to the operation of a prism,
his picture surface had given him a feeling of cer¬
filtering and refracting forms according to a pre-
tainty.14 This paradoxical, yet apparently nonironi-
established grid. Thus, for both artists, the purity
cal, conjunction of the term certainty and the term
of conception is represented as a form of purified
faux, which designates both that which is false and
vision. Under close scrutiny, then, the previously
that which is an imitation, requires some interpre¬
clear distinction between conception and vision
tation. According to the traditional explanation,
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 95

first proposed by Kahnweiler,15 Braque introduced originality and individual expression made the
objects from the real world into his painting in or¬ principle of imitation based on the mastery of clas¬
der to rescue the increasingly hermetic Cubism of sical conventions anathema to avant-garde artists.
1910-12 from near abstraction. This interpretation When Charles Blanc tried to reestablish the author¬
relates the use of collage materials to the earlier ity of the old categories, he did so with a revised
use of trompe l’oeil details in Analytic Cubism as a vocabulary, now opposing the “ideal” to the
device to assist the puzzled viewer in deciphering “real.”19 Whereas the ideal ran the risk of resulting
the subject matter of the work. It has also been ar¬ in lifeless abstraction, the real, like the mere copy
gued that the technique of pasting paper to the pic¬ of earlier classical theory, seemed devoid of art
torial support was a means of calling attention to itself.20
the flat, material reality of the work of art.16 Com¬ Gustave Flaubert parodied the mid-nineteenth-
pelling as these readings have been, they fail to century anxiety of copying in his posthumously
consider the specific nature of Braque’s preferred published work, Bouvard and Pecuchet. The anti-
collage material, faux bois wallpaper, and its rela¬ heroes of his novel, two former copy clerks who
tion to the overall Cubist project of subjecting con¬ have inherited a fortune, spend most of the narra¬
ventional modes of illusionistic representation to tive attempting to acquire objective and total
scrutiny and subversion. Indeed, it would seem a knowledge of the universe through a systematic
curious paradox if faux bois wallpaper, so patently study of a great many scientific and philosophical
not the thing itself but a cheap, machine-made si¬ disciplines. Admitting defeat in the end, they revert
mulacrum of wood paneling, could signify certainty to what they know best, copying. No longer certain
for Braque. And if Braque must introduce trompe even of what to copy, they fix on those familiar ob¬
l’oeil details and materials to restore a sense of re¬ jects that would later turn up in Cubist collages as
alism to his works, what then is the overall status well: “They copy papers haphazardly, everything
of representation based on resemblance in they find, tobacco pouches, old newspapers, post¬
Cubism? ers, torn books, etc. (real items and their imita¬
To begin to answer this question, one must turn tions. Typical of each category). . . . Onward!
to a wider context of art-critical discourse on the Enough speculation! Keep on copying! The page
nature and means of representation, which had must be filled. . . . There are nothing but facts—and
been in crisis since the mid-nineteenth century in phenomena. Final bliss.”21 The (inevitable) failure
France. This crisis was precipitated in large mea¬ to construct a conceptual framework for the acqui¬
sure by Romanticism’s challenge to academic sition of knowledge, it would seem, produces ob¬
norms and values in painting, which eventually sessive, mindless copying.
caused the classical distinction between an imita¬ Copying, however, insofar as it could take on the
tion and a copy to collapse.1. In early nineteenth- positive sense of artlessness, that is, of direct vi¬
century classical theory, the copy had referred to sion and a sincere unmediated response to nature,
the servile repetition of an original, whereas the became part of the rhetorical stance of many late
imitation had called for masterful translation, copy¬ nineteenth-century artists. The Impressionists, for
ing with a difference.18 By the mid-nineteenth cen¬ example, often described themselves as simply
tury in France, however, the growing emphasis on
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 96

copying what they saw, implying by this a rejection suggestion.”23 The vehemence with which all
of academic conventions. Avant-garde artists dur¬ groups derided the public for its philistine plea¬
ing this period tended to distinguish idiosyncratic, sures in eye-fooling illusion reveals a perceived
highly subjective copying from trompe l’oeil paint¬ threat to the status of the artist in the realist ex¬
ing, in which the personality of the artist was ef¬ pectations of the crowd.24 The appeal of trompe
faced. In this, they found themselves on common l’oeil seemed to lie in admiration for a skill that
ground with academic theorists. Interestingly, might be learned and that could be measured ac¬
trompe I’oeil painting, considered to be the last cording to criteria derived from everyday life. Late
word in imitation, was rejected by artists and theo¬ nineteenth- and early twentieth-century artists and
reticians in all camps during the late nineteenth theorists were unanimous in their belief that the
and early twentieth centuries in France. Trompe artist should aspire to something more lofty and
l’oeil painting was criticized by academic theorists immaterial: a work of art should reflect the inspira¬
for failing to idealize nature and for negating the tion of genius rather than the artisan’s display of
fundamental condition of art, that is, that it be per¬ craft, however magical. It is within this context,
ceived as a representation rather than as the object then, that Braque’s appropriation of trompe l’oeil
represented. According to Charles Blanc, for exam¬ techniques and effects must be examined.
ple, “Just as it is true that man is powerless to imi¬ Braque’s father and grandfather had been
tate materially inimitable nature, and that in the art peintre-decorateurs, and the artist himself had been
of the painter natural objects are introduced, not fully trained in the family metier. Braque’s decision
for what they themselves represent, but in order to to become a fine artist, therefore, reveals a new¬
represent a conception of the artist; so is it true, in found ambition to create with the mind as well as
the end, that the sign is a conventional means of with the hand. In an interview late in life, the artist
expression rather than an absolutely imitative pro¬ cited Nietzsche’s comment that “a goal is a servi¬
cess, for the final degree of imitation is precisely tude” and further remarked that his painting had
that where it no longer signifies anything.”22 always remained free of such servitude.25 In taking
Trompe l’oeil was also rejected by the Naturalists this stance, Braque went so far as to deny even the
for suppressing the temperament of the artist, and intention to make paintings: "If I had an intention,
by the Symbolists for adhering to mere concrete it was to realize myself from day to day. In realizing
appearances and thereby denying the resources of myself, it turned out that what 1 make resembles a
allusion and suggestion. Albert Aurier, for example, picture. Going along, I continued, voila.”26 In spite
in calling for an “ideistic” art of the symbol, specifi¬ of this rejection of the goal-oriented activity (and
cally rejected the material realism of trompe l’oeil: status) of the artisan, Braque retained a great re¬
“The artist, of necessity, will have the task of care¬ spect for materials and techniques in his work, as
fully avoiding this antinomy of all art: the concrete many critics have noted.27 According to Salmon,
truth, the illusionism of trompe l’oeil, so that his during one of the Cubists’ frequent discussions on
picture will not give the false impression of nature the subject of the inimitable in art, Braque amused
which would act upon the spectator like nature his companions with tales of housepainters’ tricks
herself, that is to say, without the possibility of of the trade, especially their ability to “extract large
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 97

amounts of marble and precious wood from imagi¬ niques can be interpreted as attempts to go beyond
nary quarries and forests.”28 Although the craft of the perceived limitation of Impressionism to the
the house decorators was praised, Salmon empha¬ transcription of mere visual sensation.
sized the fact that “even so, nobody thought of imi¬ The Impressionists, in their search for a means
tating these skilful artisans.”29 It was considered of achieving a direct, unmediated response to na¬
preferable “to imitate the imitation,” as Picasso had ture, had defined pictorial truth in terms of the
done when he used the housepainter’s comb to ideal of naive vision. This ideal corresponded to
translate fake wood grain into the wavy hair and the traditional metaphor according to which the
mustache of a man in his portrait titled The Poet revelation of truth was analogous to the experience
(D / R 499).30 of seeing. Paradoxically, such seeing could be
Braque, too, in his early papiers colles strove to translated into painting only by the spontaneous,
turn the technique of trompe l’oeil against itself, to gestural mark of the artist. The immediacy of the
make an art of illusion stand for an art of nonillu¬ artist’s touch, conceived as an indexical marking of
sion, indeed, for an art of tactile presence. Like an individual’s unique presence and response to
many of his contemporaries, Braque equated imita¬ nature, thus served as a sign for the immediacy of
tion with its most extreme manifestation, trompe the artist’s vision. By privileging vision over the
l’oeil. “Verisimilitude,” he asserted, “is nothing other senses, the Impressionists also created a new
but trompe l’oeil.”31 Furthermore, for Braque truth form of pictorial unity. Color and line were welded
and verisimilitude were incompatible. According into a single technique of sketchlike drawing, so
to the artist, “One has to choose: something cannot that forms and contours emerged only as the result
be simultaneously true [vrai] and verisimilar of color relationships. In the effort to render the ef¬
[vraisemblable].”32 Thus, for trompe l’oeil to signify fect of immediately perceived visual sensations, the
a kind of truth, resemblance had to be emptied of depicted scene tended to flatten into a field of
the illusory and merely accidental properties of vi¬ shimmering color, which denied the viewer a sense
sion. For verisimilitude to be an instrument of cer¬ of the tactile presence of objects. Ideally, specta¬
tainty, it had to become a sign for an empirically tors of Impressionist art were invited to contem¬
verifiable, tactile experience of the world. plate the spectacle before them in a moment of
This ideal must also be seen as part of Braque’s heightened stillness but not to imagine any form of
aim to reverse the values of Impressionism, which physical interaction with the work. For Braque,
had privileged vision over touch. According to his however, to have a purely visual relationship to the
own account, Braque spent his childhood in Le world was to emulate the tourist; in contrast, he
Havre “en pleine atmosphere impressionniste.”33 By aspired to emulate the artilleryman: “Visual space
the early twentieth century, Impressionism had be¬ separates objects from each other. Tactile space
come the dominant style in the salons and thus separates us from objects. The tourist looks at the
provided young, ambitious artists with a set of pic¬ site. The artilleryman hits the target (the trajectory
torial norms against which they might test their is the prolongation of his arm.)”34
own ideas. Many of the innovations of early Cubism Reacting against Impressionist (and Neo-lmpres-
and indeed Braque’s experiments with collage tech¬ sionist) norms in his early Cubist paintings such as
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 98

Houses at L'Estaque of 1908 (R 14), Braque rejected vited me to look for an even closer, palpable
a purely optical mode of representation and sought contact.”38
instead an art concerned with volume and the tan¬ Thus Braque attempted to reverse the late nine¬
gible space between objects. In an interview with teenth-century hierarchy which privileged vision
Jacques Lassaigne, the artist recalled that “soon I over touch as a mode of knowledge.39 By the sum¬
even inverted perspective, the pyramid of forms, so mer of 1912 he began to mix sand, metal shavings,
that they might come towards me, so that they and other substances with his paint as a device to
might reach the spectator.”35 Here the important call attention to the materiality of the canvas sur¬
point is that Braque sought to establish a new face and, in some instances, as a means of creating
physical relation between the spectator and the literal rather than illusionistic depth upon it. In the
work of art. After a series of nearly monochromatic painting The Fruitdish (fig. 4), which probably im¬
landscapes, Braque turned his attention increas¬ mediately preceded Braque’s first papier colle, the
ingly to still lifes, associating this genre with the artist used sand in a remarkably literal fashion to
depiction of objects that are within reach of the establish slight relief on the highlighted area of
hand. According to the artist, “Then I began to each grape, but he also scattered it in other areas.
make above all still lifes, because in nature there is The imitation wood grain wallpaper Braque incor¬
a tactile space, I would say almost a manual space. porated into his earliest papier colle, Fruit Dish and
Moreover, I have written: ‘When a still life is no Glass (fig. 2), in September 1912 functioned simi¬
longer within reach of the hand, it ceases to be a larly, as a sign for the tactile, material quality of
still life.’ . . . For me this corresponded to the de¬ wood, although now independently of any shape or
sire that I have always had to touch the thing and position in space this wood might have. The oblong
not only to see it.”36 Braque’s notion of the tactile, fragments of wallpaper are carefully positioned at
then, includes not only the material properties of the extremities of Braque’s composition, where
objects, but the activity of the artist or spectator they signify the wood grain paneling of the wall be¬
who must reach out to them through a materialized hind the still life as well as the drawer of the table
experience of space: "The trajectory is the prolon¬ upon which the still life rests. Yet the pieces of
gation of the arm.” This activity of reaching out to paper that suggest the paneling of the back wall
the object, of touching it, is fully indexical, imply¬ refuse to remain in the distance, since they are
ing both physical contact and knowledge. In con¬ plainly visible as flat elements lying on top of the
trast, vision could only suggest the data of the paper support and on the same forward plane as
third dimension inferentially.37 Braque traced his the drawer."’ For Braque, the wood grain paper un¬
interest in the still life and in the tactile qualities of dermines spatial relations, can be both figure and
space itself to his earlier practice of painting land¬ ground at once, and is conceived as a sign for ma¬
scapes en plein air: “Moreover, 1 worked after na¬ terial substance independently of its location in
ture. This is even what directed me towards the space. Later Braque recalled, “It was this very
still life. There I found a more objective element strong taste for material itself that led me to con¬
than landscape. The discovery of the tactile space sider the possibilities of material. 1 wanted to make
that put my arm in motion before the landscape in¬ of touch a form of material.”41
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 99

In addition, the use of sand, metal shavings, saw¬ grain wallpaper, limited to a few simple, oblong
dust, and faux bois paper allowed Braque to make fragments, opposes the comparatively more ethe¬
color appear as an effect of material substance, real, fading lines of charcoal drawing. One can still
rather than as an accidental effect of light. Freed detect the remnants of traditional perspectival dim¬
from a previously subordinate role within a unified inution and modeling in the scaffolding of charcoal
system of representation, texture and color now drawing, but the Renaissance system of representa¬
functioned independently of other pictorial signi- tion now appears in a state of disarray. Arbitrarily
fiers. In an interview with Dora Vallier, the artist fragmented contours and contradictory areas of
explained, “I saw how much color depends on ma¬ modeling no longer form a coherent or rationalized
terial. Take an example: dip two pieces of white view of nature. Significantly, in Still Life with Violin
cloth, but of different material, in the same pig¬ Braque chose to varnish the wood grain paper,
ment; their color will be different. It goes without thereby heightening its sheen (as if it were a real
saying that this dependence, which links color and piece of wood) and emphasizing its material pres¬
material, is even more perceptible in painting. And ence in relation to the more fragile drawing.44
what pleased me very much was precisely this ‘ma¬ When in 1913 Braque began to explore the spa¬
teriality’ that 1 got from the different materials that tial relations between collage elements, he insisted
I introduced into my pictures.”42 Braque’s aim in on establishing these relations in an empirical fash¬
linking color and material was to discover the true ion. In Still Life with Tenora (fig. 70), for example,
local color of each material, independently of light he created literal relations in depth through simple
and form. As the artist put it, “Color acts simulta¬ overlapping, as if other, more visual means could
neously with form, but has nothing to do with it.”43 provide only unreliable data.45 The charcoal draw¬
The fanciful and often arbitrary use of color in Pi¬ ing, weaving its way in and out of the framework of
casso’s early collages reveals the difference of his overlapping papers, once again counters the sim¬
approach from that of Braque. Because he was not plicity of these relations with an elusive rendering
interested in local color, Picasso’s guitars and vio¬ of forms that seem to hover in space and to pass
lins are as likely to be constructed of variously col¬ through and across the firmly anchored paper rec¬
ored papers, musical scores, flowered wallpaper, or tangles. Here, however, we encounter one of the
newspaper as of faux bois wallpaper. Guitar and paradoxes of Braque’s early papier colle practice,
Wineglass of late 1912 (fig. 7), which includes faux for in fragmenting his drawing into bits of chiar¬
bois paper along with other colored and printed oscuro and perspective, Braque has transformed
papers, and Bar Table with Guitar of spring 1913 these classical devices for representing the data of
(fig. 68) are exemplary in this regard. vision into conceptual emblems. In Black and
Braque’s early papiers colies also tend to be far White Collage (fig. 71), overlapping itself becomes
simpler than those of Picasso, perhaps in order to a matter of illusion, the drawing once again threat¬
allow the difference between the signs of vision and ening to subvert a sure sense of figure and ground.
touch to be clearly established. In papiers colles By deploying form, color, and line as indepen¬
such as Still Life BACH (fig. 41) and Still Life with dent elements, Braque negated the Impressionist
Violin (fig. 69), both of 1912, the colored wood mode of perceiving form and line as the effects of
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 100

68. Pablo Picasso, Bar Table with Guitar, spring

1913, chalk and pasted and pinned papers. Private
collection.
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 101

ISSfm mm

l' ;i fwM
ttmm
ffif
Wl
miifi'M
ifjl
■

mStkm
mu
m
f i

69. Georges Braque, Still Life with Violin, 1912, pasted

paper and charcoal on paper. Yale University Art
Gallery. The Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Susan Vanderpoel
Clark, and Edith M. K. Wetmore Funds.

70. Georges Braque, Still Life with Tenora, 1913, pasted

paper and charcoal on paper. Collection, The Museum
of Modern Art, New York. Nelson A. Rockefeller
Bequest.
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 102

juxtaposed colors. In so doing, he also severed the

essential unity of color and form posited by Ma¬
tisse, who believed these pictorial elements neces¬
sarily modified and influenced each other in the
viewer’s perception of the whole. Matisse explained
this notion, which had been of principal impor¬
tance in the development of Fauvism, to Teriade in
the following terms: “Here are the ideas of that
time: Construction by colored surfaces. Search for
intensity of color, subject matter being unimpor¬
tant. Reaction against the diffusion of local tone in
light. Light is not suppressed, but is expressed by a
harmony of intensely colored surfaces. ... To be
noted: the color was proportioned to the form.
Form was modified, according to the reaction of
the adjacent areas of color. For expression comes
from the colored surface which the spectator per¬
ceives as a whole.”46 Braque, however, chose not to
emphasize the subjective nature of the encounter
between self and world, central to late nineteenth-
century aesthetics and still the motivating force of
Fauvism. Rather than strive to establish a single ef¬
fect and thereby affirm the unity of the perceiving
subject, Braque conceived his pictorial elements as
disjunctive signs which constitute an object
through accretion. And, as we have seen, these
signs were then set into opposition. Most typically,
the literal flatness and uninflected color of the faux
71. Georges Braque, Black and White Collage, 1913, bois paper contradict the fragmentary indications
pasted paper, charcoal and white chalk on paper. Yale
of shape and volume provided by the monochro¬
University Art Gallery, Gift of Collection Socidte
matic drawing. At times, as exemplified by Still Life
Anonyme.
with Guitar (fig. 72), the drawing proceeds as if on
a unified, transparent ground, ignoring the bound¬
aries of the faux bois paper. At other times, it en¬
gages in a play of mutual interference with the
fragments of wallpaper, as when the flat, pasted pa¬
per appears to cast a shadow at its lower edge.
Braque’s reversal, in his early papiers colies, of
the prevailing Impressionist hierarchy of the senses
corresponds to a related shift in the definition and
valuation of pictorial deformation. Late nineteenth-
century artists and critics had placed a positive
value on what they called deformation, seeing in
the very awkwardness of an artist’s drawing or
facture the sign of a strong subjective response
The Collages of Braque and Gris 103

72. Georges Braque, Still Life with Guitar, 1912,

pasted paper and charcoal on paper. Jucker
Collection, Milan.
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 104

to nature. It was in the artist’s deformations or trompe 1’oeil, the faux bois paper seemed immune
departures from academic norms of drawing, spa¬ to the distorting power of vision. It made its effect
tial construction, and chiaroscuro that his or her through the “simplicity of the facts” and for Braque
originality was most easily detected. By the early seemed to be a creation of the mind.49
twentieth century, however, the meaning of defor¬ In this context, the principle of resemblance, of
mation had undergone a marked shift, which en¬ iconic representation exemplified in the bits of
tailed a concomitant negative valuation. For early trompe l’oeil wallpaper, takes on a new meaning.
Cubist theorists, deformation was understood as These fragments of wallpaper are no longer parts
the inevitable by-product of the depiction of depth of an organic whole, and therefore resist the view¬
on a flat surface. Thus perspective, a representa¬ er’s impulse to read them as naturally motivated
tional system devised to reproduce the effects of signs. Resemblance, now a product of cheap, tech¬
vision, came to be considered a distortion from the nical processes, seems to become a conventional
known, absolute shape of an object. As Braque put sign by its very origin in mechanical reproduction.
it, “The senses deform, the mind forms.”47 Where Here, where one might expect a display of skill, the
vision no longer seemed to give access to truth, artist’s hand is nearly absent, given only the fairly
tactile sensations assumed the privileged role of perfunctory task of cutting and positioning the pa¬
providing reliable information about things in the per. The faux bois paper, moreover, is merely one
world. Braque’s goal seems to have been to dis¬ kind of sign among others, and the possibility or
cover a means of representation that would avoid impossibility of synthesizing all the information
the deformations of perspectival illusion, while provided devolves onto the viewer. As resemblance
conveying a strong sense of the material presence is rendered problematic, the spectator is invited to
of objects. The fragments of trompe l’oeil wallpaper test the data of vision by recourse to the sense of
he glued to his paper supports eventually came to touch. As Braque once stated, “It is not enough to
serve this purpose in two ways. First, as flat, repre¬ make someone see what one has painted, one must
sentational elements they were not subject to per¬ also make him touch it.”50 Ironically, this was the
spectival deformation and in fact established a firm traditional means of testing trompe l’oeil painting
counterpoint to the depiction of depth in other as welF But where a conventionally unified trompe
areas of the work. In this they resembled the letters l’oeil painting might fool a spectator into reacting
Braque had introduced into his painting in 1911, of to the depicted scene as if it were real, the viewer
which he said, “They were forms that could not be of a Braque papier colle will test it to verify which
deformed because, being flat, the letters were out¬ of two contradictory systems of illusion corre¬
side of space and their presence in the painting, by sponds to the facts. Unlike the legendary grapes
contrast, permitted one to distinguish the objects painted by Zeuxis, which so easily tricked a bird
that were situated in space from those that were into pecking at them, the hand-drawn, crudely
outside of space.”48 Second, the faux bois paper modeled grapes in Braque’s first papier colle, the
represented the color and texture of wood as ob¬ Fruitdish and Glass (fig. 2), must compete with the
jectively given statements, unmodified by acciden¬ trompe I'oeil effects of mass-produced wallpaper.
tal effects of light. Thus, although still a form of Ultimately, divergent modes of imitation cast
imitation itself into doubt, and the spectator who
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 105

reaches out to this work will discover that the par¬ vas. Thus they retain the look of painting and, what
adox with which we began has been not resolved, is more, address the viewer in the guise of tradi¬
but only heightened. The status of the faux bois pa¬ tional still life allegories; a crudely illusionistic cur¬
per remains uncertain: is it true because it evades tain representing the artifices of realism is drawn
the distortions of perspective and the accidental ef¬ to the side, as if to make available to the viewer the
fects of chiaroscuro? or false because it is, after all, knowledge that comes of vision. Yet the world re¬
only faux bois and not wood? What is compelling vealed through this classical gesture is ambiguous
in the end is this very resistance to interpretation, and contradictory, composed of fragmentary forms
this uncertainty. and shapes that have been compressed into a shal¬
low space. Two apparently incompatible worlds,
Juan Gris: Conceptual Prisms one referring to a natural, everyday mode of vision,
Here is the man who has meditated on everything the other to the Cubist mode of reordering the ele¬
modern, here is the painter who wants to conceive ments of vision according to conceptual schemas,
only new structures, whose aim is to draw or paint are thus brought into paradoxical proximity and
nothing but materially pure forms. are forced to share the same pictorial arena. If they
—Guillaume Apollinaire, Meditations esthdtiques, seem to coexist harmoniously, it is because of the
les peintres cubistes extraordinary sense of balance and symmetry Gris
achieved in organizing each composition. Nonethe¬
Juan Gris made only two collages during the fall
less, a hierarchy exists in the relationship between
of 1912, Le Lavabo (fig. 20) and The Watch (fig. 73),
the order of visual facts and the order of the artist’s
yet in these two works a great deal of what would
imagination; it is the latter which takes center
be the artist’s distinctive and highly thoughtful ap¬
stage and is presented as that which has been re¬
proach to collage can be seen. Gris had these two
vealed. As we have seen, the motif of the pulled-
complex works ready for the Section d’Or exhibi¬
back curtain and tassel rendered in mock trompe
tion sometime before 1 October 1912, so it is likely
l’oeil had already been put to similar use in several
that he had begun work on them during the sum¬
works by Picasso and Braque in 1911 and early
mer of 1912.51 The inspiration for Le Lavabo and
1912. In adapting this motif to a new pictorial con¬
The Watch, then, must be sought in the collages
text, however, Gris amplified its role as an emblem
Picasso had executed during the previous spring
of traditional illusion.53 In Le Lavabo and The
rather than in the papiers colies of Braque.52 And
Watch, the curvilinear, crudely modeled, quasi-
indeed, the literal use to which Gris put his collage
organic forms of the allegorical curtain stand in
materials in these early works is more closely re¬
stark opposition to the flattened, geometrical forms
lated to Picasso’s experiments with chair-caning
of the view thus presented. This opposition calls
and a stamp than to the contemporaneous but in¬
the viewer’s attention to the duality of vision and
dependent work of either Picasso or Braque.
conception, which emerges as the governing para¬
Gris’s first two collages can also be distinguished
digm of Gris’s art.54
from the collages Picasso and Braque were making
Of these first two collages by Gris, Le Lavabo re¬
during the fall of 1912 in that they are large, impos¬
ceived the most attention by reviewers of the Sec¬
ing works, executed for the most part in oil on can¬
tion d’Or exhibition.55 The fragments of mirror and
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 106

73. Juan Gris, The Watch, September 1912, oil and

pasted paper on canvas. Private collection.
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 107

the bits of printed paper affixed to this canvas Gustave Kahn, writing in the Mercure de France,
caused something of a sensation, as they must saw both the mirror and the bits of text as antipic¬
have been calculated to do. But their appearance torial intrusions which could only be the products
within this work was carefully considered, and con¬ of a “baroque” (strange, deformed) fantasy: “Yet if,
sequently the collage has the clarity and precision before the Cubist effort, one remains inclined to
of a logical proof. The bits of paper are labels care¬ the most favorable sympathy, it is not yet the time
fully cut out and glued to the canvas in lieu of to admire; it would be necessary, moreover, that
painted representations. As Raynal explained, it one renounced certain baroque fantasies, the inser¬
would have been a useless labor to reproduce tion of the glitter of glass in pictures, that one did
these labels since they were already flat images, not seek to make others believe that a number or a
and the artist therefore would only too easily have printed character has a pictorial value.”59
been able to copy them.56 The most expedient solu¬ The emphasis in all of the criticism of Gris’s col¬
tion was simply to appropriate the existing image, lages, favorable or not, seems to have been on the
but not without altering it in some way in order to strangeness of the artist’s thought process and of
demonstrate the transformative will of the artist. his departure from the prevailing norm of the ma¬
This reasoning accords well with the allegorical terially and visually unified work of art. The critics
presentation of the work as a whole, which seems seemed to sense that in executing these works Gris
to juxtapose the notion of trompe l’oeil, which was rejecting several of the most fundamental as¬
might be defined as a similar kind of useless copy¬ sumptions that formed the basis of the Renaissance
ing, with a clearly superior, conceptual mode of tradition. Gris had spent the months preceding the
representation. The critics, however, did not dis¬ Section d’Or exhibition joining in the theoretical
pute this point, possibly because the inclusion of discussions held in Puteaux at the home of Jacques
mirror fragments seemed more disturbing. The Villon. Many of the artists who would later exhibit
meaning of this strange intrusion from the real together at the Galerie la Boetie participated in
world was explained to the public in an anonymous these discussions, whose subjects ranged from the
notice that appeared in Gil Bias on 1 October 1912 fourth dimension and the golden section to the the¬
to announce the forthcoming Section d’Or ories of Leonardo and Alberti.60 In taking up the
exhibition: motifs of the drawn-back curtain and the mirror in
Le Lavabo, Gris probably intended to refute the
It appears that it is impossible, for a conscien¬
theories of both Leonardo and Alberti. For Alberti,
tious artist, to reproduce a mirror on a canvas. If
in arguing that painters should concern themselves
one wants to make a perfect imitation of it, this
with rendering the visual aspect of things in the
seems, in effect, actually impossible. One cannot
world, had likened the picture plane both to an
render the brilliance of a mirror, and as it re¬
open window and to the mirrorlike surface of a
flects the thousands of objects that pass in front
pool of water.61 Similarly, in A Treatise on Painting
of it, one cannot, unless one is a Futurist, repro¬
Leonardo compared the pictorial surface to a win¬
duce them all. As a result of this quite curious
dow and to a mirror.62 In Gris’s collage both meta¬
line of reasoning, the Cubist Juan Gris has de¬
phors are shown to fail: the pulled-back curtain
cided not to proceed with the use of tricks. In or¬
does not reveal a plausible simulacrum of the vi¬
der to paint a well-equipped dressing table, he
sual world, and the fragments of a real mirror point
has quite simply glued a real mirror to his
to the impossibility of treating a static pictorial
picture.57
field as if it were a medium of passive reflection.
Despite this rationale, many critics remained hos¬ On the other hand, Gris would have found a curi¬
tile to Gris’s innovation. Louis Vauxcelles de¬ ous confirmation of his ideas regarding the value of
nounced it as a facile, mechanical solution,58 and copying ready-made images in the third section of
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 108

Alberti’s Della pittura. Here the author advised art¬ out affecting the true value of the work: “You are
ists who would copy the work of others (rather right, as a matter of fact; in principle the picture
than study nature directly) to copy sculpture in¬ should be left as it is. But, once M. Brenner has ac¬
stead of painting. According to Alberti, “nothing quired the picture, if he wants to substitute some¬
more can be acquired from paintings but the thing else for this engraving—his portrait, for
knowledge of how to imitate them; from sculpture example—he is free to do so. It may look better or
you learn to imitate it and how to recognize and it may look worse, like changing the frame on a
draw the lights.”63 Alberti suggested in this passage picture, but it won’t upset the merits of the pic¬
that only in the translation of a three-dimensional ture.”64 Kahnweiler, of course, demurred but only
scene or object to the two-dimensional picture because he had not fully grasped (or did not agree
plane would the artist find scope for a demonstra¬ with) the radical significance of Gris’s statement.
tion of his artistry. To “imitate” a painting was For Kahnweiler, as for most subsequent commenta¬
merely to reproduce an existing two-dimensional tors,65 no aspect of a Gris collage could be altered
image, a matter of no great difficulty. Gris would without destroying the integrity of the work’s origi¬
certainly have concurred, even though he rejected nal appearance, and, it is implied, the integrity of
other aspects of Alberti’s theory. the artist’s conception. But Gris’s letter to Kahn¬
Gris made this point even more explicitly in two weiler asserts an opposing view. If the engraving
collages executed during the spring of 1913, Violin could be replaced with another picture, it was be¬
and Engraving (fig. 74) and The Guitar (fig. 75). In cause this engraving was the only part of the col¬
both of these works Gris introduced an actual work lage Gris had not made. The image was meaningful
of art, in the form of a print, which he carefully cut not in its own right, but as an emblem of the art¬
to fit into the fragmentary shape of a painted ist’s refusal to copy. The original intervention of
frame. In Violin and Engraving, the picture thus the artist, however, remained determining: if a new
constructed seems to hang from an illusionistically image were to be substituted for the engraving, it
rendered nail in the upper right corner of the can¬ would have to conform to the engraving’s shape
vas. Here again Gris adapted a motif found in cer¬ and placement in order to preserve Gris’s composi¬
tain late 1909-10 paintings of Braque to his own tion.66 Ultimately, for Gris the “merits of the pic¬
particular ends and in the process modified its ture” lay in those elements that revealed the artist’s
meaning. The nail in Gris’s collage enhances the il- imagination or invention: his choice of subject,
lusionism of this section of the canvas in opposi¬ composition, and facture. The merits of the picture,
tion to the fragmentary forms that compose the that is, lay everywhere except in the collage ele¬
rest of the composition. Yet that very illusionism is ment. For this reason, the fragments of paper and
founded, paradoxically, on the appropriation of a mirror in Gris’s early collages often have the char¬
previously existing image rather than on the work acter of descriptive additions or supplements to al¬
of copying. When Kahnweiler wrote to tell Gris that ready complete compositional structures. The role
he had sold this collage, the artist responded by played by these supplementary materials, however,
asserting that the new owner could substitute a is crucial to Gris’s project, for they exemplify the
picture of his own choosing for this engraving with¬ principle of negation that allows the other, positive
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 109

74. Juan Gris, Violin and Engraving, April 1913, oil

sand, and pasted engraving on canvas. Private
collection.
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 110

75. Juan Gris, The Guitar, 1913, oil and pasted paper on
canvas. Musee National d’Art Moderne, Paris, Donation
Louise et Michel Leiris.
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 111

aspects of Gris’s painting to become visible.67 But if flickering brushstroke of the Impressionists or the
the collage elements negate the value of copying in deliberately crude drawing and heightened color of
making paintings, they do not disturb the prevail¬ the Fauves. Nonetheless, he did give a great deal of
ing definition of oil painting itself. attention to creating rich, varied surfaces of tex¬
It is evident, then, how different this practice of tures and colors, each contained within a carefully
collage was from the contemporary collage prac¬ delimited area defined by an a priori geometrical
tice of Picasso. Whereas Picasso allowed collage pattern. The care that Gris gave to elaborating
materials to displace the immediate, indexical these surfaces reveals the strong appeal that work¬
marking of the artist's hand, Gris used the collage ing with paint held for him. The Siphon (fig. 76) of
element as a means of emphasizing the originality spring 1913, a painting with additions of sand, ex¬
and purity of his drawing and handling of paint sur¬ emplifies Gris’s approach to the material aspect of
faces. And whereas Picasso constructed his fragile his canvas. Instead of resorting to ready-made
collages out of the debris of popular culture, as if wood grain wallpaper or using a painter’s comb to
he could produce a work of art only from the ele¬ simulate wood grain as Picasso or Braque might
ments of existing pictorial and verbal languages, have done, Gris created this texture by using a
Gris’s forms appeared to issue directly from his paintbrush and palette knife.66 After applying oil
mind. Both artists defined artistic invention as an paint to a section of his canvas and allowing it to
imaginative process in which fragments of tradi¬ dry partially, Gris inscribed the individual lines of
tional illusion could play only a problematic and the wood grain pattern on this surface with the aid
paradoxical role. But for Picasso, invention lay in of a palette knife, thereby establishing a literally
regarding the work of art as a site for the intertex- furrowed texture. The areas of faux marbre were
tual play of appropriated elements, and these ele¬ simulated by a similar process, using brush and
ments were allowed to retain all the marks of their knife to make swirling patterns and textures in a
prior existence in the world of commodities. Gris, thickly painted surface. The sand in this work, with
on the other hand, seems to have regarded the the exception of some lightly scattered in the upper
picture plane as a field in which to reflect not the left corner, was glued to a coloristically defined in¬
visual appearances of things as Alberti had advo¬ ner section of the siphon and seems to denote its
cated, but the purity of his conceptions. Of all the pressurized contents. Given the precision of this
Cubists, Gris came closest to creating works of art work, it is difficult to imagine Gris echoing Picas¬
structured by the prevailing critical antinomy of vi¬ so’s words in his letter of 9 October 1912 to
sion and conception. And in moving toward an art Braque: “I use a little dust against our horrible can¬
of conceptual purity, Gris transformed the pictorial vas.”69 For Gris, unlike Picasso, the use of collage
surface from mirror into prism. techniques had not arisen from a desire to chal¬
A measure of the difference that obtained be¬ lenge the fine art status of oil painting. Indeed,
tween the work of Picasso, Braque, and Gris at this most of Gris’s collages were executed in oil on can¬
time can be taken by analyzing Gris’s use of trompe vas, which the artist continued to regard as a privi¬
l’oeil wood grain and marble. Like Picasso and leged medium. Gris accorded a similar sense of
Braque, Gris chose not to adopt the spontaneous, dignity to his subjects, however humble. He
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 112

seemed to share Baudelaire’s vision of the beauty

of modern life and its quintessential objects.70 The
irony that permeates Picasso’s inventions at this
time is notably absent in the work of Gris, although
it is not devoid of humor.
In striving to create a purely conceptual order on
the blank space of the canvas, Gris generally pro¬
ceeded by establishing an a priori gridlike structure
within which fragments of objects take their places.
The drawings and paintings that survive from
1910-11 exhibit a related impulse to generate bro¬
ken contours and fragmentary views through the
diagonal movement of what appear to be rays of
light. In Still Life of 1911 (fig. 77), for example, a
pattern of diagonal lines traverses the surface of
the canvas from the upper left to the lower right
corner. This pattern is counterbalanced by a series
of tonal transitions that move in the opposite di¬
rection, so that a grid composed of intersecting di¬
agonal sections interrupts and animates the simple
shapes of Gris’s vertically aligned still life objects.
Through the operation of this grid, what would oth¬
erwise appear to be a series of arbitrarily broken
76. Juan Gris, The Siphon, 1913, oil and sand on canvas. outlines and strange elisions of figure and ground
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.
appears to be motivated or caused by the refrac¬
Gift of Edgar Kaufmann, Jr.
tory power of light. The distortions that occur do
not suggest an analysis of the constituent or essen¬
tial aspects of the depicted objects, and they do
not issue either from an attempt to splay out the
sides of objects normally hidden from view or in¬
deed from a combination of different views. The
broken contours and repeated forms suggest, on
the contrary, that the viewer must perceive these
objects as if through the fracturing mechanism of a
prism.
Gris continued to use this method of composi¬
tional organization in 1912, although for a time he
preferred the greater stability of a grid of horizontal
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 113

and vertical lines. Both Le Lavabo and The Watch

exhibit the black grillwork typical of this new style.
Here, as in the earlier drawings, the pattern of lines
determines a corresponding pattern of shifts and
transformations in the depiction of objects. Unlike
the earlier work, however, these lines at times co¬
here to or describe the edges of those objects. For
the most part, the individual sections are treated as
independent pictorial fields; in The Watch, for ex¬
ample, the splayed-out pages of the book contain
discrete fragments of Apollinaire’s poems. But
these fragments are presided over by the unifying
pattern of black lines. Moreover, a formal analogy
seems to govern the progressively unfolded ap¬
pearances of the book and a similar unfolding of
the still life table. Thus the organic coherence of
the mirror as surface, already fractured in Le
Lavabo, gives way to the luminous repetitions of
conceptual structures.
Gris’s aspiration toward pictorial purity deter¬
mined both his approach to collage and the final
appearance of his works in this medium. He seems
to have shared Braque’s view that “nobility comes
from contained emotion.”71 In a work by Gris, the
sensuality of color is always controlled by the com¬
77. Juan Gris, Still Life, 1911, oil on canvas. Collection, positional grid, the spontaneity of brushwork de¬
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired nied by a desire for clarity and precision. As Gris
through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest. told Kahnweiler in a letter of 1914, not without re¬
gret, “my spirit is too precise to sully a blue or to
twist a straight line.”72 Collages such as The Siphon
and Glass of Beer and Playing Cards (fig. 78), also
of 1913, demonstrate this principle of restraint. Gris
organized these works according to a dominating
pattern of vertical strips. In The Siphon, the oval of
the still life table, tilted upward to conform to the
verticality of the picture plane, is superimposed
upon a series of vertical strips, which in turn is tra¬
versed by a series of horizontal lines. One can
The Collages of Braque and Gris 114

78. Juan Gris, Glass of Beer and Playing Cards, 1913, oil
and pasted paper on canvas. Columbus Museum of Art,
Ohio. Gift of Ferdinand Howald.
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 115

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79. Pablo Picasso, C/ass and Bottle ofSuze, fall 1912,

pasted papers, charcoal, and gouache. Washington
University Gallery of Art, St. Louis.
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 116

compare the resulting structure with Picasso’s col¬ mug to its left. But this realignment would in turn
lage of autumn 1912, Glass and Bottle of Suze (fig. disalign the continuity between the blue curvature
79). Here, too, an oval tabletop has been superim¬ on the orange wallpaper and the edge of the sand
posed upon—as well as imbedded within—a pat¬ to the right, both forms constituting a view from
tern of vertical strips, this time in the form of above of the beer’s foam. Changes or transforma¬
newspaper columns. The depicted scenes are also tions in the appearance of an object seem to occur
similar: on each table rest a bottle and glass, part in a number of directions: they follow the alternat¬
of the wall of the room is represented, and a table ing rhythm of vertical bands but also the contra¬
leg emerges from beneath each table as if seen in puntal system of horizontal bands. Occasionally
cross-section (even though the tables have been there is also a sense of transformations occurring
represented as if seen from above). Despite these in depth, as if Gris had peeled away the surface of
similarities, the two works are strikingly different, certain vertical bands to reveal an alternate mode
having been constructed according to divergent of representation or point of view beneath.
principles. Picasso assembled the bottle of Suze in Gris’s structural grids operate in complex and
this collage from a variety of materials and, for¬ contradictory ways, at times fracturing objects
mally, from an opposition of curvilinear and along predictable lines but elsewhere working
straight contours. The viewer is not invited to re¬ against this sense of preestablished order. Despite
shuffle these elements in order to return them to a the complexity and dominance of these surface
prior state of naturalism or organic coherence. And patterns, however, a sense of the prior integrity of
although something of a gridlike composition the depicted objects always seems to emerge. Gris
emerges from the juxtaposition of newspaper col¬ never allowed the objects depicted in his early
umns, this grid does not seem to govern the formal works to become submerged in a play of figure /
play of Picasso’s collage elements. In The Siphon, ground reversals or be subjected to the play of
on the other hand, it would be possible to shift purely arbitrary formal oppositions. Paradoxically,
some of Gris’s vertical strips and thereby to recon¬ although the order of the grids and the order of the
stitute a coherent view of certain objects or parts objects remain theoretically independent of each
of those objects. By moving the central panel up¬ other, the grid, by providing the viewer with a
ward, for example, one could realign the white out¬ sense of motivation for the fragmentation and re¬
line of the table leg with another portion of this construction of objects, simultaneously preserves a
outline farther to the left. This realignment, how¬ sense of their integrity. To the extent that the dis¬
ever, would only create additional displacements parate views can be explained and the broken con¬
above, causing a rupture, for example, in the con¬ tours potentially returned to an organically whole
tinuous line of the wainscoting. In Glass of Beer representation, the object remains inviolate.
and Playing Cards, a coherently silhouetted beer The grid was only one of the devices Gris
mug might be established by shifting the vertical adopted as a means of unifying his compositions.
band that constitutes the right side of the mug up¬ The use of repeated formal elements, including cir¬
ward so that the white outline becomes contiguous cles, contours, textures, and eventually entire ob¬
with the outline of the fully modeled form of the jects, distributed in a rhythmic fashion across the
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 117

surface of the canvas also contributed to an effect element, which had previously been given only a
of unity. This repetition of forms is a structural as¬ supplementary status, now invades the entire field.
pect of The Watch and becomes more complex in a The surfaces of collages such as The Table (fig. 80)
work like The Siphon, in which even the textures of and Fruitdish and Carafe (fig. 81) are nearly en¬
wood grain and marble are made to rhyme with tirely covered with a wide variety of overlapping
each other. Maurice Raynal, writing in 1923, was papers. These fragments, moreover, are now de¬
the first to draw attention to this characteristic fea¬ ployed in increasingly complex ways: the shape of
ture of Gris’s art, which he called “la metaphore a piece of paper may correspond to the shape of
plastique.”73 Raynal’s analysis, however, proceeds the depicted object or it may itself provide a
according to contradictory impulses. He asserts ground for figuration, whether drawn, painted, or in
that Gris’s "metaphors” should not be confused the form of additional, superimposed collage ele¬
with “puns,” which “do not derive from any con¬ ments. And Gris continued to appropriate materials
structive necessity.”74 Gris’s metaphors, on the con¬ for their literal representational function as mere
trary, “contain a truth of judgment” about the images, as he had in his earliest collages. In The
objects they compare and in this sense are “legiti¬ Table, for example, Gris glued a page of a Fantd-
mate.”75 At the same time, however, Raynal points mas detective novel to his drawing of an open book
out that Gris’s “isomorphisms” are purely formal; if and part of a real newspaper headline to his canvas
they appear within his art, it is because the artist in lieu of imitating these images with pencil or
has found them “necessary to the general harmony paintbrush. But these collage elements also take on
of his tableau.”76 Here, as in many critical texts of a metaphoric value: the spectator’s attempt to dis¬
this period, a desire for a truthful representation of tinguish the true and the false (alluded to in the
objects comes into conflict with an equally strong newspaper clipping) from the myriad paradoxical
desire that the canvas preserve its formal auton¬ and contradictory clues contained in the collage
omy, that it contain nothing but purely plastic may be compared (not without some humor) to the
elements. This contradiction, however, is a deter¬ investigative work of the detective in the novel.
mining one for Gris as well, and thus Raynal’s text Gris also began to introduce fragments of paper
helps to illuminate the tensions in Gris’s art. Signif¬ for their descriptive or purely material value in the
icantly, the growing emancipation of the decorative collages of 1914. In Fruitdish and Carafe, for exam¬
impulse in Gris’s work, which culminated in his se¬ ple, Gris constructed a composite depiction of a
ries of collages from 1914, was accompanied by a carafe from a variety of partially superimposed ma¬
related tendency to pose the question of le urai et terials. Sections of faux marbre and faux bois wall¬
le faux in art. paper, corresponding perhaps to the material
The series of collages Gris embarked on in the substance of the table and wall, provide an already
spring of 1914 is remarkable both for its material divided ground for the elaboration of further inter¬
richness and for its compositional complexity. The penetrating forms and material substances. Over
new role played by the collage element in this this ground, Gris then glued several fragments of
series is symptomatic of the change in Gris’s ap¬ beige paper, which seem to denote various aspects
proach to pictorial construction. The collage of the inner circular structure of the carafe. And
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 118

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80. Juan Gris, The Table, spring 1914, pasted paper and
gouache on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art. A. E.
Gallatin Collection.
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 119

81. Juan Gris, Fruitdish and Carafe, spring 1914, pasted

papers, charcoal, and gouache on canvas. Rijksmuseum
Kroller-Miiller, Otterlo, The Netherlands.
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 120

overlapping these fragments, Gris affixed a nearly tional order in this and many other collages of 1914
transparent piece of paper (which he gave its own continues to appear as an effect of illumination.
particular descriptive shape) to signify the carafe’s The power of light provides the condition of possi¬
transparency. Through this glazing, the viewer dis¬ bility within which all other visible differences will
tinguishes the various layers of Gris’s complex sur¬ be articulated.
face, which in places reveals even small portions of Throughout the work of 1914 one can note a
the canvas. A similar use of nearly transparent pa¬ loosening of the a priori grid. This grid, nearly sub¬
per in numerous other collages of this period merged in the weave of accumulated layers, now
points to Gris’s continuing concern with effects of plays with a lighter, more nuanced touch across
light as well as to his growing interest in the ex¬ and through the structure of Gris’s collages. Its ef¬
pressive or inherent properties of materials. fects can still be perceived, however, in the repeti¬
Here a striking difference to the approach of tion of diagonal, horizontal, and vertical edges.
Picasso toward materials must be noted. Whereas These edges now owe a double allegiance, to the
Picasso had demonstrated the multiplicity of ways objects whose outlines they describe and to the
in which the material aspect of a signifier is not decorative order of the surface. The doubling of
transparent to its signified, Gris sought to show the objects, depicted as if they had been seen in diver¬
coincidence of substance and meaning. For Gris, gent mirrors, causing one image to seem a paler re¬
the transparency of glass was embodied (rather flection of the first and sometimes to intersect it at
than arbitrarily signified) in the transparency of a a forty-five-degree angle, is an aspect of the dual
paper whose two faces had merged and become function of these edges. In The Table we find a vir¬
one. Transparency, however, is always contingent tual catalogue of these doubled depictions: two
on the presence of light. Gris made this clear in books, two bottles, two cigarettes, two glasses, two
The Table by dividing his composition into two, an¬ tables, two newspapers. In each case, a more fully
tithetical zones; a dark blue and black peripheral modeled form of the object (ostensibly the more
zone is spotlighted by an oval field in the center. materially present version) is set at an angle to a
The projecting edges of the rectangular table in all more ghostly, disembodied image. The mysterious
four corners of the canvas have been constructed dispar[ition] of a man, alluded to (as well as en¬
by pasting thin paper to the canvas ground and acted) in the partial effacement of both the word
then painting both the paper and remaining canvas and image in a small fragment of newspaper, en¬
with the same dark blue paint. Shading, executed in hances the suggestion that an opposition prevails
charcoal over the paint, brings these nearly obliter¬ here between things which are materially present
ated differences in texture to the threshold of visi¬ and things which are in the process of disappearing
bility. In dramatic contrast, the golden tonality that from sight. But is it possible to speak of a hierarchy
pervades the central oval allows for a wide range of of images, which would correspond to a prior hier¬
differences in material textures, patterns, weight, archy in the reliability of the senses? Should we un¬
and color as well as subtleties of drawing to be derstand these doubled images as instances of the
perceived. As in Gris’s earlier work, then, composi¬ true and the false, greater certainty to be accorded
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 121

(perhaps) to the more concretely defined, upright (fig. 82), Gris established an opposition a la Picasso
images?77 This would be to assimilate Gris’s dual¬ in the construction of the bottle by juxtaposing
isms to those of Braque, specifically, to his valori¬ partly overlapping, contradictory formal elements:
zation of touch over vision. In Gris’s collages, an opaque, straight-edged shape lies beneath and
however, the situation is more ambiguous. Notions slightly to the left of a transparent, curvilinear
of truth seem to be resolved in terms of the inher¬ shape. Gris enhanced this difference by giving the
ent properties of materials, which are available to straight-edged, speckled bottle a flipped-up, round
both vision and touch, rather than to touch alone. top, in contrast to its striped alternate, which dis¬
The headline “le vrai et le faux” terminates in the plays a flat top. Yet this opposition, which negates
word “chic” and refers, appropriately, given this the possibility of a transparent or unambiguous
context, to matters of style in Paris.78 The doubling relation between the pictorial signifier and its
of appearances, always governed by the intersect¬ referent, is in turn undermined by Gris’s use of ma¬
ing axes of vertical and horizontal lines, is also a terials. For Gris, characteristically, has used the
matter of style, of decoration. Gris’s repeated transparency of a certain kind of paper to signify
forms, which do not constitute true oppositions, the transparency of glass. There is, therefore, in
might best be described as visual complements. this and many other Gris collages, an ambiguity in
The two images do not essentially contradict each the way pictorial forms and materials are under¬
other, except in terms of placement, but this is a stood to signify; at times they seem to operate ac¬
function of the grid, not of the formal elements as cording to arbitrary formal oppositions (which
such. deny the possibility of a substantive relation be¬
There are some partial exceptions to this rule. In tween signifier and referent), while at other times
The Table, Gris represents the still life table as they seem to be motivated by the inherent proper¬
both an upright oval, which coheres to the vertical ties of material substances.
plane of the canvas, and as a rectangular table re¬ Increasingly in these works, the enumeration of
ceding in depth. Although the disparity in point of the physical aspects of objects, the multiplication
view might be explained as an attempt to give the of materials, and the attention to two-dimensional
spectator more information about the table than a patterns works toward the creation of a unified,
single view could provide, the contradiction be¬ decorative effect. In March of 1915, Gris wrote to
tween an oval and a rectangular table can only Kahnweiler to express his view about the progress
work to undermine the spectator’s confidence that he had made in his work of the previous months.
any information at all about the table has been pro¬ Kahnweiler, having been out of the country at the
vided. This opposition, long central to Picasso’s outbreak of World War 1, had taken refuge in Swit¬
still lifes, Gris adapted to good effect in The Table, zerland and therefore had not seen any of the
although in doing so he gave it a new burden of works Gris had executed since the summer of 1914.
meaning: the metaphorical opposition between a Gris wrote, “I believe that 1 have been making, for
realm of shadows and a realm filled with light. In some time, quite some progress, and that my can¬
another collage of this series, The Bottle of Banyuls vases begin to have a unity that they lacked. They
The Collages of Braque and Gris 122
 The Collages of Braque and Gris 123

82. Juan Gris, The Bottle ofBanyuls, 1914, pasted are no longer those inventories of objects that so
papers, oil, charcoal, gouache, and pencil on canvas. discouraged me previously.”79 Later, in 1921, Gris
Kunstmuseum Bern. Hermann and Margrit Rupf
would write to Kahnweiler that his work, despite
Stiftung.
the dealer’s disavowal, was indeed decorative:
“Clearly it is decoration. One need not be afraid of
words when one knows what they signify, but all
painting has always been decoration.”80
As Gris’s collages evolved toward an ever-greater
decorative richness, the a priori integrity of the ob¬
ject, a characteristic of his earlier work, began to
dissolve in the complexity of elaborated surfaces
(fig. 82). The order of the grid, the conceptual
prism that had been manifest in Gris’s earliest
works, now permeates the structure of representa¬
tion so that the order of the grid and the order of
the object can no longer be distinguished. This new
unity, however, works to undermine the vision /
conception polarity that had previously been a gov¬
erning principle of Gris’s art. The structural meta¬
phor of the prism understands conceptual purity in
terms of a purified vision. The repetitions, displace¬
ments, broken contours, and fragmentation gener¬
ated by the operation of the prism, which stands
for the reflective creativity of the mind, are never¬
theless presented as being analogous to the visible
play of light through a faceted form. In this, Gris’s
aesthetic of purity resembles that of the Symbolist
poet Mallarme, for whom “the prismatic subdivi¬
sions of the Idea”81 also served as a metaphor of
creation: “Poetry consisting in creating, one must
capture in the human spirit the states of mind, the
gleaming flashes of a purity so absolute that, well
sung and brought into the light, they constitute in
effect the jewels of man: here, there is symbol,
there is creation, and the word poetry has its
meaning: this is, in sum, the only possible human
creation.”82
Chapter 5

Cubist Collage,

the Public,

and the

Culture of

Commodities

History is inherent in aesthetic theory.

Its categories are radically historical.

—Theodor Adorno, Aesthetic Theories

 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 125

When Apollinaire published four of Picasso’s con¬ fore, shortly after the invention of papier colle,
structions in Les Soirees de Paris in November Kahnweiler succeeded in acquiring exclusive rights
1913, thirty-four of the journal’s forty subscribers to the entire production of Picasso and Braque, in
registered their outrage by canceling their sub¬ part because there was not much competition from
scriptions.1 If this reaction seems surprising given other dealers. Gris, after exhibiting for the first
the undoubtedly avant-garde character of the jour¬ time at the Salon des Independants in 1912 and
nal’s readership, it provides us with a rare indica¬ later that year at La Section d’Or with the Puteaux
tion of the exceptional difficulty contemporary Cubists, signed an exclusive contract with Kahn¬
viewers had in accepting Cubist multimedia works. weiler in February 1913. Thereafter, he too refused
The absence of an enlightened public beyond the to participate in any public exhibitions in Paris.
small circle of Picasso’s fellow artists and friends is This meant that, with the exception of Kahnweiler’s
further confirmed in the fact that Picasso chose to one-man exhibition of Braque’s rejected Salon
keep many of his important collages and nearly all d’Automne landscapes in 1908 and the few paint¬
of his constructions throughout his life. As late as ings Gris exhibited before signing his contract with
1938, Gertrude Stein believed the small paper con¬ Kahnweiler, the entire production of Cubist works
struction Picasso had given her to be the only sur¬ by the three major Cubist artists remained out of
viving example of the artist’s work of this type.2 view to all but a small number of friends, critics,
If the negativity of public reaction to Picasso’s and collectors.
constructions was extreme, it nevertheless fol¬ Although this absence may have increased the
lowed the pattern of reception given to Cubism in public’s misunderstanding of the aims and achieve¬
general. The rejection of Braque’s L’Estaque land¬ ments of these artists, it also seems to have been a
scapes in 1908 by the Salon d’Automne’s jury led shrewd manoeuver in terms of contemporary exhi¬
him to join Picasso in refusing to exhibit his works bition conditions and the workings of the market.
in any of the Parisian salons.2 Picasso, as is well The Salon des Independants, for example, was
known, had made it a consistent practice to avoid completely open, and any artist who paid the small
exhibiting in these salons from the time of his ar¬ entrance fee could exhibit at least two paintings.
rival in Paris in 1900, thereby consciously choosing This soon led to a problem of increasing numbers
to forego the most common method for achieving of exhibitors, many of them presenting mediocre
recognition open to a young, ambitious artist.4 works. An astonishing 1,182 artists participated in
Both artists preferred to sell their works through 1910, while by 1914 the number had risen to 1320.6
the small number of dealers who would represent Young painters who hoped to make a reputation
them. Not all of the dealers who had been willing and attract buyers faced the risk of being lost in
to take Picasso’s works before his Cubist period, the large number of works exhibited. Occasionally
however, would continue to do so. For example, artists could overcome these conditions by con¬
Vollard, the dealer who had given Picasso his first trolling the hanging arrangements, as the Puteaux
one-man exhibition in Paris in 1901 and who later Cubists did in 1911 when they succeeded in exhib¬
bought many of his Blue and Rose period works, iting as a group in the famous Salle 41. Successful
did not find Cubism to his liking.5 By 1912, there¬ efforts of this sort to attract critical attention were
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 126

rare, however, and Picasso, Braque, and Gris, who careers of his artists (although he did frequently
were assured an income by Kahnweiler, may have send their works to foreign exhibitions).9 The with¬
been wise to abstain from such public demonstra¬ drawal from the public sphere, then, was not only
tions. Critics never failed to notice their absence commercially advantageous, after a certain point,
from the salons and frequently cited Picasso as the but reflected the disdain of the artists and their
inventor of Cubism despite his unwillingness to as¬ dealer for the predictably hostile reaction of the
sociate himself with his “followers,” the Puteaux critics and the “crowd.” According to Kahnweiler,
Cubists. The result was that the Puteaux Cubists
We never again exhibited publicly, which will
were more available to the public, and the theories
well prove to you the absolute contempt in
they promoted as well as the criticism they re¬
which we held not only criticism, but also the
ceived tended to stand for Cubism as a whole in
great crowd. . . .
the eyes of the public. A mystique developed about
For at that time, people went to the Indepen¬
those Cubist artists who refused to exhibit and
dents to get mad or to laugh. In front of certain
whose work was constantly referred to in the writ¬
pictures there would be groups of people writh¬
ings of the many poets and critics in their circle of
ing with laughter or howling with rage. We had
friends. As early as 1909, Picasso’s works began to
no desire to expose ourselves either to their fu¬
command relatively high prices, and he was able to
ror or to their laughter; so we didn’t show the
move from his studio in the Bateau-Lavoir to the
pictures.10
boulevard de Clichy, where, according to Fernande
Olivier, he established a bourgeois way of life.7 Picasso, Braque, and Gris took the hostility of

Braque’s circumstances also improved, although the public for granted and met it with defiance."

more slowly than Picasso’s, in part because his The je men foutisme of Picasso in particular was

production was much lower. Gris, on the other already well established by the Cubist period. In re¬

hand, remained impoverished during most of his sponse to a letter from Kahnweiler in which the
brief life. dealer told Picasso that one of his most loyal ama¬
Kahnweiler explained the Cubists’ decision not to teurs, Wilhelm Uhde, did not like his most recent

exhibit in the Parisian salons (a decision he had pictures with Ripolin enamel and flags, the artist
encouraged) as being motivated by the artists’ wrote, “That’s fine. Let him not like it! At this rate
need for the time and tranquility to work. The exhi¬ we'll disgust the whole world.”12 Picasso’s letter,
bition he gave Braque’s early Cubist landscapes in dated 17 June 1912, refers to the paintings he had
1908, which had given rise to the first use of the executed that spring just after his return from Le
word cube, was his last. The small but devoted Havre at the end of April. For the first time in these
number of collectors interested in the Cubists’ works, after several years of sober color schemes,
works sufficed to keep the gallery and painters Picasso had introduced the bright colors of the
alive.8 Kahnweiler recalled with pride in his mem¬ French flag and the slogan “Notre Avenir est dans
oirs the complete absence of advertising, including 1 Air,” taking these elements from the title page of a
newspaper announcements, gallery exhibitions, or French propaganda brochure put out by the mili¬
even window displays as means of promoting the tary.13 These paintings were the direct forerunners
of the Still Life with Chair-Caning and the develop-
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 127

ment of collage, which would test the limits of tween pure painting and illustration, and between
many other friends and critics as well. fine art and popular art. Yet if this is true, how can
Certainly there was a measure of what both we explain the invention of collage, which chal¬
Kahnweiler and Olivier have called heroism in the lenged these hierarchical distinctions by introduc¬
persistence of these artists, especially during their ing the techniques and materials of popular culture
period of severe financial difficulty. Before gaining and the mass media into the previously pure do¬
his contract with Kahnweiler, Gris had occasionally main of painting?11’ How are we to understand the
earned money by providing illustrations for popu¬ Cubists’ apparent embrace of popular culture with
lar satirical magazines in Spain and France, includ¬ its cliched sentiments and commercial forms and
ing L'Assiette au Beurre, Le Charivari, Le Temoin, their simultaneous refusal to be influenced by pop¬
Le Cri de Paris, Blanco y Negro, and Madrid C6m- ular taste or the exigencies of the market? Any
ico. As soon as he was able to, however, he gave up interpretation of the collage revolution must ac¬
this practice and turned his attention increasingly count for this paradoxical attitude toward early
to pure painting.14 According to Fernande Olivier, twentieth-century cultural hierarchies and market
Picasso refused the offers he received to do such il¬ conditions.
lustrations, even when he was most destitute. “Dur¬ The relation of Cubist works to the changing
ing a period of great distress [1904-05], it was market and exhibition conditions of the early twen¬
proposed that he do an Assiette au Beurre, a hu¬ tieth century is a subject that has recently at¬
morous journal popular at the time and which tracted the interest of a growing number of critics
would have paid between seven and eight hundred and art historians. An exhibition at the Tate Gallery
francs. He refused energetically, even heroically.”15 in 1983 titled The Essential Cubism: Braque, Picasso
Picasso’s refusal to work for the satirical maga¬ and Their Friends, 1907-1920, for example, featured
zines, despite the fact that he had been greatly in¬ a catalogue essay by Douglas Cooper outlining the
fluenced just a few years earlier by the illustrations early history of the market for Cubist works.17 The
of Steinlen and the posters of Toulouse-Lautrec, following year the Centre Georges Pompidou cele¬
suggests that he believed artistic integrity to be in¬ brated the important role of Kahnweiler in promot¬
compatible with making art for commercial pur¬ ing the understanding and sale of Cubist works
poses or mass consumption. This attitude, through his efforts as exhibition organizer, pub¬
common at the time, was based on the notion that lisher, and writer of theoretical texts.18 And an in¬
a work of art should find its raison d’etre exclu¬ teresting analysis by Michael Baxandall of ways of
sively within itself and that ideally it should not be constructing historical explanations of pictures
subject to external constraints. Braque, in choosing contains a chapter that deals with the “structural
to abandon his planned career as a peintre-decora- cues and choices” available to Picasso between
teur, affirmed his aspiration to create autonomous 1906 and 1910 because of contemporary market
works of art rather than decorations whose ends conditions.19 All of these studies contain valuable
were predetermined. information and raise important issues, but they
Such positions would appear to be typical of tend to remain schematic and do not come to
turn-of-the-century attitudes toward the hierarchi¬ terms with the specific ways in which the formal
cal distinctions between fine and applied art, be¬ appearance, technique, or subject matter of Cubist
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 128

works reflects or comments on the prevailing mar¬ day life into his art, as Boccioni maintained Picasso
ket characteristics of the period. had done in his latest works.24 Picasso, for his part,
A recent, ambitious interpretation by David Cot- seems to have been self-confident enough to enjoy
tington does deal with these issues in greater detail these controversies without altering his course. He
but comes to conclusions that I find problematic in continued to produce constructed works between
that they effectively obliterate the avant-garde or 1912 and 1915, although none were sold.
oppositional character of Picasso’s Cubist produc¬ Central to any analysis of Picasso’s attitude to¬
tion.20 Cottington argues that Picasso’s post-1909 ward the public and toward the tradition of fine art
works, executed when his financial situation had is the relation of his complex formal innovations to
become secure, reveal a conservative bias in their his use of mass-cultural artifacts. While the former
delight in formal invention and in their appeal to a would have been appreciated only by an elite circle
self-selected group of cognoscenti. For Cottington of amateurs, the latter suggests an engagement
this group was “ideologically homogeneous” and with popular entertainments and discourses. For
sought work that preserved the values of the Cottington, formal invention always remains pri¬
French pictorial tradition—“the tradition of the mary in Picasso’s collages, mediating and distanc¬
Louvre” as Uhde put it.21 But can one really ignore ing references to the social world beyond the
the differences between a relatively conservative frame. Although this is true (it is true of all art with
collector / dealer like Uhde, who disliked Picasso’s varying degrees of emphasis), it leads Cottington fi¬
use of Ripolin enamel and flags, and a collector / nally to see in Cubist collage only a “colonization”
writer like Gertrude Stein, for whom Picasso’s of alternative cultural practices.25 Here too, I would
ephemeral assemblages of everyday objects al¬ argue, the works themselves suggest a more com¬
ready constituted art? Picasso, as we know from plex and paradoxical relation to mass culture, one
his letter to Kahnweiler, was defiant in his response that illuminates the contradictions of the historical
to Uhde’s displeasure.22 Nor does his comment to moment in which Picasso, Braques and Gris found
Braque as he began his exploration of sand and themselves.
pasted paper techniques, that he was employing In the light of contemporary social conditions
dust in defiance of the canvas,23 suggest a conser¬ and expectations about the production and place
vative respect for the tradition of oil painting. of art in society, many of the innovations of Cubist
Picasso’s collages and constructions were in¬ collage can be interpreted as a series of ironic re¬
tended to subvert the conventions of oil painting as fusals or negations. The practice of collage tech¬
well as the hierarchical distinctions between high niques indicates a denial of the precious, fine art
art and mass culture. The disgruntled readers of status of traditional works of art as well as an at¬
the November 1913 issue of Les Soirees de Paris tempt to subvert the seemingly inevitable process
certainly thought Picasso had gone too far in the by which art becomes a commodity in the modern
creation of mixed-media constructions. And in world. Cubist artists, therefore, share certain atti¬
early 1914 the Futurists found it necessary to argue tudes with their Symbolist predecessors, while re¬
over whether it was permissible for an artist simply jecting others. Unlike the Symbolist generation of
to incorporate “untransformed” elements of every¬ artists and poets, who had made it a matter of
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 129

moral and artistic integrity to withdraw from the 85a, b), executed during the summer of 1914, also
proliferation of commercial mass culture and its takes up this theme. The first three works were all
instrumentalization of language and pictorial form, created on a ground of wallpaper, have wallpaper
the Cubists called attention to these very develop¬ frames, and exhibit small labels bearing the hand¬
ments. Their response to the marginalization of the printed inscription “PiCASSO.” And in all four col¬
artist and to the erosion of a genuine public (and lages we find a centrally placed oval or rectangular
private) sphere was to incorporate into their col¬ piece of paper that represents both a picture hang¬
lages just those aspects of mass culture and com¬ ing on a wallpapered wall and a still life table.
munication that had seemed most debased to the As I observed in chapter 3 in relation to Glass
fin de siecle sensibility: journalism as a form of ra¬ and Bottle of Bass, Picasso greatly enjoyed playing
tionalized writing for mass consumption, advertis¬ on the ambiguous status of the central oval or rec¬
ing and other techniques of market display, cliches tangular form, which functions both as the ground
and popular slogans as evidence of routinized cog¬ of the depicted still life and as a figure on the wall¬
nition, and machine-made, cheap simulacra of fine paper ground. By shading the lower edge of the
or handcrafted materials. Collage works, by bring¬ pasted paper in Glass and Bottle of Bass, Picasso
ing these and other elements of commercial culture enhanced the illusion that it projects slightly from
within the domain of painting and drawing, func¬ the wallpaper ground, like a picture hanging on a
tion as a critique, not only of prevailing market wall. This illusion, however, is contradicted by the
conditions, but also of the futility of the Symbolist undisturbed, flowing contour of the bottle’s shadow
response to these conditions. Nevertheless, the bit¬ across the same lower right edge. Thus two differ¬
ing irony of the Cubist mclusions reveals the en¬ ent means of representing shadows, one as shad¬
during power of the Symbolist heritage and its ing, the other as contour, work in opposition to
exclusions, its purist values and hierarchies, which each other.
(however paradoxically) the Cubists sought to A similar contradiction occurs in the other two
negate. collages of this series. In Bottle of Bass, Ace of
Clubs, Pipe, the pipe extends onto the wallpaper
The Work of Art and Its Destinations: ground at an angle like that of the bottle’s shadow
The Museum and the Bourgeois Home in Glass and Bottle of Bass, although here it seems
Although a subversive attitude toward the tradi¬ to project outward toward the spectator as well. In
tional requirements of museum quality art informs Pipe and Musical Score the central collage element,
Picasso’s collage practice from the very beginning, this time rectangular in shape, seems to hover in
the most overt reference to the museum status of front of the speckled wallpaper ground, an effect
his own works occurs in a series of collages he ex¬ created by the shading along the left and lower
ecuted in the spring of 1914. At this time he made edges. Another shadow, apparently cast by the pipe
three related collages on the theme of the picture (although inverted in shape and position), is cut
of a picture: Pipe and Musical Score (fig. 83), Glass out of the same wallpaper as the ground. This
and Bottle of Bass (fig. 64), and Bottle of Bass, Ace shadow lies flatly across both grounds at the right
of Clubs, Pipe (fig. 84). A fourth collage, Glass (figs. edge, as if the patterned wallpaper ground had in-
Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 130

83. Pablo Picasso, Pipe and Musical Score, spring 1914,

pasted papers, oil, and charcoal. Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice McAshan.
Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 131

84. Pablo Picasso, Bottle of Bass, Ace of Clubs, Pipe,

spring 1914, pasted papers and drawing. Photo.
Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst Munich. Loan from
private collection.
Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 132

85 a. Pablo Picasso, Glass, summer 1914, pasted papers

and gouache on paper, original state. Photo: Galerie
Louise Leiris, Paris.
Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 133

85 b. Pablo Picasso, Glass, summer 1914, present state.

Jucker Collection, Milan.

';H§
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 134

vaded the picture hanging on it through a small and most saleable—quality of their art. According
gap along that edge. Two streaks of pointillist light, to contemporary theories, especially those inspired
one composed of yellow and red dots, the other of by Romantic aesthetics, it was precisely that which
blue and red dots, pass diagonally across the rep¬ was most inimitable that was most valuable in a
resented picture. They seem to stand for a rational, work of art. In 1910-11, however, Braque observed
scientific understanding of light, which has been that it had become increasingly difficult to distin¬
everywhere undermined in this collage. Partly con¬ guish his work from that of Picasso, which seemed
founded with the dotted pattern of the wallpaper, to render signatures obsolete. In an interview with
these rays of light seem to be a mere decorative Dora Vallier, Braque recalled, “I felt that the person
embellishment, bearing no causal relationship to of the painter shouldn’t intervene and that conse¬
the depiction of light and shadow in the work. But quently, the paintings should be anonymous. It was
if they do nothing to clarify the pictorial structure, I who decided not to sign the canvases, and for a
they do direct the spectator’s eyes, like a spotlight, certain time, Picasso did the same. From the mo¬
to the small piece of paper at the lower edge on ment that someone could do the same thing as 1, I
which Picasso inscribed his name. thought that there was no difference between the
This name, half-label, half-signature, reiterates paintings and that they should not be signed.”26 For
the ambiguous status of the work itself. As a name¬ Braque and Picasso in 1910-11, not signing can¬
plate, the paper mockingly proclaims this collage, vases was a way of asserting the conceptual rather
composed of cheap, counterfeit materials, to be a than the spontaneous or instinctual basis of Cubist
masterpiece worthy of a museum label (or of the art. During the collage period, it was also a way of
labels dealers often put on paintings in imitation of pointing to the relation of works of art to other
museum practices). As signature, it asserts that works of art, to previously existing representational
this masterpiece is the creative expression of a codes, rather than to the individual, creative self.
unique individual, an assertion made problematic Thus when Picasso introduced his signature in the
by the presence of so many machine-produced ma¬ form of a nameplate, he did so with self-conscious
terials. By printing his name and conflating it with irony about contemporary aesthetic theories of
a picture label, Picasso further undermines its au¬ originality as well as contemporary market values.
thority as an indexical sign for the revelation of the For the nameplate mocks not only the notion that a
self. Instead, the signature appears as a conven¬ work of art reveals the unique temperament of an
tional, already-written sign, like the printed letters individual in an unmediated manner (like a signa¬
“Ma Jolie” in the musical score above or the sten¬ ture), but also the bourgeois aspiration to possess
ciled word “bass” in the other two collages of this the work of the master.
series. In analyzing the role of the “signature” in As pictures of framed pictures depicting still life
works such as these, one should remember that, at paintings hanging on wallpapered walls, the col¬
the suggestion of Braque, he and Picasso had not lages in this series also present the viewer with
signed their works during 1910 and 1911. Such a some uncertainty about where these works depict
practice certainly ran counter to prevailing notions themselves as hanging. The mock gilt frame and la¬
of the value of originality, understood by avant- bel may refer to a museum context, but the wallpa¬
garde artists at this time as the most important— per suggests the wall of a bourgeois home. The two
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 135

settings seem to be conflated; in either case the France remained a time-consuming process, involv¬
work is depicted as being on exhibition by virtue of ing multiple block printing techniques and, at
having been framed, labeled, and hung on a wall. times, hand-coloring with stencils. French wallpa¬
Yet the prominent appearance of the wallpaper per during this period, considered by many to be
within the frame—and the importance given to the its golden age, specialized in creating charming il-
depiction of the wall by this means—raises the lusionistic scenes after the paintings of well-known
question of the status of these pictures as artists. These scenes were composed of individ¬
decorations. ually printed sheets which were then assembled,
Decorative wall paintings or the use of tapes¬ fixed to fabric, and pasted or tacked to the wall.
tries, of course, had always been beyond the means Typically these scenes were hung on the portion of
of all but the aristocracy and financial elite. With the wall above the chair rail and were framed by
the invention of wallpaper, however, the ability to additional sheets printed with motifs derived from
have decorated walls gradually came within the architectural ornament handbooks, including
reach of the middle classes. Charles Blanc, in his carved borders, friezes, and dados. In addition to
influential Grammaire des arts decoratifs of 1867, the imitation of illusionistic views and architectural
expressed the contemporary view that wall¬ elements, French wallpaper during this period per¬
paper was above all a democratic art, designed to fected techniques for imitating fabrics, marble, and
bring the pleasures of the beautiful to the masses. wood grain.
Among the decorative arts, Blanc cited wallpaper During the 1840s, the invention of steam-pow¬
as one of ered, raised-surface revolving cylinders, which per¬
mitted printing on continuous paper, led to the
the beautiful inventions of our times, . . . inspired
development of cheaper, mass-produced wallpaper.
by the thought of diminishing the privileges of
By the 1880s these printing techniques had been
fortune, allowing the greatest number of people
augmented by photographic and lithographic pro¬
to participate in the benefits of human industry
cesses, and wallpaper really did become the demo¬
and in the pleasures that the beautiful brings. It
cratic art envisaged by Charles Blanc. The new
was natural moreover that the advent of democ¬
technical means used to produce the wallpaper
racy coincided with the almost universal desire
also had a number of aesthetic consequences. They
to augment the well-being of the most numerous
encouraged the use of relatively small, repetitive
class and to invent for it, if not the equivalent of
patterns, and eventually the width of the rolls was
luxury, at least that which could give it the mi¬
also standardized. By the late nineteenth century,
rage of luxury.27
the French tradition of creating elaborate scenic
Praising the wallpaper industry for this accomplish¬ wallpapers had been replaced by a new aesthetic
ment, Blanc went on to associate the coincidence that called for abstract, two-dimensional patterns.
of the democratizing force of the French Revolution Because deep perspectives were, for the most part,
with the new impulse given to the art of papier not admissible, Blanc believed wallpaper should
peint by the factories of Reveillon and Zuber.28 In avoid imitating painting. Designers could, however,
reality, however, the manufacture of wallpaper in indulge their fancy in the exact replication of mate¬
late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century rials: “As long as the sensation obtained by these
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 136

beautiful industrial productions is not troubled at cheap means of simulating more expensive, hand-
any point, is not marred by any misgivings, by any carved dado rails and wainscoting, which were
scruples of vision, it matters little that the sub¬ deemed essential to the pictorial definition of the
stance be true, since the counterfeiting was not wall. Picasso, in appropriating these borders for
conceived, this time, with the intention of fleecing use as ersatz picture frames (both for and in his
the purchaser, but, on the contrary, in order to collages), was merely extending their traditional
multiply his pleasures by making the most of his function as substitutes for costly, hand-carved
resources.”29 borders.
Blanc further advised that in the choice of wall¬ As mechanical methods of production became
paper for a particular room, care should be taken the norm during the late nineteenth and early
to consider the overall atmosphere and whether twentieth centuries, many critics and wallpaper de¬
the wallpaper was to be the primary decoration of signers decried what they felt was an inevitable de¬
the walls or a ground for other decorative objects. basement of the once-beautiful craftsman’s art of
Here Blanc implicitly recognized the fact that making wallpaper. Andre Mare, a wallpaper de¬
whereas wallpaper had originally been invented as signer who advocated a return to primitive wood¬
a substitute for mural painting or tapestry, by the block printing methods, blamed contemporary me¬
late nineteenth century it was increasingly em¬ chanical techniques for the decline in the quality of
ployed as a ground for additional decoration. If the wallpaper. Writing in the avant-garde journal
wallpaper was intended to serve as a ground for Montjoie! in 1914, he asserted that “with the most
other works of art, Blanc recommended papers that rudimentary means of engraving, printing and ma¬
would not compete for the viewer’s attention. In terials, wallpaper has left us decors that one would
further distinguishing the wallpaper from the work wish to equal today.
of art, he emphasized the importance of the frame: For the last half-century, the use and perfection
“It is above all the frame that must detach paint¬ of machines have contributed to the suppression of
ings, engravings or drawings from the wallpaper, all artistic interest. These researches are limited to
because once isolated by their framing, framed ob¬ the imitation of different materials (cretonnes,
jects will have their full value if the background pa¬ silks, velvets, leathers, etc.) and run counter to the
per has nothing to attract the eye.”30 Nonetheless designated goal.”32
the entire wall, even where wallpaper served Just as the rolling press had displaced the mark
merely as a ground for other pictures, could be of the craftsman’s hand, a development that re¬
considered an aesthetic whole and could be framed sulted in cheaper, standardized products, the
with borders, just as the earlier illusionistic scenic character of the new middle-class clientele for
views had been. Blanc credited some of the finest wallpaper had also had its effect. Unlike the aris¬
wallpaper manufacturers with creating sumptuous tocracy, whose great salons had provided ample
borders, imitating fabrics, tapestries, and even pat¬ wall space for scenic views, the middle and lower
terns from Chinese albums. These borders, accord¬ class apartment dweller demanded more modest,
ing to Blanc, did nothing to destroy the unity and repetitive patterns for smaller, private interiors.
neutrality of the wallpaper ground.31 They remained Even the poorest tenements often boasted some
in vogue throughout the nineteenth century as a
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 137

sort of wallpaper decoration. Kahnweiler, in de¬ the suggestion that a cheap, mass-produced mate¬
scribing the condition of Picasso’s studio at the Ba- rial could become the formal equivalent of the finer
teau-Lavoir on the occasion of his first visit there material. But the ultimate irony may be that, like
in 1907, recalled that “the wallpaper hung in tatters Duchamp’s snowshovel, which now assumes its
from the plank walls.”33 logical place within the museum, Picasso’s counter¬
Perhaps in memory of the Bateau-Lavoir days, feit works of art have now been reframed in real,
the wallpaper in Picasso’s collages is usually of the hand-carved frames and hung on pristine museum
most ordinary type: stripes, floral patterns, bor¬ walls or in the homes of prominent collectors.35
ders. Frequently it is in very poor condition and This is an outcome that Picasso undoubtedly
gives the impression that the artist had only rem¬ foresaw.
nants at his disposal. Picasso emphasized this qual¬
ity by cutting the paper crudely, mismatching the Collage and Decoration
patterns when patching together several pieces, Picasso’s series of collages on the theme of a
and spattering the glue so that it discolored the picture representing a picture hanging on a wall
support. Braque and Gris, by comparison, were far occurs in the spring of 1914 when he was also be¬
more concerned with careful craftsmanship, even ginning to introduce a variety of colorful, decora¬
when manipulating these humble materials. No one tive patterns into his work. These collages, then,
would mistake this wallpaper for the luxury wallpa¬ must also be considered within this context. They
pers that were occasionally granted the status of comment not only on the status of the work of art
art in the Salles decoratives of the Salon d’Au- as decoration in the bourgeois home, but also on
tomne, where wallpaper by Andre Mare and Louis the play of decorative surfaces in the paintings of
Sue could be seen, for example, or in the newly artists such as Van Gogh, Gauguin and the Nabis,
created Musee des arts decoratifs in the Pavilion de Seurat, Matisse, and the Futurists.
Marsan.34 At most one could say (echoing Charles For many Symbolist artists and theorists during
Blanc) that it gestured toward an appearance of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
luxury but fell short of achieving it. But it is pre¬ the term decoration had assumed a nearly mystical
cisely this contrast between the paper’s obviously significance. It evoked the original, ideal status of
everyday, commercial, and indeed dilapidated ap¬ painting and sculpture before the decline begun in
pearance and the work of fine art to which it refers the sixteenth century, when the plastic arts, still al¬
that reveals Picasso’s critique of contemporary dis¬ lied to the dominant forms of architecture, had
tinctions between handcrafted works of art and the played a central role in the cultural life of society.
products of mass culture. His use of this wallpaper In an influential early essay of 1890, Maurice Denis
as a cheap substitute for finer wallpaper, and in¬ expressed the Symbolist view that painting, at its
deed for the gilded frames that hung on the walls of origin, had been decoration; further, he held that
bourgeois homes, is analogous to his use of a rope the process of emancipation from the architectural
to frame Still Life with Chair-Caning or of oilcloth support and the related development of trompe
to represent chair-caning. There is both an element l’oeil were the causes of painting’s current state of
of wit in the artist’s ability to see enough similarity decadence:
to make the substitution and an element of irony in
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 138

In the beginning, the pure arabesque, as little The association of decoration with a view of art
trompe l’oeil as possible; a wall is empty: it is as expression became one of the guiding principles
filled with marks, symmetrical in form, harmoni¬ of Symbolism and other, allied movements. Artists
ous in color (stained glass, Egyptian paintings, who conceived their work as decoration tended to
Byzantine mosaics, Japanese hanging scrolls). seek inspiration in medieval mural painting and
Then came the painted bas-relief (the metopes stained glass, in primitive wood-cutting techniques,
of Greek temples, the Medieval church). and in a number of non-Western artistic traditions,
Then antiquity’s attempt at ornamental trompe including Japanese prints and Egyptian wall paint¬
l’oeil is taken up by the XVth century, replacing ing. Their work emphasized subjective emotions
the painted bas relief with painting modeled in and ideas expressed through simplified contours,
bas relief, which still, however, conserves the the juxtaposition of unmodeled, bright colors, a
original idea of decoration. . . . flattened pictorial space, and a “synthetic” treat¬
The perfection of this modeling: modeling in ment of the whole. Frequently, in order to enhance
the round; this leads from the first Academies of the expressive quality of colors and forms, which
the Carraccis to our decadence. Art is the illu¬ were thought to be pictorial equivalents for feelings
sion of relief.36 and ideas, the frame was incorporated into the
overall composition of the work. Georges Seurat, in
Albert Aurier, writing in 1891, echoed this view,
equating “true” painting with decoration: “Decora¬ paintings such as Sunday Afternoon on the Island
of La Grande Jatte and Le Chahut, painted a fram¬
tive painting is, properly speaking, true painting.
ing strip of pointillist dots around his pictures, so
Painting can only have been created to decorate
the banal walls of human edifices with thoughts, that even along the edges of his canvases the

dreams and ideas. Easel painting is nothing but colors would be juxtaposed to their complementar-

an illogical refinement invented to satisfy the ies. And in some paintings, including Le Chahut, he

fantasy or the commercial spirit of decadent extended this principle to include the actual frame,

civilizations.”37 which thereby functions as an integral part of the

work. Other artists, impressed by the logic of Seu¬
In the Symbolist historical schema, artists work¬
rat’s framing devices, soon developed similar prac¬
ing during prescientific, preacademic periods had
tices. In paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin and the
aspired to express emotions and spiritual truths,
Nabis, colorful wallpaper patterns become integral
rather than merely to record natural appearances.
As a result, when measured against academic stan¬ compositional elements. These artists shared the

dards, their art now appeared primitive, awkward, belief that a decorative surface, achieved through

or marred by excessive deformations. Yet Symbol¬ simplified drawing, an avoidance of modeling, and

ist artists and critics saw in these very departures reliance on the immediate effects of color would al¬

and excesses signs of the naive or primitive artist’s low their paintings to become vehicles for the sub¬

sincerity and of the work’s expressive power. In jective expression of emotions or states of mind.

order to restore to painting its former spiritual Similar attitudes could be found among a great
meaning, Symbolists such as Paul Gauguin, Paul many early twentieth-century artists, including,
Serusier, Maurice Denis, Albert Aurier, Charles Mor- most notably, Henri Matisse. In a biographical note
ice, and others advocated a return to a conception written in 1930, Matisse judged that his oeuvre be¬
of art as decoration. Maurice Denis described and fore 1914 had been “above all decorative in charac¬
justified the art of the Symbolists in these very ter.”39 Like the Symbolists who had preceded him,
terms: “They wanted to lead art back to the sim¬ Matisse equated a decorative style with the sincere
plicity of its beginning, when its decorative destina¬ expression of emotion. In 1912 he told Clara T.
tion was still uncontested.”38 MacChesney that “a picture should, for me, always
be decorative. While working I never try to think,
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 139

only to feel.”40 Some of the artist’s most important

paintings, including La musique and La danse of
1909-10, were originally commissioned as decora¬
tive works, and Matisse did not hesitate to exhibit
them under the title “Decorative Panels.”41
Matisse’s aspiration to make decorative works of
art culminated in 1911 in a series of four large inte¬
riors. These paintings, executed in the period fol¬
lowing the artist’s visit to an exhibition of Islamic
art in Munich in the late summer of 1910, reveal a
renewed interest in a flattened, symbolic space cre¬
ated through rich, luxurious effects of color and
decorative patterning. Interior with Eggplants (fig.
86), one of Matisse’s masterpieces of this period,
exemplifies this decorative impulse taken to an ex¬
treme. The five-petal flower motif, which seems to
originate in the small ochre wallpaper repair to the
Japanese screen at the center, proliferates across
all available surfaces, including the walls, carpet,
and surrounding frame. The nearly dizzying array
of patterns is organized, however, in terms of a
play of complementary color, just as the composi¬
tion is stabilized by an intricate system of inter¬
locking rectangles. Among these rectangles are the
frames of the window, mirror, and picture on the
86. Henri Matisse, Interior with Eggplants, 1911,
wall at the upper left, which provide the spectator
tempera on paper, original state with painted frame.
with additional pictorial spaces, although not sur¬
Musee de Peinture et de Sculpture, Grenoble.
prisingly the mirror fails to reflect the interior ac¬
curately, and the view out of the window, cut off at
the right, has been transformed into another deco¬
rative pattern. The proliferation of patterns across
the walls, carpet, and even onto the frame negates
the illusion of a three-dimensional space unified
within an enclosing border, in favor of creating a
nonhierarchical decorative unity. Painting and dec¬
oration are conflated, as they are within the empty
gold frame hanging on the wall, which encloses a
section of wallpaper as if it were the equivalent of
an easel painting. But this gold frame does not con¬
tain the work of art; the wallpaper flows centrifu-
gally beyond its borders to invade the “faux cadre,”
suggesting the ideal of infinite extension.42
Picasso’s collages of early 1914 may be com¬
pared to Matisse’s decorative painting for the dif¬
ferences one can observe in the attitudes of the
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 140

two artists toward decoration. Matisse’s Symbolist- Finally, after the rediscovery of the emotional
inspired aspiration to make decorative works of art and decorative properties of line and color by
sprang from a retrospective ideal and revealed a modern artists, we have seen our department
sense of nostalgia for a lost golden age. Matisse stores invaded by materials, decorated in med¬
conceived decorative painting as a means of creat¬ leys of color, without moderation, without mean¬
ing a privileged, spiritual realm purified of all refer¬ ing. . . . These odd medleys of color and these
ences to the preoccupations of everyday life. His lines were very irritating to those who knew
paintings were intended to provide an occasion for what was going on and to the artists who had to
a restorative contemplation of beauty within an in¬ employ these different means for the develop¬
timate, perfectly unified environment: “What I ment of their form.
dream of is an art of balance, of purity and seren¬ Finally all the eccentricities of commercial art
ity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject mat¬ were accepted (an extraordinary thing); the pub¬
ter, an art which could be for every mental worker, lic was very flexible and the salesman would take
for the businessman as well as the man of letters, them in by saying, when showing the goods:
for example, a soothing, calming influence on the “This is modern.”44
mind, something which provides relaxation from fa¬
In this facile, market-driven form of imitation,
tigues and toil.”43
Matisse saw only a meaningless profusion of color
In order to achieve a sense of purity and serenity
and line. Picasso, on the other hand, seemed to se¬
in his decorative paintings, Matisse found it neces¬
lect collage materials precisely for their everyday,
sary to avoid allusions to contemporary commer¬
commercial associations. His works bring the
cial techniques. His own mode of production
viewer abruptly into the present and seem to mock
resembled that of the “primitive” artists whose in¬
the requirement that decorative techniques serve
spiration he sought; like the works of these artists,
as an expression of the self or of the perceived es¬
his decorative paintings were meant to seem im¬
sence of an object. Moreover, Picasso exploited the
pervious to the industrial present. One of the dan¬
uncanny resemblance between the decorative mo¬
gers Matisse faced, however, was that the flat,
tifs of fine artists and the debased products of com¬
simplified patterns and unmodeled colors he fa¬
mercial culture. The speckled wallpaper ground in
vored as purified means of symbolic expression
Pipe and Musical Score (fig. 83), for example, imi¬
were easily appropriated by mechanical techniques
tates the surface structure of a Neo-Impressionist
of reproduction. Despite the desire to affirm the
painting but has none of its expressive meaning.
uniqueness and purity of the individual’s produc¬
These wallpaper dots do not record carefully ana¬
tion, the decorative aesthetic found itself in unde¬
lyzed visual sensations, and they are not the picto¬
sired complicity with the design requirements of
rial equivalents of emotions or ideas. They are
commercial, mass-produced imagery. This discov¬
simply an abstract pattern suitable for machine re¬
ery became an occasion of disillusionment for
production. Similarly, the two hand-painted rays of
Matisse, who had never conceived his decorative
pointillist light appear in Picasso’s collage like cita¬
works as having a commercial afterlife:
tions from the art of the past. This self-conscious
appropriation robs these decorative motifs of their
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 141

original significance; even as hand-drawn elements became even more evident. The forms of writing
they remain second-hand, divorced from immedi¬ that entered the Cubist pictorial field, moreover,
ate experience. The manipulation of decorative mo¬ tended to be those most obviously arbitrary or
tifs, understood in these terms, is essentially anti- conventional in character: the writing of the news¬
Symbolist and antidecorative. papers, posters, labels, theater programs, menus,
Kahnweiler attributed the derisory attitude of the popular songs, advertisements. Most of these forms
public toward Cubism to its failure to understand of writing were by nature anonymous and had orig¬
the antidecorative character of Cubist works of art: inally operated within a popular, commercial con¬
“People missed the real meaning of Cubism, which text. Only Juan Gris, who aspired to a more purist,
was a form of writing that was intended to be se¬ perhaps at times even Matissean art, occasionally
vere, consistent, and precise; they thought that it incorporated the pages of a work of poetry into his
was merely a form of decoration,”45 The implication collages. Picasso, who was well known for his love
is that the public wanted works of art with immedi¬ of poetry, and Braque, however, consistently
ate sensuous appeal to decorate its walls, works sought out those forms of writing that were gener¬
that, in Kahnweiler’s terms, “remain on the wall.”46 ally considered to be the obverse of poetry.
Instead, in Cubism it found an art that aimed to en¬
gage the consciousness of the viewer on a deeper Mallarme, Picasso, and the Newspaper
level. Indeed, for Kahnweiler, Cubism was above all as Commodity
a form of writing—that is, a conventional system of The history of the newspaper in France closely
representation that, like any other, had to be parallels the history of wallpaper; both forms of
learned: “If, as I maintain, painting is a form of writ¬ cultural expression became increasingly democra¬
ing, it is quite evident that all writing is a conven¬ tized during the course of the nineteenth century
tion. One must therefore accept this convention, under the pressure of industrialization and the de¬
learn this writing. This is what generally occurs velopment of mass-marketing techniques. Before
through simple familiarity.”47 Thus, unlike Symbol¬ the 1830s, newspapers, owing to their expensive
ist artists, who asserted that ideally forms and subscription system, slow distribution outside of
colors should be pictorial equivalents of the artist’s urban areas, and the lack of even minimal literacy
emotions and ideas and that communication among the majority of the French, had attracted a
should therefore occur naturally and universally, limited readership. In 1836, however, Emile de Gir-
Kahnweiler stressed the process of familiarization ardin founded La Presse, the first successful low-
required to decipher a Cubist work. According cost, daily newspaper in France. The success of
to this view, the spectator did not experience Girardin’s innovation lay in his strategy of doubling
the work of art in the immediate, nondiscursive circulation by cutting subscription costs in half.48
mode advocated by artists such as Van Gogh and This was achieved by supplementing subscription
Gauguin or by Matisse. On the contrary, the spec¬ income with advertising and by attracting new
tator was expected to engage in the difficult act of readers through the invention of a new literary
reading. form, the roman-feuilleton, or serial novel. Here
With the introduction of words and collage ele¬ was a new form of literature, meant to be sold in
ments into the Cubist formal vocabulary, the anal¬
ogy between Cubist pictorial signs and writing
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 142

the streets.49 The daily installments of these novels War and continuing to rise into the first decade of
were an immediate success, encouraging many the twentieth century.55 By the 1880s there were
who had never before felt the need of a newspaper seventy daily newspapers in Paris alone, attesting
to subscribe. Once it was discovered that novels to the emergence of a new mass audience for
sold newspapers, the rest of the press hastened to printed matter.56 The phenomenal growth of the
imitate Girardin’s formula.50 A new form of com¬ newspapers was accompanied by the growth of lit¬
mercial novel writing soon emerged in which the eracy among all classes, although the cities still
exigencies of serialization displaced older narrative outpaced the countryside. These developments had
structures.51 Authors were careful to fit their install¬ many profound effects, among them a blurring of
ments to the allotted space, to end episodes on a the formerly precise boundaries between the liter¬
note of suspense, and to fill their stories with in¬ ate and the illiterate and between the role of the
trigue, dramatic coincidence, violence, and bathos. journalist and that of the novelist, poet, or critic.
A number of favored themes characterized the new Prior to these transformations, it had been possi¬
form: the horror and fascination of the underworld, ble to distinguish between the gentility and lower
crime and social deviance, especially prostitution, classes in France at least partly on the basis of the
the downfall and salvation of the poor and inno¬ ability to read. With the advent of nearly universal
cent. These novels engaged the popular imagina¬ literacy by the end of the nineteenth century, how¬
tion in a way that traditional literature, especially ever, mere reading could no longer provide a stable
poetry, found extremely difficult to compete with. ground for class differences or cultural hierarchies.
Alexandre Dumas’s novel Le Capitaine Paul gained A new hierarchical opposition, however, gradually
Le Siecle five thousand new subscribers in less displaced the older one, now marking the differ¬
than three weeks.52 Eugene Sue’s Les Mysteres de ences between those who read newspapers and
Paris, published by Le Journal des D£bats between those who read books, especially books of poetry.
1842 and 1843, became the most widely read novel This opposition became a determining one for the
of the nineteenth century in France, far surpassing Symbolist generation of writers and poets, who
the novels of Balzac and Stendhal.53 conceived their writing as a form of protest against
During the course of the Second Empire, despite the penetration of the values and logic of the mar¬
stringent government censorship, the publishing ketplace into the very structure and reception of
industry witnessed further expansion. Transported literature.
by railroads, newspapers now reached even remote Stephane Mallarme, who had experienced the
rural areas, making urban culture more accessible growing marginalization of the poet in contempo¬
and advancing the process of cultural homogeniza¬ rary society and the erosion of a genuine public
tion. With the appearance of Le Petit Journal in sphere for noncommercial writing, defined his own
1863, the first paper to be printed on a rolling press poetry as the “other” of the writing in the newspa¬
and to be sold for a mere five centimes, it became pers. “Poetry,” he wrote in “The Evolution of Liter¬
possible for anyone to possess his or her own copy ature,” “is everywhere in language where there is
of a newspaper.54 The circulation of local papers rhythm, everywhere except on posters and the
also rose dramatically, tripling after the Prussian back page of newspapers.”5. The vehemence of Mal-
larme’s denunciation of the newspaper and the
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 143

poster, a theme that appears throughout his critical news, while “no one made allusion to verse.”61 It
essays, issued from his aversion to their commer¬ was in vivid contrast to the debased forms of jour¬
cial use of language. If he singled out the “back nalistic writing, then, that Mallarme conceived the
page” of the newspaper for special derision, it was purity and ideality of his unrealized project for a
because this was the page containing the greatest great “spiritual book.” This contrast was most ex¬
number of advertisements and petites annonces. plicitly evoked by the metaphors Mallarme used to
For Mallarme, then, the newspaper and the poster describe the difference in the physical appearance
exemplified the prevailing tendency to transform of newspaper and book and the consequences this
language into a mere commodity, thereby render¬ difference must have for the experience of reading.
ing its qualitative value as symbol into mere ex¬ In his essay of 1895 “The Book: A Spiritual Instru¬
change value. In “Crisis of Poetry,” Mallarme ment” Mallarme wrote,
characterized all contemporary writing, with the
1 . . . propose to examine, technically, how this
exception of (pure) literature, as a form of journal¬
rag [the newspaper] differs from the book, which
ism, which he further described as equivalent to
is supreme. The newspaper provides an opening:
the silent exchange of money:
literature62 discharges itself there at will.
One of the undeniable desires of my time is to Now—
separate, in view of their different purposes, the The foldings of a book have, with respect to
dual state of the word, crude or immediate here, the page printed large, an almost religious signif¬
there essential. icance, which is less striking, however, than their
To narrate, to teach, even to describe, this is thickness when they are piled together, offering a
what is current, even though for each one, it minuscule tomb, certainly, for the soul.63
would suffice perhaps to exchange human
Vis-a-vis the book, the newspaper is thin: its open
thought by taking or placing in the hand of oth¬
pages, a mere parody of the pages of the book,
ers, silently, a coin; the elementary use of dis¬
contain no depth or hidden meanings. The reli¬
course caters to that universal reporting, in
gious significance of depth and foldings also im¬
which, literature excepted,58 all the genres of
plies a sexual metaphor, and Mallarme compares
contemporary writing participate.59
the book to a virgin, whose folded leaves hide mys¬
What is more, journalistic writing had for some terious depths. The reader who cuts the pages is
time encroached on the territory of literature like the book’s first lover, and reading, transfigured,
proper. Owing to the popularity of the serial novel, becomes an act of consummation:
true fiction (“fiction proprement dite”) and imagi¬ The virginal folding back of the book, once more,
native narrative (“le recit imaginatif”) could be willing / lends for a sacrifice from which the red
found frolicking in the “well-frequented” pages of edges of ancient tomes once bled; the introduc¬
the dailies.60 Mallarme noted that the feuilleton, tra¬ tion of a weapon, or paper knife, to establish the
ditionally printed on the rez-de-chaussde, or “first taking of possession. . . . The folds will perpetu¬
floor,” of the newspaper (that is, on the bottom ate a mark, intact, inviting one to open or close
quarter of the front page), now “supported the the page, according to the master. So blind and
mass of the entire format,” even displacing the
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 144

negligible a process, the crime that is consum¬ of the aural and visual aspect of language and by
mated, in the destruction of a frail inviolability.M negating the representational function of words.
As aspects of a dialectical process, these appar¬
Thus, although marking the site of possession, for
ently incompatible aims were intimately linked.
Mallarme the cut folds of the book remain forever
The effort toward motivation led Mallarme to con¬
intact, pure, virginal.65 By comparison, the newspa¬
ceive poetry both as music and as a form of mime¬
per is already defiled. To read a newspaper is to
sis; yet the more poetry strove to become one with
encounter the flat, open pages of the commodity,
the thing signified, the more it seemed to become a
which, like the prostitute, disports itself with all
thing in its own right. As a result of arranging
comers. Nothing remains hidden, unknown, privi¬
words on a page so that they became images, with
leged: “The newspaper, its full sheet on display, ac¬
a calculated pictorial effect, the material presence
quires in the printing process an improper result,
of the page itself was emphasized, in negation of
of plain, sloppy marking: no doubt, the striking and
the absent referent. This attempt to breathe life
vulgar advantage of it, in everyone’s view, lies in
into the signifier was paradoxically self-canceling, a
[gise dans = gisant = a recumbent effigy on a
mirroring of the second approach in which Mal¬
tomb] its mass production and circulation.”66
larme sought to deinstrumentalize language by ob¬
For Mallarme, the language of the newspaper
literating reference to the exterior world altogether.
also revealed its commercial servitude in the arbi¬
Thus envisioned, the poem became a rarefied
trariness of the column format. He writes of the an¬
realm of pure, formal relationships. In practice, the
noying and dangerous influence the newspaper has
tension between these two approaches was re¬
upon the book, citing “the monotonousness of its
solved only mythically, in the search for the pure
always unbearable columns, which are merely
and essential symbol. Mallarme defined the symbol
strung down the page by hundreds.”67 Marinetti,
as infinitely disseminatory; not because the mean¬
who sought in so many ways to reject his Symbol¬
ings that attach to it are arbitrary, like those of al¬
ist heritage, would later praise the newspaper for
legory, but because in the symbol, as in divine
compressing within its columns all the disparate
revelation, meaning must be both pointed to yet
events occurring simultaneously throughout the
endlessly deferred.71 The religious dimension of
world in a single day.68
Mallarme’s ideal is illuminated by his dream of a
Mallarme, of course, admitted ironically that the
“spiritual book,” an architecturally structured and
format of the book, too, was useless but dreamed
fully premeditated work in which the reader would
of a new poetry that would overcome the arbitrari¬
discover the “orphic explanation of the earth.”72
ness of the vertical column as well as the arbitrari¬
ness of standard typography. This new poetry The poem in which Mallarme most conspicu¬

would also strive to guarantee a legitimate relation ously attempted to achieve something of his ideal
of sound to meaning. The poet deplored the per¬ was Un Coup de des jamais n 'abolira le hasard (A

verse effects of “chance,” [le hasard| which had put throw of the dice will never abolish chance), pub¬

the sounds of the word nuit, so bright, and of the lished in 1897 (figs. 87, 88). He conceived this

word jour, so sombre, in opposition to their mean¬ poem as approximating the horizontal flow of a

ing.69 As Mallarme conceived it, the task of poetry musical score, in direct contrast to the tyranny of
was to prevail over le hasard, to vanquish chance the newspaper’s vertical columns. Words appear
word by word,70 but like so many poets and theo¬ scattered across the page, but their place and typo¬
rists in the Romantic and Symbolist tradition, he graphical character have been carefully considered
aspired to accomplish this goal in contradictory for expressive effect. As Mallarme explained in a
ways: by seeking to motivate the relation of signi- letter to Andre Gide, certain of the words were in¬
fier and signified through a conscious manipulation tended to form images of a constellation and a list¬
ing ship:
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 145

C'ETAIT
LE NO MBRE
ixsu stellaire

EXISTAT-T'IL
fflitrcment qu'hallucination eparsc d’agonie

OOMMENCAT-fL ET CESS AT-fL

sourdant quc nic et clos quand apparu
enfin
par quelque profusion repandue cn rarcte
SE CHIFFRAT-IL

evidence de la somme pour peu qu'unc

ILLUMINAT-IL

CESERAIT
pire
LE HASARD
non
davantage ni moins
indifferemment nuiis autam
Choit
la plume
rythmique suspens du sinistre
s'ensevelir
aux ecumes originelles
nagueres d oil sursauta son delire jusqua une cime
Jletrie
par la neutrality identique du gouffre

87. Stephane Mallarme, double page from Un Coup de

dds jamais n’abolira le hasard [1897], as published in
1914.

88. Stephane Mallarmd, final pages from Un Coup de

dbs jamais n’abolira le hasard [1897], as published in
1914.

EXCEPTE
a [’altitude
PEUT-ETRE
aussi loin qu’un endroit fusionne avec au dela

hors I’interet
quant a lui signale
en general
scion telle obliquite par telle declivite
de feux

vers
ee doit etre
le Septentrion aussi Nord

UNE CONSTELLATION

froide d’oubli et de desuetude

pas tant
qu’elle n’enumere
sur quelque surface vacante et superieure
le heurt successif
t sideralement
d un compte total en formation

veillant
doutant
roulant
brillant et meditant

avant de s’arreter
a quelque point dernier qui le saere

Toute Pensee emet un Coup de Des

 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 146

The constellation will necessarily assume, in a new “musical” poetry will provide a means of
obedience to the strictest laws, and as much as a transcending that reality:
printed text permits, the aspect of a constella¬ I, in turn, misunderstand the true meaning of this
tion. The ship lists, from the top of one page to book and the marvel implied by its structure, if I
the bottom of another, etc.; . . . the rhythm of a cannot, knowingly, imagine a given motif in view
phrase on the subject of an act, or even of an ob¬ of a special place and height on the page, ac¬
ject, has no meaning unless it imitates them, and cording to the fall of light on it or on the work.
figured on the paper, returned by the letter to No more of those successive, incessant, back
the original print, despite everything, knows how and forth motions of our eyes, a line finishes, to
to render something.73 the next, to recommence: such a practice does
Indeed, in Un Coup de des every effort has been not do justice to our delight, having immortally
made to return individual letters to their primordial broken, for an hour, with everything, in realizing
splendor, to slow the movement of the eye and the our fantasies. Otherwise or without this execu¬
flow of narrative, to let the silence of the white tion, as of music on the keyboard, actively mea¬
spaces speak. Here unity lies in the simultaneous sured by the pages of a score, who would not
mise-en-scene of the double page, rather than in rather shut their eyes and dream?75
the perfected single line, while at the same time Ideas such as these of Mallarme were prevalent
the flowing words suggest the mobility of music, among Symbolist poets, artists, and critics, many of
with its hesitations, embellishments, and continua¬ whom shared his aspiration to create an autono¬
tions. Mallarme, writing once again of his “spiritual mous art free of all reality.76 Not surprisingly, they
book,” suggests the meaning these innovations had frequently associated an excessive concern with
for him:
the imitation of reality with journalism, casting
The book, which is a total expansion of the let¬ upon that symbol of modern life all the despised
ter, must draw from it, directly, a mobility and connotations of materialism. Maurice Denis, for ex¬
spacious, through correspondences, must insti¬ ample, in an essay of 1896, described the current
tute a play, unknown, which confirms the fiction. followers of the Impressionists in these derogatory
There is nothing fortuitous there, where terms: “Work after nature was the last safeguard of
chance seems to capture the idea, the formal dis¬ the craft of the painter. In these last years one has
position is the equal [I’dgal = equal to the task, succeeded in bypassing it completely. One does
legal, legitimate]. Do not judge, therefore, these nothing more than note sensations, art is nothing
words—industrial or having to do with more than the newspaper of life. It is journalism in
materiality.74 painting .... it is the eye that devours the head.”77
Given the prevalence of such attitudes at the
In another passage of this essay, Mallarme further
turn of the century, Picasso’s frequent choice of
emphasizes the difference of his new poetic system
newspaper as a collage material suggests a self-
from that of the commercialized forms of the news¬
conscious, ironic negation of Symbolist values.78 In
paper. For if the newspaper, with its “industrial”
this Picasso's collages can be seen as part of the
format brings us into contact with everyday reality,
larger crise des valeurs symbolistes that awakened
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 147

so many poets—among them Jules Romains, Blaise

Cendrars, Apollinaire, and Marinetti—to the vitality
of urban life and commercial forms of expression.
The poem “Zone,” written by Apollinaire in the fall
of 1912 just before Picasso began to affix newspa¬
per clippings to his collages, includes the following
lines:

Tu lis les prospectus les catalogues les affiches

qui chantent tout haut
Voila la poesie ce matin et pour la prose il y a
les journaux . . .
Les inscriptions des enseignes et des murailles
Les plaques les avis a la faqon des perroquets
criaillent
J’aime la grace de cette rue industrieile
[You read prospectuses catalogues and posters
which shout aloud
Here is poetry this morning and for prose there
are the newspapers . . .
Lettering on signs and walls
Announcements and billboards shriek like
parrots 89. Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Bottle and Glass, fall-
I love the charm of this industrial street]79 winter 1912, pasted paper and charcoal on paper.
Musee National d’Art Moderne, Paris.
We know that Picasso was familiar with Mal-
larme’s poetry,80 and in fact, the newspaper head¬
line in one of his earliest collages from late 1912
(fig. 89) is cropped to produce “un coup de the”

from “Un Coup de Theatre,” so that a pun on Mal-

larme’s famous poem emerges from the very news¬
paper format the poet detested. Mallarme had
found the strident boldness of newspaper headlines
especially offensive, and in Un Coup de des he had
dispersed the title on successive pages to integrate
it with the overall form of the poem.81 Picasso, on
the other hand, takes special delight in newspaper
titles, often choosing to engage in a play of all the
possible puns contained in the word journal, which
is also the generic name of all newspapers. One of
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 148

the better-known examples is Guitar and Wineglass, ist ideals and, indeed, of Symbolist theories of
from the fall of 1912 (fig. 7), in which “le jou” (The representation.
game) appears just above the title of an article, “la In Picasso’s collages, everything once banished
bataille s’est engage[e]” (The battle has begun). or suppressed from the autonomous, pure realm of
This phrase has been interpreted as alluding both art now reappears within the text of the newspa¬
to the Balkan Wars and to the beginning of the pers: contemporary political and social events, the
challenge of collage itself as a new pictorial form. A roman-feuilleton, scientific discoveries, advertise¬
collage from the winter of 1912 (fig. 45) bearing the ments of all kinds, want ads. Bottle and Glass on a
fragment “urnal” has been variously interpreted as Table of late 1912 (fig. 90) prominently displays a
a reference to Maurice Raynal, one of the first crit¬ newspaper clipping of liqueur advertisements, used
ics to champion a collage work (although he later to signify both the label and contents of the de¬
denounced the practice) and as a mocking refer¬ picted bottle. Serialized romances also turn up, in
ence to urinal Attention has been drawn to these Violin of autumn 1912 (fig. 9), in Head of a Man,
puns and jokes as well as to the numerous clip¬ also of 1912 (fig. 91), and in Glass and Bottle of
pings about the Balkan Wars by art historians such Bass of spring 1914 (fig. 64), to name only a few ex¬
as Robert Rosenblum82 and Patricia Leighten.83 amples. In a collage from 1912 in which an entire
They have demonstrated that Picasso’s newspaper newspaper sheet serves as the ground for a still life
clippings are meant to be read for the black humor, of a bottle on a table (fig. 92) the title “la semaine

double entendres, and political associations they economique & financiere” (The economic and finan¬
reveal. Indeed, the clippings respect the verticality cial week) can scarcely be missed despite its in¬
of the columns and are placed upright within the verted position. Picasso also glued two drawings
pictorial field so that they can be read with relative executed on newspaper into his sketchbook during
ease. What has not been sufficiently emphasized, the spring of 1913, carefully preserving them. One
however, is the connoted meaning of newspaper in of these (fig. 93), a drawing of a guitarist, appears
an artistic milieu still largely dominated by Symbol¬ on a fragment of newspaper bearing the clearly vis¬
ist values.84 ible title “le commerce” followed by listings of cur¬
Certainly Picasso, as an early twentieth-century rent stock prices. The other is a drawing of a table
artist, faced many of the same material conditions rendered on an ad for women’s apparel and linge¬
that had prompted the ivory-tower, purist attitudes rie.85 Rather than fetishize the virginal white space
of some of the Symbolists. His early and consistent of the page, in works such as these Picasso chose a
refusal, even at his most destitute, to exhibit his ground that was already traversed by the market.
works in any of the Parisian salons and to contrib¬ One of the most interesting uses of newspaper,
ute illustrations to satirical magazines indicates the and particularly of advertising, occurs in a small
strength of his desire to remain free of the pres¬ collage of early 1913, the Still Life: “Au Bon Marchd”
sures of public taste and of the marketplace. Never¬ (fig. 94). Here, Picasso created a collage with mate¬
theless, the eruption of newspaper fragments rials taken from the commercial world, including
within the previously homogeneous and pure do¬ newspaper clippings and cheap wallpaper. The sub¬
main of painting functions as a critique of Symbol¬ ject of this work of art, in turn, alludes to its mate¬
rial origins by taking as its theme the promiscuity
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 149

90. Pablo Picasso, Bottle and Glass on a Table, fall-

winter 1912, pasted paper and charcoal on paper.
Private collection.

91. Pablo Picasso, Head of a Man, fall-winter 1912,

pasted papers and charcoal on paper. The Fogg Art
Museum, Harvard University. Anonymous Gift in
memory of Frederick B. Deknatel.
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 150

/ J */ ~ , I

93. Pablo Picasso, Study for a Figure, May 1913, ink on

newspaper, glued into the second Sorgues sketchbook.
Musde Picasso, Paris. Photo R.M.N.

92. Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Bottle, fall-winter 1912,

pasted paper and charcoal on paper. Musde Picasso,
Paris. Photo R.M.N.
Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 151

94. Pablo Picasso, Still Life: “Au Bon Marche, ” early

1913, oil and pasted papers on cardboard. Ludwig
Collection, Aachen.
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 152

of the commodity. Through the placement of two ating the illusion of one. The hole remains an effect
department store advertisements, one from La of writing pasted, with Picasso’s characteristic wit,
Samaritaine at top and another from the Bon to a slight projection in the wall-like ground. For in
Marche at center, Picasso reconstructed an image a sense, it is a wall that is depicted here, although
of the bourgeois female which ironically conforms one must still ask, What sort of wall? The striped,
to that of the mass media. She appears in her ex¬ golden wallpaper ground and the allusion to a
emplary dual role as consumer of goods and as ob¬ woman in lingerie suggest that this is an intimate
ject of desire, that is, as intimately involved in the interior, perhaps a boudoir. Yet the wineglass at
world of commodities. As Robert Rosenblum has right and the bottle at left convert the scene to a
observed, the placement of the fragments suggests cafe setting, while the overall effect of the collaged
a rather clandestine joke: at the top we see the advertisements evokes a poster-covered urban
torso of a woman, then an advertisement for linge¬ wall. Thus advertising, one of the subsidiary indus¬
rie, and just below, inserted into a gap in the wall¬ tries that developed in response to early capitalist
paper background and jutting into the lingerie mass-marketing techniques, presides over the col¬
advertisement, are the words “un trou ici” (a hole lapse of the boundaries between the private and
here).86 Picasso’s pun may be a private joke refer¬ public realms, assimilating the interior to the
ring to Apollinaire’s first pornographic novel, writ¬ street. Walter Benjamin captured the essence of
ten in 1901, Mirely, ou le petit trou pas cher,87 On a this phenomenon in his essay on Baudelaire and
more overt level, the humorous erotic allusions of nineteenth-century Paris: “The arcades were a
this collage play on a popular late nineteenth- and cross between a street and an interieur. . . . The
early twentieth-century theme, the dubious moral¬ street becomes a dwelling for the flaneur, he is as
ity of the department store salesgirl. much at home among the facades of houses as a
Part of the irony of this collage, however, is that citizen is in his four walls. To him the shiny, enam¬
while alluding to such themes the “trou” cropped elled signs of businesses are at least as good a wall
from the newspaper also refers to the pictorial gaps ornament as an oil painting is to a bourgeois in his
or holes created by perspectival illusion in the flat salon. The walls are the desk against which he
surface of the picture plane. Such pictorial holes presses his notebooks; news-stands are his librar¬
were themselves of ill repute during the late nine¬ ies and the terraces of cafes are the balconies from
teenth and early twentieth centuries, implying de¬ which he looks down on his household after his
ception about the nature of the medium. As we work is done.”88
have seen, one of the rallying cries of the Symbol¬ As more and more areas of private experience
ists had been a return to the pre-Renaissance aes¬ seemed to become subject to the laws of the mar¬
thetics of decoration, especially mural decoration. ket, nineteenth-century theories of originality as
Symbolist artists sought to reflect the structure of self-expression were gradually undermined. One of
the pictorial support in the work itself by avoiding the earliest signs of a new conception of the crea¬
deep perspectival holes that made walls appear to tive process—and particularly of originality—ap¬
vanish. In Picasso’s collage, the newspaper text as¬ pears in Picasso’s first series of collages executed
serts the presence of a Trou without, however, cre¬ during the autumn of 1912. In the place of the
unique, indexical marking of the artist’s hand, still
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 153

of primary significance in Symbolist and Fauvist lation of the self, such as sketchlike brushstrokes
works, we find only fragments of previously estab¬ or heightened color.
lished codes of representation: newspaper clip¬ By 1912, it was no longer possible for Picasso to
pings, bits of wallpaper, musical scores (figs. 8, 12, use such techniques without irony. When he wrote
15, 19). In Guitar and Wineglass (fig. 7) even the “J’aime Eva” in overtly childlike handwriting on a
drawn glass appears to be ready-made, for it reads heart-shaped piece of gingerbread and glued it to
like a familiar quotation from Picasso’s previous his canvas (fig. 34) or stenciled “ma jolie,” the eas¬
Cubist reconstructions of simple objects. In these ily recognized fragment of a popular song,89 to his
early collages originality derives from the imagina¬ canvases (fig. 95), it was to underscore the paradox
tive manipulation of conventional signs rather than of expressing a private or personal emotion with a
from a spontaneous encounter between self and public language. Picasso’s collages imply that this
nature. This attitude toward representation sug¬ highly cliched language is the only one available.
gests, in part, a return to the classical theory of in¬ The impossibility of inventing a purely expressive,
vention, which relied on the recombination of uncontaminated, personal language that would still
previously known compositional elements or sche¬ be a language is what Picasso revealed in these
mas. But whereas an academic artist was taught to works.
base his art on the conventions of the finest art of Here the aesthetics of Mallarme and Picasso con¬
the past, Picasso appropriated elements from the verge once again. For although Mallarme believed
contemporary world of popular culture and mass that a true work of art was unique, or should be,90
communication. his conception of the poem as a pure, independent
Here again, the preponderance of newspaper in object precluded causal references to the self, or
Picasso’s collages is significant. Newspaper, per¬ what he called “the audible breathing” of the poet.
haps more than any other cultural artifact, embod¬ In “Crisis of Poetry” Mallarme spoke of the imper¬
ies the principle of reproducibility in utter negation sonality of his poetic ideal: “The pure work implies
of the unique or privileged object, for any copy of a the elocutionary disappearance of the poet, who
newspaper is as good as any other. Moreover, hav¬ cedes the initiative to words, brought into collision
ing a lifespan of only a day or perhaps a week, it by their mobilized inequality. They illuminate
quickly reverts to the status of refuse, thereby ex¬ themselves through reciprocal reflections like a vir¬
emplifying the principle of obsolescence inscribed tual swath of fire sweeping over precious stones,
in the very nature of the commodity. Picasso’s in¬ replacing the audible breathing in ancient lyric po¬
troduction of newspaper within the realm of paint¬ etry or the personal and passionate control of the
ing suggests a critique of its fine art status on phrase.”91 For Picasso, however, the effacement of
several fronts. It challenges the durability of the the self did not gesture toward the pure, expressive
work of art, traditionally defined in opposition to radiance of words. Rather, the artist’s use of news¬
the ephemeral products of mass culture. It rede¬ paper and other mass-produced materials signaled
fines the creative act as a manipulation of iterable, the obsolescence of contemporary cultural hierar¬
arbitrary signs, like those of writing. And it also chies and theories of representation in an age in
thereby implicitly points to the conventionality of which cultural artifacts had become commodities.
seemingly original, spontaneous signs for the reve¬
Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 154

95. Pablo Picasso, Pipe, Glass, Musical Score, Ace of

Clubs, Guitar, “MaJolie, ” 1914, oil on canvas. Collection
Heinz Berggruen, Geneva. Photo: The National Gallery
of Art, London.

Fragments
In a letter to Paul Verlaine now titled “Autobiog¬
raphy,” Mallarme characterized his poetry as a col¬
lection of fragments, which necessarily fell far
short of his ideal for a collectively written “Great
Work”:

What work? It is difficult to explain: a book, sim¬

ply, in many volumes, a book which is a book,
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 155

architectural and premeditated, and not a mis¬ nance. As a defensive stratagem, he adopts a posi¬
cellany of chance inspirations, however marvel¬ tion of disdain for those masses who seem capable
ous they may be. . . . of reading only the newspapers. As Mallarme put it,
There, my friend, is the confession of my vice, “In reality, I am a recluse. I believe that poetry
laid bare, which 1 have rejected a thousand should be for the supreme pomp and circumstance
times, my spirit wounded or weary, but it pos¬ of a constituted society, in which glory would have
sesses me and 1 will succeed perhaps; not that I its place. People seem to have forgotten glory. The
will accomplish this work in its entirety (one attitude of a poet in an epoch like this one, where
would have to be I don’t know whom for that!) he is on strike against society, must be to turn his
but to realize a fragment of it, to let its glorious back on all the contaminated means that are of¬
authenticity shine forth in some way, and so fered to him. For anything that can be offered to
suggest the rest in its totality, for which a single him is inferior to his conception and to his secret
life does not suffice. To prove through the com¬ labor.”94 One might conclude, then, that Mallarme’s
pleted portions that this book exists, and that fragments, however self-referential and hermetic,
I have known that which 1 was not able to contained an element of protest against the materi¬
accomplish.92 alism and “incomplete” social structure of his time.
He intended his verses to resist contamination by
For Mallarme, the disparity between his Great
the market and to offer some spiritual solace to
Work (or spiritual book) and the fragments he was
those few confreres who preferred to live without
able to realize only confirmed the beauty and per¬
succumbing to its allure.
fection of his ideal. He viewed these fragments as
Needless to say, however, this protest proved
radiant jewels, giving the reader a glimpse of a
largely ineffectual and by the early twentieth cen¬
unity and brilliance that must remain unattainable.
tury had become the object of parody. Like the
Although described here in typically Romantic
hero of J.-K Huysmans’s novel A Rebours, who
terms as the inevitable discrepancy between a
emerged into the light of day after a prolonged at¬
poet’s vision and his achievement, there was also a
tempt to live in an enclosed, artificial world, many
social explanation for the fragmentary nature of
turn-of-the-century poets (and artists) found it nec¬
Mallarme’s oeuvre. This was to be found in the ab¬
essary to seek new sources of inspiration in collec¬
sence of a stable, unified social order, which ac¬
tive urban experience and lowbrow entertainment.
cording to Mallarme also gave rise to the
The collage practice of Picasso, Braque, and Gris
“unexplained need” for individualism in poetry:
participates in this moment of renewed contact
“Above all the undeniable point is this: that in a so¬
with popular culture. Here, as in the oeuvre of Mal¬
ciety without stability, without unity, one cannot
larme, we find an art of fragments, but these frag¬
create a stable and definitive art. From this incom¬
ments no longer allude to an unattainable, spiritual
plete social organization, which also explains the
ideal. If Mallarme’s fragments were conceived as in¬
restlessness of certain minds, the unexplained need
dividual jewels that might one day take their right¬
for individuality was born.”9* The poet, no longer
ful place in a fully accomplished Great Work, the
fulfilling a recognized and meaningful function
fragments in Cubist collages are best characterized
within society, hovers on its margins, uncertain of
an audience and without a reliable means of suste¬
Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 156

96. Pablo Picasso, detail of Bottle ofVieux Marc,

Newspaper and Glass, 1913. For full view, see fig. 56.

as the debris of urban mass culture. What glitter

they retain is of the cheapest, gaudiest kind. One of
Picasso’s collages of spring 1913, titled Bottle of
Vieux Marc, Newspaper and Glass (fig. 96), suggests
the artist was highly self-conscious about the with¬
ering away of the old, aristocratic world and the
glory it represented. This collage contains two frag¬
ments from Le Figaro of May 188395 describing the
coronation of Tsar Alexander III in Moscow, which
according to the author “surpasses anything that
one could dream [ . . . ] veritable picturesque gran¬
deur."96 Indeed, the reporter gave special attention
to the sumptuousness of the procession and cere¬
mony, the crown (made of twenty-four hundred
diamonds surmounted by a diamond cross), the ca¬
thedral, and the dress of the participants. The
newspaper, which by 1913 would have yellowed
and become brittle, must have seemed to signal the
obsolescence of such ceremonies in the modern
age. Picasso enhanced this effect by laying a wash
of pale yellow onto the paper ground, to which he
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 157

pasted some remnants of an especially gaudy gold be grotesque if it were not sad for the true artist.”98
and brown flowered wallpaper. But in this collage, Given this aristocratic stance, it must have been
the golden splendor of a bygone era, recoverable with considerable bitterness and self-conscious
only in torn and faded fragments, confronts the mockery that Mallarme proclaimed to the (female)
modern scene of pleasure: the cafe table, a princi¬ readers of his journal of culture and fashion, La
pal site of everyday, popular diversion. Thus one Derniere Mode, that today (1874), only women read
form of cultural spectacle comments on the decay poetry: “One must repeat, not without truth, that
of another, parodying its effects and emptying them lecteurs no longer exist; I do believe there are only
of meaningful content. As Ludwig Wittgenstein lectrices. Only a lady, in her isolation from Politics
once observed, “A coronation is the picture of and morose troubles, has the necessary leisure to
pomp and dignity. Cut one minute of this proceed¬ give rise, once her toilette has been completed, to
ing out of its surroundings: the crown is being a need also to adorn the soul.”99 Contemporary po¬
placed on the head of the king in his coronation etry, according to this cynical appraisal, retains
robes.—But in different surroundings gold is the only the prestige of luxury. And reading, associated
cheapest of metals, its gleam is thought vulgar. with leisure and the contemplation of beauty for its
There the fabric of the robe is cheap to produce. A own sake, becomes analogous to other (female)
crown is a parody of a respectable hat. And so forms of vanity.
on.”97 In rejecting this purist attitude, the Cubists con¬
Indeed, the parody of a work such as Bottle of tinued to view themselves as practicing their art on
Vieux Marc, Newspaper and Glass must also be seen the margins of a society that failed to understand
as social commentary, a prise de position toward them. As Thomas Crow has pointed out, the oppo¬
the old aristocratic order and the patronage of the sitional public, which artists like David or Courbet
arts it once provided. Picasso’s collage seems to had once been able to address, no longer existed
point to the fact that a market economy has super¬ as a significant force in the early twentieth cen¬
seded older, traditional forms of patronage and that tury.100 The Cubists found their public in the ex¬
works of art now inevitably take their place within tremely restricted circle of other avant-garde
the world of commodities. Mallarm6, of course, in artists, poets, critics, dealers, and a few bourgeois
decrying the absence of a stable society, was also amateurs.101 But within these narrowed margins,
decrying the passing away of aristocratic patronage there was a positive identification with the de¬
of poetry. Addressing the poets of his time, Mal- graded pleasures of popular mass culture (as there
larme wrote in 1862, “Let man be democratic, the had been earlier in the work of many nineteenth-
artist must separate and remain an aristocrat. . . . century avant-garde artists, including Manet and
The present hour is a grave one: the people are Seurat). The Cubists seem to have conceived their
being educated, the great doctrines are going to be collages, in particular, as sites where fragments of
spread. If there is a popularization [vulgarisation], the cultural codes that circulate through our lives
let it be one of the good, not of art, so that your might continue to do so, albeit according to an al¬
efforts do not tend—as they have not tended, 1 tered imperative. Certainly these fragments—bits of
hope—to make you a worker’s poet, which would newspaper, playing cards, cheap wallpaper, calling
cards, cinema programs, popular musical scores,
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 158

cigarette and liquor labels, packing paper—retain notable that in Cubist works, the plein air scenes of
their identity as cultural commodities. the Impressionists, Neo-Impressionists, and Fauves
Even Gris, the most purist of the Cubists, took as well as the decorative interiors so typical of the
pleasure in the quintessential commercial artifacts lntimists and of Matisse give way to a nearly exclu¬
of his time. A collage such as The Table (fig. 80), sive concentration on the urban cafd. For the cafe
for example, contains an easily recognizable page represents a public form of social interaction and
from one of the Fantomas novels, one of the most enjoyment, rather than a private or natural world
successful detective series of this period. Another to which one might withdraw for subjective con¬
example can be found in Gris’s evident delight in templation. In the Cubist cafe, individual subjectiv¬
the Gothic typeface and logo of the daily paper Le ity recedes, and the emphasis turns instead to
Matin, which advertises the fact that this paper was shared diversions, produced according to the laws
the first to employ the telegraph in gathering its of mass consumption. Indeed, Picasso’s Still Life:
news (figs. 97, 98). (Le Matin was one of the fastest “Au Bon Marchd” (fig. 94), as we have seen, exem¬
growing modern newspapers and was read primar¬ plifies the collapse of the distinction between pub¬
ily by les hommes d'affaires.)102 lic and private realms of experience.
Braque, on the other hand, frequently cropped Yet the Cubists have not, in Mallarme’s terms,
newspaper texts to produce lowbrow sexual jokes, become “worker’s artists.” They have merely di¬
especially in his collages of 1913 and 1914. An ex¬ rected their critique to those Symbolist and Sym¬
ample can be seen in a work such as Violin and bolist-inspired practices which had come to seem
Pipe of 1913-14 (fig. 99), in which a fragment of Le suspect: the creation of an ideal, unified, spiritual
Quotidien producing “Le Qu” is juxtaposed to the world, a realm, that is, where the enlightened indi¬
silhouette of a violin, a displaced sound hole be¬ vidual might forget for a time the power of the mar¬
coming a tail. The nearby pipe, one of Braque’s ket to cause all intrinsic values to wither. Through
“attributes,” would also have been read as a hu¬ their collages, the Cubists revealed that such puri¬
morous phallic symbol by his contemporaries. In fied worlds have already been contaminated. How
another collage of 1913-14, Still Life with Le Cour- could it be otherwise—when sincerity was being
rier (fig. 100), a fragment of the newspaper’s title manufactured by the hundreds of artists who
suggesting the words “Le Coeur” is partially ob¬ crowded the salons? when spontaneous brushwork
scured by another newspaper fragment from which and pointillist dots had become standard fare?
a heart has been cut. Braque reinforced his play of when an artist like Matisse could produce a naively
words and forms by juxtaposing this hole with the rendered portrait of his young daughter, even sign¬
subtitle of the newspaper that seems to spell “Or¬ ing it "Marguerite” in awkward, childlike strokes, as
gan de Madam.” In addition, the fanlike disposition if this picture were executed by its subject (fig.
of the collage elements evokes a cardplayer’s hand, 101 )?103 That such techniques were too easily cop¬
in which the Queen of Hearts is trump and perhaps ied and imitated by so many minor artists surely
prize. had begun to undermine the mythology they were
This was a low form of humor in keeping with based on: that a work of art should express the
the cafe setting of so many Cubist collages. It is
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 159

98. Juan Gris, Le Paquet de Cafe, 1914, oil and pasted

papers on canvas. Ulmer Museum. Dauerleihgabe des
Landes Baden-Wiirttemberg.

97. Juan Gris, A Man in a Cafe, 1914, oil and pasted

papers on canvas. Mr. and Mrs. William R. Acquavella.
Photo Acquavella Galleries, Inc.
Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 160

99. Georges Braque, Violin and Pipe, 1913-14, pasted

papers and charcoal on paper (adhered to cardboard).
Musee National d’Art Moderne, Paris.
Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 161

100. Georges Braque, Still Life with Le Courrier, 1913

14, pasted papers, charcoal, and chalk on paper.
Philadelphia Museum of Art.
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 162

emotions or ideas of the artist in a unique, unme¬

diated manner, in a style that manifests itself as dif¬
ference from the infinitely reproducible products of
mass culture.
All of this is not to say, however, that Picasso,
Braque, and Gris (unlike the Symbolists or Fauves)
accepted contemporary market conditions whole¬
heartedly. On the contrary, they rejected them
even while providing an ironic critique of the purist
attitudes of their predecessors and contemporaries
in the avant-garde. Indeed many of the formal and
material properties of Cubist collages and con¬
structions seemed designed specifically to elude
the apparently inevitable process of commodifica¬
tion. Many collages and constructions, for example,
were structurally fragile, made of bits of paper
pasted or pinned to a paper support, the drawing
executed in friable, unvarnished charcoal. Conse¬
quently, many have been lost or damaged. To the
potential buyer, they must have appeared less pre¬
cious, less like a work of art. The absence of a
frame—or the presence of frames that parodied
fine art frames—contributed to the unfinished,
nonart look of these objects.104 Some works, to be
sure, were not for sale. These were primarily the
101. Henri Matisse, Portrait of a Young Girl constructions and were often kept by the artist, de¬
(Marguerite), 1907, oil on canvas. Musee Picasso, Paris. stroyed, or given only a photographic existence.
Photo R.M.N. Such was the case with Picasso’s Assemblage with
Guitar Player (fig. 61). Only one of Braque’s card¬
board and paper constructions survives, and that
in photographic form (fig. 102). Yet even in the
photograph the word “art" is legible, ironically ap¬
pearing just where one might expect the label on
the cardboard bottle to identify its contents. Works
such as these were made for the pleasure of the
artist and a few friends, rather than for the market.
Picasso, Braque, and Gris took pride in remain¬
ing aloof from the salon-going public, which would
not have understood, admired, or bought Cubist
works. They preferred to allow Kahnweiler to sell
these works for them, and he did so in the new, de¬
veloping international art market. This meant that
apart from a few friends like the Steins, they did
 Cubist Collage and the Culture of Commodities 163

not even have to concern themselves with the im¬

mediate Parisian public.
Ultimately, then, Cubist works, especially the col¬
lages and constructions, bear all the signs of an un¬
easy, paradoxical relation to the public and to the
market. Constructed from the fragments of contem¬
porary mass culture, these works seem to elide the
distinction between fine and popular art. Yet the
Cubist artist, in mounting his critique of the mod¬
ernist notion that a work of art present the viewer
with an ideal, pure realm, did so symbolically, from
within the ranks of the avant-garde. The works of
Picasso, Braque, and Gris, so closely identified with
the processes and materials of popular culture, do
not therefore address a popular or mass audience.
Most important, these artists retained their privi¬
leged position within the existing division of labor.
The refusal to copy, even the refusal to make iden¬
tifiable products, confirmed their position as mem¬
bers of the intellectual, creative elite, as did the
irony, wit, and humor that pervades Cubist works.
As Terry Eagleton has so succinctly put it, “Wit is
intellect without labour.”105 In Cubist collages and
constructions, wit and imagination displaced sin¬
cerity and the unique, expressive brushstroke, but
this did nothing to change the relations of
production.
To find such a transformation, which would en¬
tail an insertion of art and its attendant practices
into the realm of the social and political, we must
turn to Futurism. Here the political manifests itself
as the overt content of the artists’ endeavors. In
Futurist collages, fragments of popular culture or of
Futurist manifestos enter the work of art primarily
102. Georges Braque, Construction, 1914. No longer as a means of contributing to the sensationalism
extant. Photo: Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris. and immediacy of the work, and consequently to
its political effectiveness. Moreover, whereas the
Cubists had refused to explain their works of art,
the Futurists addressed their public in an incessant
outpouring of raucous, inflammatory proclama¬
tions, exhibitions, theater productions, and politi¬
cal manifestations. The artist and the public at last
met face to face—but not without giving rise to a
new set of paradoxical relations and posturings.
Chapter 6

Destroying

the Cult

of the Museum:

The Futurist

Collage

Aesthetic

Anche per noi futuristi “la pittura non risiede

nei tubetti Lefranc.”

—Carlo Carra, “Vita moderna e arte populare,”

Lacerba, 1914
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 165

In “The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism,” In the spring of 1912, Marinetti’s attack on the pas-
Marinetti made an unprecedented demand de¬ satista (old-fashioned, anti-Futurist) form of the
signed to shock his readers out of their compla¬ book inspired the invention of parole in liberta, a
cency. He called for the destruction of Italy’s new, visually expressive poetry designed to liberate
libraries, museums, and academies, those reposito¬ words from the shackles of syntax so they might
ries of tradition and learning so deadly in their in¬ take on the explosive force of projectiles. Shortly
fluence on the vital forces of the present. Museums, thereafter, Futurist artists sought to replace tradi¬
in particular, drew his wrath: “Museums: cemeter¬ tional “static” forms of painting and sculpture with
ies! . . . Identical, surely, in the sinister promiscuity a variety of collages and constructed works in¬
of so many bodies unknown to one another. Mu¬ tended to insert the work of art more effectively
seums: public dormitories where one lies forever into the dynamic stream of life. In both poetry and
beside hated or unknown beings. Museums: absurd the visual arts, then, a desire to obliterate the dis¬
abattoirs of painters and sculptors ferociously tinction between genres or media emerged. In
slaughtering each other with color-blows and line- many ways it was parallel to the impulse that led
blows, the length of the fought-over walls!”1 Having the Cubists to include words in their pictures and
described a scene of absurd conflict, Marinetti then to challenge the distinction between painting and
asked the inevitable question: “Why poison our¬ sculpture. For the Futurists, as for the Cubists,
selves? Why rot?”2 Rather than devote oneself to a painting and sculpture were associated with the
debilitating admiration for the past, the Futurist museum and the conditions of display it provided.
would burn the libraries, flood the museums. Like Carra expressed the opposition between an art
the anarchist who must destroy before he can made for the museum and the synthetic creations
build, Marinetti advocated the total annihilation of of Futurism when he wrote, “While our predeces¬
tradition and of the authority it continued to hold: sors, without exception (including Cezanne and
“So let them come, the gay incendiaries with Renoir) had as their dream and ultimate destina¬
charred fingers! Here they are! Here they are! . . . tion the museum, we Futurist painters will have
Come on! set fire to the library shelves! Turn the created a type of concrete plastic synthesis, the
canals to flood the museums! . . . Oh, the joy of fruit of our Futurist sensibility already tired and
seeing the glorious old canvases bobbing adrift nauseated by the presence before us of embalmed
on those waters, discolored and shredded!”3 cadavers to contemplate.”4 In the passage immedi¬
This rallying cry was quickly taken up, in spirit if ately preceding this one, Carra asserted the right of
not in letter, by the artists who joined Marinetti’s the artist to employ any materials he might choose,
movement after the publication of his first mani¬ as long as his selection was guided by his “creative
festo. Within a few years, this call for total renewal spirit”:
led to a wide variety of pictorial and sculptural in¬ We Futurists also believe that “painting does not
novations. These included, most notably, a synthe¬ lie in Lefranc tubes.” If an individual possesses a
sis of verbal and visual modes of expression, and pictorial sense, whatever he creates guided by
the use of heterogeneous materials in works of art. this sense will always lie within the domain of
painting. Wood, paper, cloth, leather, glass,
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 166

string, oil-cloth, majolica, tin and all metals, took pleasure in playing with the multiple significa¬
colors, glue, etc. etc., will enter as most legiti¬ tions of the materials they selected, the Futurists
mate materials in our present artistic gave primacy to the inherent expressive qualities of
constructions. their collage materials, regarding them as real
The quantity and selection of this material will physical objects with specific weight, density,
be regulated case by case by our creative spirit, mass, and the ability to reflect light.
which in matters of art, is the only authoritative Indeed, much of the Futurist collage aesthetic
arbiter that we admit. must be interpreted not only as a means of advanc¬
Thus, if all categories become modified and ing the Futurist desire to achieve an art of sensory
destroyed, categories which were completely ar¬ fullness and immediacy, but also as a self-con¬
bitrary in any case, and which made of art an ar¬ scious critique of Cubist style and of the values it
tificial game perpetrated with colors and canvas, implied. Above all, the Futurists objected to the
for art this will be an advantage, for it will be lib¬ coolness and intellectual quality of Cubist works
erated from every prejudice and will manifest it¬ and to the evident arbitrariness of the distortions
self in its greatest sincerity and purity.5 and fragmentations they visited upon their sub¬
jects. Of all the early critics of Cubism, it was the
Indeed, with the first experiments of Severini and
Futurists who most consistently singled out this ar¬
Boccioni, executed during the summer and fall of
1912, the ideal of a new art, untainted by the stulti¬ bitrariness and the sense of artistic distance or me¬

fying atmosphere of the museum, seemed to de¬ diation it created for reproach. In retrospect, the

mand the use of diverse and specifically modern, Futurists turn out to have been among the most

nonaesthetic materials. Moreover, the idea of con¬ perspicuous contemporary interpreters of Cubism,

struction implicit in the manipulation of these ele¬ although they often could find little or no positive

ments accorded well with the Futurists’ desire to value in what they saw. Their own understanding of

build a new universe upon the ruins of the old. the act of representing remained rooted in nine¬

The stimulus for the inclusion of words and a va¬ teenth-century attitudes toward artistic expression,

riety of materials in the creation of new construc¬ which emphasized immediacy and sincerity rather

tive works originally came from Cubist circles. Yet than self-conscious irony and wit. Thus, despite the

the Futurists had their own reasons for wishing to many friendships and exchanges of ideas that at

challenge the homogeneity and nobility of the tra¬ times brought the Cubists and Futurists together,

ditional painting or sculpture. Unlike the Cubists, the divergence in their aesthetic aims and practice

whose initial use of pasted materials had issued was fundamental. In 1913 Carlo Carra, expressing

from an aversion to copying, the Futurists were in¬ the views of most of the Futurists, set forth the

terested in finding ways of suggesting the interpen¬ terms of his rejection of Cubism:

etration of an object or figure with its environment. If we accuse the Cubists, ... of not creating
If to Picasso the “horrible canvas” had also come to works but only fragments, it is because in their
signify the domain of an obsolete purity and auton¬ pictures one feels the necessity of further and
omy, to the Futurists it signified all that was static greater development. Moreover, it is because in
and burdened with tradition. And if the Cubists their canvases an essential center in the organ-
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 167

ism of the whole work is lacking, as are those ism) as the basis of their artistic practice. Before
surrounding forces that flow towards such a becoming Futurists in 1910, Balia, Boccioni, Sever-
center and gravitate around it. ini, and Carra had all considered the works of Gio¬
Finally, it is because one notes that the ara¬ vanni Segantini, Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, and
besque of their pictures is purely accidental, Gaetano Previati to be among the strongest that It¬
lacking the character of totality and vitality that aly had produced and consequently developed
is indispensable to the life of the work.6 their own individual interpretations of Divisionist

Lacking a vital, organizing, and organic center, technique. No doubt the work of the Italian Divi-

Cubist works could only present the viewer with sionists contributed to the predisposition of the Fu¬

arbitrarily arranged fragments. “On the other turists for French Neo-Impressionism as well. Balia,

hand,” Carra explained, “we Futurists seek, with the for example, had returned from his visit to Paris in

force of intuition, to immerse ourselves in the cen¬ 1901 full of admiration for the plein air paintings of

ter of things, so that our T forms a single complex the Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists. Works

with their uniqueness.”7 This intuitive force, which such as The Worker’s Day of 1904-06 and The Mad¬
woman of 1905 reveal a personal interpretation of
according to Carra the Futurists also directed to¬
ward the study of materials, forms, and colors, both French and Italian sources. Like the artists he

would provide the basis for creating an art of ne¬ admired, Balia based his work on direct observa¬

cessity, rather than an art of contingency. Carra be¬ tion and concentrated on capturing flickering ef¬

lieved that if one day a “plasticometer” could be fects of light through the use of complementary

invented capable of measuring the expressive force colors and a stippled brushstroke. If these works
must ultimately be classified as Divisionist, how¬
of lines, colors, and volumes in Futurist works,
ever, it is because, like his Italian predecessors in
“every accusation of arbitrariness would be de¬
the use of divided color, Balia never found the reg¬
feated.”8 Thus, in words that recall the late nine¬
ular brushstroke of the Neo-Impressionists conge¬
teenth-century enthusiasm for reconciling the laws
nial to his aims and tended to vary it according to
of science with those of intuition, Carra elucidated
the effect to be produced. His use of complemen¬
the principles of Futurist art. These principles es¬
tary colors was also more intuitive than scientific.
tablish an unbroken link between Futurist aesthetic
As an established artist and early teacher of both
theory and that of their Symbolist and Divisionist
Boccioni and Severini, Balia exerted a powerful in¬
predecessors. If the Cubists and Futurists so often
fluence on their thinking during this formative pe¬
failed to understand each other, it was because by
riod. Severini recalled in his memoirs that “Balia
1912 this link had already been severed in the work
painted with separate and contrasting colors, like
of the Cubists.
the French painters; his ‘pictorial talent’ was of the
Futurist Collage and the Divisionist Heritage highest order, genuine, with some resemblance to
the subjects and the talent of a Pissarro. It was a
In many fundamental respects, the use of words
great fortune for us to meet such a man, whose di¬
and modern materials in Futurist works is consis¬
rection perhaps decided the course of our
tent with the continuing reliance of these artists on
careers.”9
Divisionism (the Italian version of Neo-Impression¬
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 168

Severini, who went to Paris in 1906 to see the size divisionist color with this parallel divisionism
work of the Impressionists and Seurat,10 began of form in order to advance beyond Seurat’s work
shortly thereafter to develop a style derived from without rejecting its basic premises. The muted
Neo-Impressionism; he viewed this movement as color schemes adopted by Picasso and Braque dur¬
the necessary foundation for all contemporary ing these years prevented Severini from fully appre¬
work. Because he chose to live in Paris and be¬ ciating their works.12 Like the Puteaux Cubists, he
cause of his friendship with his neighbor F61ix Fe- viewed color as one of the essential resources of
neon, the foremost apologist of Neo-Impressionism, the painter and could see no reason to give it up.
Severini’s early work is more clearly indebted to Thus when Boccioni wrote to Severini in early 1910
French sources than that of the other Futurists. For to ask whether he would sign the “Technical Mani¬
Severini, the appeal of Neo-Impressionism lay in its festo” of the Futurist Painters, which declared that
ability to suggest a means of grounding painting in “painting cannot exist without divisionism,"'3 Sever¬
a scientific analysis of color and form, while main¬ ini agreed despite his dislike for publicity.14 Divi¬
taining a nearly mystical belief in the creative sionism, regarded by the signatories as the most
power of the individual artist. The works of Seurat advanced avant-garde style available, was adopted
also provided a model for the portrayal of modern as the official style of Futurist painting, although
urban subjects, deemed essential to the creation of not without qualification. Anxious to preserve the
a modern style. Nonetheless, Severini’s technique role of intuition in the creation of art, the mani¬
differed from the minute pointillism of Seurat in festo stated, “This is no process that can be
that he relied on larger areas of complementary learned and applied at will. Divisionism, for the
color and on a corresponding geometric “division- modern painter, must be an innate complementari¬
ism” of form. In this way he hoped to avoid the ness which we declare to be essential and neces¬
unfortunate grayness that he felt resulted from Seu¬ sary.”15 The application of complementary colors
rat’s practice of juxtaposing small touches of color must be a matter of inner necessity, not a merely
of equal tonal value. Indeed, Severini understood technical procedure. Here one can note an implied
the difference between his work and that of Picasso critique of the nineteenth-century Divisionists and
and Braque primarily as a matter of color: “While perhaps of the Neo-Impressionists as well. The Fu¬
Picasso and Braque, perhaps in order to accentuate turists wished to preserve the spontaneity of the
more clearly their reaction against Impressionism, artist, and a brushstroke that responded to varia¬
had adopted the color range of Corot, I conserved tions in mood or in the objects to be depicted was
as a base the formula of the Neo-Impressionists, regarded as an index of this spontaneity. To adopt
adding however pure black, white and grey, con¬ a regular brushstroke or a strictly scientific use of
vinced that such a formula of the division of colors, complementary colors would have been to intro¬
better than any other, could be adapted to a divi¬ duce an element of predetermination into the pro¬
sion of form.”11 As this passage indicates, Severini cess of artistic making, and this the Futurists were
regarded the geometric distortions and disloca¬ anxious to avoid.
tions of Cubism as a kind of divisionism of form. In The aim of the Futurists at this time was to find
his own work of this period, he sought to synthe¬ an adequate means of reproducing their sensations
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 169

on the canvas. These sensations, of course, had may have discussed Signac’s theories with Severini
been dramatically altered by the inventions of sci¬ or Feneon during his visit to Paris in September
ence and industry. The “Technical Manifesto” cites, and October of 1911, a visit insisted upon by Sever¬
in particular, the artificial glare of electric lights, ini, who felt that the Futurists should become fa¬
the power of speed to transform traditional con¬ miliar with recent developments in the French
cepts of space and time, and the ability of the X ray capital before exhibiting their works there.
to penetrate the very opacity of bodies. This new, According to Signac, the goal of the Neo-Impres-
multipled, dynamic vision required a correspond¬ sionists was to attain a maximum of luminosity,
ingly dynamic pictorial technique, which like the color, and harmony—a goal that accorded well
data of vision should be grounded in the discover¬ with the aims of the Futurists. Relying on the im¬
ies of science. If Divisionist theory answered this portant precedent of Delacroix and on the studies
demand, it was because it seemed to be based of Ogden Rood, Chevreul, and others, the Neo-
on the objective laws governing perception. Impressionists believed that the most brilliant, and
By the latter part of the nineteenth century, therefore most emotionally affective, color con¬
these laws could be studied in a number of well- trasts were those that appeared on opposing sides
known treatises, including O. N. Rood’s Modern of the color wheel. These complementaries were to
Chromatics (1879) and M. E. Chevreul’s De la Loi be juxtaposed in small, unmixed, precise touches
du contraste simultane des couleurs et de I’assorti- so that a vibrant “optical mixture” might be ob¬
ment des objets colores (1839). While Divisionists tained in the eye of the spectator. Although Signac
such as Pelizza da Volpedo and Angelo Morbelli and others later abandoned the idea of optical
read these and other treatises in Italian transla¬ mixture, the principles of dividing color into pure,
tions, the Futurists tended to rely on subsequent contrasting elements and the use of a regular,
theorists, especially Gaetano Previati. From his dia¬ disciplined brushstroke were retained as means of
ries we know that Boccioni read and was greatly achieving harmony and luminosity. Adherence to
impressed by Previati’s / Principii scientifici del Di- scientific laws of color seemed to hold the promise
uisionismo (1906) and that his admiration for the of a universal symbolic language.
older artist led him to visit Previati several times Signac submitted form, and especially the emo¬
during the spring of 1908. By 1911, Boccioni may tional effect of line, to a similarly “scientific” analy¬
have also been familiar with the famous treatise of sis. Seurat had based his own study of line on the
Paul Signac published in 1899 and subsequently re¬ theories of Humbert de Superville as reformulated
printed and translated into many languages: D 'Eu¬ by Charles Henry and Charles Blanc later in the
gene Delacroix au neo-impressionnisme. This century.16 According to Superville, the naturally ex¬
seems likely given his close friendship with Sever- pressive features of the human face pointed to the
ini, who continued to define himself as a follower existence of three “unconditional signs” of human
of Seurat at this time, and the fact that the first Fu¬ emotion: lines moving upward were generally
turist exhibition held in Paris (in February 1912) agreeable and signified agitation, explosion, and
was organized by Feneon, who was the artistic di¬ joy; horizontal lines signified equilibrium, calm,
rector of the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune. Boccioni and order; and lines moving downward, which were
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 170

generally disagreeable, signified concentration, so¬ vases were executed on the basis of aesthetic prin¬
lemnity, depth, and sadness. Three colors could be ciples similar to those which had guided both the
associated with these affective qualities: red, white, Divisionists and Neo-Impressionists. In The Fare¬
and black, respectively. Thus for Superville and for wells, Boccioni translated the tumultuous emotions
Henry, who further developed these ideas, both of several embracing couples at a train station into
color and the directional movement of line ex¬ a conflict of swirling, ascending “force-lines” and
pressed universal human emotions independently static geometric planes and into the contrast of
of their descriptive or anecdotal function. fiery red and dull green. He expressed the sensa¬
Writing at the end of the nineteenth century, Sig¬ tions of those who go in terms of an onslaught of
nac synthesized these ideas for the artists of the oblique force-lines, which all but obliterate the
following generation: fragmented faces of the passengers and the scat¬
tered bits of landscape. The dejected sentiments of
Guided by tradition and science, he [the Neo-
those who stay demanded an opposing vocabulary.
Impressionist] will harmonize the composition
These figures are rendered in curves rather than
with his conception, that is to say that he will
straight lines, and they seem to wander through an
adapt the lines (directions and angles), chiaro¬
oppressive atmosphere thick with pale-green, verti¬
scuro (tones), the colors (hues) to the character
cally descending paint strokes. In a brochure
that he wishes to prevail. The predominant lines
handed out at the exhibition, Boccioni explained
will be horizontal for calmness, ascending for
the expressive devices he used in this series in
joy, and descending for sadness, with all the in¬
terms strikingly similar to those set forth by
termediary lines to express all the other sensa¬
tions in their infinite variety. A play of colors, no Signac in describing the techniques of the Neo-
Impressionist:
less expressive and diverse, will be joined to this
linear play: to the ascending lines will corre¬ In the pictural description of the various states
spond warm colors and light values; with the de¬ of mind of a leave-taking, perpendicular lines,
scending lines, cold colors and dark values will undulating and as it were worn out, clinging here
predominate; a more or less perfect equilibrium and there to silhouettes of empty bodies, may
of warm and cold colors, and of pale and intense well express languidness and discouragement.
values will add to the calm of horizontal lines.17 Confused, and trepidating lines, either straight

By thus translating his emotions into the “natural” or curved, mingled with the outlined hurried ges¬

language of color and line, Signac believed the art¬ tures of people calling on another, will express a

ist would create truly original, poetic works. sensation of chaotic excitement.

Boccioni, who was largely responsible for the On the other hand, horizontal lines, fleeting,

wording of the “Technical Manifesto” of 1910, em¬ rapid and jerky, brutally cutting into half lost

barked in 1911 on a series of three works designed profiles of faces or crumbling and rebounding

to exemplify the Futurist interpretation of Division- fragments of landscape, will give the tumultuous

ism, or what he preferred to call “innate comple¬ feelings of persons going away.18

mentariness.” Titled States of Mind: The Farewells, The invention of force-lines as a means of convey¬
Those Who Go, and Those Who Stay, ” these can¬ ing a sense of the inner dynamism or rhythm of ob-
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 171

jects can be associated with the attempt of the lage in 1912, their understanding of the possibilities
Neo-Impressionists to interpret ascending, de¬ of this new technique would also diverge from that
scending, and horizontal lines as universal symbols of the Cubists.
of human emotions. Charles Henry had viewed
lines as the schematic traces of movement, and Transcendental Realities: The Futurist Collages
movement as the revealed response of an individ¬ of Severini, Boccioni, and Soffici
ual to an event or perception.19 The association of Not enough is known at present about the exact
sensation with movement in this theoretical frame¬ chronology of the Futurists’ use of collage, but
work may have stimulated the Futurists to think most of the evidence suggests that Gino Severini
about the depiction of movement and of the inner was the first to experiment with the new technique.
dynamism of objects in relation to their environ¬ Because of his close friendship with Picasso and
ment in terms of the visible marking of their real or Apollinaire23 in the spring of 1912, he was probably
potential trajectories into space. aware early on of Picasso’s inclusion of foreign ele¬
Although not all the Futurists shared Boccioni’s ments like stamps and oilcloth in oil paintings. In
psychological interests or his theory of innate com¬ his memoirs, however, he recalled that it was dur¬
plementariness,20 the fundamental premises of their ing a discussion with Apollinaire toward the end of
work resembled his. The aim of these artists was to 1912 that the idea of affixing various real objects to
express specifically modern sensations in works the canvas was first discussed:
that reached out to and encircled the viewer
My friendship with Apollinaire had become inti¬
through the empathetic power of lines, forms, and
mate. Until 1912 he often came to visit me while
colors.21 For the most part, they sought to do this
1 was working. It was towards the end of that
by adapting the visual techniques of Divisionism
year, I can’t remember anymore whether at the
to their new subjects. The wheatlike strokes of the
Hermitage, or at the Lapin or at my studio, that
Divisionists became even more spontaneous and
he spoke to me of certain Italian primitives who
exuberant in Futurist paintings and many of the
had put elements of true reality in their pictures,
Symbolist overtones were abandoned, but the prin¬
observing that this presence, and the contrast
ciple that formal elements express emotions inde¬
that it provoked augmented the life of paintings
pendently of imitation continued to guide their art. and all their dynamism. He gave me the example
In this their work diverged noticeably from that of of a St. Peter exhibited in the Brera Academy in
the Cubists, who had rejected the sensuous appeal Milan, who has in his hand real keys, and of
of brilliant color and spontaneous brushwork. The other saints with other objects, without counting
Futurists, adhering to the tradition of Divisionism, the haloes made with real precious stones and
believed that “painting and sensation are two in¬ real pearls.
separable words,”22 whereas the Cubists had sev¬ It was thus that I conceived the idea of making
ered their links to immediate sensation, choosing a portrait of Paul Fort with the covers of “Vers et
instead to emphasize the conventional and concep¬ Prose” and of his other books of poetry, and of
tual aspects of representation. Not surprisingly, constructing a ballerina with forms in relief upon
when the Futurists began to experiment with col¬ which I glued real ballerina’s sequins.24
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 172

The St. Peter referred to by Apollinaire in this A work such as The Blue Dancer of late 1912
passage (and in Les peintres cubistes) was the sub¬ (fig. 22) is characteristic of Severini’s first collages,
ject of the left-hand panel of a large altarpiece by many of which included colored sequins. Severini
Carlo Crivelli titled Trittico del Duomo di Camerino, glued these sequins to the canvas in lieu of paint¬
painted in the latter part of the fifteenth century ing them because of the real luminosity they would
(fig. 103). This altarpiece, memorable for its impos¬ bring to his works. The Divisionists had sought to
ing grandeur and prominence in the Brera, con¬ express the effects of light through the scientific
tained a number of real and illusory elements, use of complementaries; Severini had now found a
intended no doubt to impress the faithful. The Ma¬ way of capturing real, flickering light from the sur¬
donna in the center wears a real brooch, and there rounding ambience and holding it on the surface of
is heavy embossing applied to her sleeves, halo, his paintings. Like the ornaments and gold leaf in
and crown, with added gold leaf. The St. Peter car¬ Crivelli’s altarpiece, these sequins were intended to
ries two enormous real keys and a staff sculpted in enhance both the preciosity and material presence
relief, and he wears a large brooch and embossed of the work.
crown. The artist also had recourse to other illu- In some of his later paintings with sequins, Sev¬
sionistic devices, including faux marbre, faux bois, erini tried to exploit their more abstract qualities.
and a trompe l’oeil cloth bearing his name. Apolli¬ He did this by creating nondescriptive, decorative
naire was obviously struck by the analogy between patterns that function as independent expressive
this strange work with its interplay of the real and elements. According to Severini, in these pictures
the illusory and the contemporary work of Picasso, he succeeded in “creating zones for the sequins,
Braque, and Gris. Yet the lesson Severini derived which therefore were not there to describe a real¬
from this example led him to make collages quite ity, but to express it in a transcendental way.”27
different in intent and effect from those produced This principle can be observed in a collage of 1913,
by the Cubists. For Severini the interest of such Sea = Dancer (tig. 104). Whereas in The Blue
juxtapositions lay in the potential they held for a Dancer, the sequins glued to the canvas represent
dynamic contrast of elements. The emphasis on the sequins on the dancer’s dress, here they estab¬
contrast, of course, issued from Severini’s Division- lish lines and arabesques that contribute to the
ist frame of reference and from his interest in find¬ empathetic force of the work without assuming a
ing new expressive contrasts to exploit. Unlike the mimetic function. Guided by the Divisionist ideal of
Cubists, who maintained a more self-conscious and treating colors and lines as elements of a universal
often ironic attitude toward the use of collage ele¬ formal language, Severini sought to avoid using
ments, Severini sought expressive intensity from collage techniques as a substitute for imitating
the collision of disparate kinds of objects and rep¬ reality. The term transcendental was intended to
resentations on his canvases. As Severini explained convey a sense of the abstract value of these new
in relation to his earlier use of realistic details in pictorial materials.
the Pan-Pan, “the contrast between a realistic ele¬ The distinction between a realistic and abstract
ment (a transcendental realism, you understand) use of collage elements eventually came to be an
and other elements brought to a level of absolute issue of central concern to the Futurists. In Severi¬
abstraction, generates, like all contrasts, dynamism ni’s earliest collages, however, the pasted papers
and life.”25 This sense of dynamism, moreover, de¬ and objects serve as bits of reality and play a de¬
pended on the immediate presence of the actual scriptive role within the work. The Portrait of Paul
work: “In photographs, these applications have lit¬ Fort (fig. 105), which Severini recalled as being one
tle effect, but the original work gained much in ex¬ of his earliest collage works, displays title pages
pressive intensity.”26 from two publications associated with the poet: the
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 173

103. Carlo Crivelli, Trittico del Duomo di Camerino, late

fifteenth century. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 174

104. Gino Severini, Sea = Dancer, 1913, oil and sequins 105. Gino Severini, Portrait of Paul Fort, late 1912 or
on canvas. Private collection. early 1913, oil and pasted papers on canvas. Private
collection.
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 175

journal Vers et Prose and his book of poems Bal¬ enough to contrast with the abstraction with which
lades Frangaises. These collage elements are of the rest of the picture was made.”29 The inclusion
topical interest; they recreate a sense of the envi¬ of mass-produced materials in Severini’s collages,
ronment in which Paul Fort worked and of his ac¬ therefore, was intended to institute a dialogue not
complishments. As Severini noted in his comments between the handmade and the machine-printed,
on this work, they also provide a pictorial contrast but between bits of transcendental reality and
to the other, more abstract elements, especially to abstraction.
the fragmentary drawing and dynamic lines of If Severini occasionally affixed newspaper to his
force. Severini avoided letting the collage materials canvases, then, it was because of his desire to al¬
serve as simple substitutes for reality, however, by lude to the totality of sensations afforded by a par¬
scattering them about the surface of the canvas. ticular moment of experience. In Still Life: Bottle,
The illogical placement of these elements corre¬ Vase and Newspaper on a Table of late 1914 or
sponds to Severini’s interest in depicting his sub¬ early 1915 (fig. 106), for example, Severini included
jects in all their dynamic simultaneity, without two newspaper clippings from La Presse dated 3
regard for unity of time or place.28 September 1914, one of which bears the clearly vis¬
Unlike Picasso, then, Severini did not introduce ible headline “le role de l’italie.” The presence of
mass-produced materials into his paintings in or¬ such a clipping with its reference to the war may
der to render problematic the notion that a work of seem paradoxical given the traditional still life
art was the unique, original expression of an indi¬ subject. Beginning in late 1913, however, Severini
vidual. In principle, Severini was against the use of had begun to explore an analogical approach to
mechanical procedures in the execution of works painting. This approach, a pictorial adaptation of
of art, since these could only negate the immediacy Marinetti’s theory of poetic analogies, called for
and spontaneity of the artist in translating his sen¬ the juxtaposition (or superposition) of disparate
sations and memories. Futurism, after all, stood for images to create new, synthetic images. In his
a total rejection of preexisting formulas; once the manifesto of 1913 titled “The Plastic Analogies of
museums had been destroyed, only the artist’s Dynamism,” Severini explained that in works such
original gestures would remain. For these reasons, as Sea = Dancer + Bunch of Flowers, the dynamic
Severini had understood Picasso’s use of stenciled motion of the sea might initially suggest a “real”
letters in some of his paintings as a means of analogy to the zigzag movements of a dancer, but
achieving a dynamic contrast of real and abstract that this analogy would in turn give rise to the “ap¬
elements. He could not, however, fully approve the parent” analogy with a bunch of flowers, thereby
adoption of such “mechanical” procedures. On the intensifying the expressive power of the work.30 The
subject of dynamic contrasts in Cubist painting, aim was to move beyond obvious comparisons,
Severini wrote, “I assume that this was the reason which were like poetic metaphors, to the creation
for which Picasso even put numbers and letters of new realities. Severini viewed the invention of
made with a stencil in certain pictures. But later he these “plastic analogies” as a logical development
abandoned this mechanical means and he too of the Divisionist theory of contrasts: “The theory
painted realistic elements, which were clear of contrasts could also be developed in terms of
The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 176

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106. Gino Severini, 5h// Life: Bottle, Vase and

Newspaper on a Table, late 1914 or early 1915, pasted
papers, charcoal, and white chalk. The Alfred Stieglitz
Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 177

analogies, above all as a poetic inspiration. A com¬ of 1912 and that these works sparked a sense of the
plementariness of images, used not to render an still-unexplored possibilities of sculpture. The first
image more clearly through the correct juxtaposi¬ sign of Boccioni’s obsession with sculpture can be
tion of its analogue, but to create a new image; that seen in a letter he wrote on 15 March 1912 while in
was my aim. In conclusion I wished, always re¬ Paris: “These days 1 am obsessed with sculpture! I
maining within the spirit of painting, to bring the believe I have seen a complete renovation of this
image beyond metaphor to a higher poetic plane.”31 mummified art.”32 While traveling with the Futurist
The newspaper clippings in Still Life: Bottle, Vase exhibition later that spring, Boccioni began to for¬
and Newspaper on a Table provide a pictorial con¬ mulate a desire to challenge the Cubists with a se¬
trast to the geometrical forms and arabesques of ries of new, ambitious works. From Berlin he wrote
the vase and flowers; here the world of actuality to Carra: “Marinetti tells me that I have a tendency
jostles the world of still life objects. A new dynamic to exaggerate the value of others. . . . But I cannot
unity arises from this confrontation, which for Sev- negate my own pleasure in considering the work of
erini no doubt reflected the multiplicity of contem¬ certain young Frenchmen as excellent and in de¬
porary sensations, for news of the war had begun claring to myself that Picasso is an extraordinary
to penetrate the private sphere. Yet all of this takes talent, but they lack completely all that which I see
place “within the spirit of painting.” For a time in and feel, and through which I believe and hope to
1914 and 1915, Severini responded to Marinetti’s surpass them before long.”33 Severini reports that
call for works of art inspired by the war, making Boccioni returned to Paris for a few days in June of
collages with newspaper clippings referring to 1912, “demonstrating, during this time, a great in¬
the war and paintings of soldiers in trenches and terest in sculpture. Every day, and at every mo¬
wounded soldiers returning from the front in trains. ment, there were discussions or conversations on
By 1916, however, he had abandoned these sub¬ this subject.”34 In order to further Boccioni’s knowl¬
jects in favor of a renewed classical naturalism; the edge of avant-garde sculpture, Severini took him to
rappel a I’ordre began before the war was con¬ visit Archipenko, Brancusi, Duchamp-Villon, and
cluded. When the world of reality threatened to be¬ others. (Picasso was in the south of France by this
come more dynamic than Futurism could ever be, time, but Boccioni may have been able to visit Bra¬
Severini retreated to the peaceable realm of moth¬ que.)35 After he returned to Milan he wrote again to
ers holding infants and to the wistful characters of Severini, asking for information about the latest
the commedia dell’arte. works of Picasso and Braque: “Acquire all available
Boccioni’s first experiments with the use of information on the Cubists and on Picasso and Bra¬
mixed media, in particular constructed sculpture, que. Go to Kahnweiler and if there are photographs
also date from 1912. Like Severini, Boccioni seems of the most recent works (made after my departure)
to have been inspired to explore the expressive buy one or two.”36 On 30 September 1912, several
qualities of diverse materials by the things he saw months after Boccioni’s return to Milan,37 the
and heard discussed in Paris. Indeed, it is possible “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture” ap¬
that he saw Braque’s painted paper reliefs during peared, setting forth ideas that Boccioni had dis¬
his visits to the artist’s studio in February or March cussed with artists and sculptors in Paris.38 But if
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 178

inspired by things seen in Paris, Boccioni's ideas cement, hair, leather, cloth, mirrors, electric lights,
were also indebted to Marinetti’s innovations in po¬ etc.”41 Boccioni attributed to these materials an in¬
etry and to his own ideal of embracing modernity herently expressive force based on purely physical
in its most dramatic forms. properties. By way of examples, he explained that
In the "Technical Manifesto,” Boccioni asserted the intersecting planes of an object could be con¬
that “in sculpture as in painting, renewal is impos¬ structed of wood or metal, that spherical fibers
sible without looking for the style of movement.”39 could take the place of hair, semicircles of glass
In order to achieve this renewal, the sculptor could signify the forms of a vase, and that the in¬
should begin with the central core of an object and terconnecting “atmospheric planes” could be
from this ideal point intuit its projection into space evoked with wire and netting.42 This, however, was
through the development of force-lines. No longer to take a rather literal view of the signifying possi¬
considered from the traditional, static point of bilities of materials and is similar in effect to Sever-
view, the object could now be opened to enclose ini’s early literal use of sequins.
within itself elements of the surrounding environ¬ Braque’s Cubist sculptures, in contrast, were
ment. Ultimately, the object and the environment constructed only of paper and therefore retained a
should fuse, creating a new whole with little or no classical unity of material. If indeed Boccioni saw
visible connection to any prior, logical conception these works while in Paris, they seem to have
of the object. Just as Marinetti would attempt to sparked the realization that a sculpture need not
cast his ever-expanding net of poetic analogies be made of marble or bronze, and that it could en¬
over the universe, Boccioni sought to reach out close the space of the surrounding environment
and grasp not distinct objects, but a field of energy through open, intersecting planes. Because these
radiating into infinity. works were painted, they may have also encour¬
Once sculpture could be conceived in this exhil- aged Boccioni to envision an end to the traditional
aratingly new manner, adherence to the traditional separation of painting and sculpture.
separation of media no longer made sense. Boc¬ The ideas expressed in Boccioni’s manifesto,
cioni therefore declared, “There is neither painting however, were obviously intended to surpass those
nor sculpture, neither music or poetry: there is of his French contemporaries. Whereas Braque had
only creation!”40 Similarly, reliance on the conven¬ used paper, Boccioni advocated the inclusion of
tional materials of sculpture now seemed passgiste. even twenty different materials in a single work.
In the most noteworthy innovation of the mani¬ And these materials were conceived as a means of
festo, Boccioni called on sculptors to “destroy the creating a style of movement, an aim foreign to the
literary and traditional ‘dignity’ of marble and Cubists. Most important, however, Boccioni sought
bronze statues. Refuse to accept the exclusive na¬ to overcome the arbitrariness he believed charac¬
ture of a single material in the construction of a terized Cubist works through the dynamism of an
sculptural whole. Insist that even twenty different intuited central core.
types of materials can be used in a single work of Even as he was writing the “Technical Manifesto
art in order to achieve plastic movement. To men¬ of Futurist Sculpture,” Boccioni began to put his
tion a few examples: glass, wood, cardboard, iron, ideas for a new, environmental sculpture into prac-
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 179

tice. Evidently it was not an easy task, and Boc- of a figure with elements of the environment. The
cioni wrote to Severini frequently to express his frame and glass of the real window seem to impale
confusion and despair: a horribly grimacing head, while other bits of real¬

1 work a great deal but I don’t conclude anything, ity, such as the braided chignon to the right of the

it seems. That is, I hope that what 1 make will figure’s head, remain discrete and isolated. Partly

signify something because I don’t understand modeled and partly constructed, the work also re¬

what I’m doing. It is strange and terrible but I am veals some technical uncertainty about how to

calm. Today I worked for six consecutive hours achieve the ideal of dynamic synthesis.
In his paintings of this period, Boccioni fre¬
on sculpture and I don’t understand the
result. . . . quently used a brightly colored stippled stroke to
convey a sense of the ability of light to dissolve
Planes on planes, sections of muscles, of face,
and then? And the total effect? Does what I make mass, thereby creating a unified ambience. In Fu¬

live? Where am I going to end up? Can I ask for sion of a Head and a Window, however, the plastic

the enthusiasm and understanding of others realization of streams of light has the opposite ef¬
fect, turning the immaterial play of light and color
when I myself ask myself what is the emotion
that springs forth from what I am making? into a static object. The result suggests an unwit¬

Enough there is always a revolver . . . and yet I ting parody of a Baroque sculptural ensemble.

am extremely calm.43 What might have been a successful evocation of

the interpenetration of objects and light in painting
A short while later he wrote to Severini again, to
required a different treatment in sculpture. Ironi¬
express his confusion but also his desire to over¬
cally, most of Boccioni’s later sculptures, like the
come “the chaos of the arbitrary”:
Development of a Bottle in Space or the Unique
Your dear postcard reached me at a terrible mo¬ Forms of Continuity in Space gave more convincing
ment. What we must do is enormous; the task I form to the idea of an object projecting into the
have taken on is terrible and the plastic means surrounding space through the creation of syn¬
appear and disappear at the moment of realiza¬ thesized profiles. Significantly, these works were
tion. It’s terrible! executed in a single, passatista material—plaster—
to be cast later in bronze.
1 don’t know what to say, what to do.
By the time of his exhibition of sculpture at the
I don’t understand anything anymore! . . .
Galerie la Boetie in June of 1913, Boccioni had be¬
Is it the chaos of the arbitrary? What is the law?
gun to conceive the expressive value of diverse ma¬
It’s terrible!
terials in a more abstract sense. Whereas the use of
I am battling with sculpture: I work, work, work
a single, “noble” material had made sculpture the
and I don’t know what results . . .
static art par excellence, a diversity of materials
The Cubists are wrong . . . Picasso is wrong.44
would necessarily introduce a sense of dynamism
The first fruits of these labors were indeed dis¬ through contrast. For Boccioni, as for Severini, the
appointing. Boccioni’s now destroyed Fusion of a idea of breaking an apparently unified form or
Head and a Window of 1912 (fig. 21), suggests a color into its constituent contrasting elements was
crucifixion more than a dynamic interpenetration
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 180

part of the Divisionist legacy; it was a technique one can evoke to prove their interpenetrability
designed to enhance intensity of expression or dy¬ does not claim that this penetration occurs with
namism. In the “Preface to the First Exhibition of solid masses.”47 More disturbing, however, was
Futurist Sculpture” Boccioni stated, “I therefore Boccioni’s use of “vulgar” materials, which Kahn
thought that one could obtain a basic dynamic ele¬ criticized in terms similar to those he had used
ment by breaking down this unity of material into a when discussing the first collages of Juan Gris: “In
certain number of different substances, each of addition, it is annoying that an artist like Boccioni
which could, but its very diversity, characterize a condescends to these little games of juxtaposition
difference of weight and expansion of the molecu¬ of the material of art with vulgar materials, games
lar volumes.”45 which have been practiced and wrongly, except for
This attempt to render the molecular composi¬ the most gifted, by several lost children of Cubism.
tion of objects is also analogous to Marinetti’s idea It will never be artistic to mix with clay or to glue
that words could convey the capacity of objects for onto a canvas glass, hair, cut wood.”48 Kahn con¬
flight or dispersal into the environment in terms of cluded by calling Boccioni “un premier chef anti-
their molecular properties (weight, smell, and plastique.”49
sound.)46 Viewing materials as aggregates of mole¬ The critic Roberto Longhi was far more sym¬
cules in motion was a way of grounding the Futur¬ pathetic to Boccioni’s aims but came to similar
ist study of the expressive properties of matter in conclusions.50 Like Kahn, he believed that each me¬
the latest discoveries of science. These tended to dium was distinctive and regretted that much con¬
discredit the old, static view of matter as solid sub¬ temporary sculpture had pictorial qualities. More
stance in favor of a new vision of matter as a dy¬ significantly, he felt that Boccioni’s earliest sculp¬
namic field of energy. Superimposed on the tures, such as Fusion of a Head and a Window (fig.
discoveries of science were the axioms of Henri 21) and Head + House + Light did not achieve the
Bergson’s philosophy of elan vital, of reality as flux sense of dynamic interpenetration the artist advo¬
and transformation, which necessarily demolished cated in his manifestos but remained a static
the old, arbitrary distinctions between an object enumeration of diverse elements: “Organic defor¬
and its environment. The Futurists believed the art¬ mations of lightly radiating abstraction and an im¬
ist was ideally suited to intuit these dynamic rela¬ posed static architecture of blocks of atmosphere,
tionships, which, according to Bergson, remained of ambience, of light; squared mass and linear pro¬
impervious to the static analyses of science. file of twisted volumes encounter each other, and
Despite their recognition of his talent, Boccioni’s without being able to fuse, remain side by side. . ..
critics remained skeptical when confronted with Head + House + Light will never become Head-
his works at the Galerie la Boetie. Gustave Kahn houselight."5' For Longhi, the static quality of these
viewed the attempt to fuse an object with its envi¬ works was also associated with their pictorial ba¬
ronment as wrongheaded, a misunderstanding of sis, most evident in their frontality. Like Kahn-
the scientific discoveries it was based on: “If reflec¬ weiler, he believed that true works of sculpture
tions have a composed and interpenetrable life, is should be autonomous and freestanding. Thus, he
it the same for forms? I think not. The science that interpreted Boccioni’s preference for radial compo-
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 181

sitions as derived from painting and argued that it Boccioni’s choice of a still life subject in this col¬
did not lead to “genuine circumnavigation.”52 As lage may seem curious given the Futurists’ predi¬
Longhi put it, in Boccioni’s early sculptures, “We lection for modern, heroic themes. But Boccioni
have not yet arrived at a true conception of the or¬ seems to have wanted to demonstrate that given
ganism, isolated and situated.”53 As we have seen, sufficient intuitive power, “all things move.”55 The
in 1912 Salmon had observed a similarly skeptical artist’s understanding of motion at this time was di¬
response to the constructed works Picasso hung on rectly influenced by the theories of Henri Bergson,
his studio walls, which seemed to defy categoriza¬ from whom he took the distinction between abso¬
tion as painting or sculpture. lute and relative motion.56 In a manifesto of 1914
On the whole, Boccioni achieved more success titled, “Absolute Motion + Relative Motion = Dy¬
in working with diverse materials in his collages namism,”57 Boccioni explained that “relative
than in his sculptures. Difficult to date, these col¬ motion” was the movement of one object in rela¬
lages were probably executed during 1913 and tion to another, while “absolute motion” was the
1914, after the first experiments with multimedia inherent dynamism of the object itself, determined
sculpture. The Still Life with Glass and Siphon (fig. by the characteristics of its material substance. Of
107), which probably dates from 1914, is character¬ the two, Boccioni considered absolute motion to
istic of his collage works. Unlike Picasso and Bra¬ be the more important, for it implied that all
que, Boccioni did not tend to assert the identity of things, even when not apparently moving, project
each pasted element by allowing its boundaries to an inner dynamism and interact with their sur¬
remain visible. In Still Life, for example, he covered rounding environment. In Still Life, Boccioni sought
almost the entire surface of his canvas with various to convey the absolute motion of the siphon and
kinds of paper and cardboard, so that the glass and glass; these objects do not appear as figures
siphon seem embedded within a textured ground. against the ground of the picture plane but are
Because Boccioni painted over the layered mate¬ fused with a ground that is itself in flux (owing to
rials glued to his canvases, Herta Wescher was led the variety of juxtaposed materials that compose
to claim that these materials served no particular it). Whereas Picasso had sought both to assert and
expressive purpose.54 This is patently mistaken: to undermine the classical opposition of figure and
they provided Boccioni with a plastic means of ground through a series of clever figure / ground
suggesting the “molecular” interpenetration of the reversals, Boccioni brought this opposition to a
depicted object and its environment. Just as Boc¬ point of near extinction.
cioni had once rejected a too rigorous application If figure and ground were to be fused in a new
of separate strokes of pure color, he now rejected dynamic continuum in Boccioni’s collages, so too
a collage technique based on a play of clearly de¬ were the spectator and the work of art. Following
fined edges and on the relations between distinct his own dictum, Boccioni organized his Still Life
elements. His ideal, on the contrary, was to suggest around a central core, from which force lines ra¬
a shattering of preconceived boundaries through diate into the surrounding environment. He in¬
the intuitive vision of the artist. tended these lines both to reveal how the glass and
siphon would develop in space, given the tenden¬
cies of their absolute motions and to “encircle and
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 182

107. Umberto Boccioni, Still Life with Glass and Siphon,

c. 1914, pasted papers, gouache, and ink on paper. Yale
University Art Gallery. Gift of Collection Societe
Anonyme.
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 183

involve the spectator.”58 Boccioni further pointed to of geometric, straightedged profiles. The layered
the specifically Futurist character of this collage by papers, gouache, and drawing, however, create a
including a fragment of the “Founding and Mani¬ similarly dense surface. Nonetheless, a few words
festo of Futurism” in the upper right corner. This and phrases do emerge from the nearly obscured
Still Life can be interpreted as the Futurist answer newspaper text placed across the man’s head:
to Cubist collage, transforming what the Futurists “serbie,” “imperiali,” “guerra,” “lotta,” TUngheria,”
regarded as static forms and fragmentary analyses “della patria.” At the lower right, similarly violent
of objects into a new, dynamic unity. For whereas images are evoked by the text: “pistola,” “grande
Cubist collages were frequently characterized by a crudelta,” “una gran folia di gente,” “spaventa.”
nonhierarchical manipulation of formal opposi¬ Boccioni undoubtedly intended these words, belli¬
tions, Futurist collages such as these of Boccioni cose in spirit, to enhance the viewer’s experience
sought to engage the viewer through the magnetic of the dynamism of the man’s archetypally Futurist
attraction of the absolute center, unregulated by state of mind. Yet the artist chose to paint over
the contrasts exploited elsewhere in their works.59 these texts with gouache so that the prowar mes¬
A similar use of collage materials to create com¬ sage became nearly submerged in the speckled sur¬
plex, layered grounds occurs in two portraits Boc¬ face. In the collages of this period, Boccioni seems
cioni executed in the late summer or fall of 1914. In to have struggled to balance the importance of the
Dynamism of a Woman’s Head (fig. 108), Boccioni subject with attention to the expressive properties
rendered the head (probably that of his mother) in of his materials. Of the Cubists, only Gris’s collages
a series of curving, fragmented planes and overlap¬ rival Boccioni’s in terms of sheer textural richness.
ping profiles. The texts of various newspaper frag¬ Boccioni’s collages, however, resist the decorative
ments remain barely legible beneath the stippled impulses found in Gris’s work of 1914. Boccioni
tempera and ink overdrawing, which serve to bring would have objected to the generation of frag¬
out certain planes and to cause others to fuse with mented or distorted profiles from the imposition of
those nearby. The only pasted element that re¬ an a priori grid. He believed that only through the
mains unobscured is the small fragment of a maga¬ spontaneous, empathetic fusion of the artist with
zine picture showing a young gesturing woman, his subject could a true sense of dynamism and
which Boccioni affixed just above the figure’s right vitality be achieved.
eye. He may have intended it to provide a pictorial The comparatively abstract treatment of mate¬
contrast to his own more dynamic restructuring of rials in Boccioni’s collages of 1914 may be seen, in
form or to recall a memory associated with the part, as the artist’s response to the criticism of
woman. Curiously, a guitarlike profile appears at Giovanni Papini published in Lacerba in February
the extreme left, probably in imitation of, or hom¬ and March of that year. Papini launched his attack
age to, Picasso’s anthropomorphized guitars, al¬ on the inclusion of bits of reality in works of art in
though here it plays no structural role. an acrimonious article titled “II Cerchio si chiude”
In Dynamism of a Man's Head (fig. 109) Boccioni (The circle closes). According to his argument, art
adopted a more closeup view and opposed the originated in imitation but progressed as “deforma¬
curving profiles of the woman’s head with a series tion,” by which Papini meant free, lyrical expres¬
sion. With the recent inclusion of elements of
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 184

108. Umberto Boccioni, Dynamism of a Woman's Head,

1914, pasted papers, watercolor, gouache, ink, and oil
on canvas. Civico Museo d’Arte Contemporanea,
Palazzo Reale, Milan. Photo Saporetti.
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 185

109. Umberto Boccioni, Dynamism of a Man’s Head,

1914, pasted papers, watercolor, gouache, ink, and oil
on canvas. Civico Museo d'Arte Contemporanea,
Palazzo Reale, Milan. Photo Saporetti.

untransformed reality in painting, sculpture, po¬

etry, and music, however, the autonomy of art as
creation was negated, the circle of art’s history
closed. As Papini put it, “Creation is transformed
into simple action; art returns to brute nature.”60 In
making this accusation, Papini cited many of the
most fundamental innovations of Futurism: Mari¬
netti’s rejection of syntax and “return” to the on¬
omatopoeic effects and concrete images of a
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 186

seemingly primitive language, Russolo’s introduc¬ realm of art, suggesting that materials have an in¬
tion of the noises of everyday life into his music, herent expressive value based on their qualities as
Severini’s use of a real'’1 moustache in a portrait, physical substances. In “II Cerchio non si chiude,”
and Boccioni’s sculpture, in which wood, glass, and however, Boccioni described these new materials
metal replaced the usual materials of art. Accord¬ as bits of “anonymous objectivity” awaiting the
ing to Papini, these innovations shared a single creative intervention of the artist to take
characteristic: “It is a question of substituting on meaning.
things themselves for the lyrical or rational trans¬ Boccioni’s collages of this period reflect a similar
formation of things.”62 If carried to its logical ex¬ paradox. A variety of materials were brought to¬
treme, Papini warned, such a substitution of mere gether on the canvas to establish a highly complex
things for representations would utterly negate the surface, which Boccioni then used as a ground for
personality of the artist, and art would become in¬ further elaboration. The expressive qualities of ma¬
distinguishable from reality. terials as such became nearly submerged in this
Boccioni, always anxious to defend his ideas and transformative process. As Boccioni explained to
works, countered these claims with an equally ag¬ Papini, “In our most recent works the elements of
gressive rebuttal titled “II Cerchio non si chiude” crude reality, as you say, become diminished, ab¬
(The circle isn’t closing). In this reply, Boccioni de¬ sorbed, synthesized and deformed in the dynamic
scribed Papini’s article as a “cry of alarm,” uttered abstraction.”64 Again, this entailed a critique of Cub¬
in a moment of weakness. Evidently Papini had ist collages and constructions, for Picasso’s work
forgotten one of the basic principles of Futurism— remained the primary challenge, and Boccioni
that new experiences require new means of ex¬ hoped to surpass it at all costs. He therefore
pression. Moreover, Boccioni asserted that once an claimed that, “in Picasso, on the other hand, logi¬
element of reality entered a work of art, it was nec¬ cally, the elements of crude reality are actually
essarily transformed: “As soon as this reality be¬ being augmented in his most recent production.”65
comes part of the elaborated material of a work of (Boccioni, in this passage, may be referring to the
art, the lyrical function it must fulfill, its position, constructions reproduced in Les Soirees de Paris
its dimensions, the contrast to which it gives rise, for November 1913.) Papini, in his reply to Boc¬
all transform the anonymous objectivity, and guide cioni, countered that Picasso never employed the
it to become an elaborated element.”63 bits of reality that appeared in his works in a literal
Indeed, Boccioni attributed the lack of vitality in sense. To prove his point he stated that during a
traditional sculpture to an ouerelaboration of pri¬ recent visit to Paris, Picasso had shown him sev¬
mary materials. In order to redress this flaw, he ad¬ eral photographs, perhaps including the Assem¬
vocated renewed contact with reality, but only as a blage with Guitar Player (fig. 61): “Picasso showed
means of constructing a “new reality.” Emphasis on me the photographs of walls in his studio where
the creation of a new reality, however, led to a cu¬ there were various objects (arranged by himself)
rious paradox in Boccioni’s thinking at this time. and told me that according to someone, those
In his earlier statements, he had called for the use groupings of real objects were already pictures.”66
of a variety of materials previously unknown in the Papini went on to claim that Picasso was too so-
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 187

phisticated to be taken in by such ideas, but others of cloth, or of any other thing, affixed to a pic¬
obviously had been, and therein lay the danger. ture or a sculpture to avoid the labor of repre¬
Given the terms of this dispute, Boccioni’s highly senting them, cannot but remain extrinsic and
elaborated collages of 1914 seem to have been in¬ dead, besides being a sign of spiritual coarseness
tended to dramatize the power of the artist to or of weakness. And one shouldn’t have to repeat
transform elements of unrefined matter into works it, if it was really their absurd function. But if in¬
of art, both in self-conscious opposition to what he stead, and precisely, these things have no repre¬
perceived as Cubist practice and as a refutation of sentative function in a work where, it is not even
Papini’s ideas. Severini’s creation of abstract zones a question of representing something; but the
of sequins issued from a parallel desire to distin¬ object, the bit of paper, or of material, etc. only
guish between a literal and an abstract use of col¬ function as color, or as value, or as plastic form,
lage materials or, as he put it, between mere reality or in any case as a harmonious element, as tech¬
and transcendental reality. Soffici’s collages, also nical means, just as colors, ceramics, stones,
executed during the spring of 1914, were founded metals, etc. in the place of which they are
on similar premises. In his essay titled Primi prin- employed?68
cipi di una estetica futurista, written during the war,
Soffici, it seems, would have had difficulty justify¬
Soffici declared that the task of the artist was to ing the early collage practice of Braque or Gris, in
“spiritualize” matter: “The material employed by an which bits of “reality” (mirrors, labels, pages from
artist remains completely and always inert, dead, a book, or newspaper clippings) were introduced
inexpressive, if it is not brought by genius to be¬ precisely to signify the artist’s refusal to copy, to
come spiritualized; to become, that is, a pure ele¬ do, that is, the work of sign painters or illustrators.
ment of lyrical symbolic transfiguration. This is Yet ultimately Soffici’s attitude did not differ funda¬
equivalent to its disappearance inasmuch as it is mentally from that of the Cubists, for they too be¬
material.”67 lieved that the true value of a work of art lay in the
Thus materials, for Soffici, must efface them¬ artist’s conception.
selves in the process of becoming vehicles of Soffici’s theoretical justification of collage tech¬
expression. In theory at least, Soffici therefore as¬ niques was intended, at least in part, to illuminate
signed a purely formal, rather than representative, his own practice. In February of 1914 Soffici re¬
value to the bits of reality that Futurist artists in¬ turned to Paris after an absence of over a year and,
troduced into their works. As such, he claimed, once again in contact with his Cubist friends, began
they did not differ essentially from the traditional to execute a series of collages designed to clarify
materials employed by artists. Responding no his own position vis-a-vis both Cubism and Fu¬
doubt to the reservations of his friend Papini, Sof¬ turism. Indeed, a collage such as Still Life with
fici wrote in Primi principi regarding the use of un¬ Matches (fig. 110) owes as much to French as to
usual materials in art, Italian attitudes. The subject, a still life with bottle,
It is true that an objection presents itself imme¬ glass, matches, and a cigarette, was a mainstay of
diately to the mind on this subject: and it is that the Cubist repertory and at once associated his
an object, a fragment of newspaper, of a poster, work with that milieu. Even the diagonal pattern on
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 188

the bottle seems to derive directly from Picasso’s

Construction with Guitar (fig. 54), which Picasso
had published in Les Soirees de Paris the previous
November.69 He may also have seen the bottle
hanging as an independent piece on Picasso’s
wall.70 The various labels and other bits of paper
affixed to the surface of this collage function, de¬
spite Soffici’s avowed formalism, in a variety of
ways. The label from the package of matches, for
example, retains its identity and indeed represents
a package of matches in this work. Yet Soffici’s
elegant composition, the speckled patterns in
gouache, and the way the objects seem to hover
above the surface of the tilted tabletop all serve to
remove this cafe still life from the actuality of the
represented scene.
Another collage, titled Still Life (Piccolo Velocita)
(fig. Ill), initially seems more Futurist in char¬
acter. In addition to the bottle with the diagonal
pattern and the glass, we find references to the
“ferrovie dello stato” (national railways) and to
the idea of velocity. But Soffici’s Still Life, while
composed of free-floating fragments, does little
to convey the power of speed or the dynamic
interpenetration of objects. There are no force¬
lines in this work, and individual objects are not
significantly broken open or recomposed from an
imaginary center. These objects are released, how¬
ever, from the downward pull of gravity and, sus¬
pended lightly against the picture plane, suggest
the simultaneity of a particular moment of experi¬
110. Ardengo Soffici, Still Life with Matches, 1914,
pasted papers, gouache on paper. Jucker Collection, ence in which logical spatial relations have been
Milan. superseded.
Other aspects of this collage relate it more
closely to Cubist works. The newspaper clipping
advertising “Splendour du Buste” may have been
inspired by Picasso’s Still Life: “Au Bon Marchd”
(fig. 94), in which similar advertisements appear.
The stenciled letters “sof” (for Soffici) and “wy,”

juxtaposed with a variety of other printed letters,

could also have been derived from the use of such
devices in Cubist works, specifically from Braque’s
frequent inclusion of the letters “bach” and “bock”

as disguised homonyms for his missing signature.

 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 189

Soffici’s collage, however, suggests the artist had a

greater interest in the pictorial possibilities of ty¬
pography for its own sake than the Cubists. This is
borne out by later poetic works such as “Tipogra-
fia” (fig. 112), in which individual letters and frag¬
ments of poetry seem to take on life through their
dynamic disposition on the page.
Despite these adaptations and responses to Cub¬
ist innovations, Soffici’s work remains resolutely
distinctive. What comes to the fore in his collages
is not an attempt to parody or subvert the fine art
status of works of art, but an attempt to transfigure
■

commonplace objects. Unlike the other Futurists,

Soffici’s formative experiences lay in French Im¬
pressionism rather than in Italian Divisionism. In
his writings, he frequently praised the Impression¬
ists for having demonstrated that even humble,
everyday objects could be invested with aesthetic
value: “The Impressionist painter . . . came to feel
that everything could be the subject of beauty and
of poetry if contemplated with the eye of a cre¬
ator . . . the human face, animals, the most insignif¬
icant nook in nature, the same for inanimate
things—utensils, an empty glass, whatever you like,
OgjSL W- *• . ntnr
1 a crumpled rag—had the same value as pure artis¬
■
tic elements, only differentiated by their color and
their form.”71 In his collages, Soffici sought to pro¬
duce a similar transformation through an emphasis
on expressive deformations of color, line, and
form.72 If the objects in his collages were of humble
origin, then, it was in part to emphasize the artist’s
magical powers of creation.
According to Soffici, the Impressionists had also
111. Ardengo Soffici, Still Life (Piccola Velocita), 1914, revealed that objects do not have an absolute, un¬
pasted papers and gouache on paper. Jucker Collection, changeable form, but that the perception of form it¬
Milan. self is subject to the variable conditions of light.
This, too, had been the lesson of Medardo Rosso’s
sculpture, for which Soffici had the highest regard:
“Medardo Rosso, similar in this to the French Im¬
pressionists . . . , does not conceive things if not as
a rapid succession of movements in a mutual con¬
tinuous relation of colors and lights. According to
him, as according to his painter colleagues, the
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 190

color and the aspect of an object vary relentlessly

according to the ambience in which it finds itself,
or the nearness of one or another object that influ¬
ences it with its reflections or its contrast.”73 Soffici
further described the effect of Rosso’s sculptures in
terms that are strikingly similar to those he would
later use to describe Futurist works: “According to
him | Rosso] the movement of a figure does not
have to end at the lines of a contour, like sound
at the walls of a crystal bell jar, but through an im¬
pulsion produced by the intensity of the play of
values, of the jolts and the lines of a work, propels
itself into space, spreading to infinity, in the way a
wave of electricity emitted from a well-constructed
machine, flies forth to reintegrate itself with the
eternal force of worlds.”74
As this passage suggests, Soffici, whose classical
tastes prevented him from fully endorsing Marinet¬
ti's iconoclasm or his ideal of representing the
beauty of speed, nevertheless found the idea of the
mutual interpenetration of objects compelling. In
Cubismo e oltre of 1913, reissued the following year
with the more explicit title Cubismo e Futurismo,
Soffici argued that Futurism represented a dynamic
synthesis of the two dominant forces in contempo¬
rary art: Impressionism with its exclusive attention
to the fleeting sensations of light and color, and
Cubism with its exclusive attention to (static) solid
form. His collage Still Life with Lacerba of 1913 (fig.
112. Ardengo Soffici, “Tipografia,” from BiF § ZF + 18,
24) seems intended to exemplify this moment of
1915.
dialectical synthesis. Fragments of Futurist texts,
including the title Lacerba and a section of Mari¬
netti’s free-word poem “Adrianopoli Assiedo Or¬
chestra,” take their place within an animated
environment of abstract, colorful planes and still
life objects, including a pear, slice of watermelon,
and bottle.75 Firmly positioned in the center of
these juxtaposed and partly overlapping elements
is the title “cubismo e oltre,” discretely suggesting
that in this and other Futurist works the construc¬
tive goals of the Cubists had been absorbed and
surpassed.
Collages such as this—and what they implied—
did not go unnoticed by Soffici’s Cubist friends. Pi-
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 191

casso’s Still Life: “Almanacco Purgativo” of spring

1914 is a rather malicious parody of the complex
surfaces of interpenetrating planes and self-adver¬
tising texts of Futurist collages (fig. 113). The line
of print on the limp, undulating fork, reads “profili
dei nostri piu infelici contemporanei” (profiles of
our most unfortunate contemporaries), while the
proffered meal is jokingly referred to as a purga¬
izm LACER BA,', -
tive. Most subversive of all is the fact that these
collage texts were excerpted from the pages of Lac- f f ifl
erba itself. Braque responded to the rhetoric of Fu¬
turism by inserting fragments of Lacerba into the
m 111
Cubist order of things in a collage of 1914 titled
The Violin (fig. 114). Soffici’s name appears, not
surprisingly, on a triangular bit of text glued near
the center of Braque’s work.
Because of their stylistic variety and the some¬
times opposing aims they reveal, Soffici’s collages
demonstrate many of the tensions and contradic¬
tions to be found in Futurism at this historical
juncture. These tensions went beyond the debate
over the role of new and unusual materials in
works of art and the role of the artist in transform¬
ing them. Ultimately the primary question facing
the Futurists as 1914 drew to a close concerned the
role art should play in the life of the nation. Should
the work of art remain autonomous and pure, for¬
113. Pablo Picasso, Still Life: “Almanacco Purgativo,
ever effacing itself in the experience of the viewer,
spring 1914, pasted papers, gouache, and charcoal.
as Soffici maintained? or should it join forces with
Private collection.
the increasingly political movements of the day, as
Marinetti believed?
Carra, who went to Paris in the spring of 1914 in
the company of Soffici and Papini, also began to
address these issues in his work. Like Soffici, Carra
believed works of art originated in the artist’s act
of expressive deformation, yet he was unwilling to
seal his works against the demands and interests of
everyday life, and especially those of politics. Some
of his collages, executed shortly after his sojourn
in Paris, where he renewed his contacts with Pi¬
casso and Apollinaire, indicate a desire to break
through the enclosing frames that designate the
limits of a work and allow it to be perceived as an
autonomous entity. Some of these experiments
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 192

demonstrate an awareness of Picasso’s contempo¬

rary play with frames and framing devices. Indeed,
it is interesting to compare Picasso’s construction
Glass, Die and Newspaper of the spring of 1914 (fig.
63) to Carra’s Still Life: Noises of a Night Cafe of late
summer or fall 1914 (fig. 115). In both construc¬
tions, still life elements project beyond the frame
into the viewer’s space. And in both works, the
subject is the urban cafe and the pleasures it of¬
fers.76 Carra’s construction, however, makes far
greater use of words, whether hand-printed or in
the form of collage elements glued to the surface.
Whereas Picasso’s construction bears only the frag¬
mentary, crudely painted letters “urn,” Carra’s work
explodes with a variety of typefaces and dynami¬
cally disposed words alluding to popular songs, po¬
etry, illuminated advertisements, and newspaper
clippings. The vertically displayed label “bottigli

siluro” (bottles torpedo) introduces a typically Fu¬

turist note in the impulse to discover analogical
connections between disparate objects. It also an¬
nounces Carra’s increasingly virulent prowar posi¬
tion, as does the newspaper headline: “Le ultime
dichiarazioni di guerra” (The latest declarations
of war).
In order to understand Carra’s innovative use of
verbal fragments and his desire to respond aggres¬
sively to the war, however, we must turn to con¬
temporary developments in Futurist poetry. For in
Marinetti’s invention and elaboration of the new
poetic form he called parole in liberta, we encoun¬
ter the equivalent in poetry of Futurist collage in
the visual arts. By late 1914, when Noises of a Night
Cafe was executed, the distinction that had previ¬
ously obtained between Futurist poetry and Futur¬
ist painting had been largely obliterated. This
collagelike form of writing was originally invented
by Marinetti to create a dynamic means of expres¬
sion suited to the goal of promoting Italy’s rising
nationalism and, more specifically, an atmosphere
of enthusiasm for war. The result was a new syn¬
thetic form the Futurists called the Free-Word Pic¬
114. Georges Braque, The Violin, spring 1914, ture. Of the Futurist painters, Carra became its
pasted papers and charcoal on paper. Private
most inventive practitioner.
collection.
 The Futurist Collage Aesthetic 193

iu

115. Carlo Carra, Still Life: Noises of a Night Cafe, late

summer or fall 1914, mixed media assemblage.
Location unknown.
Chapter 7

Collage Poems:

From Words

in Freedom

to Free-Word

Pictures

Au fond, des estampes. Je crois que toute phrase

ou pensee, si elle a un rythme, doit le modeler

sur l’objet qu’elle vise et reproduire, jetee a nu,

immediatement, comme jaillie en l’esprit, un peu

l’attitude de cet objet quant a tout.

—Stephane Mallarme, letter to Camille Mauelair

 Collage Poems 195

In the spring of 1912, shortly after Picasso execut¬ ing, Marinetti advocated the use of brutally direct
ed the Still Life with Chair-Caning, Marinetti pro¬ words and untransformed “noise” in poetry. More¬
claimed the invention of a dramatically new poetic over, Marinetti understood onomatopoeia as a bit
form—parole in liberta. This invention, designed to of reality, akin therefore to the bits of reality1 that
liberate words from the shackles of traditional pros¬ had begun to appear in Picasso’s collages and that
ody and syntax, produced a revolution in poetry were soon to appear in Boccioni’s sculpture. Even¬
comparable in many ways to that inaugurated in tually the Futurist poet began to introduce other
painting by the invention of collage. Although kinds of found materials into his compositions.
Marinetti was probably unaware of Picasso’s first “Aeroplano Bulgaro,” one of the poems published
collage, striking parallels between the two revolu¬ in Zang Tumb Tumb (1914), for example, includes
tionary techniques indicate a shared desire to the entire text of a leaflet dropped by a Bulgarian
break the unified syntax and material homogeneity airplane in the First Balkan War. Other free-word
of inherited means of expression. These parallels poems contain elements cut from earlier Futurist
are not entirely fortuitous, however, since contacts texts or newspapers and glued to the page in a
between Italian and French circles reached a high technical procedure indistinguishable from picto¬
point during the winter and spring of 1912. rial collage—except insofar as most of these col¬
Marinetti’s poetic ideas were partly inspired by lage poems were intended to be photographed and
conversations with Boccioni, who, as we have seen, then published as leaflets or in journals rather than
returned from his tour of Europe in the spring ob¬ to exist as unique works.
sessed with the idea of creating a new, multi-media Although cautious at first about the pictorial de¬
sculpture. Boccioni’s notion that a variety of heter¬ ployment of his innovations, Marinetti eventually
ogeneous and specifically modern materials must came to see the development of free-word poetry
replace the “static” use of bronze and marble finds as leading to a synthesis of visual and verbal
its correlative in Marinetti’s rejection of traditional means of expression. In July 1914 he wrote to
verse forms and syntax in order to allow discon¬ Severini to argue that the new effort “to fuse plastic
nected words to collide on the activated space of dynamism with words in freedom,” to be seen in
the page. The immediate juxtaposition of disparate works by Severini and Carra, be called “disegno o
elements was common both to Boccioni’s new dipinto parolibero” (free-word drawing or paint¬
sculptural ideals and to the new poetry. Whereas ing).2 In 1919 Marinetti would designate as “Tavole
the Futurists emphasized the volatility and explo¬ parolibere e Poesie murali” (Free-word pictures
sive power of their new forms and materials, how¬ and poetic murals) those free-word compositions
ever, the Cubists emphasized formal play and wit. of Carra, Severini, Cangiullo, Soffici, and others that
Despite these important differences, Cubists and had a strong pictorial character and were meant to
Futurists both sought a new language of rupture, be viewed rather than read or declaimed.3
not only with the past but within the work of art. Marinetti’s innovations were quickly taken up by
Just as Picasso incorporated fragments of cheap, poets and artists in Italy, but they had an important
mass-produced materials into the realm of paint¬ effect on French poetry as well. Between October
and November 1912, Apollinaire suppressed the
 Collage Poems 196

punctuation on the proofs of Alcools, in spite of his [From red to green all the yellow dies
frequently voiced reservations about Futurism. The When parakeets sing in their native forests
poem “Zone,” the most recent to be included in Al¬ Giblets of pihis
cools, bears several notable similarities in theme There’s a poem to be done on the bird with only
and structure to Marinetti’s writings.4 From the first one wing
line, “A la fin tu es las de ce monde ancien” (In the We’ll send it by telephone]6
end you are tired of this ancient world), the author While this poem retains elements of lyricism, in
embarks on a fantastic journey that takes him from “Rue Lundi Christine” of December 1913, Apolli¬
the Eiffel Tower to the industrial zone on the out¬ naire appropriated banal, ordinary phrases over¬
skirts of Paris, to the Mediterranean coast, Rome, heard at a cafe. The result was disjointed but not
Amsterdam, and so forth, all recounted with many
without humor:
abrupt and incongruous juxtapositions in imagery
Ces crepes etaient exquises
and tone. The nearly exclusive use of the present
La fontaine coule
tense in this poem seems to collapse past and pre¬
Robe noire comme ses ongles
sent, near and far, onto a single, simultaneous
C’est completement impossible
plane of experience. Yet in comparison to Marinet¬
Void monsieur
ti’s contemporary free-word poems, Apollinaire’s
La bague en malachite
“Zone” retains a sense of narrative and a personal
Le sol est seme de sciure
lyrical quality.
Alors c’est vrai
Shortly thereafter, Apollinaire began to compose
La serveuse rousse a ete enlevee par un libraire
his poemes conversation, in which he took the
principle of simultaneity to a new extreme. These [Those pancakes were divine
poems are a form of verbal collage comprising frag¬ The water’s running
ments of overheard speech, random impressions, Dress black as her nails
and onomatopoeic effects “pasted” together with¬ It’s absolutely impossible
out connecting links. The earliest of these was “Les Here sir
Fenetres,” written collaboratively by Apollinaire, The malachite ring
Andre Billy, and Rene Dalize while they drank ver¬ The ground is covered with sawdust
mouth at the Crucifix, a cafe in the rue Daunou. Ac¬ Then it’s true
cording to Billy, Apollinaire suddenly remembered The redheaded waitress eloped with a
that he had promised to write a preface for a cata¬ bookseller]7
logue of Robert Delaunay’s paintings, which was
The only unifying element here lies in the poet’s
due that very day. Beginning with Apollinaire, they
immediate experience; he is the necessary though
took turns composing “Les Fenetres” line by line,
invisible center of this poem despite the multiplic¬
even including Billy’s comment that perhaps they
ity of voices.
should send the preface by telephone.5 The result
In 1914 Apollinaire would give a radial structure
was a juxtaposition of apparently unrelated
to two sections of “Lettre-Ocean” (fig. 116), his first
phrases, which nonetheless evoked Delaunay’s in¬
truly visual poem, or calligramme, so that frag¬
terest in simultaneity of color, time, and place:
ments of speech and onomatopoeic sounds seem
Du rouge au vert tout le jaune se meurt to converge upon the consciousness of the poet.
Quand chantent les aras dans les forets natales In part, this format renders visible the implied cen¬
Abatis de pihis tralized structure of the earlier conversation
II y a un poeme a faire sur l’oiseau qui n’a qu’une poems.8 The radial format of “Lettre-Ocean” was
aile probably also derived from Marinetti’s “Decagono
Nous Fenverrons en message telephonique
 Collage Poems 197

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Soirees de Paris, June 1914.
 Collage Poems 198

della sensibilita motrice” (fig. 117), published in

Lacerba on 15 February 1914, only four months be¬
fore “Lettre-Ocean.” The onomatopoeic effects
(“ere ere” for the poet’s new shoes) and the cele¬
bration of gramophones, autobuses, and sirens also
suggest a Futurist “sensibilita motrice.”
Like Marinetti, Apollinaire at times adopted the
62 LACERBA
practice of collage in composing his calligrammes.
(lune del mio corpo quindicenneiegulato a Tt'TTO
While he designed the text of “II Pleut” (It’s raining)
(fig. 118) by hand, trusting a typographer to trans¬ '% %
late his words into falling lines of type, in “Visde” l\"''
N
(Aim) Apollinaire cut out printed letters and words
and arranged them in a coherent visual pattern on
the page (fig. 119).9 The triangle formed by the
lines of print in “Visee,” one of Apollinaire’s war
poems, achieves its ideogrammatic effect through
the use of literally collaged strophes, each a rocket
\
seeking a single target. Together they suggest the
dunedellorgoglio +odo-
action of aiming with a triangle de visde, the instru¬ re di vulva in veloeilii duna niRenpata
RUceeaRo sfortun
ment used to ascertain the position of enemy artil¬
DBCA8OB0
lery. Yet these lines of elegantly curving text also DELLA
SE5SIBILITA
become a visual metaphor for the projection of
MOTRICE
duue di lontam* sehiere
the poet’s thoughts into the unknowable space antiche curve su altri
fuochi
dune tristinoddisfa
of the future.10 As in Marinetti’s parole in liberta, della volonhi sefrustj

here the poetics of rupture points to a new world

to be engendered by the destructive force of the
war: “Et l’avenir secret que la fusee elucide” (And
the secret future that the rocket elucidates). For
Apollinaire, as for Marinetti and the other Futurists,
the creation of visually expressive verbal patterns,
often achieved through the use of collage, also
seemed to enhance the aural mobility of language.
In “Visee,” for example, we find the following evoc¬ VV *
ative phrase: “Entends nager le Mot poisson sub¬ dune della giovinezza lontanissima PQRZA

til” (Listen to the Word swim subtle fish). In his

calligrammes, Apollinaire sought to achieve a new 117. F. T. Marinetti, “Decagono della Sensibilita
synthetic form of poetry, addressed to the ear and Motrice,” from Lacerba, 15 February 1914.
to the eye. The original title for Calligrammes had
been Moi aussi je suis peintre.
In his memoirs, Severini recalled how pleased he
was by Apollinaire’s response to his poema diseg-
nato “Danza Serpentina” (fig. 120), which had been
reproduced in Lacerba on 1 July 1914:
 Collage Poems 199

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 Collage Poems 200

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July 1914.
 Collage Poems 201

What pleased me most were two lines of Apolli¬ context within which to measure his post-Symbol-
naire in a postcard, in which he told me that my ist innovations. In an “Enquete” of 190216 Marinetti
intuition brought to his memory the little poems named Mallarme the greatest poet of the nine¬
of the 17th century, in which the words were dis¬ teenth century, an unpopular selection at this time.
posed in order to suggest the form. Marinetti’s fully annotated copy of Mallarm6’s Vers
And in fact shortly thereafter appeared the et Prose of 1899 reveals the extent to which the
“calligrammes” that everyone knows, and to young Italian poet studied the ideas of the French
which, I suppose, the memory of Mallarme must master and indeed tried to emulate his style. In
also have contributed; as it contributed to my some cases, Marinetti went so far as to append his
first pictures with applications of printed pages, own verses to those of Mallarme, adding several
etc." (rather badly written) stanzas to the poem “Hero-
diade,” for example. In the margins of Vers et Prose,
In a note, Severini further specified Mallarmd’s
then, we find the young Marinetti actively engaged
“Un Coup de des jamais n’abolira le hasard” as hav¬
in an imaginative dialogue with his chosen mentor.
ing had an important influence on contemporary
This dialogue would pervade his Futurist poems
poetry.12 The ideas of the Symbolist master were no
and manifestos, many of which were designed to
doubt discussed at the popular mardis of Vers et
challenge and defeat the preciosity of Symbolist
Prose, the journal published by Paul Fort, whose
aesthetic ideals while retaining the poetic freedom
very title and choice of “evening” reflected the in¬
associated with those ideals. This freedom was ex¬
fluence of Mallarme. Severini had begun attending
emplified, for both Mallarme and one of his succes¬
these evenings at the Closerie de Lilas in 1911, first
sors, Gustave Kahn, by a loosening of the classical
brought there by Marinetti.13 Soffici was a habitue
structure of the alexandrine, which allowed for
during 1911-12; numerous references to the Clos¬
greater rhythmic variety and attention to the purely
erie de Lilas occur in his memoirs. Picasso and his
sonorous qualities of words. In advancing related
circle frequently attended these evenings as well.14
goals, however, Marinetti eventually broke with the
Of course, attitudes toward Mallarme were highly
Symbolist tradition and proclaimed the invention of
ambivalent, characterized by interest in his typo¬
parole in liberta—a new collagelike style of writing.
graphical and ideogrammatic innovations, but also
As early as 1894, Mallarme had called the atten¬
by a rejection of his preciosity on the part of
tion of the English public to the storm brewing
many.15 It is, therefore, in the Symbolists that we
among contemporary French poets in an address
must seek the first significant impulses to liberate
to the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge titled “Mu¬
verse from the strictures of traditional forms—in
sic and Literature.” Not without a measure of mock
spite of Marinetti’s battle cry, “Renions nos maltres
sensationalism,17 Mallarme declared, “Indeed I
les symbolistes!”
bring you news. The most surprising. Nothing like

The Symbolist Legacy this has ever happened before. They have tam¬
pered with the rules of verse.”18
Marinetti’s early debt to the poetry and critical
According to the analysis Mallarme then pro¬
writings of the Symbolists, especially Stephane
ceeded to develop, the recent attempts by a
Mallarme and Gustave Kahn, provides an essential
 Collage Poems 202

younger generation of poets to liberate poetry from Unlike Mallarme, who tended to stress the formal
the strictures of the traditional alexandrine had led separation of contemporary and traditional verse,
to a decisive rupture between old and new forms of Kahn preferred to emphasize the logical continuity
poetry. Earlier efforts to write in a more freely ca- that united the Romantics and Parnassians with
denced, “ornamental” style had occasioned the their heirs, the Symbolists.22 Times had changed,
flowering of the prose-poem, which could still be however, and inevitably a younger generation of
thought of as "broken verse, playing with sounds poets had become sensitive to a range of sounds
and even hidden rhymes according to a more com¬ and rhythms that had remained beyond the scope
plex thyrsus.”19 Contemporary poets, however, had of the older poets, who had been trained to appre¬
wished to go farther in this direction and had ciate only a certain number of familiar harmonies
invented vers libre (free verse). In the future, and cadences. Indeed, the Symbolists, inspired by
Mallarme predicted, official prosody would be re¬ the evolution of pure music, had soon felt the ne¬
served for grand ceremonies, while more personal, cessity of a new, more fluid, more lyrical style.
lyrical expressions would be written in vers libre. Nonetheless, Kahn made a point of accepting the
Among the poets Mallarme cited as having con¬ definition of poetry formulated by Theodore de
tributed to the retempering of verse were Paul Banville, chief theorist of the Parnassians: "Poetry
Verlaine, Jules Laforgue, Charles Morice, Emile is human speech rendered rhythmic in such a way
Verhaeren, and Gustave Kahn. According to that it can be sung, and properly speaking, there is
Mallarme, these poets and many of their confreres no verse that is not song.”23
no longer required the accompaniment of “the Professing allegiance to Banville’s definition,
great organs of official meter,” and each had “gone however, allowed Kahn to criticize other aspects of
off by himself to his own corner, to play on a flute his classicizing theory. Banville’s Petit traitd de pod-
of his own, the melodies that please him.”20 sie frangaise of 1871, reissued in 1878, provided
As early as 1885, Gustave Kahn, the self-pro¬ Kahn with an essential counterpoint against which
claimed originator of vers libre, had announced his he might advance his own ideas. For in the Petit
program for the renewal of poetry in La revue indd- trade Banville had expressed the central Parnassian
pendante. In 1897, the year Mallarme’s influential belief that the alexandrine was the most perfect
collection of poems and critical writings titled Di¬ and noble of French verse forms. This was due to
vagations appeared, Kahn once again took up his the great variety and flexibility of the twelve-sylla¬
pen to defend his priority in having “given the sig¬ ble line. The cornerstone of Banville’s theory, how¬
nal and direction of this poetic movement”21 and to ever, was the essential role played by rhyme in
express his theoretical views on the subject of free poetry of all kinds. This, for Banville, was “an abso¬
verse. These ideas were set forth in the Preface to lute law, like physical laws,”24 and he therefore de¬
a new edition of Kahn’s poetry that included Les voted much of his treatise to describing various
Palais Nomades, his first book of vers libre. Nota¬ methods by which a student of poetry might learn
bly, the ideas Kahn developed in this “Preface sur the art of rhyming. In a chapter titled “Poetic Li¬
le vers libre,” although indebted in many ways to censes,” the Parnassian had only this to say: “There
the doctrines of Mallarme, also differed from them are none.”25
on several essential points.
 Collage Poems 203

Banville’s dogmatic emphasis on strict adherence vers libre would allow composition (ordonnance)
to the rules of proper rhyming and on a lawful dis¬ to give way to pure music and individual freedom
tribution of accents and caesurae presented an to triumph over preestablished, worn-out formulas.
easy target for Kahn, who saw that it could lead to Although he prided himself on having attended
a celebration of technical mastery for its own sake. Mallarme’s mardis in the late 1870s, at a time when
And although Banville had proposed that a single the master was still largely unknown,29 Kahn was
rule had governed the poetry of all times and peo¬ one of the younger generation of poets who even¬
ples, which he summed up as “variety in unity,”26 it tually rejected the preciosity and hermeticism ex¬
was evident that this unity could be achieved only emplified by his writing. In 1885, after a tour of
through formal perfection. In opposition to military service in Tunisia, Kahn returned to Paris
Banville’s purely formal criteria, Kahn asserted that and was immediately struck by Mallarme’s growing
true poetic unity did not lie in a particular number influence in literary circles and by the inescapable
of syllables or in perfect rhymes but in the coinci¬ fact that the literature of the past as well as the
dence of meaning and spacing or natural resting contemporary writing of the Symbolists was incom¬
points. This implied that unity should be based on prehensible to the great majority of people: “First
an organic principle of phrasing rather than on an of all, I became aware of the perfect impermeabil¬
arbitrary structure imposed from without. Kahn be¬ ity of the literature of our elders to the popular
lieved that although this principle had not always masses, and their art appeared illegitimate [batard]
been recognized, the great classical poets had to me, incapable of satisfying the populace, incapa¬
nonetheless instinctively followed it. Kahn there¬ ble of charming the elite.”30 Kahn therefore rejected
fore defined poetic unity in the following terms: Mallarme’s aristocratic stance toward the public as
“True unity does not lie in the conventional num¬ well as his desire that literature be clothed in mys¬
ber of a line, but in a simultaneous pause of mean¬ tery. Rather than move poetry in the direction of
ing and rhythm, in any organic fraction of verse ever-greater formal precision in the distribution of
and thought. This unity consists in the number or essential elements, which Kahn described as an “af¬
rhythm of vowels and consonants that form an or¬ fair of foundations and of the choice of syllables,”31
ganic and independent cell. . . . The unity of poetry the champion of vers libre advocated an art of
can be even further defined: the shortest possible greater spontaneity and freedom. Believing that
fragment representing a pause in the voice and a “art should be social,” Kahn addressed his poetry
pause in meaning.”27 According to this definition, to “proletarian intellectuals” in the hope that even¬
one should first seek a sense of meaningful unity in tually the people would become interested as well.
self-sufficient fractions of verse, rather than in the He refused to accept the prevalent Symbolist idea
overall structure of a poem. This, in turn, allowed that to be understood meant that one’s poetry was
Kahn to refocus attention on the expressive quali¬ banal.32
ties of sound and rhythm in every part of a line in¬ Despite Kahn’s belief in the potential social value
stead of on what he ironically called the “all too of art, his attitude toward art for art’s sake re¬
predictable coup de cymbale" at the end.28 By giv¬ mained somewhat equivocal. He continued to insist
ing primacy to the natural coherence of rhythm on the freedom of the poet to express his individu¬
and meaning, Kahn believed that the technique of ality and advocated the creation of self-sufficient,
 Collage Poems 204

organically unified, pure works of art. And although of art as an ideal synthesis of verbal and visual ele¬
Kahn’s notion of purity was broad enough to en¬ ments in which the practice of collage played a
compass sounds and rhythms that previously dominant role.
would have been considered dissonant and disrup¬ Marinetti announced the invention of parole in
tive, he repeatedly affirmed his belief that artists liberta in the “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Liter¬
should work within the dictates of a given medium ature,” dated 11 May 1912.36 This document, even¬
without transgressing its boundaries. Thus the no¬ tually published in a variety of formats and lan¬
tion that poetry was an art addressed to the sense guages,37 made one of its earliest appearances
of hearing alone led him to reject typographical ar¬ halfway through the preface to a collection of free
tifice as a mistaken appeal to the eye. Kahn did not verse, I poeti futuristic and was followed by
share Mallarme’s interest in the physical dimen¬ Marinetti’s first free-word poem, “Battle of Weight
sions of the book or his sense that one should, as + Smell.” The placement of the “Technical Mani¬
Kahn put it, “renounce the vulgar square format of festo” between past and future styles of poetry is
the mise en page of an idea.”33 Poetry originated in noteworthy, for Marinetti until this moment had
song, and its visual transcription was to be under¬ been an advocate of vers libre in the French tradi¬
stood as a merely secondary factor: “The line and tion. The editorial policy of Marinetti’s journal Po-
the stanza are all, or in part, sung phrases and be¬ esia (1905-09), dedicated to the publication of new
long to speech before being written down. In virtue or hitherto unpublished works, was somewhat ec¬
of our definition, all typographical artifices used lectic, but the general trend favored free verse.
to render two lines homologous (rhymes for the Gustave Kahn, a good friend of Marinetti, was a fre¬
eyes) are, at a single stroke, swept aside. The poet quent contributor,39 along with Emile Verhaeren,
speaks and writes for the ear, and not for the Alfred Jarry, and other members of the Parisian
eyes.”34 Later, in 1912, this attitude would lead avant-garde. In 1909 Poesia had sponsored an in¬
Kahn to protest against the inclusion of printed ternational “Enquete” on the subject of free verse
numbers and letters in paintings, since he believed since 1905. Among other things, the responses re¬
they could have no pictorial (visual) value.35 This vealed that many Italian poets were hostile to or
was the limit beyond which Kahn felt no renovation unconcerned with contemporary developments in
in poetic form could go. French poetry, a situation Marinetti would en¬
Marinetti, however, in calling for a new poetry deavor to change. By early 1912, however, when
of parole in liberta, chose to transgress this very Kahn spoke at the Maison des Etudiants about the
boundary. The poetic technique advocated by history and theory of free verse, his lecture was
Marinetti, in which words, letters, and numbers retrospective in tone, concerned with the crises
would be scattered dynamically across the page and controversies of the 1880s and 1890s. This lec¬
without regard for narrative development or even ture may have encouraged Marinetti to feel that the
syntax, was intended to appeal simultaneously to moment for a bold, new initiative in poetic tech¬
the eye and ear (and when possible to convey a nique had come.
sense of smell and tactile sensations as well). This,
in turn, led to a new concept of the Futurist work
 Collage Poems 205

The Invention of Parole in Liberia Marinetti believed such an assault would express
the speaker’s sensations telegraphically, with the
Just as Kahn had first become aware of the inad¬
same speed and economy that the telegraph im¬
equacies of contemporary styles of writing after a
poses on war correspondents.44
tour of military service, so Marinetti was inspired
In describing his poetry as originating in flight,
by his experiences, during the autumn of 1911, as a
Marinetti was reworking a central metaphor in
correspondent at the front lines of the italo-Turkish
Mallarmean aesthetics, for the Symbolist poet had
War in Libya.40 Marinetti described his poetic inno¬
frequently evoked a sense of the ideality of writing
vations—which included the final destruction of all
through images of flight from the earth: “Writing,
vestiges of traditional unity and meaning in po¬
silent flight of abstraction regains its rights as na¬
etry—as the necessary consequences of a new, dy¬
ked sounds fall away. . . .”45 In this overcoming of
namic perception of the world afforded by the
brute materiality, of the here and now, writing, like
aerial perspective and speed of the airplane. For
music, demanded “a preliminary separation from
Marinetti, the literary correlative of this exhilarat-
speech, of course for fear of contributing to mere
ingly modern experience was a telegraphic style of
prattle.”46 It was writing, then, removed from the
writing:41 “Sitting on the gas tank of an airplane, my
banalities of everyday speech, that Mallarme be¬
stomach warmed by the pilot’s head, I sensed the
lieved to be a vehicle of transcendence. Marinetti
ridiculous inanity of the old syntax inherited from
inverted this proposition while retaining some of
Homer. A pressing need to liberate words, to drag
its features. Poetry continued to symbolize the
them out of their prison in the Latin period! Like all
power of flight as a triumph over material limita¬
imbeciles, this period naturally has a canny head, a
tions, but only in order to transform life itself. It
stomach, two legs, and two flat feet, but it will
did so by embracing crude, naked, unmediated
never have two wings. Just enough to walk, to take
sounds, whether in the form of the speech of the
a short run and then stop short, panting! This is
traumatized individual or of the blast of a machine
what the whirling propeller told me.”42 The “propel¬
gun. For Marinetti, like Kahn, had rejected the
ler” went on to propose the elimination of syntax
Mallarmean tendency toward preciosity and ele¬
and punctuation and to call for the exclusive use of
gance both in the choice of words and in their dis¬
infinitives so that the writer’s “I,” no longer domi¬
position on the virginal space of the page. As we
nant, might merge with the dynamic continuity of
have seen, in 1902, Marinetti had named Mallarme
life. In addition, the propeller advocated the sup¬
as the greatest poet of the nineteenth century.47 By
pression of all nonessential words (adverbs and ad¬
1913, however, in his manifesto “Destruction of
jectives) that give particular inflections or nuances
Syntax—Imagination without Strings—Words in
to other words and thereby suppose a pause or
Freedom,” Marinetti stated unequivocally, “I oppose
mediation in the flow of images. For, as Marinetti
Mallarme’s decorative and precious aesthetic, and
remarked, a man excited by an event he has just
his search for the rare word, for the unique, irre¬
witnessed will not take time to convey his impres¬
placeable, elegant, suggestive, exquisite adjective
sions and emotions in a logically ordered narrative;
. . . [his] static ideal.”48
rather he will assault his listeners with “fistfuls of
This rejection issued to some extent from
essential words” just as they come to him.43
Marinetti’s desire to impose a masculine form on
 Collage Poems 206

Mallarme’s feminine ideal. The coquetry suggested In the “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Litera¬
by Mallarme’s “abrupt high flutterings” of language ture" Marinetti also called for the elimination of all
gives way in Marinetti to the collision of words transitions (conjunctions) so that the immediate
conceived as projectiles, bombs, or the harsh sput¬ juxtaposition of “liberated” words might create un¬
tering of machine guns. The role played by syntax expected analogies. This is the heart of his theory,
in this conversion is crucial. For Mallarme had and although there are sources in Baudelaire’s
viewed syntax as the structural device that guaran¬ “correspondences,” in the theories of Edgar Allan
teed the successful operation of his intricate word¬ Poe, and in much Symbolist poetry Marinetti sur¬
plays: “What guide is there to intelligibility in the passed his predecessors in the ruthlessness of his
midst of these contrasts? A guarantee is needed— program:
Syntax—.”49 Mallarme continued this passage to de¬ Every noun should have its double; that is, the
scribe syntax as the vehicle which allows French, a noun should be followed, with no conjunction,
quintessentially elegant and feminine language, to by the noun to which it is related by analogy. Ex¬
take flight: ample: man-torpedo-boat, woman-gulf, crowd-
The French language is elegant especially when surf, piazza-funnel, door-faucet.
it appears in negligee and the past is witness to Just as aerial speed has multiplied our knowl¬
this quality . . . but our literature surpasses the edge of the world, the perception of analogy be¬
“genre,” correspondence or memoirs. The comes ever more natural for man. One must
abrupt, high flutterings will admire / mirror them¬ suppress the like, the as, the so, the similar to.
selves as well: whoever guides them perceives an Still better, one should deliberately confound the
extraordinary appropriation of limpid structure object with the image that it evokes, foreshort¬
from the primitive thunderbolts of logic. A stut¬ ening the image to a single essential word.51
tering, which seems a phrase, here held back in
Traditional poetry, one should note, had
incidental bits, multiplies, and taking on order,
abounded with just these sorts of connectives. In¬
rises up in a certain superior equilibrium, to a
deed, comme (like) was the single most frequently
balancing of knowing transpositions.50
used word in Baudelaire’s poetry,52 and it played a
In Mallarme’s view, “limpid structure” could be crucial role in much of Mallarme’s poetry as well.
achieved only by transforming the primitive (mas¬ By advocating the elimination of such familiar po¬
culine) demands of logic. For Marinetti, however, etic devices, Marinetti sought to emphasize the ele¬
structure, logic, and syntax were largely synony¬ ment of shock in the collision of highly disparate
mous. Marinetti too viewed syntax as an instru¬ images. Once again, Marinetti claimed that the new
ment of “limpid structure,” but one which an perceptual possibilities afforded by aerial perpec-
immediate, volatile poetry must do without. By tives required this form of poetic foreshortening.
eliminating the “knowing transpositions” made pos¬ Marinetti further asserted that “analogy is noth¬
sible by the play of syntax, Marinetti hoped to ing more than the deep love that assembles distant,
transform words themselves into primitive seemingly diverse and hostile things.”53 These far-
thunderbolts. ranging and unpredictable analogies were to be
 Collage Poems 207

discovered through the faculty of intuition. Only eroismo Avanguardie: 100 metri mitragliatrici
through this nonrational means could the poet fucilate eruzione violini ottone pim pum pac pac
seize the simultaneity of the heightened moment of tim turn mitragliatrici tataratataraata
awareness. Above all, the reader was not to under¬ Avanguardie: 20 metri battaglioni-formiche
stand the free-word poem in the traditional sense. cavalleria-ragni strade-guadi generale-isolotto staf-
Indeed, Marinetti predicted that in the future poets fette-cavallette sabbie-rivoluzione obici-tribuni nu-
would “dare to suppress all the first terms of [their] vole-graticole fucili-martiri . . .
analogies and render no more than an uninter¬ Avanguardi: 3 metri miscuglio andirivieni incol-
rupted sequence of second terms.”54 In advocating larsi scollarsi lacerazione fuoco sradicare cantieri
this apotheosis of free intuition, Marinetti deliber¬ frana cave incendio panico acciecamento schiac-
ately rejected the efforts of poets like Kahn to ciare entrare uscire correre . . .
avoid the incomprehensibility of past literature
[heroism Avant-gardes : 100 meters machine
but without reverting to a Mallarmean notion of
guns fusillade eruption violins brass pim pum pac
the ideality of a purified language. On the con¬
pac tim turn machine guns tataratatarata
trary, Marinetti’s parole in liberta were to be fully
Avant-gardes : 20 meters battalions-ants
grounded in the dynamic materiality of life as well
cavalry-spiders roads-fords general-island couriers-
as of language: “To catch and gather whatever is
locusts sands-revolution howitzers-grandstands
most fugitive and ungraspable in matter, one must
clouds-grates guns-martyrs . . .
shape strict nets of images or analogies, to be cast
Avant-gardes : 3 meters jumble coming-and-
into the mysterious sea of phenomena.”55 Moreover,
going to collage to de-collage laceration fire to up¬
the nineteenth-century obsession with human psy¬
root timber-yard landslide quarries conflagration
chology, with lyrical expressions of the self, must
panic blindness to smash to enter to leave to
now give way to “the lyric obsession with matter.”56
run . . ,]58
Matter itself was to be apprehended in terms of its
dynamic potential for flight or dispersal into the Its military subject and rapid-fire of uninflected im¬

surrounding environment. These qualities were ages notwithstanding, this first parole in liberta

manifested as the sound, weight, and smell of ob¬ makes only tentative use of the literary devices
enumerated in the manifesto. The poem conserves
jects, elements Marinetti believed to have been
the traditional format of the page: words are not
overlooked by traditional literature.
scattered explosively but appear in conventional
Immediately putting this program into practice,
lines to be read from left to right. Adjectives, ad¬
Marinetti titled his first free-word poem “Battle of
verbs, conjunctions, and most forms of punctuation
Weight + Smell.”57 The subject concerns a battle of
have been eliminated, but so have most verbs.
the Italo-Turkish War in Libya. True to his new aes¬
Even verbs in the infinitive were evidently less suit¬
thetic, Marinetti conceived this poem primarily as
able for the creation of a great chain of analogies
a chain of images, giving special attention to the
than nouns. The typographical innovation of having
material or sensory aspects of objects and environ¬
the “avant-gardes” advance diagonally across the
ment, conveyed at times through the use of num¬
page (from right to left) as they advance toward
bers and symbols:
the enemy is a timid gesture in comparison to
 Collage Poems 208

Marinetti’s later treatment of words as visual torpe¬ tended to advocate an emphasis on the aural ef¬
does. The full flowering of parole in liberta would fects of language in order to motivate otherwise ar¬
not take place until 1914-15, with the publication bitrary linguistic signs and in order to highlight the
of Zang Tumb Turnb,59 a collection of free-word formal self-sufficiency and unity of the poem. This
poems on the battle of Adrianopolis in Turkey dur¬ did not usually imply, however, a direct, imitative
ing the First Balkan War,60 and related works. equivalence between a word and its signification.
The further development of free-word poetry More often, the expressive potential of pure sound
seems to have depended on Marinetti’s ability to was viewed in abstract, musical, or even coloristic
expand its verbal and pictorial resources. In this he terms, and some attempts were made to determine
was no doubt inspired by the contemporary experi¬ the value of individual sounds according to quasi-
ments of the Futurist painters, who had begun to scientific laws. Frequently, this led to an interest in
seek new means of conveying a sense of simultane¬ the correspondences between sounds and colors.
ity and dynamism in their art. In two extraordinary Rimbaud’s sonnet “Voyelles” is an early example of
manifestos, “Destruction of Syntax—Imagination this effort to associate vowels with specific colors.
without Strings—Words in Freedom” (1913) and Rene Ghil, who had made a study of Helmholz’s
“Geometric and Mechanical Splendor and the Nu¬ color theory, later corrected Rimbaud's sonnet.62
merical Sensibility” (1914), Marinetti elaborated his Ghil’s own theory of “verbal instrumentation,”
ideas on poetic form, especially the roles to be based on correspondences between vocal sounds,
played by onomatopoeia and typography. Both musical (instrumental) sounds, and color, was in¬
techniques implied an attack on the passatista form tended to result in “a true bit of music, infinitely
of the book and on conventional methods of read¬ suggestive and ‘instrumentalizing itself autono¬
ing. And both were instrumental in Marinetti’s at¬ mously: music of words evoking colored images,
tempt to discover a new, more vital coherence of without, one should remember, the ideas suffering
subjective experience and expressive form. at all!”62 Mallarme, who supported Ghil’s endeavors,
Onomatopoeia, employed to some extent in “Bat¬ regarded the musical and hieroglyphic effect of let¬
tle of Weight + Smell,” quickly emerged as one of ters in a similarly mystical way, although he em¬
the leading characteristics of parole in liberta. In phasized the priority of sound over sense.
“Destruction of Syntax” Marinetti described ono¬ Marinetti, as we have seen, was indebted to
matopoeia as a means of “revivifying lyricism with Mallarme for his early formation as a poet, and he
crude and brutal elements of reality.”61 This was es¬ was also undoubtedly familiar with Ghil’s theories.64
sentially a technique that would allow poets to Yet Marinetti’s understanding of the expressive
mold language to their needs and was associated value of sound diverged from that of the Symbolists
with “free expressive spelling” and a revolution in in several respects. Whereas poets of the late nine¬
typography. All three departures from the conven¬ teenth century aspired to assimilate poetry to the
tional transcription of words had the effect of call¬ seemingly abstract or pure condition of music,
ing the reader’s attention to the visual aspect of the Marinetti sought the disruptive power of noise. On¬
page, which was to be as dynamic as possible. omatopoeia provided him with a means of shatter¬
The use of onomatopoeia in poetry, of course, ing the self-mirroring flow of musical sounds that
was not unprecedented. Symbolist poets especially
 Collage Poems 209

characterized Symbolist poetry with the brutal than ideal or rarefied) aspects of the represented
immediacy of life at its most violent. Opposing objects. Indeed, the objects and events that popu¬
Mallarme’s ideal of the perfectly structured, her¬ late Marinetti’s poetic universe are not negated,
metically folded, “spiritual book,” Marinetti advo¬ and they are not made to evoke a sense of their
cated “a telegraphic lyricism with no taste of the own absence, as they might have been in a poem
book about it but, rather, as much as possible of by Mallarme. Rather they are intended to appear as
the taste of life. Beyond that the bold introduction dramatically present to all the senses. Marinetti
of onomatopoetic harmonies to render all the completed his list with two additional categories:
sounds and noises of modern life, even the most “abstract onomatopoeia,” a means of expressing a
cacophonic.”65 Thus, whereas Symbolist poets state of mind, and “psychic onomatopoeic har¬
tended to stress assonance, creating a unifed, mel¬ mony,” a fusion of two or three “abstract onomato¬
lifluous rhythm, Marinetti and the Futurists empha¬ poeias.” Certainly the distinctions between these
sized the harsher, more dissonant effects of categories remained a matter of intuition, yet they
alliteration and high-pitched vowels that shriek allowed Marinetti to suggest a means of advancing
across the page. beyond the passatista notion of imitation.
Sensing perhaps that the Futurist theory of on¬ Imitation, of course, had already been banished
omatopoeia was needlessly limited to imitative ef¬ as an outmoded practice by the Futurist painters.
fects, Marinetti developed a broader, more complex The “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting” of
theory in his manifesto of 1914, “Geometric and 1910 had declared as its first principle, “That all
Mechanical Splendor and the Numerical Sensibil¬ forms of imitation must be despised, all forms of
ity.” In this manifesto, he distinguished four types originality glorified.”68 Marinetti, in turn, had ar¬
of onomatopoeia in order of growing abstraction. gued that the syntactic sentence was a form of
The first type, “direct, imitative elementary realistic “photographic perspective” that free-word poetry
onomatopoeia,” was exemplified by the adoption, would necessarily destroy, so that a “multiform
in Zang Tumb Tumb, of a strident “siiiiii” to evoke emotional perspective” might take its place.69 Yet
the whistle of a boat on the Meuse River, followed Marinetti seems to have been unsure about the
by the softer “ffiiii ffiiii” for the echo from the oppo¬ value of imitation (whether phonic or visual) as a
site bank.66 Marinetti characterized the second type principle of representation in poetry. For as narra¬
as “indirect, complex, and analogical onomato¬ tive conventions were shattered, the reader’s atten¬
poeia,” citing his poem “Dune” as an example. tion naturally turned to the more purely aural and
Here, he asserted, the repeated sounds “dum-dum- pictorial qualities of the free-word poem. From the
dum-dum” expressed the “circling sound of the beginning, the emphasis on onomatopoeia had im¬
African sun and the orange weight of the sun, cre¬ plied a corresponding revolution in orthography
ating a rapport between sensations of weight, heat, and typography, so that it became difficult to sep¬
color, smell and noise.”67 Not satisfied with Sym¬ arate the aural and visual aspects of language.
bolist correspondences between sound and color, Words deformed, stretched, or pulled for onomato¬
Marinetti added weight, heat, and noise, which poeic purposes tended to become visually interest¬
serve to emphasize the overtly material (rather ing, and Marinetti did not hesitate to declare, “It
 Collage Poems 210

matters little if the deformed word becomes ambig¬

uous.”7" The implication, of course, was that a new
intuitive and dynamic form of apprehension would
replace traditional forms of cognition.
Perhaps owing to the lingering influence of Kahn, 121. F. T. Marinetti, “Synchronic Chart,” from Zang
Marinetti expressed some reluctance, as late as Tumb Tumb, 1914.

1914, to affirm the pictorial aspect of his free-word

poetry. Referring to the “synoptic tables of lyrical CARTA SINCRONA
values” in which lists of “parallel sensations” ap¬ dol siioni rumori coloci iiumusrlni o<loi

peared configured in groups on the page to suggest spcriiiiAt1 volrri <■ n« m ••»•!<» nos(alifii‘

a number of intertwined relationships (fig. 121), dnll'in inn>rc V. .\I.

Marinetti wrote, "These synoptic tables should not

matprassn Hnslirn vprijp giallo
be a goal but a means of increasing the expressive In alien «Ii rumori frams-n da
nn psrp un luugo pii'uio liofruMi
forces of lyricism. One must therefore avoid any HININTHA
ADRIANOPOM H- |/| .Him, -J- In
I »!• STRA

pictorial preoccupation, taking no satisfaction in a

/V 2*
play of lines or in curious typographic dispropor¬
C
tion.”71 Indeed, a glance at the “Synchronic Chart” S' /►*
<5-

in Zang Tumb Tumb suggests that Marinetti con¬

ceived the typographical distribution of elements in
uoto di silenzio dorato Irercia azzurrrrma di suoni

the anti-aesthetic mode of the scientific chart com¬ 3 pallone

donna mcinta
frenato
veslita
o
di
morbidi
I'aiilrMp
ir nostalgia
Ouarlier I-atin
di

stoffp leggiere in ma nl
bined with certain features drawn from algebraic marp presa e ripresa da!
ven In
equations. Words tend to be arranged within paral¬
lel columns, and there are mathematical symbols giallo
zampilln di
fraoaaaaao glohularp
suoni diarri
to suggest patterns of relation and the directional — vitlaggio
~ nllapgm
■+■ foraggi

flow of (multiple) sensations. Yet the content of n

puntaspiHi di rumori silenzio iosimi
3
this free-word poem, described in the title as the gialh — 3 shrapnels scop pploso di ru-
mnn verdastn
rurnore in forma "5
piati su villaggio S 7 di prra £
— vpiiIo nord
“trace” of the aviator Y. M. (in the act of bombing ovpsl
~ arrampamenlo
■5
■5 = *
T «j
Adrianopolis), seems at odds with its excessively B stelle argentate di
rumori ~ 5 shrapnels
- " >

Sf II
symmetrical and orderly appearance. Even the aeri¬ pozzanghera di 3
30 suoni roaal dinoc-
rumori spore hi o

al viewpoint does little to evoke a sense of the colati ciabatttte sonore = quadrivio 1
= echi di palle
drama of war or of the exhilarating simultaneity of
risacca sehiumosa
the aviator’s experience. As Marjorie Perloff has ob¬ di suoni liiiquidi ~ = + V
valle 2<X) m. pro- rc rt

served, “The variety of typefaces, the use of plus fonditA 2= altalena ro¬
__ E sea di suoni C

( + ) signs and phonic spelling, the heavy allitera¬ caecata dl Buonl o ^ languidi —
verdegglanti = 5 15 strada ondu-
3 O
tion and assonance cannot disguise the fact that valle 300 m. c lata vento
profondltA « p V 2 del nord
Marinetti’s parole in liberta are basically just e I _ 3
a-
lists.”72 Yet Zang Tumb Tumb did, in a few cases, parabola stanca 5! II
di suoni azzurri
reveal the direction parole in liberta would take be¬ = obice da 150
ginning in 1915, when Marinetti increasingly af¬ Nodo di
firmed the pictorial qualities of his poems. In the suoni ro-
ooosei e caldala nerastra di
page titled “Captive Turkish Balloon,” for example, di rumori
rumori andirivleni
dl un fuoooono

Marinetti created an image of a military balloon = qua- tromba stantuffo =

drivio mUSTAFA PA5CIA

through a circular arrangement of the words “Pal-
lone Frenato Turco” (fig. 122). The letters “TSF”
(telegraphie sans fils) emit “vibrations” that, the
 Collage Poems 211

poem tells us, have penetrated and scrambled

Turkish communications (represented by the bal¬
loon.) In his manifesto “Geometrical and Mechani¬
cal Splendor,” Marinetti drew attention to this
poem as an example of the tendency to “self-illus¬ 122. F. T. Marinetti, “Pallone Frenato Turco,” from Zang

tration” characteristic of parole in liberta. As the Tumb Tumb, 1914.

poet explained, “The words-in-freedom, in this con¬

imboscata di T. S. F, bulgarl
tinuous effort to express with the greatest force
vibbbrrrrrrrarrrrrre
and profundity, naturally transform themselves into arrrrrrruffarrre comunicazioni turche
self-illustrations, by means of free, expressive or¬ Sciukri Pascii - Costantinopoli
thography and typography, the synoptic tables of
lyric values and designed analogies.”73 s
T \
The traditional perspectival form of imitation, S
&
then, has been exchanged for the new concept of \
OVap
self-illustration based on the more “natural” aural altezza -n AT
400 m. NCy
and visual properties of words in freedom. Yet as ZD
John White has emphasized, the Futurist principles tyy t
of self-illustration and designed analogies were not
* p
always based on a simple iconic relationship be¬
tween signifier and signified.74 Often, as in “Captive
0v
CO
Turkish Balloon,” the pictorial disposition of the o
T 0
words suggests not a direct visual impression, but S
X
F
an ideogram—a sign, that is, whose visual qualities X
have been highly schematized. Other designed
TK'6
analogies prove even more conceptual in their
approach, often achieving nonvisual effects with %
visual patterns. An example can be found in Can- o
X
giullo’s use of the typographically stretched word
PI
“fumare” (fig. 123), which Marinetti described as
assalto contro Seyloglou mascherare assalto
evoking “the long and monotonous reveries and
self-expansion of the boredom-smoke of a long
train journey.”75 Obviously these typographic ma¬
nipulations depend on the reader’s ability to rec¬
ognize their meaning, and this may call for a
familiarity with types of representational systems
such as diagrams, maps, and the layout of contem¬
porary advertisements or posters. As White has ar¬
gued, iconicity here may be best defined as the
similarity that obtains between a specified set of
relations, rather than as a simple isomorphism be¬
tween the sign and the thing or concept signified.
Even with this proviso, however, it must be con¬
ceded that Marinetti’s innovations aimed at sub¬
verting the two primary characteristics of language
 Collage Poems 212

as set forth by contemporary linguistic theory: the

“arbitrary nature of the sign” and its “linear”
character.76
Marinetti’s initial resistance to the full pictorial
development of parole in liberta may be attributed
in part to his gifts as an orator. It was still possible
to read Zang Tumb Tumb, and Marinetti did so in a CANGITJUO.
series of notorious performances in cities through¬
FUMATORI.
out Europe during 1913 and 1914. Marinetti ampli¬
fied the well-known rhetorical power of his voice
by utilizing a full range of dramatic gestures and II.
PAROLE IN LIBERTA
mime. Performances were further enhanced by the
tagliare in 4 acompartimento-torta rettangolo
crashing sounds of drums and hammers (to imitate viaggiare cod loro case in testa sintesi

machine-gun fire) and by Marinetti’s frenetic draw¬ A vlaggiatori BAGAGLI

ing of diagrams and equations on the three black¬ frcovova bagagli

BAGAGLI noVOVH V
*

boards positioned about the stage. He intended his

poem to come alive, to be experienced as an as¬
sault on the astonished senses of his audiences. NOTTE
The thundering crescendos, onomatopoeic effects,
and visual pantomime would have been signaled by Inee-BLANCO spento
V IOLACkx bluastra bianca3tra centre
the typeface and disposition of the words on the I ricordo gamba cocotte-Moulin Rouge
luee-NOTTE , violaeeo di ealza . dense sul polpaecio
■ sbiadire sbiadire sbiadire verso
page. Yet, it must have been difficult to give “Cap¬ ^ i
(tibia fino al color-came nel centre os so tibia
n.

tive Turkish Balloon” an adequate reading, as luee-NOTTE di eeompartimento VIOLACea bluastra biancastra = luna awinazzafca
, . s veM vedove / __•
penombre di trem = , di vagom
Marinetti’s recourse to visual enhancements dem¬ > ragnateie '
[ rumore = scroseio pioggia 8CllSCll8Cll8CllSCb.SCllSCll8
onstrates. To the extent that Marinetti’s subsequent TRRNO 111
visione disastro CECCANO ptpeuumm CCTaacht
cccrriisct ptpuum bumpatatraach
free-word poems became increasingly pictorial in ' Ahiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
11 corpi nelle spalliere . incisi .

character, the nonlinear act of viewing displaced I ,

\ f gam.be nei sedili ' intnrsiati ’
nel CUBO I dado brodo Maggi

U in CALMA . DORMIRE
the act of reading. Ultimately, it seems, the Futurist
1 senza FRETTA LEGGERE

ideal of simultaneity demanded the demise of nar¬ ^I AASIA 1 (,U A RDARE dallo sportello

rative, although one might argue that the most

vetni VAPOROBO spurtelU
successful parole in liberta achieved their effect VELoqtA CAMPAGNA
CIELO
through a combination of verbal and visual modes
of address.
123. Francesco Cangiullo, first page of “Fumatori,” from
Despite Marinetti’s initial ambivalence, mimesis, Lacerba, 1 January 1914.
whether aural, gestural, or typographic, proved es¬
sential to parole in liberta insofar as this new po¬
etic technique strove to achieve an identity of form
and content.77 The Russian poet Benedikt Livshits
called attention to this fact and to the curious par¬
adox it engendered on the occasion of Marinetti’s
performance of Zang Tumb Tumb in St. Petersburg
in the winter of 1914: “What is the point of piling
up amorphous words, a conglomeration which you
call ‘words at liberty’? To eliminate the intermedi¬
ary role of reason by producing disorder, right?
 Collage Poems 213

However, there’s a large gulf between the typo¬ early works can be understood, therefore, as means
graphical composition of your Zang-Tum-Tumb of evoking an appropriate dramatic response from
[sic] and your recitation. ... Is it worth destroying the reader / performer. Yet Cangiullo’s free-word
the traditional sentence, even the way you do, in poems of 1914 were also meant to be viewed and
order to reinstate it, to restore its logical predicate suggest an interest in the pictorial possibilities of
by suggestive gestures, mime, intonation and on¬ typography for their own sake.
omatopoeia?”78 Although he boldly asserted the op¬ Indeed, Cangiullo’s “Fumatori,” published in Lac¬
posite, Marinetti clearly wished to communicate erba on 1 January 1914, seems to have set off a
with his audiences. If his dramatic readings re¬ veritable explosion of more visually expressive pa¬
stored what the destruction of syntax had elimi¬ role in liberta. Comparison with Marinetti’s “Ponte,”
nated, it was because in practice, if not in theory, printed in the same issue of Lacerba and later in¬
Marinetti still conceived of poetry as a form of nar¬ cluded in Zang Tumb Tumb, shows Cangiullo’s
rative. Indeed, he seems to have regarded parole in work to be far more inventive in using typography
liberta as a heightened mode of storytelling or and onomatopoeically stretched words to animate
journalistic reportage. His free-word poems con¬ the page. Cangiullo was perhaps the first free-word
tinue to have a plot that unfolds in time and leads poet to take full advantage of the large format of
toward the inevitable climax and its aftermath. And Lacerba's newspaperlike pages and to work with a
the story told is always that of victorious battle, full double-page spread in mind. Among his innova¬
over the sun, the earth’s gravity, or, most fre¬ tions were the distribution of the word “bagagli”

quently, a military enemy. (baggage) in such a way as to suggest a number of

suitcases of different sizes piled up against each
Lacerba and the Explosion of Parole in Liberta other and the amplified word “fumare” to evoke, as
Marinetti’s poetic innovations eventually inspired Marinetti explained, the monotonous dreams and
nearly all the Futurists, both poets and visual art¬ “self-expansion of the boredom-smoke” typical of
ists, to compose free-word poems and pictures. By long train journeys. In parallel fashion, Cangiullo
early 1914 the pages of Lacerba were transformed used the diminishing word “velocita” to suggest the
by the dynamic designs and typography of the new rapid disappearance of a train hurtling into the dis¬
poetic form. Indeed, some of these works, executed tance. One might argue that this is to reintroduce a
before Italy’s declaration of war in May of 1915, form of photographic perspective, but Marinetti
surpassed Marinetti’s in the imaginative use of vi¬ had no objection. Indeed, Cangiullo’s “fumare” and
sual design. related devices seem to have spurred Marinetti’s
Francesco Cangiullo’s tavole parolibere, which interest in developing the abstract possibilities of
he preferred to call tavole cangiuUiane, were onomatopoeia and of typographic deformation.
among the most inventive to be produced dur¬ Eventually Cangiullo found even the large for¬
ing the early period of Futurist experimentation. mat of Lacerba restrictive, and he began to work
Free-word poems such as “Fumatori” (Smokers) in brightly colored tempera, gouache, and ink on
(fig. 123) and “Serata in Onore di yvonne” (Evening large sheets of paper, much as an artist might. Pisa
in honor of Yvonne) of 1914 reveal a debt to Mari¬ of May 1914 (fig. 124) records the sensations and
netti in their recourse to lists of analogies, in their fragmentary conversations of passengers on a
use of mathematical symbols, and in the general train. The composition is organized as if it were a
diagrammatic character of their compositions. Like pane of glass: the word “vetro” (glass) slashes
Marinetti, Cangiullo was a masterful performer of across the sheet twice so that the letters converge
his own works and thoroughly enjoyed the oppor¬ toward a vanishing point at the right. Even the pa¬
tunity to scandalize his native Neapolitans. The on¬ per support is cut to evoke the forward trajectory
omatopoeic and typographic innovations of his of the train as it crosses the Arno (designated by
 Collage Poems 214

124. Francesco Cangiullo, Pisa, 1914, watercolor and

pencil on paper. Calmarini Collection, Milan.
 Collage Poems 215

the length of the projecting section), to arrive in the keys and was forced to enter through the tran¬
Florence in the silence of the early morning. “5.48 som on the second floor and open the door from
ARRIVO DIRETTO pisa,” “ssilenzio,” “alba,” and other the inside. The final entry and action of the keys is
snatches of conversation scattered about the sur¬ conveyed by the red and blue metallic paper col-
face of this work provide the appropriate clues, but laged to the center of the work. A line drawn diago¬
the reader / viewer must recreate the relationships nally to the right from this point of entry reads
between them. “aperto” (open). Balia enhanced the drama of this
The large-scale Great Crowd in the Piazza del episode through the dynamic use of vectors and
Popolo of 1914 (fig. 125), a work executed in water- curving lines, suggesting the flow of energy in all
color and ink, carries even further Cangiullo’s directions. With some humor, he directs the viewer
growing interest in the visual aspect of his work to “seguire circoli” (follow the dots), a dizzying
at the expense of readability. Vividly colored, task.
stretched, and deformed letters dominate the pale This “plastic” realization of noise grew out of
green surface of this tavola, creating a cacophany Balia’s earlier proto-Dada experiments in sound or¬
of jumbled sounds and slogans. Only disconnected chestration. In 1914, Balia had written an onomato¬
fragments, like the fragments of overheard speech poeic composition for twelve typewriters to be
in Apollinaire’s conversation poems, emerge: played simultaneously, each performer repeating
“a mia nonna” (to my grandmother), “cappelli a single sound for two continuous minutes. Other
vweeNTo” (hair wwwiiND), “FFFiiiiischia” (whistle), experiments included a “Sconcertazione di stato
“villano in casa tua” (a villain in your house), “pro- d’animo” (Disconcert of states of mind) (fig. 127),
fumato” (perfumed). The overall effect evokes the in which four differently dressed persons were to
totality of memories and sensations that bombard declaim simultaneously their states of mind, ex¬
the visitor to Rome’s teeming Piazza del Popolo, al¬ pressed by repeated sounds, numbers, and ges¬
though the “TUTTO VENTRE” (all belly) that slices tures. These noise compositions and the practice
diagonally across the composition suggests that of simultaneous reading manifest a subversive, an-
these sensations are now located in the digestive tirational attack on bourgeois sensibilities, similar
tract rather than in the brain. The absence of refer¬ in spirit to the poetry of Dadaists such as Tristan
ences to the war suggests that this work was exe¬ Tzara, Hugo Ball, and Richard Huelsenbeck.80
cuted before the political crises of the summer of During his Futurist phase, Ardengo Soffici also
1914; during that time Cangiullo became one of the experimented with various forms of parole in lib¬
most active proponents of Italian intervention. erta. More cautious and respectful of tradition
One of Cangiullo’s collaborators in the writing than some of the other Futurists, his work reflects
and performance of parole in liberta was the artist the influence of the Cubists and of his friend Apolli¬
Giacomo Balia. Like Cangiullo’s Great Crowd in the naire. Nonetheless, “A1 Buffet della Stazione”
Piazza del Popolo, Balia’s polychrome “wall-poem” (fig. 128), published in Lacerba in August 1914,
titled Rumoristica plastica baltrr of 1916-17 demonstrates an imaginative use of collage tech¬
(fig. 126) was conceived as a work to be viewed as niques and typographic design in creating free-
much as read. The onomatopoeic “plip,” “plap,” word pictures. In “A1 Buffet della Stazione,” Soffici
“plep,” “plut” and “tich,” “teth,” “tach,” “tech” cre¬ juxtaposed a cup of coffee with a spent cigarette
ate visual patterns out of pseudogrammatical pro¬ in the saucer with a fragment of a Futurist
gressions of sound and give this wall-poem a newspaper81 lying on a table, whose edge recedes
convincing sense of energetic movement. Although diagonally across the upper right. The words be¬
difficult to decipher, Rumoristica plastica baltrr neath this edge read, “The wood of the little diago¬
was inspired by an incident from Balia’s life. 11 Visit¬ nal table departing with the air and the railroad
ing a friend, the artist found himself unable to use tracks toward the primordial norths of the forgot-
 Collage Poems 216

125. Francesco Cangiullo, Great Crowd in the Piazza

del Popolo, 1914, watercolor and pencil on paper.
Private collection.
 Collage Poems 217

126. Giacomo Balia, Rumoristica plastica baltrr, 1916-

17, pasted papers and watercolor on board. Private
collection, Paris.
 Collage Poems 218

tfitirW- 1* tl'/t
/ 7^/

</ /
/»*w
, umt*'**- 80FFICI
i .
) AL BUFFET DELLA STAZIONE
•r
;£,/■/ > " '■*'’> ***•*'’<
C<*C*t tll« <'"< \<

•"•r rtrtr f,'.* /

A
ffJCc • *&*-//*&* /^///< y

• / ? . ^

; rise •*/*<+ f <*'*■ * y

;// •'*A ’•-< s a-'< •••• i^r

< <■•?,-<’> * /!>■■ y

tftr-tcK^ ai ,(t ui a<Vc‘"'

, - t ' , - J'{ /t - • let £

• • , /

*< nf'?*’-*- //■■* ”r ’■’•

f ri ’ ;'Zi *! *1^’' J ' l' lj , '\I lit, ..

127. Giacomo Balia, “Disconcert of States of Mind,”

1916, ink on paper. Calmarini Collection, Milan.

128. Ardengo Soffici, “Al Buffet della Stazione,” from

Lacerba, 1 August 1914.
 Collage Poems 219

ten mythical forests.” All the forms in this still life

are closed on the left and open on the right; thus
they parallel the movement of the table edge off
the page, suggesting the projection of objects into
the surrounding environment. Interestingly, Soffici
played on the ability of printed words to function
as the equivalent of pictorial openness or transpar¬
ency in comparison to a closed edge, just as Pi¬
casso had done in many of his collages of 1912 and Caur couronne et miroir

1913.
Like Marinetti, Soffici was interested in express¬
ing the simultaneity of a single moment of experi¬ Q
ence in terms of analogies. In Primi principi di una
L R u M R
M U ES 019 1 EU ENT
M ft
estetica futurista, he explained the Futurist con¬ P foim A TOuR
A
Renaissent au cceur des poeteS
cept that the subject of a work should be “a flux, a
weave of diffuse sensations”82 by providing the fol¬
lowing example: “The box of matches that is be¬
Dans

fore me is connected as an image, to one of my

IS Ml
thoughts about the world, a romantic memory, and
LBS ROIR

this is connected to the evening in the country that 60 NT JB

SUIS
I see from my window which is the direct comple¬ ME

COM EN

mentary of the black title Corriere della Sera.”S3 For NON

Guillaume CLOS

VI
Soffici, unlike Marinetti, an experienced moment in¬ ET Apollinaire
OES VANT
cluded memories as well as immediate sensations. AN ET

This may account for the sardonic nostalgia that LES VRAI

ME COM
infuses much of his work, as in the words that form
the saucer in “A1 Buffet della Stazione”: “shipwreck
in the irony of the cigarette butt in a drop of coffee
25 cents black tear of melancholy.” Elsewhere,
129. Guillaume Apollinaire, “Coeur Couronne et Miroir,”
however, Soffici exhibits a biting humor similar to
June 1914, published in Les Soirees de Paris, July-
that of Apollinaire.
August 1914.
In addition to the mixture of humor and ironic
melancholy, the figurative qualities of “A1 Buffet
della Stazione” suggest that this work was inspired
by Apollinaire. Twelve of his calligrammes had
been published in the July-August issue of Les Soi-
rdes de Paris (which appeared on 15 July). These
were arranged in four groups, each a still life
comprising two or more picture-poems. “Coeur
Couronne et Miroir” (fig. 129), for example, was
composed of three pictures—each drawn with
words that both reflect and give new meaning to
the image they embody. The mirror was formed of
a sentence that reads, “Dans ce miroir je suis en-
clos vivant et vrai comme on imagine les anges et
 Collage Poems 220

non comme sont les reflets” (In this mirror I am en¬

closed living and true as one imagines angels and
not like reflections). In the center appears the
name “Guillaume Apollinaire,” taking the place of
the expected image and rendering the poet’s pres¬
ence more fixed and eternal than would be possi¬
ble with mere reflections. The crown, shaped by
the sentence “Les Rois Qui Meurent / Tour a Tour /
Renaissent au Coeur des Pontes” (The kings who
SOFFICI
die / one by one / are reborn in the heart of
poets), enhances the allusion to a link between
yesterday’s kings and the poets of today, although
the word crown is not mentioned. Finally, the
heart, which reads “Mon Coeur pareil a une flamme
renversde” (My heart like a flame reversed), evokes
a lyrical analogy between heart and flame. By ask¬
ing us to recognize a flame in a drawing of a heart,
Apollinaire’s calligramme does more than endow
Hsimultaneitk e
verbal concepts with pictorial form in a self-reflex¬
ive manner. These calligrammes give rise to a new
and at times humorous interplay between word and
image, rather than establish a simple coherence of
form and verbal content.
In “A1 Buffet della Stazione” Soffici adopted
Apollinaire’s figurative use of words, which differed
considerably from the contemporary free-word pic¬
tures of Severini or Carra. Unlike their works,
which were frequently organized centrifugally to
Firenze Edizioni della “Voce
suggest explosive force, Soffici created a classically
unified still life out of his disparate elements, even
introducing an allusion to perspective in the dimin¬
ishing words beneath the table edge.84
In 1915 Soffici published an anthology of his
works, including parole in liberta and more con¬
ventional writings, titled BiF § ZF + 18 simultaneita
e chimismi lirici. The cover of this anthology, com¬
posed of a variety of brightly colored printed col¬
130. Ardengo Soffici, Cover of BiF § ZF + 18, 1915.
lage materials, was Soffici’s most original and
dynamic work to date (fig. 130). Its appearance ap¬
proximates that of a poster board with overlapping
pasted advertisements competing for visibility.
Whereas “A1 Buffet della Stazione” was notable for
its crisp clarity, each line and word subordinate to
its descriptive function, in BiF § ZF+ 18 Soffici be¬
gan to play with certain (calculated) effects of
 Collage Poems 221

chance. The fragment of a Futurist poem at the parolibere. His earliest works in this new genre,
lower left, for example, seems to have been se¬ published in Lacerba in January and February 1914,
lected precisely because it was printed off-register. follow the model provided by Marinetti; syntax is
Yet this element, like the bits of torn paper, has abolished and the verbal text becomes a field of ty¬
been carefully set into a structuring grid. Ulti¬ pographic and onomatopoeic deformation. Yet for
mately a sense of order and symmetry prevails, the most part, free-word poems such as “Immobi-
since the top and lower sections of this collage ex¬ lita + Ventre” (Immobility + Belly) and “Bilancio”
actly replicate each other. (Balance sheet), published on 1 January and 1 Feb¬
In one of the tavole published in this anthology, ruary 1914, respectively, in Lacerba, preserve the
Soffici explores the opposing compositional princi¬ conventional left-to-right reading pattern and the
ple: random disorder. Titled “Tipografia” (fig. 112), traditional squared layout of the page, even as they
this page celebrates the pictorial possibilities of adopt many features of the chart or diagram. By
printed letters and numbers through sheer multi¬ the summer of 1914, however, Carra began to orga¬
plicity and profusion. Many of these letters were nize his free-word pictures around a central ful¬
taken from the pages of La Voce, just as in “A1 Buf¬ crum, from which streams of words, onomatopoeic
fet della Stazione,” Soffici had included one of his sounds, and images radiate in all directions. Carra’s
own previous Futurist texts. Here, however, the circular “spoke and wheel” compositions were
jumbled letters, freed from the linear progression directly inspired by Apollinaire’s “Lettre-Ocean”
of the sentence, seem to take on new life. In Primi (fig. 116), published in Les Soirdes de Paris on
principi di una estetica futurista, Soffici had praised 15 June 1914. On 23 June 1914, Carra wrote to Sof¬
the typographic character of street signs, posters, fici that he had seen “the parole in liberta of
and modern spectacles, claiming that this could Apollinaire” and liked them, noting further that “I
make one conceive typography as an expressive immediately began the pictorial painting Poem
element in a work of art.85 Soffici considered the \Free-Word Painting—Patriotic Festival]—maybe it
abstract, mechanical quality of the alphabet to be a will be interesting.”87 Apollinaire’s influence can
degeneration from the ancient hieroglyphic nature also be observed in Carra’s collage-poem “Rap-
of the sign. Nonetheless, the pure letter had an porto di un Nottambulo Milanese” (fig. 131), dated
emotional value (“virtu emotiva”) that the artist July 1914, which reproduced the parallel wavy lines
might reclaim by liberating it from conventional that had appeared in “Lettre-Ocean” as well as the
usages: “Animated then with colors and lights, in words “ta gueule mon vieux.” It also included the
surprising combinations, set into motion in the famous “merde” from Apollinaire’s manifesto of
most lively spilling forth of our existence, its [the 1913, “L’antitradition futuriste.”88 In appropriating
letter’s] efficacy becomes even more evident. Effi¬ these fragments from Apollinaire’s works, Carra
cacy of suggestion and of the figurative comple¬ extended the principle of verbal collage already
ment. No longer a silent conventional sign, but a exemplified by “Lettre-Ocean” and the earlier
living form among living forms, the letter can be¬ poemes-conversation to his own production. In
come one with the subject of representation.”86 In “Lettre-Ocean,” which in many ways is itself in¬
his desire to restore life to printed letters, Soffici debted to Marinetti’s parole in liberta,89 the struc¬
revealed his distance from the Cubists, who tended tural center of the right side forms a physical and
to emphasize the arbitrary and cliched character of perceptual vantage point, which, we learn, is at the
verbal signs. top of the Eiffel Tower (“haute de 300 metres”).
The painter Carlo Carra also turned his attention From this ideal aerial location, the poet’s con¬
to visual poetry during this period, creating several sciousness becomes analogous to a telegraphic sta¬
of the most successful examples of Futurist tavole tion, simultaneously receiving and emitting signals.
 Collage Poems 222

The words Apollinaire used to describe the simul¬

taneity of spirit and letter in his poemes-conversa-
tion might also be applied to “Lettre-Ocean”: “It is
impossible to read them without immediately con¬
ceiving the simultaneity of that which they express,
conversation-poems where the poet at the center
of life registers in some way the surrounding
Rapporto di »«. NOTTAOBULO MiuNtye
lyricism.”90
Carra’s “Rapporto” conveys a similar sense of A

lyricism, although it is conceived in more charac¬ daavs tc Cofl- <1* ‘jcWl* $ * /Ay
w/,t /u E| j?////
teristically Futurist terms. For example, Carra ex¬ MY/ V"1
*
ploits the precision and brevity of mathematical _NK r ,
symbols, adding the people he has encountered in MUTAitom-f-i-Vhti ' U 1

0ill UvtSuHDfA ■}9 V 3 \. V <jr r

Milan's Galleria at 4:30 in the morning (two police¬ "doi t+. ...
■
v'v*A~:.'
.if. sa. Ay
men, eleven ruffians, three loan sharks, fifteen
prostitutes, and so on) for a total of forty-nine noc- 'J’Viry#/Y tv/ „
V' .. a . •*. _J£=*=3^S
tambulists. Snatches of overheard conversation
(“Signori si chiude”) compete with onomatopoeic \\ s
x. -• ~z f... .
effects, fragments of popular song, and a notation 3^ a4» I jt-
of the current temperature. Among these rather •-?/" r, - .N U c. ^
Lji.
conventional and mundane elements, Carra intro¬
❖ . ‘ V*- au- x* *0 Nl 1 *

duced a more sinister, political note. As Willard

T
& Vv -y
f.*-
I
?
-- st xv* V
Bohn has observed, the words “Serajevo” and “Cor- 'y
. . JA* ws .
rrriere della Seeeeraaaaa” refer to the newspaper v<« j. r ^ fin* fey
headlines about the assassination of the archduke
'StoVrt.'-a
Franz Ferdinand (28 June 1914).91 Moreover, the
names “Berchtold + di S. Giuliano” in the upper /
right suggest the ensuing controversy over Italian i VSPA6NA CAtMsX)£\ — € lA
intervention in the Balkans as well as Italy’s contin¬
ued alliance with Austria. (Count Leopold Berch¬
GALLERIA. , , ^ ..
lvv'^W f'l uv- =s--aa:::r:;.••• -?,^=(^^CoUtupiN£' , <?. m,
told, the Austro-Hungarian foreign minister, was a
C*/*■■-*-
strong advocate of militarism; his counterpart in
Italy, Marchese Antonino di San Giuliano, favored
maintaining Italy’s membership in the Triple Alli¬ 131. Carlo Carra, “Rapporto di un Nottambulo
ance. Added together, they spelled disaster for Ita¬ Milanese," July 1914, pasted papers and ink on graph
ly’s patriotic, anti-Austria, prowar position.) Once paper. Calmarini Collection, Milan.

the war had erupted, Carra’s interventionist views

would take center stage; here, however, the politi¬
cal controversy is simply another element in the
sensory environment. This emphasis on evoking
the totality of sense impressions, signaled by the
propensity to add them up, makes Carra’s “Rap¬
porto” an exemplary Futurist tauola parolibera.
 Collage Poems 223

Gino Severini’s “Danza Serpentina” (Serpentine expression, just as the use of small touches of pure
dance) (fig. 120), published in Lacerba on 1 July color had been in the artist’s Divisionist paintings.94
1914, exhibits a similar centralized, radiating struc¬ Obviously Severini was still thinking in terms of ex¬
ture and a similar interest in expressing the totality pressive contrasts.
of sensations received in the urban cafe or dance Severini at this time was more interested in the
hall. Characteristically, Severini has chosen to rep¬ American dancer Loie Fuller’s use of electricity to
resent dance as the archetype of contemporary dy¬ enhance the motion of her swirling veils with fan¬
namism. Colors, sounds, lights, smells, and heat tastic colored lights than by the Marinettian ideal
are all designated verbally and then set into motion of war. Indeed, “Danza Serpentina” may have been
through the centrifugally organized composition. inspired by the many posters advertising Loie
“Danza Serpentina” renders the synaesthetic expe¬ Fuller’s dances to be seen in Paris. Jules Ch£ret’s
rience visible as an exchange of energies; an ana¬ poster of 1897 for Fuller’s Folies-Berg£res perfor¬
logical synthesis of electrical light (“penetrazione mance of La Danse du Feu (fig. 132), for example,
luminosissima”), the hiss of a Mauser pistol shot displays a similarly radiant swirl of colored veils.
(“palla mauser sibilo lacerazione”), and a deluge of The names of Fuller’s dances may even have sug¬
fireworks (“pioggia di fuoco artificiale”) at the up¬ gested some of the analogies evoked in Severini’s
per left turning into sizzling sound (“.s7.s7-s.szz.szs”) many works on the theme of dance.
as it moves to the lower right. As in Carra’s “Rap- Like Carra, Severini made the center of his free-
porto,” a previously absent militaristic component word picture a maelstrom of circulating, interpene¬
makes its appearance here. In Severini’s earlier trating sensations. Only by positing such a dynamic
analogical equations, flowers, the sea, and dancing core could the Futurists conceptualize the psychic
girls had predominated. Now the “Palla Mauser” location from which the totality of sensations could
and “tatatatata” of machine-gun fire enter the pic¬ be perceived. This was the ideal point into which
torial / poetic field to intensify the swirling dyna¬ they wanted to project the spectator, who would
mism of the analogy “dancer = sea.” (Severini’s thereby overcome the traditional passive stance
original title for this free-word drawing was “Dan- of the viewer / reader and empathetically relive
seuse = Mer.”)92 Severini, a man of gentle, lyri¬ the work with Futurist immediacy. Interestingly,
cal sensibilities, was undoubtedly influenced by Severini acknowledged that these new poetic com¬
Marinetti to respond to the bellicose atmosphere of positions would be difficult to read: “The works of
Europe in the summer of 1914 by introducing such the new lyricism certainly cannot be read, but can
elements into his compositions. Yet the artist’s dis¬ we possibly read our canvases, and can the musi¬
cussion of the analogies created by such compari¬ cian read his symphony? Does one read the song of
sons remained curiously formal, concerned above birds?”95 Whereas Marinetti believed parole in
all with expressive techniques, for Severini did not liberta gave words the force of projectiles, for
fully share Marinetti’s political program. As Severini Severini the new lyricism still evoked the tradi¬
explained in a note intended to accompany the tional (peaceful) image of song.
publication of “Danza Serpentina,” “the sensation of Carra, who had been experimenting with centrif¬
luminous penetration of two electric reflectors—to ugally organized compositions independently of
which that of a hissing mauser bullet rending the Severini, was quite surprised to see “Danza Serpen¬
air is attached by analogy—is rendered by the con¬ tina” when it was published in Lacerba. He wrote
trast of two acute angles, which meet at their to Severini shortly after it appeared to express his
points.”93 In addition, the broken strokes used to interest in this new style: “I saw in the latest num¬
write the onomatopoeic “szszszszsz . . .” were in¬ ber of Lacerba [1 July 1914] one of your drawings,
tended to suggest a quantitative intensification of which from a certain point of view interested me
 Collage Poems 224

very much, because I too have recently made a

work, which I have called “Patriotic Festival—Picto¬
rial Poem” and that has many points of contact
with yours ... 2 days ago I brought it to a photog¬
rapher to have it photographed.”96 Carra’s “pictorial
poem,” given the slightly revised title Dipinto Paro-
libero—Festa Patriottica (Free-word painting—pa¬
triotic festival) at Marinetti’s instigation, was
published in Lacerba on 1 August 1914 (fig. 25).
Like Severini’s “Danza Serpentina,” it exemplifies
the Futurist attempt to “put the spectator in the
center of the picture.”97 But in order to accomplish
this, the spectator must adopt the vertiginous view¬
point and speed of an aviator. As Linda Landis has
argued, Carra’s Festa Patriottica reproduces the
whirling action of an airplane propeller98 spewing
forth a collage of sounds, slogans, fragments of pa¬
role in liberta, and even advertisements for tooth¬
paste and an antiheartburn pill, “tot.”

Most notable, however, are the handwritten slo¬

gans that circle around the center suggesting popu¬
lar political graffiti: “ewivaaa l’esercito” (Long live
the army), “EEWiiivaaa il REEEE”99 (Long live the
king), “abbassoooo (l’austria)” (Down with Aus¬
tria). The Irredentist goal of recovering Trieste
from the Austrian enemy is clearly stated in the
lower center, where Carra wrote “w Trieste italiana
milano” over the tricolor of the Italian flag. This
was a call for war with Austria, executed during the
tense months of June and July and published just
as the war erupted.
Although individual verbal fragments demand to
be read (and, significantly, to be read from left to
right and in clockwise fashion), the invention of the
circular composition represents an advance in
terms of achieving the Futurist goal of synaesthetic
simultaneity. The visual effect of the spoke and
wheel Structure imposes itself on the viewer and 132. Jules Ch£ret, La Danse du Feu, 1897, lithographic
poster.
dominates the disparate verbal elements. As sug¬
gested above, this compositional pattern corre¬
sponds to the parallel innovation presented by
Apollinaire’s “Lettre-Ocean,” in which the succes¬
sive verbal order of the po£me-conversation gives
way to the simultaneous visual order of the picture
 Collage Poems 225

poem. Apollinaire described this simultaneity as an example, believes that Marinetti’s tavole parolibere,
attempt to habituate “the eye to read in a single especially those in Les mots en hberfe futuristes,
glance the whole of the poem, like an orchestra “point already to a type of language in which signs,
conductor reads with a single glance the superim¬ linguistic or otherwise, are treated primarily as ob¬
posed notes of a musical score, as one sees in a jects, or in any case, postulated as such, prior to
single glance the plastic and printed elements of a any decodification as vehicles of semantic rational¬
poster.”100 The ideal, for Apollinaire and the Futur¬ ism.”101 Similarly, Luciano Caruso and Stelio M.
ists, was perceptual simultaneity—the poetic sign Martini have claimed that Futurist free-word pic¬
fully motivated and charged with the chaotic imme¬ tures constitute an “absolutely new conception of
diacy of life itself. Insofar as a Futurist tavola pa- writing”: “A writing therefore no longer regarded as
rolibera was successful in putting the spectator a means of the expressive-communicative function
in the center of the work, traditional perceptual of language, . . . but a writing finally concerned
boundaries would necessarily collapse, the viewer’s with liberation from every problem of the denota¬
ego dissolved into the work, and the work as sign tion of independently existing objects, liberation,
dissolved into pure energy. that is, from its typical platonism, finally an object
With Festa Patriottica the Futurist effort to syn¬ itself and the place of invention and imagination,
thesize the resources of poetry and the visual arts the last step on the road to the liberation of real¬
reached its apogee. Poets and artists continued to ity.”102 Yet to suggest that the Futurists were inter¬
experiment with collage techniques and with com¬ ested in liberating language from its communi¬
bining verbal and visual elements, but their works cative function in order to reveal its independent
rarely achieved the unity and sense of explosive status as object is to ignore their effort to motivate
power that characterizes Festa Patriottica. Like the poetic form precisely in order to regain contact
construction Noises of a Night Cafe (fig. 115), which with brute reality. For Marinetti and the Futurists,
Carra executed shortly afterward, this work seems linguistic and visual signs did not have meanings
to propel itself beyond the edges proposed by the prior to, or separable from, their visual or aural ap¬
rectangular format into the viewer’s space. In this it pearance. Indeed, the Futurist concept of expres¬
resembles the posterlike qualities of Severini’s sive self-illustration depends on the visible
“Danza Serpentina,” which also addresses the cohesion of form and meaning in the linguistic
viewer as if it were a poster or a flashing electric sign. Ideally, the sign was to efface itself in the con¬
light. Once the war had erupted, Carra, like the sciousness of the spectator / reader as it was trans¬
other Futurists, would turn his attention to creating formed into pure sensation. Ballerini, Caruso,
a visual language in keeping with the bellicose Martini, and others may have been led to discuss
spirit of the time. In those collages and free-word the objecthood of Marinetti’s poems because in
pictures, the power of forms and words to address 1915 the poet described Balia’s “plastic complexes”
the viewer in a direct and empathetically charged as self-sufficient objects, whose presence consti¬
manner would enhance the force of prowar, anti- tuted a victory over the nostalgic evocation of a
German political propaganda. lost or absent object in traditional representa¬
tions.103 Balia’s sculptural compositions, by com¬
Presence and Voice in Parole in Liberta parison, were completely nonreferential and
Critics have at times made the claim that in therefore constituted the abstract elements of a
granting primacy to the visual and spatial aspects new reality, like the reality of the onomatopoeic
of writing, Marinetti and the Futurists emphasized elements in Marinetti’s poetry. Marinetti himself
the objecthood of their works. Luigi Ballerini, for seems to have wanted to have it both ways: to
 Collage Poems 226

motivate poetic signs through the principle of self¬ and commercialized world. On the contrary, the
illustration and onomatopoeia and to claim that self was to be modeled upon and fully integrated
these signs were self-sufficient bits of reality and with that new, mechanically conceived world. This
therefore nonreferential. In either case, the goal in turn accounts for the Futurists’ frequent re¬
was to create an art of presence. course to collage techniques and use of mass-pro¬
Paradoxically, Marinetti’s notion of linguistic duced materials in communicating their immediate
presence or immediacy was not intended to affirm sensations. Apollinaire’s calligrammes, written just
the unified selfhood of the artist or spectator, and before and during the war, provide an interesting
in this respect his work is comparable to that of point of comparison. Whereas Marinetti had re¬
the Cubists insofar as their works also do not cele¬ jected a humanistic notion of the self in favor of
brate self-expression. Yet where Cubist collages re¬ anonymous, machinelike behavior, Apollinaire con¬
veal a self mediated by language or pictorial codes, tinued to grant primacy to personal lyrical expres¬
for Marinetti the self is absorbed and transformed sion. Marinetti’s parole in liberta celebrate violence
by the superior force of the machine. This self was and depersonalized cognition, an attitude designed
a changeable entity, always ready to take on dif¬ to facilitate a cold, bellicose attitude and to pro¬
ferent, although always heroic, roles. For example, mote a fascination with power in all its manifesta¬
the many simultaneous selves that dominate Mari¬ tions. In political terms, this accorded well with
netti’s free-word picture Premier Record of 1914 Italy’s rising nationalism and imperialist aspira¬
(fig. 133) are each identified with a powerful ma¬ tions. Apollinaire, on the other hand, gradually
chine or racehorse in the process of establishing a came to reject the use of machine-printed, ready¬
world record. Easily traversing space and time made collage elements in order to emphasize the
through the force of these vehicles, the self ex¬ lyrical qualities of his calligrammes. Poems such as
pands (“moi + moi + moi + moi”) yet remains “II Pleut” (fig. 118) and “Coeur couronne et miroir”
dispersed and, finally, impersonal. Marinetti em¬ (fig. 129) function as self-illustrations in Marinetti’s
phasizes this point by defining the self as a car¬ sense, but they also convey a sense of individual
buretor minus eight grains of sand but plus good sentiment and a concern with self-definition. Many
luck (“moi -8 grains de sable dans le carburateur of Apollinaire’s later calligrammes were handwrit¬
+ chance”). In 1916, Marinetti would write of the ten, thereby further enhancing their unique, per¬
need for the Futurist poet to become dehumanized sonal qualities.
and “disappear”: “In the new Futurist lyricism, an In contrast, Marinetti’s parole in liberta are born
expression of geometrical splendor, our literary / in the consciousness of the poet, but that con-
consumes and obliterates itself in the grand cosmic sciousnesss can no longer be distinguished from
vibration, so that the declaimer himself must also the machines that infiltrate and produce it: air¬
somehow disappear in the dynamic and synoptic planes, the telegraph, trains, telephones, machine
manifestation of words-in-freedom.”104 guns, and the printing press. These machines and
Moreover, in keeping with the times, Marinetti the language they emit increasingly displace the
called for a “warlike declamation” of parole in lib¬ poet’s voice as a lyrical expression of the self. Cor¬
erta. To achieve this effect, the poet must dress respondingly, the center of sensation itself shifts
anonymously, completely dehumanize his voice from the mind to take up lodging in the voracious
and face, and gesticulate geometrically, “in all ways entrails of the new man multiplied by the ma¬
imitating motors and their rhythms.”105 The Fu¬ chine, as Cangiullo’s “TUTTO VENTRE” indicates
turists, then, no longer conceived the self on the (fig. 125). This was a process, as Marinetti had ob¬
Romantic model of an ideal organic whole in oppo¬ served, already at work in the war.
sition to the increasingly mechanized, fragmented,
 Collage Poems 227

/w or

133. F. T. Marinetti, Premier Record, 1914, ink and

pasted papers on paper. Location unknown.
Chapter 8

Futurist Collage

and

Parole in Liberta

in the Service

of the War

La guerre actuelle est le plus beau poeme futuriste

jamais apparu.

—Marinetti, La Guerre el le futurisme

 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 229

In the Preface to Les mots en liberty futuristes, pub¬ What we need is not only direct collaboration in
lished in 1919, Marinetti praised the Futurists for the splendor of this conflagration, but also the
their successful efforts to provoke Italy to abandon plastic expression of the Futurist hour. I mean a
its alliance with Germany and Austria and to enter more ample expression that is not limited to a
the war on the side of France and England: “The small circle of experts, an expression so strong
Futurist movement practiced, first of all, an artistic and synthetic that it will hit the eye and imagina¬
action while indirectly influencing Italian political tion of all or almost all intelligent readers . . . Try
life with a propaganda of revolutionary, anti-cleri¬ to live the war pictorially, studying it in all its
cal patriotism, which was launched against the Tri¬ marvellous mechanical forms (military trains,
ple Alliance and which paved the way for our war fortifications, wounded men, ambulances, hospi¬
against Austria.”1 Even in 1909, however, in the tals, funeral processions etc.).4
“Founding and Manifesto of Futurism,” Marinetti Marinetti lost no time in carrying out his own
had proclaimed his belief in the “hygienic” value of prointerventionist program by organizing a series
war. The poet’s enthusiasm for violent conflict was of violent manifestations in Italian theaters,
further stimulated by his experiences as a war cor¬ squares, and universities (during several of these
respondent in both the Italo-Turkish War in Libya the flag of Austria was burned) and by launching
and in the First Balkan War in Turkey and contin¬ new prowar manifestos. These did not differ essen¬
ued unabated throughout World War I. This enthu¬ tially from those of the prewar period. In October
siasm tends to arouse both surprise and dismay of 1913, Marinetti had published the “Futurist Polit¬
today but was not unusual in Marinetti’s time. ical Program” in Lacerba in which he advocated
Apollinaire too occasionally wrote glowing, lyrical
The absolute sovereignty of Italy.—The word
accounts of the experience of being in a trench
italy must dominate over the word liberty.
with rockets exploding overhead,2 and Blaise Cen-
All liberties, except that of being cowardly, paci¬
drars extolled the virtues of the war even after he
fist, anti-Italian.
had lost an arm in battle.3 Certainly it is difficult for
A greater navy and a greater army; a populace
us now to understand this optimistic mixture of
proud of being Italian, for the War, only hygiene
youthful naivete and aggression. This perhaps was
of the world, and for the greatness of an Italy in¬
the last time in modern European history when one
tensely agricultural, industrial and commercial.
could still find such a positive view of war as a
Economic protection and patriotic education for
powerful unleashing of vital energies, as an exhila¬
the proletariat.
rating challenge for the romantic hero, and as the
A cynical, astute, and aggressive foreign pol¬
necessary (only) vehicle of rupture with the past.
icy.—Colonial expansion.—Free Trade.
Shortly after the long-awaited war erupted, Mari¬
Irredentism.—Pan-Italianism.—The primacy of
netti began to encourage the Futurists to make it
Italy... .5
the subject of compelling, synthetic new works. Fie
wrote to Severini in November of 1914 to advocate This political program, signed by Marinetti, Carra,
a plastic expression of the war that would be effec¬ Boccioni, and Russolo, is assertively nationalistic
tive in reaching the broadest possible public: and prowar, but as Soffici would later complain it
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 230

does not take sides. Written by Marinetti, it advo¬ 134), for example, Marinetti cut out several words
cates war as a means of achieving a powerful im¬ from his book Zang Tumb Tumb and superimposed
perialist state without addressing the issue of them on other paper fragments that suggest the
adversaries. These, however, were all too easily shape and trajectory of torpedoes.7 As early as
found after August 1914, despite an initial period of 1912, in his introduction to / poeti futuristi, Mari¬
Italian neutrality. In July of 1915, shortly after Italy netti had drawn an analogy between bombs and
abandoned her former allies and declared war on the Futurists’ poetry: “Their free verses are bombs,
Austria and Germany, Marinetti, Boccioni, Russolo, in fact, or better, torpedoes. The image can seem
Sironi, and others joined the Lombard Volunteer excessive only to myopic brains incapable of pro¬
Cyclist Battalion and were then transferred for ac¬ found intuition.”8 Only in 1915, however, with
tive service to the Alpine regiment. This period works such as “Bombardment,” did Marinetti give
spent in the Alps proved to be a source of poetic convincing form to this analogy. Here a more vital
inspiration for Marinetti, just as his experiences in interplay between visual and verbal elements be¬
Libya and Turkey had been. gins to replace the strings of juxtaposed words that
Marinetti responded to the war by creating a se¬ had dominated the earlier parole in liberta. Even
ries of poetic compositions best described as tav- the spattered glue and crudely cut paper contribute
ole parolibere (free-word pictures). Some of these to the sense that this work was created during a
were originally distributed in leaflet form and only moment of intense exhilaration, perhaps even while
later were republished in Les mots en liberty futur- Marinetti was still at the front.
istes. Whether owing to the example of Cangiullo An examination of one of the mock-ups for a tav-
and the other free-word poets or to the experience ola parolibera published in Les mots en liberty fu-
of the war, these works no longer suggest any am¬ turistes, “Vive la France”9 of early 1915 (fig. 135),
bivalence toward the full development of the visual casts light on the integral role played by collage
resources of dynamic typography or self-illustra¬ techniques in the development of Marinetti’s ma¬
tion that at times had characterized Marinetti’s pre¬ ture style. Here Marinetti juxtaposed the ubiquitous
vious parole in liberta. Many of these free-word “Zang Tumb Tumb” with lists of numbers (collage
pictures are now contained within the space of a elements), “liberated” letters, and crisscrossing
single page so that the viewer may take them in at curved lines. The letters and numbers, deprived of
a glance. Significantly, the use of collage, a compo¬ the useful function they once served, seem to float
sitional technique implied by Marinetti’s interest in mysteriously on the page. Their meaning can be
creating analogies between “distant, seemingly di¬ elucidated, however, by comparison with the first
verse and hostile things,”6 becomes a striking fea¬ published version of this work as a flyer dated 11
ture of the post-1914 work. Some of the mock-ups February 1915 and titled “Montagne + Vallate +
for these free-word pictures are composed of ele¬ Strade x Joffre” (fig. 136). The title reveals that in
ments appropriated from existing Futurist manifes¬ this work Marinetti exploited the hieroglyphic value
tos and parole in liberta, as if Marinetti wished to of individual letters: the M’s stand for mountains,
rework these earlier texts in accordance with his the V’s for valleys, the S-curves for the path
new ideas. In “Bombardment” of circa 1915 (fig. (strade) taken by General Joffre. The lists of num-
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 231

134. F. T. Marinetti, “Bombardment,” 1915, pasted

papers on paper. Private collection.

135. F. T. Marinetti, “Vive la France,” late 1914-February

1915, pasted paper and ink on paper. Collection,
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the Benjamin
and Frances Benenson Foundation.

„„uuuuUlU't|M
S'A-'/
.
V Vif
• '■? ,
Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 232

136. F. T. Marinetti, “Montagne + Vallate + Strade x

Joffre,” published as a pamphlet in February 1915,
republished in Les mots en liberty futuristes in 1919 with
the title "Apr&s la Marne, Joffre visita le front en auto.”
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 233

bers represent the soldiers he visited, for in 1919

Marinetti republished this tavola parolibera with
the new narrative title “After the Marne, Joffre Vis¬
ited the Front in an Automobile.”
Mathematical symbols ( x , + , = , - ) appear as
a means of intensifying the dynamic reenactment of
the journey. Marinetti considered the lyrical use of
numbers, born of the modern “love of precision
and essential brevity,” one of the most important vlrer vlrer vir vir vir virei vir + x x x X = spirale1-
o spirales * -p 629 = spirale pneumatique d’un coup dr
innovations of his new style.10 At times, there are volant (.oblique dur arrachj intestinal rose tres net; hourrah

subtle elements of humor in the disposition of hourrah 80 HP + + + X X4--P-P — + — -P-P —

-F x x X ahahahahahahahahah -f -p -f — -F — -F hourrah
these numerical elements. The “amplified” word
“bel x + x le,” for example, seems to refer to the f 4> t trillion de puanteurs 4-
r*si>! mce 8000 djjchirements d'nmmo
beauty of Joffre’s speeding automobile as it careens terrain
niaque -F obseuritg in tin it*
around a curve in the road. The use of mathemati¬ ■clause par une nupi.iwi^

de 6 chandelles
cal symbols, however, was also part of Marinetti’s
strategy to depersonalize descriptive accounts of
U
experience. Here, for example, it allowed Marinetti
to evoke the destructive effects of war in cold, im¬
137. F. T. Marinetti, “Dynamic Verbalization of the
personal, algebraic terms. In one of the mock-ups
Route,” 1914-15, corrected typeset for a section of
for the section labeled “Dynamic verbalization of
“Apres la Marne.” Private collection.
the route” (fig. 137), Marinetti adds the “resistance
terrain” (40 kilometers) to the “resistance air” (120
kilometers) to arrive at “1 trillion foul odors +
3000 torn ammoniacs + infinite obscurity lit by a 6
candle electric lamp.” This kind of heroic objectiv¬
ity, Marinetti implies, is a prerequisite for military
victory. Contemporary journalistic accounts, by
comparison, described the horrific conditions of
the war in order to elicit a sense of sympathy for
the dead and wounded soldiers from their readers.
Within this context, Marinetti’s detachment must
have appeared deliberately shocking and
sensationalist.
The existence of at least three mock-ups for indi¬
vidual sections of this tavola parolibera is also sig¬
nificant from a technical point of view. Once these
pages had been printed, Marinetti could cut them
into appropriate fragments so that they functioned
as the equivalent of ready-made collage elements.
This new means of composing visual poems
through the appropriation and redistribution of ma¬
chine-produced words and images accorded well
with Marinetti’s ideal of depersonalization.
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 234

The volatile, fragmentary appearance of “A Tu¬ While some of the free-word pictures in Les mots
multuous Assembly: Numerical Sensibility” (fig. 28), en liberty futuristes, including “After the Marne,” re¬
a work closely related to “Vive la France,” takes called the folded pages of war maps in contempo¬
Marinetti’s ideal of depersonalization to a further rary history and military books,12 others recalled
extreme. He composed “A Tumultuous Assembly” the folded pages of the many letters sent home
by gluing fragments of numbers, letters, and words, from the war. “In the Evening, Lying on Her Bed,
including a variety of typefaces, to the surface of She Reread the Letter from Her Artilleryman at the
his paper. Unlike “Vive la France” and “After the Front” (fig. 138), one of the most visually interest¬
Marne,” however, here no handwritten or hand- ing free-word pictures in the collection, reads as if
drawn elements appear. The juxtaposition of the it were composed while the artilleryman was en¬
date “1918” with the torpedolike forms, the small gaged in active duty.13 The author, of course, is
drummer (from a ready-made printer’s block), and Marinetti himself, as the words “Ho ricevuto it vos¬
the overlapping fragments of numbers (which con¬ tro libro mentre bombardavo il Monte C [?] F.T.M.”
vey a sense of the jostling of large crowds) sug¬ (I received your book while bombing Monte C [?]
gests that this free-word picture describes an F.T.M.) indicate. In keeping with the idea that this is
Italian celebration on the occasion of the victorious a letter from the front, we find the dynamic onoma¬
end of World War I. topoeic and typographic effects of words like
This work, along with “After the Marne” and “SCRABrrRrraaNNG” and “TRAC” suggesting artil¬
seven other parole in liberta, was published in 1919 lery fire, incongruously juxtaposed with polite,
in Les mots en liberte futuristes. Several of these pa¬ handwritten expressions such as, “grazie e auguri a
role in liberta, including “A Tumultuous Assembly,” lei e ai suoi arditiH compagni" (thank you and best
were printed on sheets of paper that had to be un¬ wishes to you and your daredevil companions). But
folded individually from the body of the book in or¬ this contrast serves to emphasize the heroism of
der to be viewed. This format gave Marinetti more the poet, just as the presence of the silhouetted re¬
space for the visual composition of his works, and cipient of the letter emphasizes the difference be¬
it also forced the viewer to participate more ac¬ tween the masculine world of action and the quiet
tively in the process of reading / viewing. No doubt feminine world at home. For Marinetti’s dynamic,
Marinetti considered the inclusion of these pages prowar ideal was defined in opposition to the senti¬
an attack on the passatista form of the book. In a mental, pacifist attitudes associated with women.
letter to Cangiullo, written in September 1914 while In a characteristic refusal of the lyrical expressions
in prison for instigating a prointervention riot in of the past, Marinetti addressed this female reader
Milan, Marinetti equated the square format of the as a Futurist comrade.
book with a prison cell: “Square books = cell / In “The Painter of Modern Life” (1863), Charles
Flattened ideas = butterflies between square Baudelaire suggested that the ideal modern artist
pages.”11 Opening and unfolding the pages of a (exemplified by Constantin Guys) would return
book meant setting ideas free, putting them into from a day of absorbing impressions in the urban
flight. landscape to engage in a kind of private duel with
the tools of his trade: pencil, brush, pen, water, and
Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 235

«-<Wi 111 •m

SCU Aft rrR r raaAfy<?

■immmm
wmmm

\
^;at/_|

v*r«lt

138. F. T. Marinetti, “In the Evening, Lying on Her Bed,

She Reread the Letter from Her Artilleryman at the
Front,” 1917, published in Les mots en liberty futuristes,
1919.
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 236

paper. Baudelaire described the artist in the pro¬ (not, that is, a specific external event), but “dy¬
cess of working as “hurried, vigorous, active, as namic sensation itself.”18 If onomatopoeia and typo¬
though he was afraid the images might escape him, graphic self-illustration replaced syntax in their
quarrelsome though alone, and driving himself re¬ poetic works, it was because the Futurists believed
lentlessly on.”15 According to this passage, the art¬ them to be techniques for motivating poetic
ist must struggle to transform the obsessive images expression. The conventions of Latin syntax were
that crowd his memory into drawings that will cap¬ clearly arbitrary, as were those of standardized ty¬
ture the vitality of his experiences. The tavole par- pography. By rejecting these mediated forms of
olibere Marinetti executed during the war convey a communication, Marinetti and the Futurists sought
similar picture of the overwrought, “intoxicated” to close the gap between the signifier and what it
artist / poet at work. But whereas Baudelaire’s art¬ signified, to breathe life into the static literary de¬
ist retires to the serenity of his room to distill the vices of the past. This implied a return to the very
essence from his memories of the day, Marinetti origins of language in immediate sensation, the
emphasizes the temporal congruence of experience poet must seize and scatter nouns “as they are
and the act of creation. The Futurist poet is not an born.”19 Expression here is understood on the
elegant, detached flaneur by day, an impassioned model of the primitive cry, which seems to appear
creator by night. For Marinetti, the ideal poet com¬ spontaneously, before the articulations and spac-
poses his free-word poems while in the thrall of the ings of syntax. Yet if the autonomous birth of iso¬
heightened moment, indeed, even while bombing lated nouns suggests a return to an archaic,
the enemy. (Flere Marinetti would seem to surpass Adamic conception of language as a piecemeal pro¬
even Apollinaire, who was known to compose his cess of naming, this birth also has a specifically
poems while promenading along the streets of modern mother in the machine. For in Marinetti’s
Paris or while conversing with friends in a cafe.) parole in liberta, the human cry has been made the
This focus on immediacy of expression, signaled by equivalent of the inarticulate blasts and sputterings
the absence of syntax and the use of infinitive of machine guns, whirring propellers, and bombs.
verbs, allowed Marinetti to resolve the traditional Despite this emphasis on the “naturally” expres¬
disjunction between the time of the story and the sive properties of sounds, Marinetti found it neces¬
time of its telling in favor of a new (mythical) sary at times to interpret his onomatopoeic effects
unity.16 The form his parole in liberta and tavole for his readers. In “Geometric and Mechanical
parolibere take, then, seem to mirror the chaotic Splendor” he explained that in the free-word poem
totality of the poet’s sensations, as yet unordered Zang Tumb Tumb, “tatatata” represented the fire of
by reflection or convention. Of course, Marinetti machine guns against the “Hoooraaaah” of the
was well aware that the poet “orchestrates” this ap¬ Turks.20 And in a page titled “Bombardement” from
pearance of chaos: “All order being necessarily a Zang Tumb Tumb, we find a veritable catalogue of
product of crafty intelligence, one must orchestrate Marinetti’s favorite onomatopoeic effects accompa¬
images, arranging them according to a maximum nied by identifying clues: “Zang tumb tumb” ex¬
of disorder.”'1 presses the sounds (and echoes) of exploding
This was the Futurists’ frequently stated aim, to cannons, “traak-traak” evokes the crack of a whip
render not a “fixed moment of universal dynamism”
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 237

or a slap, "pic-pac-poum-toum” suggests the sound In his letter of November 1914 to Severini, Marinetti
of air fire, and “croooc-craaac” conveys the slow had emphasized the need for Futurist works to “in¬
rumble of three marching Bulgarian battalions. cite” the viewer, stating that he did not see this as
Many of these noises became standardized in Mari¬ a “prostitution” of Futurist dynamism: “I don’t see
netti’s later works, although he was always inven¬ in this a prostitution of plastic dynamism, but be¬
tive in creating new sound effects as well. In tavole lieve that the great war, intensely lived by the Fu¬
parolibere such as "After the Marne” and “She Re¬ turist painters, can produce in their sensibility real
read the Letter from Her Artilleryman,” the familiar convulsions, pushing them toward a brutal simplifi¬
“Tumb Tumb,” “tatatatata,” and “traac craac” func¬ cation of the most clear lines, pushing them that is,
tion as ready-made elements, much like the other to strike and incite the reader, as it strikes and in¬
printed materials Marinetti used. Yet if the disorder cites the combatants.”22 Marinetti went on to pre¬
in these free-word pictures now seems consciously, dict that this focus on the war would lead to a new
even artfully arranged, and if the onomatopoeic ef¬ realism in Futurist works: “Probably there will be
fects seem mass-produced, this need not imply less abstract paintings or sketches, a little too real¬
they were experienced as conventional representa¬ istic and in a certain way, a kind of advanced post-
tions by Marinetti’s contemporaries. Indeed, an ac¬ impressionism.”23 This realism no doubt was neces¬
count of a performance of Zang Tumb Tumb by sary in order to reach the broadest possible public
Henry Nevinson, the well-known British war corre¬ and to establish a concrete sense of connection to
spondent, suggests the contrary: “Antiquity ex¬ the war. Collage answered this need, and it became
ploded. Tradition ceased to breathe. . . I have heard the central compositional technique of the Futur¬
many recitations and have tried to describe many ists who responded to Marinetti’s plea for a united
battles. But listen to Marinetti’s recitation of one of front at this time of crisis. For unlike the Cubists,
his battle scenes . . . the noise, the confusion, the the Futurists tended to regard collage elements and
surprise of death, the terror and courage, the onomatopoeia as bits of reality, rather than as cul¬
shouting, curses, blood and agony—all were re¬ turally constituted signs. During the course of 1914,
called by that amazing succession of words, per¬ a number of splits within the ranks of the Futurists
formed or enacted by the poet with such passion of had begun to appear as individual artists and poets
abandonment that no one could escape the spell of began to chafe under Marinetti’s leadership. None¬
listening.”21 theless, for a final, brief period Marinetti was
largely successful in producing a unified response
Futurist Collage and the War to the war and in sparking a renewed concern with
Among the Futurist artists, Marinetti’s unbridled easily identifiable subject matter. Frequently, a de¬
enthusiasm for the war was shared by Boccioni, sire to react to the most recent events of the day
Carra, Soffici, and Balia. The works these artists ex¬ led Boccioni, Carra, and Soffici to employ newspa¬
ecuted during late 1914 and 1915 were often de¬ per and other printed matter of a political nature
signed to function as efficient tools of propaganda, as pictorial or textual elements in collages. Balia’s
analogous in content to the violent interventionist interventionist works tended to be more abstract,
demonstrations then being staged by the Futurists. although he too used a variety of materials to im-
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 238

ply the construction of a new world upon the ruins intervention. Putting the viewer in the center of the
of the old. work in this case means propelling him out of his
One of the earliest Futurist efforts to dramatize armchair, where he could read the newspaper, and
the war through the use of collage can be seen in into the field of war.
Boccioni’s Charge of the Lancers of January 1915 The fact of victory, of course, has been predeter¬
(fig. 23). A small fragment of newspaper in the up¬ mined by the text, even though the French cavalry
per right corner bearing the title “Punti d’appoggio have been equipped only with anachronistic (but
tedeschi presi dai francesi” (German strategic chivalrous) lances. Boccioni depicted the combat¬
points taken by the French) both anchors the col¬ ants in ink and tempera on a ground littered with
lage formally and reveals its subject, a French vic¬ fragments of various kinds of paper and board, in¬
tory in the Oise Valley. This is a work intended to tended to suggest a dynamic interpenetration of
celebrate a moment of contemporary history, and forces. The lancers, however, do battle not only
the newspaper, with its date well in evidence with the ground but also with the small, dark, sil¬
(“4 gennaio”), contributes to the urgency and topi¬ houetted shapes of German artillerymen in the
cality of the depicted event.24 Another strip of text, lower left corner and along the left edge. Granted a
comprising several fragments pasted horizontally clearly subordinate, defensive position, and no cor¬
across the right edge, supplies further commen¬ poreal weight or substance, these artillerymen will
tary: the Austro-Germans and Russians have ar¬ clearly be crushed by the swift, penetrating attack
rived in France and Belgium, war has erupted. As in of the French. A small bit of newspaper near the
Severini’s nearly contemporary collage Still Life lower center of the collage, seemingly displaced
(fig. 106), the role of Italy, scandalously absent from the upper right, drifts along in the wake of
from these headlines, remains in question. their tumultuous advance, hinting at the destruc¬
The newspaper, which acts to frame the upper tion that will follow.
right corner, also serves as a pictorial ground for Boccioni’s Charge of the Lancers may be com¬
this collage. It is a ground that the charging cavalry pared to Carra’s Pursuit of late 1914 or early 1915
seem to pierce with their rushing forms and dra¬ (fig. 139) in the representation of dynamic move¬
matically poised lances. As the pictorial enactment ment. In Carra’s collage, a variety of pasted papers,
of a text, this collage can be compared to Marinet¬ in French, Italian, and English, vie for the specta¬
ti’s “She Reread the Letter from Her Artilleryman” tor’s attention. These fragments include references
(fig. 138); in both works the chaotic conflict of to French “music halls” and other “spectacles, ” as
forms and figures is a dynamic realization of a text well as to the publication of “The Car Illustrated,”
that must be experienced as fully present and alive calling to mind the languages and cultures of Italy’s
rather than as a stillborn progression of verbal intended allies. Within this chaotic jumble of refer¬
signs. In Boccioni’s collage, the lancers seem to ences, the stenciled letters “joffre” and “uuuuu”
burst through the newspaper into the (male) view¬ (for the French general and the sound of bursting
er’s space, as a means of signaling that he will be shells,) celebrate the early triumphs of the war.
forced to participate in the battle and ultimately to The colors of the Italian flag and the small star af¬
relinquish a position of neutrality for one of active fixed to the body of the galloping horse, silhouetted
Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 239

139. Carlo Carra, Pursuit, late 1914, pasted papers,

charcoal, and gouache on paper. Mattioli Collection
Milan.
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 240

aggressively in black, advocate Italy’s entry into the shape of a star so that the word “ici" (here)
battle. A small news clipping near the center of this emerges from the cropping. Two broken lines near
collage reads: . . ei Balcani . . . Italia e Rumania the center indicate the Marne, with the German
. . it alludes to Italy’s conflict with the Austro- forces, symbolized by the Iron Cross, ranged to the
Hungarian Empire over control of the Balkans, in right and the French forces ranged to the left. A dy¬
which Rumania was viewed as an ally. One of Italy’s namic “perspective plane” cuts through the compo¬
first goals in the war, this clipping seems to say, sition, dividing the enemies and giving rise to
will be the heroic pursuit of the Austrians and the several three-dimensional projections in the form
recovery of Italian territory. of a shaded cone at the left and two cubes and a
Despite this concentration of contemporary texts commalike form at the right. Landis has convinc¬
and symbols, Carra’s collage remains relatively ingly argued that these forms represent the three
static; the forms do not convincingly suggest an in¬ types of reconnaissance aircraft involved in the
terpenetration of dynamic forces, and the toylike battle at the Marne.26 The two cubes, connected by
horse, with a rider huddled inconspicuously over broken lines to the Iron Cross, identify the German
his back, whip held back in readiness, seems ar¬ Albatros B II, which was notable for its two-bay
rested in midair. Boccioni’s Charge of the Lancers wing structure. Directly beneath the Albatros, Carra
was more successful in conveying the drama of an drew a commalike form representing the similarly
equestrian charge by eliminating extraneous refer¬ shaped tail of the German Fokker monoplane. On
ences and by emphasizing the unified directional the French side, the white wedge shape, over which
force of the French cavalry as an abstract, synthe¬ Carra drew guy wires and inverted V-struts, alludes
sized shape. to the sharply tapered fuselage of the French Mor-
In several of the collages and parole in liberta re¬ ane monoplane. These simple geometrical forms
produced in a volume titled Guerrapittura of 1915, referred to the most visually memorable character¬
Carra strove to represent the war in a more innova¬ istics of each type of reconnaissance plane.
tive manner, employing both empathetically Interestingly, however, these forms also drama¬
charged abstract forms and pasted materials de¬ tize Carra’s theory, set forth in Guerrapittura and
signed to enhance a sense of realism. One of these elsewhere, that abstract forms, lines, and colors
collages, The Night of January 20, 19151 Dreamed can be associated with particular emotional and
This Picture (Joffre's Angle of Penetration on the physical qualities. For example, Carra attributed to
Marne against Two German Cubes) (fig. 27), pre¬ the acute angle or cone the power to achieve dy¬
sents an interesting synthesis of elements, at once namic penetration, while the cube and the right an¬
abstract and referential. As the title indicates, this gle symbolized stasis and neutrality: “The right
work celebrates General Joffre’s dramatic military angle, for example, serves to express austere calm¬
victory against the German army at the Marne ness and serenity, when the composition requires a
River, west of Paris. Linda Landis has shown that simple, non-passionate, neutral rhythm. With this
the flat, maplike background of this work describes same intent of neutrality, one uses, in other cases,
the specific site of the battle.25 The focal point is horizontal lines and pure verticals. . . . The acute
marked by a fragment of newspaper cut out in the angle, instead, is passionate and dynamic, ex-
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 241

SINTESI FUTURISTA DELLA GUERRA

OloriflcbUmo U Ou*rr», che per ool t la »ola iflanc ilnl mondo (!' Manl/tsle it! Pttluritnu) meotre per i Tednchi ripprMcau uni gram ipinclitfl da corvi a da lens.
La vacxhla cattedrall non c'/nlereiaano; ma ntfbUmo alia Oermanla medioavale, pUflsria. balorda e prlva di gcaio crealara U dlritlo (uturiala dl dlalrufjare opera
rf'arta. Quaalo dlritlo appartlane loll a mo ai Qanlo craatore luliaoa, capaca dl craara uoa nuora txilma pit (rande full* rovina della belleua aoiKia.

140. Carlo Carra, “Sintesi Futurista della Guerra,” from

Guerrapittura, 1915.

presses will and penetrating force.”27 Carra’s “Sin¬

tesi Futurista della Guerra” (fig. 140), also
reproduced in Guerrapittura, makes this interpreta¬
tion of the dynamism of acute angles visually ex¬
plicit. All the peoples associated with Futurismo are
contained within the arc of a projecting angle that
seems to force the Passat is ti, who are contained
within a circle (the Germans, Turks, and Austrians),
nearly off the page. The racial characteristics of
each people are enumerated within brackets; not
surprisingly, Italy is described as having “all the
strengths and weaknesses of genius,” while the Aus¬
trians turn out to be “stupid and filthy” and the
Turks to have no identifiable characteristics at all!
Severini held a similar view of the expressive
qualities of geometric forms, although he did not
focus on giving these forms distinct racial associa¬
tions. In a recently published essay intended to ac¬
company his free-word picture “Danza Serpentina”
of 1914 (fig. 120) he wrote, “The way to express the
intense realism of our emotions with new means of
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 242

lyrical synthesis was suggested to me by my free- natural meaning. By conflating the two levels of
word drawing in which I knowingly accorded acute meaning, casting the acute angles and cubes in
forms and angles with special words, and round double roles, Carra hoped to reach his audience
forms and oblique angles with others.”28 As Severini not rationally but empathetically, just as Boccioni
further explained, in “Danza Serpentina” he ren¬ had hoped to do in Charge of the Lancers. As a col¬
dered the sensation of luminous penetration by two lection of works on the theme of war, Guerrapittura
electric beams of light (“penetrazione luminosissima was meant to arouse hatred for the Germans at a
szszszsz”) through the contrast of two acute angles time when Italy was still technically a member of
which meet at their points. Similarly, Carra used the Triple Alliance and to provide a racial motive
the acute angle of the Morane monoplane to sug¬ for an alliance with France.
gest the penetrating force of the French in deliber¬ Carra enhanced the empathetic immediacy of the
ate contrast to the static forms of the German work by pasting and stenciling additional bits of
cubes. This formal vocabulary was intended to give symbolic reality to his surface. The canceled Italian
visible confirmation to his view that the Latin postage stamp, positioned next to the acute angle,
races, and especially the Italians, were naturally suggests that Italy is on the French side and can be
dynamic, while the Germans suffered from congeni¬ counted as an ally. The letters “silurare” (torpedo)
tal stodginess. In an essay in Guerrapittura titled and “ww” (victory) reveal Marinetti’s influence, as
“The Germans Begging for Love,” Carra set forth does the onomatopoeic “music” of the two pairs of
the terms of the innate hostility of the Italian and “grrrrriiiiilliiiiii” (crickets). This sound effect, which
Germanic peoples: may be an intuited analogue for screeching torpe¬

We are agile, multiformed, and you are hard, uni¬ does, contributes to the sensory fullness of the

form, grey. viewer’s experience of the battle. Carra’s collage

We are hot, passionate, and you are cold, further suggests that it is primarily the poeti (and

dispassionate. perhaps artists) who are contro the Germans and

You are for erudition, for the intellectual, pro- who will lead the way to an interventionist Italy.

fessordom and the academy, and we are for intu¬ Shortly after the outbreak of the war, Balia was

ition, rapid experiences, and we adore ignorance, persuaded by Marinetti to publish a Futurist mani¬

spirited ignorance that we judge an essential vir¬ festo advocating “antineutral” clothing.30 Like

tue and hygienic force of the brain. Carra, he cast his argument in racial terms, as a

We are sensibility rendered anatomy, and you sartorial conflict between Latin dynamism and Teu¬
are insensibility made brain. tonic “pedanticism.” In designing antineutral cloth¬

As you can see, we are dealing with a true re¬ ing, Balia stated that his goal was to create a

versal of values—and agreement will never be visible symbol of an aggressive, bellicose state of
possible.29 mind, which would prepare Italy to intervene in the
war: “We Futurists want to free our race from every
Thus, in Carra’s collage the battle at the Marne is
form of neutrality, from frightened and silent inde¬
enacted in terms which are at once historically
cision, from negating pessimism and from nostalgic
specific and charged with ahistorical, seemingly
romantic, mollifying inertia. We want to color Italy
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 243

with Futurist audacity and danger, and at long last, ical views confirms this analysis, although no sim¬
give the Italians aggressive and cheerful clothes.”31 ple equation between Futurism and Fascism can be
Like Carra, Balia sought the plastic equivalents of made. Unlike the Fascists of the postwar period,
an antineutral stance in the emotional force of spe¬ Marinetti was against traditional values and against
cific forms, colors, and lines. Departing from the the Catholic church; eventually his ideas proved
premise that “one thinks and one acts as one too idiosyncratic and subversive for Mussolini’s re¬
dresses,”32 Balia designed “aggressive,” “dynamic,” gime. But in political terms there was agreement
and “joyful” Futurist clothing. These qualities were on the need to make Italy a powerful, imperialist
signified through the use of streamlined, violent nation, and much of Marinetti’s interventionist pro¬
patterns and “muscular” colors (bright violets, paganda was directed toward this goal. Nationalism
reds, turquoises, greens, and so on). Furthermore, in this sense was defined as a collective affirmation
Balia proposed the introduction of luminous mate¬ of an expansive will to dominate. According to the
rials to encourage boldness and asymmetrical Futurists, this will to domination was a healthy sign
sleeve ends and coat fronts to symbolize a state of and could be ignored only at great peril to the ex¬
readyness for spirited “counterattacks.” Balia con¬ isting power structure. Carra summarized the alter¬
cluded his manifesto by declaring, “If the Govern¬ natives facing Italy in a warning to King Victor
ment does not discard its traditional clothes of fear Emmanuel III in Guerrapittura: “We shout today:—
and indecision, we shall double, we shall multiply War or Revolution! Hear this, you who should hear
by A hundred the red of the tricolor flag which we it.”36
wear. ”33 Wearing the red of the Italian flag certainly Ironically, several of the Futurists had, in their
had patriotic value, as Balia asserted, but there youth, participated in the anarchist and socialist
could not have been a more dangerous color to humanitarian movements that swept through Eu¬
wear on the battlefield. This emphasis on the sym¬ rope at the turn of the century. Severini recalled in
bolic rather than practical effect of forms and his memoirs that around 1900, he had briefly enter¬
colors, however, is symptomatic of Futurist inter¬ tained “revolutionary ideas” and that he had read
ventionist tactics. The war was regarded more as a and discussed with his friends the works of Marx,
glorious symbol of patriotic dynamism than in Engels, Bakunin, Tolstoy, Nietzsche, and others.37
terms of the grim reality of the trenches. His early interest in Seurat may have been stimu¬
In “The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism,” lated, in part, by his sympathy with the French art¬
Marinetti had proclaimed war the world’s only hy¬ ist’s social anarchism. Carra, perhaps the most
giene,34 thereby deliberately excluding revolution politically active of the Futurist artists, frequented
as a means of achieving political change or renewal anarchist circles during 1900 and 1901 while work¬
at a time of great social unrest in Europe. As Walter ing in Paris and London, and he later took part in
Benjamin has argued, Marinetti chose to celebrate anarchist manifestations in Italy as well.38 Balia had
war as an aesthetic phenomenon in order to mobi¬ also been profoundly influenced by the writings of
lize the technological forces of the modern epoch Tolstoy and by the Italian socialist humanitarians
without disturbing the prevailing class structure or Giovanni Cena and Cesare Lombroso. Early works
property relations.35 An analysis of Marinetti’s polit¬ such as Bankruptcy (1903) and The Worker’s Day
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 244

(1904) reflect his interest in the condition of work¬ part, considered himself a member of the intellec¬
ers and of the poor, without, however, succumbing tual elite and had always abhorred the socialists
to facile sentimentality or pathos. and the proletariat.41 In Primi Principi di una este-
Yet mixed with these humanitarian sentiments tica futurista, he was, with considerable imaginative
was a strong, patriotic attachment to Italy and her effort, able to take the view that socialism was sim¬
heritage that could not be forgotten despite the Fu¬ ply another way of representing the world, of con¬
turists' abjuration of tradition. Before the war, this structing a drama of opposing forces: “And thus,
patriotism was expressed primarily in terms of a now it became clear, how that capitalist and that
desire for artistic preeminence. Carra spoke for all proletarian were nothing but dramatic figures, and
the Futurists when he wrote to Soffici in 1913, their economic relations nothing but the poetic ele¬
ments of their contrast, a social contrast, all to¬
We must have faith and courage in ourselves, as
gether: a harmony imagined and posited as the law
artists and as Italians. To renounce nationalism
of that creation of a sui generis world, non-existent
means being subjugated by the nationalism of
in reality, but true in the infinite sphere of the
others.
Spirit.”42 Just as Marinetti had transformed war into
If we don’t work with audacity against the
French, believe me my friend, we will have to an aesthetic phenomenon, Soffici transformed class

bear their yoke for still some time. Futurism, struggle into a harmonious composition, a matter

born in us, wants Italy to have again a great of art. This led him ultimately to his belief in “tutto

art—wants foreigners, barbarians or emasculated arte,” or the aestheticization of all things.43 Seen in

as they are, from this time forward to look to It¬ these terms, political and social realities fade be¬

aly and no longer to France.39 fore the autonomy and spirituality of the aesthetic
sphere; for Soffici, like Mallarme, asserted that art
Indeed, all of the Futurists were keenly aware of the
should remain free of utilitarian and political con¬
fact that the artistic glory of Italy lay far in the past
cerns.44 But even Soffici did not always succeed in
and that their country remained largely oblivious of
neutralizing politics and returning to an imperturb¬
events transpiring in other European centers, espe¬
able ideal of classical order. If one reads between
cially Paris. As the war approached, their sense of
the lines of the simple, elegant drawing Bottle and
nationalism began to take precedence over all pre¬
Glass of 1915 (fig. 141), for example, one notes the
vious philosophical ideas and alliances. Only a
strident headlines of a page from the Corriere della
shared belief in the necessity to wrench Italy into
Sera of 21 April 1915: “Recentissime: Altura dei
the twentieth century through aggressive tactics
Carpazi tolta dai russi ai tedeschi. Attacco di in-
and a variety of publicity stunts could have united
sorti albanesi alia frontiera serba” (News flash: Car¬
men as different as Marinetti, Carra, Severini, Boc-
pathian Heights seized by the Russians from the
cioni, Balia, Soffici, and Papini. During the prewar
Germans. Attack of Albanese insurgents on the Ser¬
period, Carra rejected his prior sympathy for an¬
bian front.) By this time Soffici had joined Papini in
archism and denounced the pacificism of the so¬
advocating Italian intervention in the war in the
cialists.40 He thereby allied himself more closely
pages of Lacerba, which was now given over en¬
with Soffici and the circle of La Voce. Soffici, for his
tirely to political matters.45 For Soffici, the war
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 245

must be fought not for its own sake, but to pre¬

serve the values of peace and of Latin civilization.
The confrontation of classicizing forms and con¬
temporary political news in Bottle and Glass seems
to argue that it is order and rationality that Italy
must now defend in the war. These traditional val¬
ues, newly affirmed with the prospect of war with
Germany, contributed to Soffici’s rejection of Futur¬
ist aesthetics. Bottle and Glass is an early example
of the rappel a I’ordre among Italian artists.
Balia’s philosophy led him in an opposing direc¬
tion. He designed and created decorative, utilitar¬
ian objects intended to transform the everyday
world of a broad public. Like the other Futurists,
Balia was inspired briefly to participate in the fos¬
tering of an interventionist climate through the cre¬
ation of polemical, prowar works. These works,
however, reflect a utopian vision absent from the
more concrete, directly political works of Carra,
141. Ardengo Soffici, Bottle and Glass, spring 1915,
Severini, and Boccioni. Balia, more than the other
pasted paper and gouache on thick paper mounted on
Futurist artists, was concerned with the way the
canvas. Civico Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Palazzo
Reale, Milan. Photo Saporetti. world would look once the past had been de¬
stroyed. His manifesto, written with Fortunato
Depero in March 1915 and titled "Futurist Recon¬
struction of the Universe,” provides a glimpse of
Balia’s proposal for a new, colorful environment
filled with abstract, kinetic plastic constructions,
Futurist toys, an artificial landscape, and millions
of metal animals.

Reconstructing the Universe

Like the antineutral suit, the objects Balia con¬
ceived as the elements of his reconstructed uni¬
verse generally had a useful as well as symbolic
value. They were, for the most part, built of new,
industrial materials that lay claim to the tangible
space of the everyday, three-dimensional world in a
manner comparable to Tatlin’s contemporary coun-
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 246

terreliefs. As Balia and Depero explained in the “Fu¬ diverged sharply from that of Boccioni and Soffici.
turist Reconstruction of the Universe,” the three- Whereas they wished to spiritualize the real, Balia
dimensionality of Balia’s “plastic complexes” grew wished to materialize abstract forces in the process
directly out of his earlier research into the laws of of becoming. As he and Depero put it in “Futurist
velocity: "Balia began by studying the velocity of Reconstruction of the Universe”: “We will give skel¬
automobiles; this led him to discover its laws and eton and flesh to the invisible, the impalpable, the
essential linear-forces. After more than twenty imponderable and the imperceptible. We will find
paintings in the same research, he realized that the abstract equivalents for all the forms and elements
flat surface of the canvas did not permit him to of the universe, and then we will combine them ac¬
render in depth the dynamic volume of speed. Balia cording to the caprice of our inspiration, to shape
felt the need to build—using wire, pieces of card¬ plastic complexes which we will set in motion.”47
board, cloth and tissue-paper, etc.—the first dy¬ Nonetheless, like Boccioni, Balia attributed a spe¬
namic plastic construction.”46 cific “absolute motion” to particular material sub¬
The desire to build in three dimensions culmi¬ stances and believed materials should be employed
nated, initially, in a construction of iron wire, Line with a view to their inherent expressive qualities.
of Speed + Vortex (fig. 142). This work consists of For example, he claimed that the new construc¬
two dynamically interpenetrating “trajectories,” tions should be “extremely transparent—For the
one describing a convex curve, the other the rise speed and volatility of the plastic construction
and spiraling descent of a vortex. The pattern which must appear and disappear, light and im¬
traced by these lines in space anticipates Balia’s palpable.”48 Consequently he tended to use mate¬
free-word picture Rumoristica plastica baltrr of rials that reflect light or patterns created out of
1916-17 (fig. 126), in which the dynamic, spiral taut string. Moreover, through sheer diversity of
path of the artist intersects a staccato zigzag punc¬ materials—including wire, cotton, colored glass,
tuated with dots and sound effects. tissue paper, celluloid, metal screens, mirrors,
Line of Speed + Vortex is analogous in concept springs, levers, and mechanical, electrical, musical,
to the many colorful collages Balia executed during and noisemaking devices—Balia could build con¬
this period on the theme of an abstract line or path structions that would overcome the stasis of tradi¬
of velocity superimposed on (added to) a land¬ tional sculpture, not only through a collision of
scape. An example is Line of Velocity + Landscape different material substances, but also through the
(fig. 143) of 1915. In this context one should note production of literal movement and noise. This em¬
the series of collages Balia excuted in 1915, in phasis on literalism can be traced back to Balia’s
which swirling spirals and vectors made of semi¬ early verist style, typified by works like Bankruptcy,
transparent tissue paper suggest the dynamic ac¬ in which he attempted to approximate the apparent
tion of a patriotic demonstration (fig. 144). In these objectivity of photography. As Balia later explained
collages, Balia continued to explore his interest in with regard to the door depicted in Bankruptcy,
giving material form to those events and forces that ‘ Having arrived at this point of my art I thought,
seemed most impalpable and elusive. In this re¬ moreover, that I had only painted a simple door
spect, as in the positivist frame of mind in which and that it would have been much better for the
he conducted his research into motion, his work spectator to look at a real door rather than see it
Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 247

142. Giacomo Balia, Line of Speed + Vortex, 1915, iron

wire construction. Private collection.

143. Giacomo Balia, Line of Velocity + Landscape,

1915, pasted papers on paper. Private collection.
Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 248

144. Giacomo Balia, Dimostrazione patriottica, 1915,

pasted papers and gouache on paper. Calmarini
Collection, Milan.

reproduced on a canvas. All the more so because I

would not have been good at exactly reproducing
the real.”49
The plastic complexes Balia reproduced in the
“Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe” can be
seen as part of the artist’s continuing effort to work
with real objects and materials rather than to cre¬
ate images or reproductions of previously existing
objects. Whereas for Soffici artistic autonomy im¬
plied a refusal of utilitarian values, for Balia it im¬
plied that a work of art only resembled itself.50
Indeed, his plastic complexes are startling in their
emphasis on the concrete relations and physical
qualities of materials, far surpassing those of Boc-
cioni in this respect. Even Boccioni’s Horse +
Rider + Houses of 1914 (fig. 145), composed of a
variety of materials and containing some movable
parts, seems to belong to the tradition of naturalis¬
tic sculptural representation in comparison to
Balia’s abstract constructions. Only Tatlin’s coun-
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 249

145. Umberto Boccioni, Horse 4- Rider + Houses, 1914,

wood, cardboard, tin, copper, and oil, reconstructed.
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, (The Solomon R.
Guggenheim Foundation).

terreliefs reveal a similar anti-idealism and desire other element, suspended horizontally above the
to base the work of the future in the realm of mate¬ ground by wires on either end, may have been ca¬
rial construction. pable of rotating or making noise. Additional arc¬
Unfortunately, a detailed analysis of Balia’s plas¬ like and wedge-shaped elements also produce a
tic complexes is difficult because they have been sense of interpenetrating force-lines and dynami¬
lost and can be studied only in poor reproductions. cally projecting vectors. All of these materials were
Colored Plastic Complex of Noise + Dance + Joy affixed to a trapezoidal, reflective surface, so that
(fig. 146), the caption tells us, comprised mirrors, the play of light and shadow on the work must
tin foil, talcum powder, cardboard, and wire. From have significantly multiplied the dynamism and lu¬
the photograph it is impossible to determine minosity of the analogy noise + dance + joy.
whether the construction moved or made noise, al¬ Even more abstract in appearance was Colored
though most likely it did, given Balia’s stated in¬ Plastic Complex of Force-Lines (fig. 147), which also
tent. Certainly the appearance of this work was reproduced in the “Futurist Reconstruction of
suggests a dynamic contrast of materials and the Universe.” Flere Balia stretched a series of red
forces. The curved wire introduces the sensation of and yellow strings across the folded, wedgelike
swirling movement, evoking perhaps the arabesque planes of an irregular piece of cardboard. The
of Loie Fuller’s electrically illuminated colored strings create a pattern of intersecting force-lines
veils.51 This wire is attached to the mirror side of a against a background of light and dark planes bent
folded, projecting wedge, which in turn is set in space. Existing as an abstract, three-dimensional
against the curved plane of the background. An¬ object of unknown but possibly utopian function,
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 250

146. Giacomo Balia, Colored Plastic Complex of Noise

+ Dance + Joy, 1915, mirrors, tinfoil, talcum powder,
cardboard, wire. No longer extant.

147. Giacomo Balia, Colored Plastic Complex of Force-

Lines, 1915, cardboard and colored string. No longer
extant.
 Futurist Collage in the Service of the War 251

this work seems to anticipate some of the more el¬ and animation of the sensibility.”53 Perhaps more
egant constructions of Naum Gabo. In order to en¬ than any other works produced by the Futurists,
hance the autonomy and objecthood of the work, these plastic complexes evaded the prevailing con¬
Balia did not give it a base, thereby removing it ditions of museum art, while participating in a
from the purview of the museum. He regarded this proto-Dada spirit of provocation, willful nonsense,
work as entirely self-sufficient, as a new, fully pre¬ and seif-decomposition. Among the “necessary
sent object rather than as a nostalgic image of an means” Balia listed in the “Futurist Reconstruction
absent reality. Balia quoted Marinetti on this point of the Universe” were a series of decompositions,
in his manifesto: or ways in which plastic complexes might be al¬

Before us, art consisted of memory, anguished tered and made to appear and disappear.

re-evocation of the lost Object (happiness, love, Marinetti’s remarks, cited above, while calling for

landscape), and therefore nostalgia, immobility, an art of presence, implied the dissolution of the

pain, distance. With Futurism art has become ac¬ aura of traditional works of art. In “The Work of Art

tion-art, that is, energy of will, aggression, pos¬ in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Walter

session, penetration, joy, brutal reality in art Benjamin called attention to a change in contem¬

(e.g. onomatopoeia; e.g. noise-intoner = mo¬ porary modes of perception wrought by “the desire

tors), geometric splendor of forces, forward pro¬ of contefhporary masses to bring things ‘closer’

jection. Consequently art became Presence, the spatially and humanly.”54 Balia’s objects, which

new Object, the new reality created with the ab¬ were meant to be handled, set in motion, and

stract elements of the universe. The hands of the thereby energized, seem to reflect this desire. In

traditionalist artist ached for the lost Object; our this sense they are not autonomous—for they de¬
pend on human interaction—and were intended to
hands suffered agonies for a new object to cre¬
have an ephemeral life.
ate. That is why the new object (plastic complex)
In spite of the violence and destruction of the
appears miraculously in yours.52
ongoing war, Balia proceeded to develop a whole
According to this interpretation of Balia’s plastic
range of colorful, decorative objects destined ulti¬
complexes, the new object was to be an original
mately for use in a happier world. He chose to sur¬
creation, not a reinterpretation or deformation of
round himself with lighthearted, simple things that
an existing reality. The artist would thereby defied contemporary bourgeois taste, but to which
triumph over nature, over distance, over loss, over one might still apply the term beautiful. With these
absence as the necessary condition of representa¬ brightly painted objects—tables, chairs, modular
tion, bringing all things into the realm of pure pres¬ furniture, letter holders, coat hangers, eggcups,
ence. But Balia’s works suggest a more complex umbrella stands—Balia set out to reconstruct the
interaction with the existing world than the mere universe according to his own joyful vision. In its
refusal to resemble it. They remain open to change, union of utopianism and utility, this vision antici¬
inviting playful participation on the part of the pated the constructive efforts of the twenties and
viewer. His objects resemble the Futurist toys an¬ thirties.
nounced in the manifesto, whose goal was to effect
spontaneous laughter and “the infinite stretching
Chapter 9

Collage

and the

Modernist

Tradition
 Collage and the Modernist Tradition 253

The invention of collage in 1912 coincided with a itself. As Thomas Crow and others have pointed
growing awareness of the role that the machine out, for the Symbolists and their heirs the purity of
and mechanical reproduction had begun to play in modernist art was defined in explicit opposition to
all areas of life, especially in the visual arts. As the debased forms of mass-produced, popular
Walter Benjamin observed in "The Work of Art in culture.1
the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” prior to the Parallel with these developments, one can note a
changes wrought by the revolution in lithography vast rise in the number of individuals professing to
and photography during the course of the nine¬ be artists and devoting their newfound leisure to
teenth century, the authenticity of works of art was painting and drawing. Record numbers of artists
guaranteed by their unique physical existence and began to submit works to the annual Salon des In¬
by the cult practice that granted them what Benja¬ dependants in the early years of the twentieth cen¬
min called aura. Around 1900, however, the ease tury, a sign that the stigma of having been refused
and efficiency of technical reproduction had begun entry to the official salons had been transformed
to threaten even the aura of original works of art. into a mark of distinction or originality. Yet critics
Their singular presence and connection to tradition observing trends at this time were quick to point
were diminished by the sheer multiplicity of cop¬ out that it was becoming more difficult to make
ies, which could be placed and viewed in a variety shocking works of art after the recent succession of
of previously unforeseen situations. Severed from avant-garde movements. The pace with which
tradition and cult practices, original works of art avant-garde styles were being absorbed, moreover,
now took on a new status as objects to be exhib¬ had quickened. In 1912 Andre Salmon described
ited and, of course, bought and sold. Moreover, not the situation that prevailed when the Fauves first
only were works of art shown to be subject to mar¬ gained attention: “The Pointillists were no longer
ket conditions like other commodities, but new scandalous; the Salon des Artistes Frangais was be¬
works were now designed specifically for reproduc¬ coming the refuge of an Impressionism tolerated by
tion, so that for these works at least, questions of the moderates as an inoffensive radicalism; Bon¬
authenticity became increasingly irrelevant. nard and Vuillard could only shock certain ama¬
This situation gave rise to the phenomenon now teurs from the suburbs, while the others, old
known as kitsch. Yet even in the nineteenth century readers of the Revue Blanche, found their intel¬
art of this kind was recognized as posing a serious lectual ‘paintings of the countryside’ infinitely
threat to the continued existence of authentic art. charming. Things were generally peaceful; one
Just as Mallarme denounced the infiltration of jour¬ industrialized Cezanne and Gauguin. . . . Had the
nalistic style into the domain of literature proper, revolutionaries become bourgeois?”2
many nineteenth-century artists rejected the slick, For Picasso in 1912, this industrialization of Ce-
“photographic” realism, preoccupation with extra- zannes and Gauguins must have seemed to cast
artistic, literary themes, and sentimentality of offi¬ doubt on the prevailing styles of authenticity,
cial salon painting. In order to reaffirm the authen¬ which demanded sincerity and an unmediated,
ticity of painting, it became increasingly necessary spontaneous response to nature but produced so
to emphasize unreproducible formal qualities, and many paintings that looked alike. Metzinger re¬
this led to a concern with the purity of the medium ported in 1910 that the Cubists—he could only
 Collage and the Modernist Tradition 254

have meant Picasso—“condemned the absurdity of Within the development of Cubism, the notion
the theoreticians of ‘emotion.’”3 If emotion could that works of art are constituted by the manipula¬
be produced and reproduced at will, if spontaneous tion of iterable signs rather than from original,
brushwork and naive gaucherie could be manufac¬ unique gestures culminated in collage, a composi¬
tured by the most intellectual and sophisticated tional technique that calls attention to the diverse
artists, then clearly the signs of originality were origins of the disparate elements affixed to a par¬
just that: signs. Raynal described Picasso’s re¬ ticular surface. In a recent essay, Marjorie Perloff
sponse to the expressive deformations of the described collage as a means of transferring “refer¬
Fauves and of the many followers of the Impres¬ ence from the impersonal to the personal domain.”6
sionists in just these terms: “Picasso, his eyes in¬ Yet within the context of early twentieth-century
flamed by the crude deformations that had become painting, to substitute ready-made elements for the
more and more unbearable, for after all, if there are indexical traces of the hand, as Picasso did in his
indeed to be deformations, not everyone is capable first series of collages, is to demonstrate the imper¬
of them, Picasso, 1 say, soon saw in them only labo¬ sonal, conventional aspects of personal expression.
rious improvisations, far too willful brutalities, Moreover, because these elements were drawn
painful labors seemingly painted from the imagina¬ from the familiar realm of mass-culture, they pro¬
tion, to the point where these endeavours became voke a reevaluation of the attempt to found the au¬
tiring, and we were not afraid to say it, even in the thenticity of painting on its difference from popular
responsible work of Cezanne.”4 Originality, then, cultural artifacts.
could only be sought elsewhere, in the imaginative Picasso’s collages point to the fact that insofar as
reordering of signs, in the gestures of the mind a work of art is conceived as representational, it
rather than in those of the hand. depends on the prior existence of a system of
Later in life, Picasso was to speak disparagingly signs. Repetition is therefore a constituent factor in
of the works he had executed before his Iberian visual representation, just as it is in more ob¬
and African periods: “Tout cela, c’est du senti¬ viously coded systems such as writing. But to rec¬
ment.”5 The masklike visages he began to insert ognize that the signifying elements of painting or
into his paintings as early as 1906 and 1907 with no sculpture are iterable is to discover a repressed
concern for the overall coherence and unity of link to the products of mass culture. Picasso made
style reveal a desire to challenge the immediate this link explicit by introducing fragments of mass
identification of the personality of the artist with a culture into the ostensibly pure and autonomous
particular style. With the invention of collage, realms of painting and sculpture, thereby subvert¬
Picasso would continue to subvert expectations of ing the very founding premises of modernism.
stylistic unity and to make style a property that In an essay of 1961, Clement Greenberg proposed
might be appropriated and satirized. In this re¬ this definition of modernism. “The essence of mod¬
spect, Picasso’s Cubism proves to be far more ernism lies, as I see it, in the use of the characteris¬
ironic and subversive than that of Braque or Gris, tic methods of a discipline to criticize the
although they shared in the spirit of humor that discipline itself, not in order to subvert it, but in
pervades the works of 1912 to 1914. order to entrench it more firmly in its area of com¬
petence.”' Picasso, for Greenberg, was one of the
 Collage and the Modernist Tradition 255

major exponents of this critical enterprise. In an reasoning should be observed. Having begun by as¬
essay of 1958, “The Pasted-Paper Revolution” (re¬ serting the a priori fact of painting’s flatness,
vised and reprinted in 1959 as “Collage”), Green¬ Greenberg ends by showing that flatness must be
berg had described collage as a technique designed depicted, and that Cubist collages construct flat¬
to affirm the flatness of the medium of painting.8 ness out of opposing elements which prove to be
This was of crucial importance for Greenberg be¬ interchangeable: “Flatness may now monopolize
cause he believed that each medium must empha¬ everything, but it is a flatness become so ambigu¬
size those qualities which pertained to it alone, and ous and expanded as to turn into illusion itself—at
flatness served to distinguish painting from sculp¬ least an optical if not, properly speaking, a pictorial
ture. Indeed, it was a concern with the “fact” of illusion. Depicted, Cubist flatness is now almost
painting’s flatness and the inevitable conflict this completely assimilated to the literal, undepicted
presupposed with the representation of depth that kind, but at the same time it reacts upon and
provided modernist art with its raison d’etre. Writ¬ largely transforms the undepicted kind—and it
ing of early Cubism, in which individual planes does so, moreover, without depriving the latter of
seemed to fluctuate between a position in illusory its literalness; rather, it underpins and reinforces
depth and one that adhered to the flat picture that literalness, re-creates it.”11
plane, Greenberg stated, “Painting had to spell out, If flatness must be “depicted” and “re-created,”
rather than pretend to deny, the physical fact that however, it is no longer one of the given properties
it was flat, even though at the same time it had to of a medium. The immediate perceptible presence
overcome this proclaimed flatness as an aesthetic of flatness itself turns out to be founded on illu¬
fact and continue to report nature.”9 Given this im¬ sion. Thus in the end, Greenberg’s sophisticated
perative, it is no surprise that Greenberg then in¬ formal analyses undermine his initial premises, al¬
terpreted the invention of papier colle as a means though he does not acknowledge this.
of further asserting—in the most literal way—the Paradoxically, Picasso and Braque seem to have
flatness of the picture plane. The pieces of paper followed a line of reasoning similar to that of
glued to the picture surface cast the other, more Greenberg, although they were bolder in pursuing
unstable and fluctuating aspects of painting or its consequences. Cubist paintings of 1910 to 1912
drawing into a semblance of depth behind that do exhibit a play of contradictory clues regarding
plane and, at times, of relief before it. Ultimately in the position of any single plane in relation to the
this system of constantly shifting relations between surface on which it is depicted. By 1912, however,
surface and depth, an oppositional structure the realization that flatness must be depicted or
emerges to which even the collage elements are signified meant that it could no longer be consid¬
subject: “Thus every part and plane of the picture ered an a priori constituent of painting, and the
keeps changing place in relative depth with every distinction between painting and sculpture thereby
other part and plane; and it is as if the only stable came to seem arbitrary. Curiously, Greenberg
relation left among the different parts of the picture noted that Picasso’s constructions, made by folding
is the ambivalent and ambiguous one that each has “pictorial” planes of paper in space, founded a new
with the surface.”10 genre of sculpture in which “there clung only the
Here a curious paradox in Greenberg’s line of vestige of a picture plane. The affixed elements of
 Collage and the Modernist Tradition 256

collage were extruded, as it were, and cut off from notion that these media constituted eternal forms
the literal pictorial surface to form a bas-relief.”12 of expression devoted to the revelation of truth,
There was little further commentary on this devel¬ whether of the object represented or of the work of
opment except to say that “though construction- art as object. Everywhere that the modernist tradi¬
sculpture was freed long ago from strict bas-relief tion sought a sense of necessity or certainty, the
frontality, it has continued to be marked by its pic¬ Cubists substituted the ambiguous fragment, the
torial origins.”12 Clearly Greenberg was reluctant to formal paradox, the opposition of conflicting signs.
acknowledge that in Picasso’s constructions the The homogeneous, unified field of representation
formal distinctions between painting and sculpture was thereby ruptured and opened to a different
have been undermined. His emphasis on flatness process of cultural exchange, one in which the
had been intended, after all, to preclude such an signs of the fine arts and those of popular culture
erosion of limits. The innovations of Cubism, and proved to be of equal value.
of Picasso’s Cubism especially, must be claimed for In taking up the practice of collage, the Futurists
modernism, and Greenberg’s criticism provided a were inspired by a similar desire to subvert exist¬
framework in which this could be accomplished. ing categories and to create open sites where a
Contemporary criticism, drawing many of its in¬ variety of verbal and visual elements might be
sights from postmodernist theories of representa¬ brought together. Whereas the Cubists emphasized
tion, has been much more alert to the subversive paradox and uncertainty, however, the Futurists
rather than affirmative function of collage. Rosalind sought to create synthetic forms and a new percep¬
Krauss, as noted earlier, interprets the invention of tual unity. Their goal was to convey their sensa¬
collage as an effort to render the immediate pres¬ tions with the greatest possible immediacy. If
ence of the ground problematic by masking it and verbal texts were included in their collages, it was
rendering it absent to vision.14 The pasted element, not in order to suggest that the signs of the visual
a flat, bounded plane, then functions to represent arts were ultimately as conventional as those of
the delimited flatness of the ground itself in the writing. On the contrary, they advocated the use of
form of a depiction. Rather than suggest a formal onomatopoeia and expressive typography in order
coherence of figure and ground, then, Cubist col¬ to overcome the arbitrariness of writing. The inno¬
lage planes emphasize the difference between two vations of parole in liberta were conceived as a
structurally similar representational fields. The means of motivating language, of giving it greater
constant oscillation of figure and ground in Cubist empathetic force by achieving a greater coherence
collage reveals a refusal to determine or fix this of form and content. Early critics such as Kahn-
relation, which is the basis of classical weiler called attention to the conventional aspects
representation. of Cubist form, comparing it to the forms of writ¬
Picasso and Braque, however, were not inspired ing. Marinetti, in contrast, conceived his poetry as
to “use a little dust against our horrible canvas”15 approximating the immediacy of voice and when¬
merely in order to undermine it as a ground or ori¬ ever possible emphasized the attendant performa¬
gin. Their attack on modernist purity and auton¬ tive aspects of dramatic delivery and gesture.
omy was the result of a broader challenge to the Ideally, the spectator would be projected into the
mythical aura of painting and sculpture and to the center of the work, where he or she would relive
 Collage and the Modernist Tradition 257

the artist’s own experience, thereby dissolving per¬ recover a childlike naivete and spontaneity in the
ceived boundaries between the self and the world expression of sensations, then the Futurists take
of matter. Like the ephemeral signs of voice, the their rightful place within it. But if modernism is
physical qualities of Futurist works of art were in¬ defined as an effort to preserve the purity and
tended to disappear in the heightened moment of autonomy of the medium, then the collages of the
experience. Futurists, like those of the Cubists, must be inter¬
Despite this emphasis on immediacy, the Futur¬ preted as posing a critique of its premises. In the
ists devoted considerable time to studying the em- development of both Cubism and Futurism, the in¬
pathetic effects of forms, colors, and materials in vention and elaboration of collage marks the deci¬
order to discover universal laws of expression. As sive moment of rupture with the past, when the
the laws regulating these formal and material prop¬ autonomy of painting gave way to a vast array of
erties were eventually codified and described in new signifying practices. More important than the
various manifestos, they took on the character of relation to past, then, is the relation to the future.
conventional signs to which specific meanings The years that followed the invention of collage
might be attributed; we know that an acute angle witnessed one of the most astonishing revolutions
denotes dynamism, just as we know that “Zang in the history of art. Artists as different as Marcel
Tumb Tumb” refers to the sound of exploding can¬ Duchamp, Vladimir Tatlin, Jean Arp, John Heart-
nons. There is therefore a recurring tension in their field, Kurt Schwitters, Hannah Hoch, Max Ernst,
production, between the desire for an absolute ori¬ Joseph Cornell, Louise Nevelson, Jasper Johns,
gin in immediately perceived sensations, conveyed Robert Rauschenberg, Betye Saar, Barbara Kruger,
through spontaneous gestures, and an equally and Mary Kelly have made collage, photomontage,
strong desire to formulate laws and to base their and assemblage an integral part of their art-making
work on a language of established signs. The syn¬ process. The coexistence of images, words, and ob¬
tax banished by Marinetti’s invention of parole in jects is now a familiar feature of twentieth-century
liberta thereby returns in the guise of universal art—one we sometimes take for granted. But the
laws of poetic and visual expression. freedom to mix materials and media to emphasize
A similar tension can be found in the Futurists’ abrupt juxtapositions and discontinuities, to give
relation to the past. Tradition is denounced at works of art an ephemeral life, to explore the pos¬
every opportunity, but at the same time the Futur¬ sibilities of kineticism and viewer interaction, and
ists took care to rewrite the history of art so that to invent new media stems from the initial innova¬
their own work appears as the dialectical culmina¬ tions of the Cubists and Futurists. In retrospect we
tion of an avant-garde tradition stemming from can see that the invention of collage, scarcely
French Impressionism, and including the Symbol¬ noted in the critical literature of its time, founded
ists, Fauves, and Cubists.16 In spite of the evident an alternative to the modernist tradition in twen¬
nationalistic and cultural biases of constructing tieth-century art. This alternative tradition contin¬
such a lineage, there is some justice in the Futur¬ ues to challenge the values and premises of
ists’ claims to be the heirs of Manet and the modernism, even as the conditions of mechanical
Impressionists. For if the modernist tradition, be¬ reproduction and of a commodity culture continue
ginning with these artists, is defined as an effort to to affect our lives.
Notes

Preface Chapter 1. The Invention of Collage

1. “II est curieux que presque personne n’ait sembl6 1. This collage was executed some time before 18 May
prendre garde a une occupation singuli^re, dont les conse¬ 1912, the date of Picasso’s departure for Sorgues with his
quences ne sont pas encore toutes appreciates, h laquelle new mistress, Eva Gouel (Marcelle Humbert). In a letter to
certains hommes se sont livr^s ces temps-ci d’une fa^on Kahnweiler dated 5 June 1912, Picasso provided his dealer
systematique qui rappelle plus les operations de la magie with a list of the works that he might remove from his
que celles de la peinture. Outre qu’elle met en question la apartment in Paris. He specifically excluded the Still Life
personnalite, le talent, la propriete artistique, et toutes with Chair-Caning and a related work which also has a
sortes d’autres idees qui chauffaient sans mefiance leurs rope frame, Still Life: “Notre Avenir est dans lAir” (fig. 16).
pieds tranquilles dans les cervelles cretinisdes. Je veux For a partial reproduction of this letter, see Donation
parler de ce qu’on appelle pour simplifier le collage, bien Louise et Michel Leiris, Collection Kahnweiler-Leiris, ex.
que l’emploie de la colie ne soit qu’une des caracteris- cat. (Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, Mus6e national d’art
tiques de cette operation, et meme pas une caracteristique moderne, 22 November 1984—28 January 1985), 166-68.
essentielle. Sans doute que ce sujet avait en soi quelque 2. In an article of 1932, certainly based on conversations
chose qui effrayait les esprits, car, dans toute la critique with the artist, Christian Zervos states that Braque began
volumineuse consacree depuis sa naissance au cubisme, making paper sculptures in 1911. See “Georges Braque et
par exemple, on ne trouve que quelques mots superficiels le ddveloppement du cubisme,” 23.
pour noter l’existence des papiers coll6s, comme on disait
3. William Rubin has published this letter as evidence that
d’abord, pour designer cette premifere apparition du col¬
Braque was making paper sculptures for some time before
lage par laquelle se r6v£le I’inquietude de Braque et de Pi¬
September 1912. He also cites a text by Jean Paulhan of
casso des 1911. . . . Pour mieux comprendre ce qui s’est
produit depuis bientot vingt annees, il nous faudra done, 1939-45, in which Braque specifically says that the “scaf¬
suivant de preference la demarche historique, commencer foldings” of his paper sculptures reminded Picasso of Wil¬
par parler du papier colie tel qu’il apparut ci sa naissance.” bur Wright’s biplanes, leading him to nickname Braque
“La peinture au defi” (preface to a catalogue for an exhibi¬ “Wilbourg” by the spring of 1912. See “Picasso and Braque:
tion of collages at the Galerie Goemans in Paris, March An Introduction,” in Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cub¬
ism, 1:32-34, 380.
1930; repr. in Les Collages, 44-45).
2. There is some evidence that Braque was making sculp¬ 4. “De 1911 datent aussi les premieres sculptures en papier
ture out of paper as early as 1911, but none of these works imaginees par Braque et bientot abandonndes par lui car il
has survived. n’y voyait qu’une experience pour enrichir et organiser sa
peinture.” Zervos, “Georges Braque et le ddveloppement
3. “Je ne ai trouve ‘La Voce’ que ici et je ai lue avec emo¬
du cubisme,” 23. This statement probably reflects Braque’s
tion votre article [s/c].” Letter from Picasso to Soffici on 12
own views on the role of his paper sculptures.
September 1911. On 9 November 1911 Picasso wrote to
Soffici to request additional copies of La Voce. Cited in 5 5. See Douglas Cooper, “Braque as Innovator: The First Pa¬
Xilografie e 4 Puntesecche di Ardengo Soffici con le lettere pier Colld," in Braque, The Papiers Collds, ex. cat. (Wash¬
di Picasso, ed. Luigi Cavallo (Milan: Giorgio Upiglio, Edi- ington, D C.: National Gallery of Art, 1982), 19. This
zioni d’Arte Grafica Uno, 1966), 50-51; partial reproduction catalogue was initially published in French as Georges
of the French letters and full Italian translations in Luigi Braque, les papiers collds, ex. cat. (Paris: Centre Georges
Cavallo, Soffici fmmagini e document! (1879-1964), 130. Pompidou, Mus6e national d'art moderne, 17 June—Sep¬
tember 1982). Further references to the essays in this cata¬
4 Letter from Marinetti to Severini dated 20 November
logue will be cited in the French or English version
1914, repr. in Archiui del Futurismo, 1:350.
depending on the original language of the essay quoted. A
5. This is the title of a manifesto written by Giacomo Balia similar version of this story appears in Andre Verdet, En-
and Fortunato Depero, originally published as a leaflet tretiens, notes et Merits sur la peinture, 22-24.
dated 11 March 1915, repr. in Umbro Apollonio, Futurist
6. This collage, now lost, is probably contemporaneous
Manifestos, 197-200.
with the Still Life with Chair-Caning. Apollinaire mentions
Picasso’s use of a “timbre-poste veritable” in a section of
Les peintres cubistes, written during the spring of 1912. The
 Notes to Pages 5-17 259

stamp, which bears the image of Victor Emmanuel III, had “Des Bouleversements chronologiques dans la revolution
been mailed from Italy. Because the cancellation mark des papiers colics (1912-1914),” 217-27, and “Les trois s6-
reads "fire[enze], Joan Rosselet speculates that it may have jours ‘cubistes’ de Picasso a Ceret (1911-1912-1913),” n.p.
been sent to Picasso by Ardengo Soffici. See Pierre Daix
13. Tutta la vita di un pittore, 91, 146.
and Joan Rosselet, Le Cubisme de Picasso, 272, no. 451.
14. Yve-Alain Bois has observed that Picasso abandoned a
7. In a 1913 version of this theme titled Fruitdish and Cards unitary system of notation in several works executed dur¬
(R 151), Braque retranslated his first papier coll6 into ing the spring of 1912, introducing emblematic, unfrag¬
painting, even copying the dark parallel stripes that simu¬ mented signs and areas of flat local color into otherwise
late the separation of wood panels in the wallpaper. Here homogeneous canvases. He argues that this acceptance of
the wood grain’s primary reference is not to wood, but to a heterogeneity led directly to the Still Life with Chair-Can¬
prior work of art. ing, which dates from the same period. See “The Semiology
8. Of course, for Picasso, the stamp and oilcloth are al¬ of Cubism.”
ready constituted as signs and do not mark a return to 15. The green and pink areas are painted in Ripolin, while
reality, as has sometimes been thought. Nonetheless, there the yellow area appears to be oil. I am grateful to Benjamin
is a difference between using a stamp to signify a stamp, Buchloh for his insightful comments on the role of color in
and Picasso’s later use of a wood grain pattern to signify Cubism and on Picasso’s use of Ripolin enamel in Land¬
hair and a moustache in The Poet. The example of the oil¬ scape with Posters in particular.
cloth with imitation chair-caning is already more ambigu¬
16. “Je voyais combien la couleur depend de la mature.
ous, since it remains uncertain whether it signifies real
Prenez un example: trempez deux tissus blancs, mais de
chair-caning (through metaphoric resemblance) or oilcloth
mature diff£rente dans la meme teinture, leur couleur sera
(through metonymy).
differente.” “Braque, la peinture et nous” [Propos de 1’ar-
9. “Mon cher ami Braque, je emploie tes derniers proc6d6s tiste receuillis par Dora Vallier], 17.
paperistiques et pusiereux. Je suis en train de imaginer
17. “On change son fusil d’epaule.” Cited in Severini, Tutta
une guitare et je emploie un peu de pusifere contre notre
la vita di un pittore, 141.
orrible toile [s/'c].” The full text of this letter was published
for the first time in Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, “Braque, la 18. “La mise au point de la couleur est arriv6e avec les pa¬
lenteur de la peinture,” in Georges Braque, les papiers piers colies. C’est un fait que la critique n’a jamais bien
colies, 40. compris. La on est arrive a dissocier nettement la couleur
de la forme et a voir son independance par rapport a la
10. Picasso’s interest in alternate grounds can be seen in
forme, car c’etait qa la grande affaire: la couleur agit si-
the fall of 1912 in Violin and Newspaper {fig. 52), which is
multanement avec la forme, mais n’a rien a faire avec el le.”
executed on glass and includes areas of sand. We also
“La peinture et nous,” 17.
know that during the summer in Sorgues, Picasso painted
what he called a fresco directly on the wall of the living 19. “L’Exposition de la Section d’Or,” La Section d’Or
room of his rented villa (D / R 486). This necessitated its (Paris, 9 October 1912), in Fry, Cubism, 100. This is one of
later removal in order to preserve it and the payment of the first published essays to discuss a collage.
damages for “deterioration of the paper” to the owner of 20. Raynal and Gris had been close friends for several
the villa. See Rubin, “Picasso and Braque: An Introduc¬ years by 1912 and undoubtedly discussed the ideas that in¬
tion,” 404. spired Gris’s most recent innovations. Unlike Picasso, who
11. Rosalind Krauss was the first to call attention to the generally limited his explanations to witty aphorisms or
way in which Picasso’s collage elements mask and re-pre- sheer sarcasm, Gris seems to have enjoyed theorizing
sent the ground, thereby founding representation on the about his art.
absence of the material referent. See “In the Name of 21. “Pour bien indiquer que dans sa conception de la pein¬
Picasso.” ture pure il existe des objets absolument antipicturaux, il

12. This became apparent as a result of Pierre Daix’s re¬ n’a pas hesite a en coller plusieurs veritables sur la toile.

search for the new edition of the catalogue raisonn6 of Pi¬ Les surfaces planes ne peuvent, en effet, etre peintes,

casso’s cubist years: Le Cubisme de Picasso. For Daix’s puisqu’elles ne sont pas des corps; si on le fait nous re-

dating of Picasso’s collages into three distinct series, see tombons dans Limitation ou dans la recherche de I’habilit6
 Notes to Pages 17-31 260

qui specialise les peintres d’enseignes. Si je con^ois un fla- 32. I am grateful to Massimo Carra for identifying the sub¬
con et que je veuille le traduire tel quel, l’6tiquette qui le ject of this news photo for me.
couvre ne m’apparait que comme un accessoire neglige- 33. “Mais on ne peut pas le faire seul, il faut etre avec
able que je pourrais omettre, car il n’est qu’une image. Ce- d’autres. .11 faut un travail d’6quipe.” Daniel-Henry
pendant si je tiens a la faire figurer, je pourrais la copier Kahnweiler, “Huit Entretiens avec Picasso [3 July 1952],”
exactement, mais c’est un travail inutile, aussi bien je pose 30.
la veritable etiquette sur le tableau apres I’avoir cependant
decouple suivant la forme que j’ai donnee au flacon, ce
Chapter 2. Picasso’s Earliest Constructions and Collages
qui constituera le point deiicat le plus important de I’idee
et qui en determinera le charme. Juan Gris a applique le 1. Picasso made a statement to this effect to William Rubin
meme principe ft la glace qu’il a pose sur sa toile. Ce fait a on the occasion of his donation of a reconstructed sheet
amene bien des discussions, mais on peut dire qu’il ne nuit metal Guitar to the Museum of Modern Art in 1971. Origi¬
en rien a I’oeuvre et qu’il denote I’originalite curieuse de nally, Rubin took this to mean before the collage Still Life
1’imagination de Juan Gris.” “L’Exposition de La Section with Chair-Caning of May 1912, and he therefore dated the
d’Or,” in Fry, Cubism, 100. I would like to thank Edward Fry Guitar to early 1912. See Picasso in the Collection of the
for sending me a photocopy of this rare journal as well as Museum of Modern Art, 74, 207. This dating was challenged
a photocopy of the catalogue of the Section d’Or both by Edward F. Fry and Yve-Alain Bois, who pointed to
exhibition. the morphological similarities between the Guitar and the
22. Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Juan Gris, His Life and Work, papiers colics Picasso executed in the fall of 1912 as well
trans. Douglas Cooper, 87-88. as to the important role played by the Grebo mask Picasso
23. While in Paris Boccioni stayed in Severini’s studio, seems to have purchased in Marseilles in August. See Ed¬
which was located just below that of Braque at 5 Impasse ward F. Fry, “Review of Daix and Rosselet, Le Cubisme de

de Guelma. Picasso,” 91-99, and “Picasso, Cubism, and Reflexivity,”

296-310, and Yve-Alain Bois, “Kahnweiler's Lesson,” 33-68.
24. “In questi giorni sono ossessionato dalla scultura!
Rubin now believes that Picasso was referring to his first
Credo di aver visto una completa rinnovazione di quest’-
series of collages, executed in the fall of 1912, when he
arte mummificata.” Letter from Umberto Boccioni to Vico
stated that the Guitar predated his first collages (or pa¬
Baer, in Archioi del futurismo, 2: 43, ed. Maria Drudi Gam-
piers colies). For this discussion and an analysis of the re¬
billo and Teresa Fiori.
lationship of the Guitar to the papiers colles of the fall
25. See “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture,” in 1912 as well as to Braque’s experiments with paper sculp¬
Apollonio, Futurist Manifestos, 51-65. tures, see Rubin, “Picasso and Braque: An Introduction,”
26. A few of these were exhibited in the Salon d’Automne in Picasso and Braque Pioneering Cubism.
1912, although they are not identified. 2. Published in Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, “Braque, la len-
27. Tutta la vita di un pittore, 174-75. teur de la peinture,” 40. See chapter 1, note 9 for the
French text.
28. See Papini, “II Cerchio si chiude,” Lacerba (15 February
1914), Boccioni, “II Cerchio non si chiude,” Lacerba (1 3. William Rubin discusses the letter of 9 October 1912 in
March 1914), and Papini, “Cerchi aperti,” Lacerba (15 relation to the date of the Guitar in “Picasso and Braque:
March 1914), repr. in Archivi del futurismo, 1:189-96. An Introduction,” 31-32. 1 find his reasoning convincing
and have followed it closely here.
29. See Patricia Leighten, “Picasso’s Collages and the
Threat of War, 1912-13,” 643-72, and Re-Ordering the Uni¬ 4. See Bois, “Kahnweiler’s Lesson,” 42-44. Rubin accepted
verse Picasso and Anarchism, 1897-1914, esp. chap. 5. and elaborated upon the consequences of the new chro¬

30. “Mon cher ami. Donnez nous des vos nouvelles. Com¬ nology in “Picasso and Braque: An Introduction,” 30-35.

ment vas tu? Nous sommes en guerre en France depuis le 5. “The Pasted-Paper Revolution,” repr. as “Collage” in Art
moi d’Aout ets ce que vous etes en guerre ausi en Italie? Je and Culture, 79. Bois cites this passage and discusses its
voudrais que tout ga soit fini quand je pense & mes ami et implications in “Kahnweiler’s Lesson,” 42-44.
a moi ausi. [sic] 6. Ibid., 43.
Bien a toi mon cher ami mon cher ami et vive la France.
7. Bois does discuss the importance of Picasso’s work at
Picasso.” Reproduced in Luigi Cavallo, Soffici Immagini e
Cadaques during the summer of 1910 for his subsequent
documenti 1879-1964, 244.
understanding of the Grebo mask. In particular, he empha¬
31. After his return to Paris from Avignon in late October
sizes the dissociation of chiaroscuro from its function as
or early November 1914, Picasso executed only three con¬ modeling, so that volume is no longer conceived in terms
structions which are tentatively dated to autumn 1915 (see of solid mass. See ibid., 45, and “The Semiology of Cub¬
D / R 833, D / R 834 and D / R 835). The only collage ele¬
ism.” My own view is that Picasso’s work from this period
ment he continued to use at this time in his oil paintings
not only dissociates volume from mass, but does so
was sand.
through a relational and arbitrary use of the conventions
of illusion: chiaroscuro and perspective.
 Notes to Pages 31-39 261

8. These oppositions will be discussed more fully in the overt means of referring to his new love, since these words
following chapter. were part of the refrain of a popular song by Fragson.
9. Despite his emphasis on the “inaugural character” of the 19. The evidence that the collage element was a piece of
Guitar in relation to the works that followed, Bois has de¬ gingerbread comes from the testimony of Kahnweiler. See
voted considerable attention to analyzing the path Picasso Daix and Rosselet, Le Cubisme de Picasso, 282, no. 485.
followed to arrive at that point of departure. Many of the When one views the photograph, it is difficult to ascertain
precedents he cites in "The Semiology of Cubism” will be whether the heart was in fact gingerbread or paper cut to
discussed here as well. Although there are some differ¬ signify gingerbread. The fact that the collage element has
ences in our views, my interpretation is indebted to his. disappeared lends credence to the former view. Picasso

10. In conversation with the author, October 1989. Stein¬ probably bought the gingerbread heart at a “foire aux

berg made the same observation in a lecture titled “The In¬ pains d’epice” in Ceret or Sorgues and may have had it in¬

telligence of Picasso,” delivered at Johns Hopkins scribed by the vendor. If so, this would further contribute

University on 19 November 1989. to the popular, clich£d value of the sentiments expressed,
however heartfelt they were.
11. Leo Steinberg was the first scholar to call attention to
the principle of stylistic multiplicity in Picasso’s work and 20. During this summer, Picasso also frequently signed his
to analyze the important role it plays in Les Demoiselles letters “artiste-peintre” or simply “AP,” possibly another
d’Avignon. See “The Philosophical Brothel.” humorous reference to Rousseau, who had signed the invi¬
12. William Rubin has discussed the opposition of the two tations to his evenings in this manner.
halves of this painting in “From Narrative to ‘Iconic’ in Pi¬ 21. “Huit entretiens avec Picasso,” 22. Kahnweiler also re¬
casso: The Buried Allegory in Bread and Fruitdish on a Ta¬ fers to this experiment in “Negro Art and Cubism," 416.
ble and the Role of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon." 22. In “Negro Art and Cubism” Kahnweiler states that Pi¬
13. Benjamin, The Origin of German Tragic Drama, 177-82. casso introduced light relief in this work in order to “avoid

14. The term ostranenie, usually translated as “estrange¬ the simulated shadow.” Ibid., 416.
ment,” was first used by Victor Shklovsky in his seminal 23. Postcard from Braque to Kahnweiler, dated 11 August
article of 1917, “Art as Technique,” to describe techniques 1912: “Aprfes avoir achete tous les n£gres, et fait visiter la
for “laying bare the device” in art or literature. Repr. in ville a Picasso, je retourne a Sorgues ou je m’installe.”
Lee T. Lemon and Marion J. Reis, eds., Russian Formalist Cited in Georges Braque, les papiers colics, 180.
Criticism Four Essays (Lincoln: University of Nebraska 24. “Nous avons achete des nfegres a Marseille j’ai achete
Press, 1965), 3-24. The relevance of this concept to an un masque tres bien et une femme avec des grands ni-
analysis of Cubist formal devices is discussed by Bois in chons et un jeune negre.” (We bought African objects in
“The Semiology of Cubism.” Marseilles I bought a very fine mask and a woman with big
15. Kahnweiler interpreted the deeply gouged forms in the tits and a young black man). Cited in Daniel-Henry Kahn¬
bronze Head of a Woman as a means of making the figure weiler, marchand, iditeur. ecrivain, ex. cat. (Paris: Centre
independent of ambient light by giving it its own internal Georges Pompidou, 1984), 112.
shadows. This might be compared to the way Picasso 25. Edward F. Fry has argued that these drawings from the
sought to disengage shadow from a particular source of Sorgues sketchbook, which follow Souvenir de Marseille,
light in his contemporary painting. See “Negro Art and record Picasso’s first response to the Grebo mask. His ar¬
Cubism,” 416. In 1914 Picasso would again transfer picto¬ gument is based on a convincing analysis of the order of
rial conventions to sculpture when he applied areas of the drawings in the sketchbook (inverted and from back to
pointillist patterning and dark “outlining” to the surfaces front), which allows the sequence of the drawings and the
of his six bronze “Absinthe glasses.” Here these displaced developing logic of Picasso’s response to the Grebo mask
pictorial effects are perhaps even more comic. to become clear. See “Picasso, Cubism, and Reflexivity,”
16. Of course, in a very real sense, there is never a first 300, and Appendix I, 307-09.
time with Picasso, as Leo Steinberg and others have noted; 26. Unlike most of Picasso’s drawings from this period,
one can always find an earlier example. Nonetheless, Still here there are no contradictory or ambiguous spatial
Life with Chair-Caning is usually regarded as the first de¬ relations.
liberately executed collage.
27. “Je travaille bien et je profite de mon s^jour a la cam-
17. For a discussion of the bricoleur in primitive societies, pagne pour des choses que Ton ne peut pas faire a Paris
see Claude L6vi-Strauss, The Savage Mind, 16-33. entre autres choses de la sculpture en papier. Ce qui ma
18. “Marcelle est tres gentille et je 1’aime beaucoup et je le donne beaucoup de satisfaction.” Cited in Donation Louise
ecrirais sur mes tableaux.” Cited in Donation Louise et et Michel Leiris, Collection Kahnweiler-Leiris, 27. This letter
Michel Leiris, Collection Kahnweiler-Leiris, 168. In several is undated, but William Rubin has suggested a date of on
earlier works of 1912 Picasso had merely printed or sten¬ or after 24 August. See “Picasso and Braque: An Introduc¬
ciled the words “Ma Jolie” to his canvases. This was a less tion,” 32, 57, n. 61
 Notes to Pages 41-46 262

28. Picasso had already dramatically distorted the shape the artist emphasized the nonrealism of Cubism. Del Po-
and placement o( the ear in a number of figural drawings mar, e.g., records the following statement by Picasso: “The
related to Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (D / R 47). Head of a goal I proposed myself in making cubism? To paint and
Man (D / R 44) of spring 1907 exemplifies the peculiar nothing more. And to paint seeking a new expression, di¬
treatment of the ear in these works, which derived from Pi¬ vested of useless realism, with a method linked only to my
casso's study of Iberian sculpture in 1906-07. In 1912, how¬ thought—without enslaving myself or associating myself
ever, a similarly conceptual depiction of the ear may have with objective reality.” Cited in ibid., 59-60.
had another source as well—the portraits of Henri Rous¬ 33. Kahnweiler, The Rise of Cubism, 10. “Picasso hat die
seau. Rousseau had made a practice of depicting the ma¬ geschlossene Form durchbrochen.” Der Weg zum Kubis-
jority of his subjects with a single, prominent ear in order mus, 49.
to suggest that the figure had been rendered from a three-
34. Kahnweiler, The Rise of Cubism, 10-11.
quarter view, even when the figure was in fact seen from a
fully frontal point of view. This ear, however, was always 35. Ibid. Kahnweiler, who was firmly convinced that Cub¬
brought emphatically forward, as if flattened against the ism was an art of realism, believed that Picasso and
picture plane, in a gesture that denied any possibility of Braque were anxious to avoid perspective and chiaroscuro
rotation in space. (On those rare occasions when a full- because they led to the distortion of the true form and the
face view was intended, Rousseau would give his figure true local color of objects. This is far more plausible in the
two characteristically flattened ears, placed symmetrically case of Braque than Picasso. When Braque did introduce
on each side of the head.) A notable example of this con¬ color into his early collages, it was with a view toward sig¬
vention occurs in Rousseau’s Portrait of a Woman of circa nifying the uninflected local color of an object, hence the
1895, which Picasso had bought for five francs from P&re faux bois paper. Picasso, who first attempted to reintrod¬
Soulier's curio shop in 1908. Picasso later recalled that this uce color into his painting in 1910, seems not to have been
painting, which had initially attracted his attention be¬ concerned with true local color. The color he introduced
cause of the “stony look” on the woman’s face, “took hold into some these canvases—later painted out—was shock¬
of [him] with the force of obsession.” Cited in Roger Shat- ing pink. The colors in his collages, as discussed above,
tuck, The Banquet Years, 66. Another example, in which was usually arbitrary with respect to the represented
the shape of the single ear more closely resembles the objects.
double arc typical of Picasso’s works, can be found in the 36. Ibid., 11. “Einerseits gestattete Picassos neue Methode,
Portrait of Pierre Loti of circa 1891. die Korperlichkeit der Dinge und ihre Fage im Raume ‘dar-
29. Edward F. Fry has argued that, “for Picasso, the picto¬ zustellen’, anstatt sie durch illusionistische Mittel vorzu-
rial equivalent of the Grebo mask was Braque’s first papier tauchen Es handelt sich um eine Darstellungsweise, die
colld, of September 1912. . . . Whether deliberate or not, mit der geometrischen Zeichnung eine gewisse Ahnlichkeit
this uncoupling of form from color and outline was the pic¬ hat, wenn es sich darum handelt, einen Korper darzustel-
torial equivalent of the disassociation of mass from volume len. Das ist selbstverstandlich; haben doch beide als Ziel
in a Grebo mask." See “Picasso, Cubism, and Reflexivity,” die Darstellung, auf der zweidimensionalen Flache, der
300. dreidimensionalen Korper.” Der Weg zum Kubismus, 50.

30. For a discussion of the significance of surface as the 37. Kahnweiler, The Rise of Cubism. 11. “Der Maler bes-
expression of a logically defined inner core in traditional chrankt sich ferner nicht darauf, den Gegenstand so zu zei-
sculpture, see Rosalind E. Krauss, Passages in Modern gen, wie er von einem gegebenen Standpunkte aus gesehen
Sculpture, chap. 1. wtirde, sondern stellt ihn, wenn das zur Anschaulichma-
chung notig ist, von mehreren Seiten dar, von oben, von
31. Edward F. Fry has argued that comparative measure¬
unten.” Der Weg zum Kubismus, 50.
ments of the cardboard and sheet metal versions indicate
that the cardboard Guitar served as a maquette for the 38. This, of course, had already been a long-standing prac¬
metal Guitar. He believes the metal Guitar may have been tice in Picasso’s work. In the Portrait of Wilhelm Uhde (D /
assembled as late as 1914 in the artist’s new studio in the R 338) from this period, Picasso juxtaposed frontal and
rue Schoelcher at a time when he also made a second con¬ side views of the two eyes, but this is another example of a
struction out of sheet metal (D / R 835). See “Picasso, Cub¬ formal opposition, rather than an attempt to convey more
ism, and Reflexivity,” 305, n. 24. information about the sitter. The figure is otherwise de¬
picted from a strictly frontal point of view.
32. “Nous cherchions a exprimer la r6alit6 avec des mat€r-
iaux que nous ne savions pas manier, et que nous appre- 39. Picasso himself pointed out the presence of these fig¬
cions pr6cis6ment parce que nous savions que leur aide ne ures in the background of his portrait of Kahnweiler to
nous etait pas indispensable, et qu’ils n’6taient ni les meil- John Richardson. See Picasso: An American Tribute, ex.
leurs, ni les mieux adapt6s.” Cited in Jaime Sabart6s, Pi¬ cat. (New York: Public Education Association, 1962), n.p.
casso: portraits et souvenirs, 212; cited in translation in William Rubin also discusses this in “Picasso,” in “Primitiv¬
Dore Ashton, ed., Picasso on Art: A Selection of His Views, ism" in Twentieth Century Art, 1:310.
60. The term reality in this statement should not be under¬
stood unequivocally, since in numerous other statements
 Notes to Pages 46-51 263

40. Kahnweiler, The Rise of Cubism, 16. 1985). Krauss subsequently published her own interpreta¬
41. "Negro Art and Cubism," 418-20. William Rubin has tion of the relation between Saussure’s theories and Picas¬
pointed out that the Ivory Coast Wobe mask Kahnweiler re¬ so’s collages in two articles: “Re-Presenting Picasso,” and
ferred to was in fact a Grebo mask in “Modernist Primitiv¬ “In the Name of Picasso.” Yve-Alain Bois has made the
ism: An Introduction,” in "Primitivism’' in Twentieth most recent contributions to this literature. See “Kahn-
Century Art, 18. weiler’s Lesson” and “The Semiology of Cubism.”

42. "Modernist Primitivism,” 18-19. 45. Saussure’s theories were published posthumously in
1916 when a group of his students at the University of Ge¬
43. In Grebo masks, this plane is typically slightly concave,
neva collated their notes from his “Course in General Lin¬
another reversal of a natural relationship. Picasso retained
guistics,” supplementing them with the few outlines and
this slight curvature in the ground plane of his sheet metal
notes in Saussure’s own hand that were discovered after
Guitar.
his death. Saussure taught the course three times between
44. The first critic to draw a parallel between Cubism and 1906 and 1911, and the published version represents a syn¬
Saussure’s linguistics was Pierre Dufour in a remarkably thesis of all three. Before accepting a post at the Univer¬
intelligent and too little known article: “Actuality de cub- sity of Geneva, Saussure had taught comparative grammar
isme,” Critique 25, nos. 267-68 (August-September 1969): in Paris at the Ecole des hautes etudes from 1881 to 1891
809-25. Dufour called attention to the Cubists’ discovery of Hans Aarsleff has argued that Saussure’s theories are in¬
“the arbitrariness of forms” (813), which led to the de¬ debted to late nineteenth-century intellectual currents in
struction of traditional images and their implied “pres¬ France, especially Hippolyte Taine’s influential theories on
ence” in the Derridean sense (817). The result was an the concept of valeur, and his belief that sensation does
elaboration of “the practically limitless possibilities of a not reveal substances, but only a system of signs. See
painting of difference, founded on deliberate gaps between “Taine and Saussure,” in From Locke to Saussure: Essays on
the sign and the thing signified” (818). Jean Laude elabo¬ the Study of Language and Intellectual History, 356-71 One
rated on Dufour’s ideas, noting in particular the Russian can speculate that Picasso might also have been aware of
formalists’ interpretation of Cubism as an art concerned these ideas.
with the relations between signs. See “Picasso et Braque,
46. Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics,
1910-1914: La transformation des signes,” 7-28. Although
117.
Laude mentioned Saussure and supported Dufour’s notion
of the disjunction between the signifier and the signified, 47. Ibid., 120.

he did not directly discuss the important concept of the 48. See “Kahnweiler’s Lesson,” 52-55.
arbitrariness of pictorial forms. For the most part, the 49. Bois has discussed Picasso’s exploration of the mini¬
analyses of Dufour and Laude remained at the level of the¬ mum condition of iconicity for a signifier to remain legible
ory, and they did not produce readings of individual Cubist in “The Semiology of Cubism.”
works. Pierre Daix also referred to the Saussurian model in
50. Nicolas Deniker, a friend of Apollinaire, was one of the
his catalogue raisonne Le cubisme de Picasso (1979). Like
poets associated with Picasso’s circle.
Laude, his understanding of the sign is as much indebted
to Claude Levi-Strauss as it is to Saussure. 51. Fernande Olivier, Picasso and His Friends, 175.
The first art historian to articulate the similarities be¬ 52. “La ressemblance, fort negligee sur cette toile au profit
tween Saussure’s linguistics and the specific formal struc¬ des volumes, frappa tout aussitot les peintres. et ils firent
ture of Picasso’s Cubist works was Leo Steinberg. He has la remarque que les boutons dores de la tunique de frfere
argued that the notion of the arbitrariness of the sign is a de Max n’etaient point repr6sentes a leur place ordinaire,
heuristic model that accounts for Picasso’s treatment of mais disposes en aureole autour de son visage. Decouverte
the third dimension (which must necessarily be subject to surprenante! La dissociation des objets etait trouv^e, ad-
semiotic transformation, since the pictorial ground is flat). mise, acquise, et cela dut inspirer Picasso dans ses toutes
Unfortunately, Steinberg’s ideas have remained unpub¬ premieres recherches, car il decreta peu aprfes: ‘Si tu peins
lished to date. He first gave a lecture on the Picasso / Saus¬ un portrait, tu mets les jambes a cotd sur la toile.’” Francis
sure parallel at the American Academy in Rome in March Carco, De Montmartre au Quartier Latin, 35.
1976, followed by another lecture on 11 May at the Petit 53 .Picasso, 14.
Palais in Paris. There have been many subsequent rework¬
54. “The African artist creates real objects which, with
ings of these ideas, including a lecture delivered at the
their possibility of being put anywhere, demanding neither
Guggenheim Museum in New York in November 1985.
base nor plinth, and with no connexion to any pre-existing
Steinberg credits Rosalind Krauss with the suggesion that
architecture, are pre-eminently real sculpture." Kahnweiler,
he read Saussure sometime in 1974 or 1975, although she
“Negro Art and Cubism,” 414. Kahnweiler, of course, is not
did not at that time posit any direct connection between
here referring to the masks, which present a more complex
Picasso and Saussure. (Letter to the author, 23 December
case, but to the free-standing sculptures. His remarks are
in keeping with his aversion to the decorative arts in any
 Notes to Pages 51-56 264

form. His position seems to be far more rigid than the po¬ 'Absolutely not, what interests me is their geometric
sition of Picasso, for whom the status of the work of art as simplicity.’” Cited in L’art des ndgres, 324.
an object was also subject to the play of oppositions. 61. Picasso, however, paradoxically undermines the read¬
55. See Kahnweiler, Juan Gris, His Life and Work, 84. Picas¬ ing of the white piece of paper at the lower right corner as
so’s exploration of the paradoxical status of the work of art opaque, by depicting a transparent glass on its surface.
as a tableau-objet, that is, as both a representation and a 62. Rosalind Krauss has analyzed the way in which collage
self-sufficient object, is the subject of the following elements function as miniature facsimiles of the pictorial
chapter. ground: affixed to the “master plane,” they render it absent
56. “Des t^moins, d6ja choqu^s par ces choses dont ils in order to re-present it in the form of a depiction. See “In
voyaient les murs couverts, et qu'ils se refusaient a nom- the Name of Picasso,” 19.
mer des tableaux parce que fait avec de la toile cirtle, du 63. A painting with sand on glass, Violin and Newspaper,
papier d’emballage et des journaux, dirent en montrant also executed at this time, is an interesting exception, but
d un doigt superieur l’objet des soins intelligents de it presents paradoxes of a different type. This work (fig.
Picasso. 52) is discussed in the next chapter.
—Qu’est-ce? Cela se pose sur un socle? Cela s’accroche
64. The difficulty of seeing this work seems to be an aspect
au mur? Qu’est-ce, de la peinture ou de la sculpture?
of its structure. The photograph of this collage reproduced
Picasso, v£tu du bleu des artisans parisiens, repondit de
here is deceptive in that it transforms this work into one
sa plus belle voix andalouse:
which is easily legible. This photograph must have been
—Ce n’est rien, c’est el guitare!” Andre Salmon, La jeune
made by shining a very bright light against the back of the
sculpture frangaise, 103-04.
collage.
57. “Et voila. Les cloisons stanches sont demolies. Nous
65. Of course, given the relational value of these silhou¬
sommes delivres de la peinture et de la sculpture d£ja
ettes, it is misleading to describe one as the flipped-over
liberees de la tyrannie imbecile des genres. Ce n’est plus
version of the other. Each form is the negative or reverse
ceci et ce n'est plus cela. Ce n’est rien. C’est el guitare!"
of the other.
Ibid., 104.
66. “In the Name of Picasso,” 15-16.
58. L'art des negres, 325. Markov wrote this text (Iskusstvo
negrou) in 1914 after two years of visiting ethnographic 67. Ibid., 19.
museums throughout Europe and photographing their col¬ 68. In his Blue period, Picasso had at times exploited the
lections. It was published posthumously in Petrograd in popular notion that the form of a guitar is similar to
1919. the form of a woman. The guitar was associated with the
59. Ibid. Bois discussed the relevance of Markov’s analysis expression of sentiment, intended to be held, played, etc.
for an interpretation of Picasso’s interest in African masks It may be significant, therefore, that in these works the
and sculpture in the fall of 1912 in “Kahnweiler’s Lesson,” guitar or violin is almost always transformed into a head,
47-49. and more particularly, into a man's head. Later, in 1926, in
a more Surrealist mood, Picasso would once again explore
60. Cited in Andre Salmon, La jeune peinture frangaise, 43.
the analogies of the guitar and female sexuality, this time
The full citation reads: “D6ja l’artiste s’6tait passionnti
creating a series of collages on the theme of the vagina
pour les negres qu'il pla^ait bien au-dessus des Egyptiens.
dentata (see Picasso Museum nos. 86-95). For discussions
Son enthousiasme n’etait pas soutenu par un vain app^tit
of the significance of the guitar in Picasso’s art, see two ar¬
du pittoresque. Les images polyn^siennes ou dahomtiennes
ticles by Ronald Johnson: “Picasso’s ‘Old Guitarist’ and the
lui paraissaient raisonnables.”’ (English translation in Fry,
Symbolist Sensibility" and "Picasso’s Musical and Mallar-
Cubism: “Already the artist had taken ardently to the
mean Constructions.” Werner Spies discussed Picasso’s
sculpture of the Negroes, whom he placed well above the
practice of anthropomorphizing musical instruments dur¬
Egyptians. His enthusiasm was not based on any trivial
ing his Cubist period in “La guitare anthropomorphe.”
appetite for the picturesque. The images from Polynesia
or Dahomey appeared to him as ‘reasonable’” [82].) In 69. Marjorie Perloff was the first to point out this visual
emphasizing the reasonableness of African art, Picasso pun in "The Invention of Collage,” in Collage, ed. Jeanine
rejected the nineteenth-century tendency to see in “primi¬ Parisier Plottel, New York Literary Forum 10-11 (New York,
tive” art only the expression of an instinctual or emo¬ 1983), 12. Picasso enhanced the figure / ground confusion
tional response to nature. Further evidence of Picasso’s here by drawing the glass / man on a piece of newspaper
attitude toward African art can be gleaned from a com¬ which he then cut out and glued onto another piece of
ment made by the artist to Tugendhol’d and cited by Mar¬ newspaper already in place. Picasso achieves an effect of
kov: “When 1 went to Picasso’s atelier and I saw the African transparency through the economical device of misaligning
fetishes from the Congo, wrote Tugendhol’d (Apollon, the two newspaper elements; this misalignment suggests
1914), 1 asked the painter if it was the mystical character the distortion of forms seen through glass.
of these sculptures that interested him. He responded:
 Notes to Pages 56-61 265

70. The fragment of a newspaper title suggesting the word 9. Ibid., 81.
“[app]arition” appears at the upper right.
10. Ibid., 94.
71. Saussure, Course, 113.
11 Ibid., 105.
72. Picasso preferred to view the African objects in his stu¬
12. Ibid., 117-18.
dio as witnesses [femo/ns] rather than as examples [exem-
13. Nelson Goodman offers a useful refutation of the infor¬
ples]. See Florent Fels, Propos d'artistes, 145.
mation theory of realism in Languages of Art. 35-36. Inter¬
73. See n. 57 above.
estingly, artists such as Gleizes and Metzinger, and early
74. See “Negro Art and Cubism.” supporters of their .“informational realism” theory, specifi¬
cally rejected ease of interpretation as a requirement of
Chapter 3. Frames of Reference the new style. Not taken into account, however, was the
impossibility of ever achieving a “total” image of an object
1. Braque was interviewed in 1908 by the American jour¬ through an additive process of representation. It seems ev¬
nalist Gelett Burgess, who published portions of the inter¬ ident that more views might always be added, leading
view in The Architectural Record 27 (May 1910): 400-14. In eventually to “total” incomprehension on the part of the
this interview Braque suggested that he could overcome viewer. And indeed, hostile early critics already attributed
the inadequacy of a single view by multiplying the number this result to Cubist art.
of figures: “He gave me a sketch for his painting entitled 14. Contemporary scholarship has been revisionist on the
‘Woman’ in the Salon des lnd^pendants. To portray every notion of unity in Cubist works. For example, until recently
physical aspect of such a subject, he said, required three most scholars accepted Kahnweiler’s early view that Pi¬
figures, much as the representation of a house requires a casso abandoned Les Demoiselles D Avignon in an unfin¬
plan, an elevation and a section.” (405) The illustration ac¬ ished state and that the right and left sides of this painting
companying these remarks is titled La Femme and shows remained radically disunified. In most accounts, this led to
three women in different poses, much like traditional rep¬ criticism of the painting. The first scholar to challenge this
resentations of the Three Graces. In subsequent analyses, interpretation was Leo Steinberg in “The Philosophical
such as those of Jean Metzinger or Jacques Riviere, the Brothel.” In a more recent study, William Rubin has
various views of an oBject are said to be combined in a pointed to the deliberate disunity of Picasso’s Bread and
single image. Fruitdish on a Table of 1909. See “From Narrative to
2. Jean Metzinger, “Note sur la peinture,” Pan (October-No- Iconic’ in Picasso: The Buried Allegory in Bread and
vember 1910), in Fry, Cubism, 59-60. See also “Cubisme et Fruitdish on a Table and the Role of Les Demoiselles
Tradition,” Paris-Journal (16 August 1911); Fry, Cubism, dAvignon."
66-67. 15. The Rise of Cubism, 7. “[Mit] den Urproblemen der Mal-
3. Leo Steinberg was the first art historian to question seri¬ erei: der Darstellung des Dreidimensionalen und Farbigen
ously the notion that the Cubists’ fragmentation of form re¬ auf der Flache, und seiner Zusammenfassung in der Einheit
sulted from a desire to depict simultaneously various dieser Flache. . . . Keine gefallige ‘Komposition’, sondern
views of an object. See: “The Algerian Women and Picasso unerbittlicher, gegliederter Aufbau.” Der Weg zum Kubis-
at Large,” in Other Criteria, esp. 154-73. Steinberg points mus, 26-27.
out that Cubist “simultaneities” are “disjunctive” and 16. “Le retour a I’unit6 de I’oeuvre d’art, dans la volont6 de
therefore hostile to synthesis in the sense of “corporeal in¬ creer non des esquisses, mais des organismes autonomes
tegrity.” The aim of Picasso and Braque is not to create a et accomplis.” “Accomplissement classique du cubisme.
summation of different views but to “impress the theme of Juan Gris [1928],” in Confessions esthdtiques, 51.
discontinuity upon every level of consciousness” (160).
17. The Rise of Cubism, 12. “Statt einer analytischen Bes-
4. See “Re-Presenting Picasso,” and “In the Name of chreibung kann der Maler auch, wenn er das vorzieht, auf
Picasso.” diese Weise eine Synthese des Gegenstandes schaffen, das
5. See “Kahnweiler’s Lesson” and “The Semiology of heifSt, nach Kant, dessen verschiedene Vorstellungen
Cubism.” zueinander hinzutun, und ihre Mannigfaltigkeit in einer Er-
kenntnis begreifen’.” Der Weg zum Kubismus, 61.
6. Christopher Gray, Cubist Aesthetic Theories.
18. In Fry, Cubism, 118. “L’objet reel ou en trompe-l’oeil est
7. Douglas Cooper, The Cubist Epoch. Cooper confirmed
appele sans doute a jouer un role de plus en plus impor¬
his view of the realist intent of Picasso and Braque in the
tant. 11 est le cadre interieur du tableau et en marque les
recent essay, “Braque as Innovator: The First Papier
limites profondes, de meme que le cadre en marque les
Colld," in Braque, The Papiers Collds.
limites exterieures.” Meditations esthetiques. les peintres
8. John Golding, Cubism, A History and an Analysis 1907- cubistes, 77.
1914.
 Notes to Pages 61-67 266

19. Francis Carco suggests that Picasso “instructed” Apolli¬ such fringes, especially when they imitated architectural
naire on the chapter of Meditations esthetiques, les pemtres motifs precisely because they were considered, by some,
cubistes in which the remarks on collage appear: “La fr6- to be in bad taste. See the review of an exhibition of deco¬
quentation des peintres a ceci d’excellent qu’elle vous ap- rative art in Stuttgart chosen by the curator precisely to
prend a faire passer, bien avant la critique, le profit qu’on demonstrate faults in taste: C. S., “Aberrations du Gobt en
en peut tirer. Picasso avait enseignt) Guillaume sur ce Matiere d’Art D6coratif,” Art et Industrie (October 1909),
chapitre et, ma foi, I’avait convaincu. II est temps d’etre n.p. According to the author, the problem with such “trues
les maitres’, 6crivait en effet l’auteur de Calligrammes employes par les faussaires” is that “ils sortent un peu du
dans ses Meditations esthetiques et, plus loin, dans le cadre du mus6e.”
meme ouvrage, il ajoutait: ‘On peut peindre avec ce qu’on 26. See “Braque 1912-1918, rep^res chronologiques” in
voudra, avec des pipes, des timbres-poste, des cartes post¬ Georges Braque, les papiers collds, 180.
ales, ou ci jouer, des cand^labres, des morceaux de toile ci-
27. Olivier, Picasso et ses amis, 171 (see n. 22 above).
r6e, des faux cols, des papiers peints, des journaux.’” See
De Montmartre au Quartier Latin, 186-87. 28. Henri Rousseau’s painting Portrait of a Woman, which
Picasso bought in 1908, displays a related use of a curtain
20. For an analysis of the dates of the various manuscripts
pulled back by a curtain loop and tassel.
of “Les Peintres Cubistes,” see J.-C. Chevalier and L. C.
Breunig, “Apollinaire et Les Peintres Cubistes,” 98-99, and, 29. One can trace this interest in conflating vertical and
edited by the same authors, “Notes et commentaires sur le horizontal orientations to Picasso’s Les Demoiselles D’Avi-
texte,” in Apollinaire, Les peintres cubistes, 117-59. gnon, in which the demoiselle second from the left appears
as a reclining figure catapulted into an upright position.
21. Les peintres cubistes, 107.
Leo Steinberg discusses this phenomenon and its relation
22. Fernande Olivier recounts Picasso’s love for “ordinary
to similarly “reclining” nudes in Matisse in “The Philo¬
objects" in her memoirs of this period: “En mature de de¬
sophical Brothel.” Steinberg also discusses the relation of
coration, Picasso avait un gout qui le portait a acheter,
vertical and horizontal planes in the combine paintings of
souvent par ironie, les objets les plus ordinaires; il avait
Robert Rauschenberg in "Other Criteria," Other Criteria,
des manies de collectionneur pour toutes sortes de petites
82-91.
choses. . . . Il aimait les vieux morceaux de tapisserie, Ver¬
Yve-Alain Bois has called attention to two early texts by
dures, Aubussons, Beauvais dont il etait parfois difficile de
Walter Benjamin that discuss the relation of painting and
reconnaltre le sujet a cause de leur mauvais 6tat. Des in¬
drawing / writing in terms of the opposition between verti¬
struments de musique, des boltes, des vieux cadres dd-
cal and horizontal fields. See "Walter Benjamin: Peinture
dor6s. De frais chromos encadres de paille ornaient les
et graphisme,' ‘De la peinture ou le signe et la marque,”’
murs de la salle a manger. Ils eussent et6 a leur aise dans
La Part de I'Oeil, no. 6 (1990): 10-13. Interestingly, Benja¬
une loge de concierge. Lui-meme riait de cela.” Picasso et
min sent these texts to Gershom Scholem in the fall of
ses amis, 171.
1917 in the context of a discussion of Cubism. Bois has
23. Robert Rosenblum has suggested that Picasso may elaborated on the significance of Benjamin's ideas for an
have seen such a mirror during his trip to Le Havre, which interpretation of the relation of vertical and horizontal
preceded his making of this collage. He reproduces a mir¬ fields in Cubist works in “Piet Mondrian: New York City,”
ror of this type in “Still Life with Chair Caning,” Picasso, Critical Inquiry 14 (Winter 1988): 271-73, and “The Semiol¬
from the Musee Picasso, Paris, ex. cat. (Minneapolis: ogy of Cubism.”
Walker Art Center, 1980), 43.
30. Alfonso Procaccini has analyzed the dual role of the
24. Rosenblum has also noted that the frame in this collage frame in Renaissance art to establish the difference of the
can be read as both a picture frame and as a reference to fiction within the frame from the reality beyond it and to
the carved edge of a table. Ibid., 42. Rosalind Krauss called define this fictional world as reality. “To define istoria,
attention to the way the rope frame in the Still Life with then, means essentially to form a frame, which like a frame
Chair-Caning doubles as furniture moulding and to the way around a painting, serves the double role of distinguishing
the oval canvas can be alternately interpreted as a hori¬ the story (fiction) from history (reality out there), as well
zontal tabletop or as a vertically displayed pictorial field, as insuring the autonomy of the story itself precisely be¬
in “The Cubist Epoch,” 33. cause it is fiction, and therefore an end in itself.” In Pro-
25. William Rubin cites a long discussion he once had with caccini’s view, the invention of Renaissance perspective
Picasso on his feelings for the tasseled furniture fringes he necessitates the presence of a frame to contextualize the
often used in his Cubist collages and constructions as image and therefore “lays the foundation for all succeeding
proof of the “secret metaphoric value" that materials had theories regarding the autonomous nature of art.” (36) See
for the artist, in “Picasso,” in “Primitivism" in 20th Century “Alberti and the ‘Framing’ of Perspective,” 29-39. In this
Art, 316. My analysis of Picasso’s use of these fringes sug¬ context, Picasso’s use of an “inner frame” can be under¬
gests that he was interested in them because of their func¬ stood as an attack on the very principle that art estab¬
tion as frames. Picasso may have also enjoyed the use of lishes an autonomous, internally coherent, fictional realm.
 Notes to Pages 67-78 267

Rather than make truth claims for his fictions, Picasso pre¬ 38. Violin hangs on the lower portion of the right wall, the
ferred to point to the fact that “art is a lie,” as he so often second work in from the corner.
remarked.
39. Stein, Picasso, 12.
31 “Pensees et reflexions sur la peinture,” in Fry, Cubism,
40. I use the term modernism here to refer to artistic and
147-48.
critical practices that advocate the formal purity and au¬
32. Braque’s use of the housepainter’s comb also repre¬ tonomy of art through self-conscious affirmation of the
sents a negation of real skill in that a tool associated with distinctive properties of a given medium or process. This
commercial practice is used to supplement the craft of the affirmation is an aspect of modernism’s general effort to
painter. The imitation wood grain is eye-fooling then, in motivate artistic form, to endow it with a sense of neces¬
two senses. It fools one into thinking that one is viewing a sity. Within the parameters of modernist criticism, refer¬
real piece of wood, and then, with the realization that the ences to “real-world” or literary subjects, or to an artist’s
wood grain is painted, into admiring the craft of the traffic with popular or “low” cultural forms, will usually be
painter, when in fact this craft is one of the tricks of denied or granted little importance. As an artistic phenom¬
the housepainter’s trade. enon, modernism was never monolithic; it coexisted with
33. Robert Rosenblum has discussed these possibilities in antimodernist tendencies to be seen in the subversive
his analysis of this collage: “Still Life with Chair Caning,” in ready-mades of Marcel Duchamp as well as in most Rus¬
Picasso from the Musde Picasso, Paris, 43. sian Constructivist and Dada and Surrealist work. In my
view, modernism is best described as a philosophical atti¬
34. See Jean Laude’s introductory essay in Nicole Worms
tude rather than in strictly chronological terms. Much
de Romilly and Jean Laude, Braque, le cubisme fin 1907-
modernist art continues to be made today in an era of
1914, 48.
postmodernism, even as much art made prior to the “offi¬
35. Douglas Cooper interpreted the words as belonging to cial” advent of postmodernism in the 1960s qualifies as an¬
a poster hanging on a wall, in An Exhibition of Paintings: timodernist in its aesthetic and ideological assumptions.
G Braque (London: The Tate Gallery, 28 September—11 My analyses of the antimodernist aspects of Cubist col¬
November 1956), 32, while for the author of the catalogue lage are indebted to the very different formulations of
entry on The Portuguese [F.M.], in “Picasso,” ex. cat. Thomas Crow and Rosalind Krauss. Crow criticized the
(Kunstmuseum Basel, 1976), 46, the rope is a motif used by modernist interpretation of collage in “Modernism and
Braque to evoke a mariner’s milieu. William Rubin has Mass Culture in the Visual Arts,” 215-64. As discussed in
published a letter from Braque to Kahnweiler (25 Septem¬ the previous chapter, Krauss views Picasso’s collages as
ber or 2 October 1911), which seems to refer to The Portu¬ initiating an important break with the modernist emphasis
guese, in which the artist describes the painting as “an on perceptual plenitude in the structure of the sign. See
Italian emigrant standing on the bridge of a boat with the “Re-Presenting Picasso” and “In the Name of Picasso.”
harbor in the background.” See Picasso and Braque: Pi¬
41. In Fry, Cubism, 108.
oneering Cubism, 1:380. While Braque may indeed have
begun this work as a depiction of an Italian emigrant 42. “Pablo Picasso,” Paris-Journal (21 September 1911), in

standing on the bridge of a boat, there seem to be few Fry, Cubism. 68.

traces of this subject in the final painting. It is not unusual 43. See Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, with Francis Cremieux,
for paintings described in Braque’s letters to be trans¬ My Galleries and Painters, 43.
formed in the process of several months’ work. Based on 44. “Picasso Speaks,” 319.
the visual appearance of The Portuguese, I believe it is
45. In “Re-Presenting Picasso,” Krauss compares Picasso’s
likely the rope and tassels and stenciled letters denote the
formal oppositions to those established in the modernist
presence of a windowpane and pulled-back curtain, al¬
writing of the history of art and finds that they are based
though this would not exclude the rope and tassels evok¬
on the very same bipolar system that structures Wolfflin’s
ing a mariner’s milieu as well.
Principles of Art. “The predicates fixed by the Cubist col¬
36. This painting on glass, from 1912, predates Duchamp’s lage bits operate as the integers of such a system, the very
related experiment with glass as a ground, in the Large same formal system as Wolfflin’s set of master terms:
Glass. closed / open, line / color, planarity / recession. ... In the
37. The chair rail refers to the table edge both metaphori¬ great, complex Cubist collages, each element yields a
cally, by resembling it, and metonymically, by its place¬ matched pair of formal signifieds: line and color, closure
ment just at the lower edge of the violin. The painted and openness, planarity and recession” (96). Picasso’s
fragment of newspaper is also placed so that it can be read matched pairs of formal signifieds, however, do not draw
as a section of the chair rail in relation to the violin. Hori¬ directly on Wolfflin’s historical schema, and to the extent
zontally placed strips of newspaper frequently refer to the that there are parallels, this reflects a parallel historical
chair rail of a wall in Picasso’s collages.
 Notes to Pages 79-92 268

perception. Many of Picasso’s formal oppositions derive 55. “Sur ce th6me nouveau, Picasso et Braque brodferent
from contemporary aesthetic antinomies, such as the dis¬ les plus ddicates et les plus sages arabesques. Ils imagi-
tinction between popular or decorative and fine art or that n^rent d’assimiler la table au tableau.” See “Naissance du
between curved and straight lines. Cubisme,” in Ren6 Huyghe, Histoire de Tart contemporain

46. Stein, Picasso, 18. (New York: Arno Press, 1968), 216.

47. I am grateful to Celeste Brusati for the observation that 56. Kahnweiler, Juan Gris, His Life and Work, 68.
the reversal of the guitar recalls the reversal of objects in 57. For the Latin etymology of tabula, see Eugene Benoist
prints and certain other kinds of reproductive media. and Henri Goelzer, Nouveau Dictionnaire Latin-Franqais,
48. In a similar vein, Yve-Alain Bois has argued that Picas¬ l()th ed. (Paris: Librarie Gamier Freres, 1922), 1550, and P.
so’s transformation of “empty” space into a formal mark, G. W. Glare, ed. Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Claren¬
and his incorporation of fully three-dimensional objects in don Press, 1982), 1898-99.
this assemblage, be read in a sense as a “manifesto” 58. For a discussion of the meaning of tableau in the eigh¬
against the rejection of “objecthood” advocated by critics teenth century, particularly in the criticism of Diderot, see
such as Adolf Hildebrand and, more recently, Clement Michael Fried, Absorption and Theatricality: Painting and
Greenberg and Michael Fried. In The Problem of Form in Beholder in the Age of Diderot, 89-96.
Painting and Sculpture (1893), Hildebrand held that forms
59. Picasso did not play the musical instruments or cards
articulated in three-dimensions threatened to dissolve the
he so frequently represented. He tended to regard these
distinction between art and life. Picasso, however, under¬
objects as props and has stated that his interest in the gui¬
stood that once three-dimensional objects and space itself
tar was primarily symbolic. See Werner Spies, Sculpture by
were caught in a network of differences, they could be
Picasso, 47.
transformed into signs. See “Kahnweiler’s Lesson,” 54-55.
60. “Un atelier de peintre doit etre un laboratoire. On n’y
49. There is at least one precedent in Picasso's collages for
fait pas un metier de singe, on invente. La peinture est un
an allusion to a painting by Manet. As Daix has shown,
jeu d’esprit.” “En peinture tout n’est que signe.”
Picasso’s first collage, the Study for “L’Offrande” of early
1908, refers to Manet’s Ddjeuner sur I’herbe and its central
Chapter 4. Conception and Vision in the Collages of
cavity of light. See “Braque et Picasso au temps des pa-
Braque and Gris
piers colles,” in Georges Braque, les papiers codes, 14-15.
50. For references to the early critical response to Manet’s 1. Cited in Burgess, “The Wild Men of Paris," 405.
The Spanish Singer, see George Heard Hamilton, Manet
2. Werth, “Exposition Picasso,” in Fry, Cubism, 57.
and His Critics (New Haven and London: Yale University
Press, 1986), 24-28. 3. “Nous comprenons maintenant par son origine quel est
le sens veritable de la peinture. Elle reprdsente les objets
51. Anne Coffin Hanson first called my attention to the
tels qu’ils sont, c’est-a-dire autrement que nous les voy-
“proplike” character of the costume worn by Manet’s
ons. Elle tend toujours a nous donner leur essence sensi¬
guitarist.
ble, leur presence: c’est pourquoi l’image qu’elle forme, ne
52. I do not wish to claim that Picasso’s assemblage neces¬ ressemble pas a leur apparence. .. .
sarily makes a conscious reference to Manet’s The Spanish Essayons maintenant de determiner avec plus de preci¬
Singer, although there is ample evidence that Picasso was sion quelle sorte de transformations le peintre doit faire
fascinated by the work of Manet both before and after his subir aux objets tels qu’il les voit pour les exprimer tels
execution of Assemblage with Guitar Player. I merely wish qu’ils sont. Ces transformations sont a la fois negatives et
to suggest this reference as a tantalizing possibility. Picas¬ positives: il faut qu’il fasse abstraction de l’edairage et de
so’s reversal of the guitar, however, is meaningful even if it la perspective et qu’il mette a la place de ces deux valeurs
does not invoke Manet’s The Spanish Singer. d’autres valeurs vraiment plastiques.” “Sur les tendances
53. Interestingly, Picasso used collagelike techniques to actuelles de la peinture,” 387-88, in Fry, Cubism. 76.
obtain at least three progressively altered versions of this 4. “L'edairage empeche les choses d'apparaitre telles
photograph. He made these versions by placing oblong qu'elles sont." Ibid., 389.
strips of paper over parts of the light-sensitive paper dur¬
5. “Un livre, vu en perspective, peut apparaitre comme un
ing its exposure to the negative, so that parts of the nega¬
mince ruban rectangulaire, alors qu’il est en reality un
tive were not printed. Two of these altered photographs
hexaedre r^gulier. Et cette deformation, qui est celle des
are reproduced in Werner Spies and Christine Piot,
objets places au premier plan, est b^nigne auprfes des mu¬
Picasso Das plastiche Werk, 66-68.
tilations que subissent les autres: partiellement masques,
54. I am grateful to John McCoubrey for calling the angle of d^coupes arbitrairement par ceux qui les pr6c£dent dans
this tabletop to my attention. I’ordre de la profondeur, ils apparaissent contrefaits, ridi¬
cules, meconnaissables.” Ibid., 392 [not in Fry],
 Notes to Pages 92-96 269

6. “Picasso, qui un moment se montra tout pres d’avoir du ing interpretation of Braque’s early papiers coll&s, I have
genie, s’est egare dans des recherches ocultes oil il est im¬ relied to a great extent on the few existing statements
possible de le suivre.” Ibid., 406, in Fry, Cubism, 80. David made by the artist. This is obviously open to the objection
Cottington has analyzed Riviere’s criticism as a manifesta¬ that statements made at later periods of Braque’s life can¬
tion of his conservative political views, which led him to not be taken as reliable evidence of ideas he held before
interpret Cubism within the framework of classical princi¬ the war. Braque’s published statements and interviews,
ples of law and order: see “Cubism, Law, and Order: The however, are remarkably consistent in their insistence
Criticism of Jacques Riviere,” 744-49. upon his interest in local color, the materialization of
7. “Conception et vision,” in Fry, Cubism, 94-97. space, the tactility of objects and of the work of art. Unlike
Picasso’s statements, which are notoriously contradictory
8. Ibid., 94.
and sometimes deliberately misleading, Braque’s seem to
9. Salon de juin: Troisieme exposition de la Socidtd nor- me to be an honest attempt to recall the issues important
mande de Peinture Moderne, ex. cat. (Rouen: 15 June—1 to him before the war. This is not to say that they provide
July 1912), in Fry, Cubism, 93. an adequate interpretation of the early papiers colitis, for I
10. For an excellent analysis of the often overlooked differ¬ will argue that in the end the works are more contradic¬
ences within Cubist criticism, see J. M. Nash, “The Nature tory and paradoxical than the ideas expressed verbally.
of Cubism: A Study of Conflicting Explanations,” 435-47. I 15. Kahnweiler, The Rise of Cubism, 10-15.
would add only that the neo-Kantianism Nash has identi¬
16. This is one of the canonical interpretations of the in¬
fied as the basis for the views of critics such as Olivier-
vention of papier colle. See, for example, Golding, Cubism,
Hourcade, Raynal, and Kahnweiler is based, at least in
105.
part, on a (creative) misreading. While it is true that these
writers cite Kant approvingly for having distinguished be¬ 17. Richard Shiff discusses the classical distinction be¬
tween the phenomenon and the “thing in itself,” they seem tween the imitation and the copy in “Representation,
to have forgotten in practice his claim that the “thing in it¬ Copying, and the Technique of Originality,” 333-63, and
self" cannot be known. The neo-Kantianism of Kahnweiler “The Original, the Imitation, the Copy, and the Sponta¬
especially is, in my view, a distortion of Kant’s thought, in neous Classic: Theory and Painting in Nineteenth-Century
favor of retaining the idea that the absolute truth can be France,” 27-54.
known through recourse to the a priori structures of the 18. In the critical formulation proposed by Quatremere de
mind. Cubism becomes for Kahnweiler a vehicle of this su¬ Quincy, the “imitative arts” were called on to distinguish
perior knowledge. This deformation of Kant’s thought oc¬ themselves from the products of purely mechanical repro¬
curs despite the fact that, of all the early Cubist theorists, duction, in which the necessary difference between an im¬
Kahnweiler had devoted the most serious study to Kant’s age and its model was effaced by the identity of mere
philosophy, and thus demonstrates the enormous need to repetition. Despite claims to universality, Quatrem^re’s
explain Cubism as an art concerned with the revelation of ideas are poised at a particular transitional historical mo¬
truth. ment: just after the potentially negative effects of the in¬
dustrial revolution on the fine arts could be seen, but just
11. “Des critiques bien intentionnes expliquent la differ¬
before the equally dramatic effects of the mechanical
ence remarquable entre les formes attributes a la nature
reproduction of images (photography, cheap chromo¬
et celles de la peinture actuelle, par la volontt de repre¬
lithography) would become a social fact of life. Thus
senter les choses non telles qu’elles paraissent mais telles
Quatremere does not consider the role of the mechanically
qu'elles sont. Comment sont-elles? D’apres eux l’objet pos-
produced image in his schema, but only mechanically pro¬
sederait une forme absolue, essentielle, et ce serait pour la
duced objects in general. See Antoine Chrysostome Qua¬
delivrer que nous supprimerions le clair obscur et la per¬
tremere de Quincy, An Essay on the Nature, the End, and
spective traditionnels. Quelle simplicity! Un objet n’a pas
the Means of Imitation in the Fine Arts, trans. J. C. Kent
une forme absolue, il en a plusieurs, il en a autant qu’il y a
(London: Smith, Elder and Co., [1823] 1837).
de plans dans le domaine de la signification.” Du Cubisme,
30, in Fry, Cubism, 110 (translation amended). 19. See Grammaire des arts du dessin, 488.

12. “Die moderne Malerei,” DerSturm, nos. 148-49 (Berlin: 20. Unlike Quatremere, Blanc emphasizes a conception of
February 1913), in Fry, Cubism, 112. art in which the ideal and the real are synthesized.

13. Ibid., 113. 21. Cited in Eugenio Donato, “The Museum’s Furnace,” 214.
This is one of the possible scenarios for the ending of the
14. “Pensees et reflexions sur la peinture,” 3-5, in Fry, Cub¬
novel, which was left unfinished on the author’s death.
ism. 147. See especially the statements numbered 15, 16,
and 17 in Fry, which form a group. In proposing the follow¬ 22. “Tant il est vrai que I’homme est impuissant a imiter
materiellement l’inimitable nature, et que dans Part du
peintre les objets naturels sont introduits, non pas pour se
 Notes to Pages 96-99 270

repr£senter eux-memes, mais pour repr£senter une con¬ 35. “Bientot j’ai meme inverse la perspective, la pyramide
ception de I’artiste; tant il est vrai, enfin, que le signe est des formes, pour qu elle aille vers moi, pour qu elle abou-
plutot un moyen convenu d’expression qu'un proc£d£ ab- tisse au spectateur.” Jacques Lassaigne, “Un Entretien avec
solument imitatif, puisque le dernier degr£ de l imitation Georges Braque,” 4.
est precisement celui ou elle ne signifie plus rien.” Blanc, 36. “Alors je commen<;ai a faire surtout des natures
Grammaire des arts du dessin, 488. mortes, parce que dans la nature il y a un espace tactile, je
23. "L’artiste, de toute n£cessite, aura la tache de soi- dirais presque manuel. Je Lai 6crit du reste: ‘Quand une
gneusement 6viter cette antinomie de tout art: la v£rit£ nature morte n’est plus a la portae de la main, elle cesse
concrete, I'illusionnisme, le trompe-l’oeil, de fa<;on h ne d’etre une nature morte.’ Cela r£pondait pour moi au desir
point donner par son tableau cette fallacieuse impression que j’ai toujours eu de toucher la chose et non seulement
de nature qui agirait sur le spectateur comme la nature de la voir.” “La peinture et nous,” 16.
elle-meme, c’est-a-dire sans suggestion possible.” Albert 37. Some critics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth
Aurier, “Le Symbolisme en peinture,” 162. centuries, such as Adolf Hildebrand, argued that strictly
24. In her memoirs, Fernande Olivier asserted, “On sait que speaking one cannot see the third dimension since the op¬
le petit bourgeois frangais n’admire en art que ce qui lui tical image is two-dimensional. If human beings neverthe¬
parait la copie exacte de la nature.” [One knows that the less learn to “perceive” depth, it is by associating visual
French petit bourgeois doesn’t admire anything in art but clues such as perspectival diminution, light and shade, rel¬
that which appears to him to be the exact copy of nature.] ative distinctness, etc. with prior kinetic and tactile experi¬
Picasso et ses amis, 6. ences. See Adolf Hildebrand, The Problem of Form in
Painting and Sculpture. This book, translated into French
25. “Quant a moi je n’ai jamais eu un but en tete. 'Le but
from the original German in 1903, seems to have been fa¬
est une servitude’, a ecrit Nietzsche, je crois, et c’est vrai.”
miliar to many artists and theorists, including Gleizes and
[As for me, I have never had a goal in mind. ‘A goal is a
Metzinger. See Le probleme de la forme dans les arts figu-
servitude,’ wrote Nietzsche, I believe, and it’s true.] “La
Peinture et nous,” 14. ratifs, trans. Georges M. Baltus (Paris: E. Bouillon, [1903]).
For a discussion of the two senses of tactile—texture and
26. “Si j’ai eu une intention, elle a ete de m’accomplir au
proximate space—in Braque’s work, see Yve-Alain Bois,
jour le jour. En m’accomplissant il se trouve que ce que je
“The Semiology of Cubism.”
fais ressemble a un tableau. Chemin faisant je continue,
voila.” Ibid., 14. 38. “Du reste, je travaillais d’apres nature. C’est meme ce
qui m’a aiguille vers la nature morte. Je trouvais la un 616-
27. Gris shared this desire to distinguish himself from the
ment plus objectif que le paysage. La decouverte de l’es-
artisan. According to Raynal, if he did not wish to imitate
pace tactile qui mettait mon bras en mouvement devant le
already flat images, it was in order not to “[fall] back into
paysage m’invitait a chercher un contact sensible plus
imitation or into the preoccupation with skill which is the
proche encore.” Cited in Lassaigne, “Un Entretien avec
preserve of the painters of shop signs.” “L’Exposition de la
Georges Braque,” 6.
Section d’Or,” 100.
39. This might also be read as an attempt to privilege the
28. “On en vint a vanter I’habilete des peintres en batiment
index over the icon. In this sense there is, of course, a link
qui tirent tant de marbre et tant de bois pr£cieux de car-
with the nineteenth-century tendency to emphasize the
rieres et de forSts imaginaires.” La jeune sculpture fran-
artist’s touch and the materiality of the paint itself. Richard
gaise. 13, in Fry, Cubism, 140.
Shiff has discussed the relation of icon and index in Picas¬
29. “Personne ne songeait, toutefois, a imiter ces adroits so’s collage practice in “Picasso’s Touch: Collage, Papier
artisans.” Ibid., 14, in Fry, Cubism, 141. Colle, Ace of Clubs." 38-47.
30. In Fry, Cubism, 141, La jeune sculpture frangaise, 14. 40. I am grateful to John McCoubrey for his observations
31. “La vraisemblance n’est que trompe-l'oeil.” Le Jour et on the spatial ambiguities of this papier colle.
la nuit, Cahiers de Georges Braque, 1917-1952, 15. 41. “C’est ce gout tres prononc6 pour la mati6re elle-meme
32. “Il faut choisir: une chose ne peut etre a la fois vraie et qui m’a pouss6 a envisager les possibilites de la matifere.
vraisemblable.” Ibid., 20. J'ai voulu faire de la touche une forme de mati6re.” “La
peinture et nous,” 17.
33. “La Peinture et nous,” 13.
42. “Je voyais combien la couleur depend de la mati6re.
34. “L’espace visuel s£pare les objets les un des autres.
Prenez un exemple: trempez deux tissus blancs, mais de
L’espace tactile nous s£pare des objets. Le touriste regarde
mature differente dans la meme teinture, leur couleur sera
le site. L’artilleur touche le but (la trajectoire est le pro-
different. II va de soi que cette dependance qui lie la cou¬
longement du bras).” Le Jour et la nuit, 26.
leur a la matiere est encore plus sensible en peinture. Et
ce qui me plaisait beaucoup etait, precis6ment cette ‘ma-
terialite’ qui m’etait donnee par les diverses matieres que
j’introduisais dans mes tableaux.” Ibid., 17.
 Notes to Pages 99-107 271

43. "La couleur agit simultanement avec la forme, mais n’a evident that what is meant by anecdotal are the contingent
rien a faire avec elle.” Ibid. (changing) effects of light and shadow: “Le trompe l’oeil
44. The rest of this papier colle, executed in friable char¬ n’est que I’illusion du reel du a une coincidance qui consti-
coal, was left unvarnished. Braque frequently used pins to tue un fait simple.—exemple—un crayon noir sur un pa¬
determine the placement of his faux bois paper. This also pier blanc que l’ombre portee dytache.” Below this, in two
allowed him to remove his collage elements for varnishing opposing columns one reads: "1 fait simple (relief) coin¬
prior to the final process of gluing them to the paper cidance—opposition lumiere ombre” and “1. f. simple sans
support. coincidance—faux bois.” For a reproduction of this text,
see Braque, les papiers collds, 182. Although Braque un¬
45. That Braque thought of overlapping as a substitute for
doubtedly provided Reverdy with these ideas, the presence
classical perspective can be seen from the description he
of this text in the poet’s hand reveals that he was responsi¬
gave Lassaigne of his method of painting the Estaque land¬
ble for the final wording of the statement.
scapes: “1 say farewell to the vanishing point. And, to avoid
a projection towards the infinite, 1 interpose planes over¬ 50. “Ce n’est pas assez de faire voir ce qu’on peint, il faut
lapping a short distance. To let it be understood that encore le faire toucher.” Le Jour et la nuit, 10.
things are in front of each other instead of departing into 51. Le Lauabo must have been completed or nearly com¬
space.” [Je dis adieu au point de fuite. Et, pour eviter une pleted by 1 October 1912, when a review discussing this
projection vers l’infini, j'interpose des plans superposes a collage was published in Gil Bias, in advance of the open¬
une faible distance. Pour faire comprendre que Ies choses ing of the exhibition.
sont l une devant l'autre au lieu de se repartir dans l’es-
52. Gris would have been unable to see Braque’s early pa¬
pace.] “Un Entretien avec Georges Braque,” 4. Leo Stein¬ piers codes since the latter remained in the south of
berg has noted the existence of this method of overlapping France until November. It is possible he heard about them
in Braque’s work as early as the Large Nude of 1908 (con¬ from Picasso, who returned to Paris from Sorgues on 23
versation with the author). September, but this leaves very little time indeed for Gris
46. “Statements to Teriade, 1929-30,” in Matisse on Art, ed. to react to news of Braque’s innovations.
Jack Flam, 58. Interestingly, Gleizes and Metzinger ex¬ 53. Mark Rosenthal called attention to the allegorical juxta¬
pressed a similar view of “the connectedness of color and position of “an anecdotal world of appearance and a realm
form” in their book, Du Cubisme: “Toute inflexion de la of metamorphosis,” in both Man in the Cafe and The Watch
forme se double d’une modification de la couleur, toute in Juan Gris, 34. As Rosenthal remarks, “It is as if the cur¬
modification de la couleur engendre une forme,” 28-29. tain is pulled back for our entrance from the perceptual
[All inflexion of form is doubled in a modification of color, world to another, Cubist milieu” (34).
all modification of color engenders a form.) These com¬
54. This antinomy was clearly articulated by Maurice
ments, which were published in October of 1912, just one
Raynal, a close friend of Gris, in an article titled “Concep¬
month after the invention of papier colle, demonstrate the
tion et vision,” published in Gil Bias on 29 August 1912,
distance that separates the ideas of Picasso and Braque
shortly before the opening of the Section d’Or exhibition.
from those of the Puteaux Cubists.
See n. 7 above.
47. “Les sens deforment, l’esprit forme.” “Pensees et reflex¬
55. All the works exhibited by Gris at the Section d’Or were
ions sur la peinture,” 4, in Fry, Cubism, 147.
given numbers instead of conventional titles in order to
48. “C’etaient des formes ou il n’y avait rien a deformer emphasize their conceptual status. Critics reviewing the
parce que, etant des aplats, les lettres etaient hors l’espace exhibition occasionally made up titles in referring to Gris’s
et leur presence dans le tableau, par contraste, permettait works, and this has caused some confusion in subsequent
de distinguer les objets qui se situaient dans l’espace de histories as to which works were actually exhibited.
ceux qui etaient hors l’espace.” “La peinture et nous,” 16.
56. See statement by Raynal concerning Le Lavabo above,
49. In Fry, Cubism, 148, “Pensees et reflexions sur la pein¬ chap. 1.
ture,” 5. Recent publication of the manuscript version of
57. “11 parait qu’il est impossible a un artiste consciencieux
Braque’s “text” reveals that it was much elaborated on by
de reproduire un miroir sur la toile. Si l’on veut en faire
Reverdy prior to publication in Nord-Sud. In portions of
une imitation parfaite, cela semble, en effet, pratiquement
this text, which is entirely in Reverdy’s hand, the opposi¬
impossible. On ne peut arriver a donner l’eclat de la glace,
tion of faux bois and trompe 1’oeil emerges more clearly
et comme elle reflete des miliiers d’objets qui passent de¬
than it does in the published version, which reads: “Le
vant elle, on ne peut, a moins d’etre futuriste, les repro¬
trompe l’oeil est du a un hasard anecdotique qui s’impose
duire tous. C’est a la suite de le raisonnement assez
par la simplicity des faits.” [Trompe 1’oeil is due to an an¬
curieux que le cubiste Juan Gris a decide de n’y pas aller
ecdotal accident that makes its effect through the simplic¬
par ruses. Quant a peindre une table de toilette bien achal-
ity of the facts.] In the manuscript version it becomes
andee, il a tout simplement colle une veritable glace sur
 Notes to Pages 107-23 272

son tableau.” “Les Arts,” Gil Bias (1 October 1912), 4. The 71. “Pensees et reflexions sur la peinture,” in Fry, Cubism,
author of this note was probably Louis Vauxcelles, who 148.
would have been told about this innovation and the line of 72. “J’ai I’esprit trop precis pour salir un bleu ou tordre
reasoning behind it by Apollinaire and Raynal. The author une ligne droite.” Letter to Kahnweiler dated 4 December
clearly had not yet seen the collage in question, since he 1914, cited in Donation Louise et Michel Leiris, 55.
wondered whether Gris had included other objects as well.
73. Maurice Raynal, “Juan Gris et la metaphore plastique,
58. See "Les Arts,” Gil Bias (14 October 1912), 4. (A propos de son Exposition a la Galerie Simon),” 63-65.
59. “Mais si on demeure devant l’effort cubiste porte la 74. “Le calembour ne repond a aucune ndcessite construc¬
plus bienveillante sympathie, il n'est point encore temps tive," Ibid., 64.
d'admirer; il faudrait d’ailleurs que Lon renonc;at ft
75. “Au contraire, la mdtaphore plastique, elle, contient
quelques fantaisies baroques, a l’insertion d’dclats de
une vdrite de jugement, elle est une sorte de synthase qui
verre dans les tableaux, qu’on ne cherche pas a faire croire
ddcoule 16gitimement de la confrontation d’dldments de
qu’un chiffre ou qu'un caract^re d’imprimerie a une valeur
meme quality.” Ibid.
picturale." “La Section d’Or (Galerie la Boetie),” 181-82.
76. “Lorsque Juan Gris dans le domaine plastique estime,
60. Douglas Cooper, Juan Gris, l:xxi.
sur I’injonction de son imagination que plusieurs groupes
61. Leon Battista Alberti, On Painting, 51, 56, 64. d’elements paralleles sont necessaires a Fharmonie gdne-
62. Leonardo da Vinci, A Treatise on Painting, 57-58, 60, rale de son tableau, il n'hesite pas, a repeter la meme idee
216-17. plastique en termes differents.” Ibid., 65.

63. Alberti, On Painting, 94. 77. It is possible to establish an order among these images
like the order that distinguished the reflections in Plato’s
64. Letter from Gris to Kahnweiler dated 17 September
cave on the basis of how removed from reality (the idea)
1913 from Ceret, cited in Kahnweiler, Juan Gris, His Life
the various images of images had become. On the other
and Work, 86.
hand, Gris might have regarded the most concretely pre¬
65. James Thrall Soby, for example, in citing Gris’s letter,
sent images (including, for example, the real page of a
cannot help but express his “astonishment” at the artist’s
novel) as those which were least true since they had not
statement and his relief that no substitutions were made.
originated in his mind.
See Juan Gris, 22-26.
78. The story Gris cut out of Le Journal was a protest
66. The radical nature of Gris’s assertion that the engraving
against the deplorable influence of bad German taste on
in Violin and Engraving could be replaced is somewhat un¬
the women of Paris. It reads: “[...] la deplorable influ¬
dercut in the case of The Guitar, by the harmony of light
ence de [ . . . ] gout teuton qui corrom[pt] les [ . . . ] de
brown and black tints that Gris established between the
Paris que je proteste, que tout le monde proteste! La Pari-
collaged print and the painted guitar.
sienne est no[tre] idole; c’est la charmante incarnation de
67. For this reason Gris did not generally paint or draw notre gout, de notre chic national, et traditionnel. On a
over his collage elements in his earliest collages. This classe et mis sous la protection de la lois les monuments,
would have been to integrate more fully the “image” into les rues, les places, les eglises de Paris. Eh bien! nous de-
the realm of the imagination and, consequently, to dimin¬ mandons que 1’on [...]” Perhaps Gris intended to allude
ish the contrast between those elements the artist has indirectly and humorously to contemporary attacks on
merely appropriated and those he has transformed accord¬ Cubism itself as a German art movement that was having a
ing to a conceptual schema. nefarious influence on traditional French taste and values
68. In another work of 1913, Pears and Grapes on a Table, in art.
Gris used paint to simulate not only wood grain, but also 79. “Je crois que j’ai fait depuis quelque temps assez de
chair-caning and the newspaper title “Le Mjatin].” progres et que mes toiles commencent a avoir une unite
69. “Je emploie un peu de pusiere contre notre orrible toile dont elles manquaient. Ce ne sont plus ces inventaires
[sic].” Cited in Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, “Braque, la len- d'objet qui tant me decourageaient autrefois.” Letter from
teur de la peinture,” in Georges Braque, les papiers colics, Gris to Kahnweiler dated 26 March 1914, cited in Donation
41. Louise et Michel Leiris, 55.

70. Jean Cocteau reported that Gris was proud of having 80. “Evidemment c’est de la decoration. Il ne faut pas avoir
been the first artist to paint a siphon (as early as 1910). peur des mots lorsqu’on sait ce qu’ils signifient, mais tout
See Rosenthal, Juan Gris, 40. Fie was preceded in this, la peinture a toujours ete de la decoration.” Letter from
however, by Gauguin’s Night Cafd of November 1888. Gris to Kahnweiler dated 20 February 1921. Ibid., 58.

81. “. . . de subdivisions prismatiques de l’Idee . . . “Pre¬

face” to “Un Coup de des,” Oeuvres, 455.
 Notes to Pages 123-28 273

82. “La poesie consistant a crker, il taut prendre dans lame 12. “C’est tres bien comme ga. Qu’il n’aime pas ga! Nous
humaine des etats, des lueurs d’une purete si absolue que, arriverons bien a degouter tout le monde.” Cited in Kahn¬
bien chant^s et bien mis en lumifere, cela constitue en effet weiler, Mes Galeries et mes peintres, 62. More information
les joyaux de I’homme: la, il y a symbole, il y a creation, et on this letter, including the date, is provided in Werner
le mot po6sie a ici son sens: c’est, en somme, la seule cre¬ Spies, “Vendre des tableaux—donner a lire,” in Daniel-
ation humaine possible.” “Sur revolution Iitteraire,” Henry Kahnweiler, marchand, iditeur, kcrivain, 20, 110.
Oeuvres, 870.
13. This forty-page brochure was published on 1 February
1912 to encourage the development of military aviation.
Chapter 5. Cubist Collage, the Public, and the Culture See Daix and Rosselet, Le Cubisme de Picasso, 278.
of Commodities
14. Kahnweiler, who demanded above all moral integrity,

1. See P. M. Adema, Guillaume Apollinaire, 232. According autonomy, and purity of a work of art, felt that these news¬

to Adema, the subscribers who did not cancel included paper drawings did not represent the true Gris. He did not

Jean Seve, Raoul Dufy, Sonia Delaunay, Stuart Merrill, Mol¬ even believe they had the value of drawing exercises for
Gris. Kahnweiler regretted that some of these old journals,
ina, and Ambroise Vollard. This was the first issue to ap¬
turning up at auctions, had begun to sell for high prices.
pear under the new direction of Apollinaire.
He asserted that Gris, who had renounced these drawings
2. Gertrude Stein, Picasso: “Life between 1910 and 1912
and who had done them only in order to earn his living,
was very gay ... at this time Picasso commenced to amuse
would have been displeased at this turn of events. See
himself with making pictures out of zinc, tin, pasted paper.
Kahnweiler, Mes Galeries et mes peintres, 69-70.
He did not do any sculpture, but he made pictures with all
15. “A une epoque de grande detresse, on lui proposa de
these things. There is only one left of those made of paper
faire une Assiette au beurre, journal humoristique en
and that he gave me one day and I had it framed inside a
vogue a l’epoque et dont il eut pu tirer sept a huit cents
box.” (26) The construction referred to in this passage is
francs. II refusa (mergiquement, voire herofquement.” Oli¬
D / R 582, Guitarist with Sheet Music.
vier, Picasso et ses amis, 55-56.
3. Braque exhibited for the last time at the Salon des Ind6-
16. Thomas Crow has brought attention to the importance
pendants in the spring of 1909.
of this issue for modernist art in general in a seminal arti¬
4. Picasso did exhibit one painting, titled Derniers Mo¬
cle: “Modernism and Mass Culture in the Visual Arts,” 215-
ments, at the Universal Exhibition of 1900.
64.
5. Vollard did, however, resume buying some of Picasso’s
17. Douglas Cooper and Gary Tinterow, The Essential Cub¬
paintings in 1909 and 1910. ism: Braque, Picasso and their Friends, 1907-1920.
6. Malcolm Gee, Dealers, Critics, and Collectors of Modern 18. This exhibition, occasioned by the donation of a sub¬
Painting: Aspects of the Parisian Art Market between 1910
stantial number of works in the Kahnweiler-Leiris collec¬
and 1930, 14. tion, was accompanied by two catalogues, both of which
7. Fernande Olivier, Picasso et ses amis, 158. published much previously unknown correspondence be¬
8. Principal among these were Gertrude and Leo Stein, tween Kahnweiler and the artists he represented. See Do¬
Hermann Rupf, Roger Dutilleul, Wilhelm Uhde, Sergei nation Louise et Michel Leiris, Collection Kahnweiler-Leiris,

Shchukin, and VicenC Kramar. and Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, marchand, kditeur, eerwam.

9. Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Mes galeries et mes peintres, 19. Baxandall, Patterns of Intention: On the Historical Ex¬
planation of Pictures, 41-72.
58-59.
10. “Nous n’avons plus jamais expose publiquement, ce qui 20. David Cottington, “What the Papers Say: Politics and

vous prouve bien le mepris absolu dans lequel nous ten- Ideology in Picasso’s Collages of 1912," 350-59. Similar

ions non seulement la critique mais aussi la grande views are expressed in Cottington’s article “Cubism, Aes¬

foule. ... Or, a cette epoque, les gens se rendaient aux In¬ theticism, Modernism,” in Rubin, Picasso and Braque: Pi¬

dependants pour se facher et pour rire. Il y avait des oneering Cubism, vol. 2.

bandes de gens devant certains tableaux qui se tordaient 21. “What the Papers Say,” 353-54.
ou qui poussaient des cris de fureur. Nous n’avions aucune 22. See n. 12 above.
envie de nous exposer ni a leur fureur ni a leur rire; done,
23. For the full citation, see chap. 1, n. 9.
nous ne montrions plus les tableaux.” Ibid., 59-60.
24. This debate, which took place in the pages of Lacerba
11. It should be remarked, however, that Picasso attended
in February and March of 1914, is discussed more fully in
the salons he refused to participate in, and that several of
chapter 6 below.
his friends have recorded the caustic remarks he made in
front of the works of the “Cubists.” Thus he became part of
the mocking public who derided the works of the Puteaux
Cubists and other artists.
 Notes to Pages 128-38 274

25. “What the Papers Say,” 356-58. gard, il importe peu que la substance soit vraie, puisque la
contrefagon n’a pas 6t6 imagin^e, cette fois, dans Finten-
26. “Je jugeais que la personne du peintre n’avait pas a in-
tion de rangonner l’acheteur, mais, au contraire, afin de
tervenir et que par consequent les tableaux devaient etre
multiplier ses plaisirs en m^nageant ses ressources.”
anonymes. C’est moi qui deddai qu’il ne fallait pas signer
Blanc, “Du papier peint,” 59-60.
les toiles et pour un certain temps Picasso en (it autant.
Du moment que quelqu’un pouvait faire la meme chose 30. “C’est surtout par la bordure que les tableaux, gravures
que moi, je pensais qu’il n’y avait point de difference ou dessins doivent s’enlever sur le papier peint, parce
entre les tableaux et il ne fallait pas qu’ils soient signes.” qu’une fois isol6es par leur encadrement, les choses en-
“Braque, La peinture et nous,” 18. Later Braque reversed cadr^es auront toute leur valeur si le papier du fond n’a
his position, coming to believe in the value of the revela¬ rien qui attire l’oeil.” Ibid., 76.
tion of the self. The statement quoted above is followed 31 Ibid., 76-77.
with this reflection: “Later I understood that all that was
32. “Le papier peint avec les moyens les plus rudimen-
not true, and I began again to sign my canvases. Besides
taires de gravures, tirage et matures, nous a laiss6 des de¬
Picasso had also recommenced. I understood that without
cors que Ton souhaiterait d’6galer aujourd’hui. Depuis un
tics,' without the sensible trace of the person, one cannot
demi-si6cle l’emploi et la perfection des machines avaient
reveal oneself. But all the same, one shouldn’t exaggerate
contribu£ a supprimer tout l’int^ret artistique. Ces re-
in this sense . . .” [Apr6s je compris que tout cela n’6tait
cherches se bornant a Limitation de matures differentes
pas vrai et je recommengai a signer mes toiles. Picasso du
(cretonnes, soies, velours, cuirs, etc.) et allant ainsi a l’en-
reste, avait recommence lui aussi. Je compris que sans
contre du but propose.” See Andr6 Mare, “Le papier peint,”
“tics” sans la trace sensible de la personne, on ne peut pas
13.
se reveler. Mais tout de meme il ne faut pas exagerer dans
ce sens . . . j, 18. 33. “Le papier de tenture pendait en lambeaux des murs en
planches.” Kahnweiler, Mes Galeries et mes peintres, 55.
27. “Les belles inventions de notre temps, . . . inspires par
la pensee de diminuer les privileges de la fortune, en fais- 34. The Mus6e des arts decoratifs opened in 1905. For the
ant participer le grand nombre aux bienfaits de I'industrie history and purpose of this new museum, see the Mercure
humaine et aux jouissances que procure le beau. 11 etait de France (1 August 1905), 459-60.
naturel au surplus que I’avenement de la democratic coin- 35. The wallpaper border of Picasso’s collage Glass (Jucker
cidat avec un desir presque universel d’augmenter le bien- Collection) was removed at some point and replaced with
etre de la classe la plus nombreuse, et d’inventer pour el le, a real, carved frame. Both Glass and Bottle of Bass (private
sinon l’equivalent du luxe, au moins ce qui pourrait lui en collection) and Pipe and Musical Score (Museum of Fine
donner le mirage.” Charles Blanc, “Du papier peint,” Gram- Arts, Houston) have real frames which now enclose the
maire des arts decoratifs, 58. wallpaper frames but leave them visible.
28. Ibid. There is some irony in Blanc’s association of the 36. “A l’origine, l’arabesque pure, aussi peu trompe-l’oeil
Revolution and Reveillon. This industrialist, whose wallpa¬ que possible; un mur est vide: le remplir avec des taches
pers had born the royal arms from 1784 to 1789, was one symetriques de forme, harmonieuses de couleurs (vitraux,
of the Revolution’s first victims. Reveillon’s factory was pil¬ peintures egyptiennes, mosaiques byzantines, kakemonos).
laged, and he lost all his stock of paper, drawings, and Vient le bas-relief peint (les metopes des temples grecs,
printing equipment as well as his Royal Medal. Afraid of l’eglise du Moyen-Age.
further reprisals, Reveillon turned himself in as a voluntary Puis I’essai de trompe-l’oeil ornemental de l’antiquite est
prisoner to the Bastille, where he remained during most of repris par le XVe siecle, remplagant le bas-relief peint par
May 1789. After this interlude, he fled across the English la peinture au models de bas-relief, ce qui conserve d’ail-
Channel and later died in England. For the history of the leurs l’idee premiere de decoration . . .
French wallpaper industry, see Henri Clouzot, Le papier Perfectionnement de ce models models de ronde bosse;
peint en France du XVII' au XIX' stecle (Paris: Les Editions cela m6ne des premieres Academies des Carraches a notre
G. van Oest, 1931), and Henri Clouzot and Charles Follot, decadence. L’Art c’est quand ^a tourne.” “Definition du
Histoire du papier peint en France (Paris: Editions d’art Neo-Traditionnisme,” Art et critique (23 and 30 August
Charles Moreau, 1935). Catherine Lynn, Wallpaper in 1890), repr. in Theories, 1890-1910, 7.
America from the Seventeenth Century to World War / (New
37. “La peinture decorative c’est, a proprement parler, la
York: W. W. Norton, 1980), also contains some valuable in¬
vraie peinture. La peinture n’a pu etre creee que pour dd-
formation on French wallpaper.
corer de pensees, de reves et d’idees les murales banalites
29. “Des que la sensation que procurent ces belles produc¬ des edifices humains. Le tableau de chevalet n’est qu’un il-
tions de I’industrie n’est troublee sur aucun point, n’est logique raffinement invente pour satisfaire la fantaisie ou
gatee par aucune apprehension, par aucun scrupule du re¬ I’esprit commercial des civilisations decadentes.” Aurier,
“Le Symbolisme en peinture, Paul Gauguin,” 163.
 Notes to Pages 138-42 275

38. “11s pens^rent ramener l’Art a la simplesse de son d6- ture. C'est ce qui se fait generalement par la simple habi¬
but, alors que sa destination decorative 6tait encore incon- tude.” Ibid., 88.
testee." Maurice Denis, “A propos de l'exposition d’A.
48. Emile de Girardin first experimented with cutting sub¬
Seguin," La Plume {1 March 1895), repr. in Theories 1890-
scription costs in early 1835, when he founded Le Journal
1910, 23.
des connaissances utiles. This journal’s successor, La
39. Quoted in Pierre Schneider, Matisse, 177. Presse, first appeared on 1 July 1836 at a cost of forty
40. “A Talk with Matisse,” in Flam, Matisse on Art, 51. francs per year rather than the standard eighty francs. Gir¬
ardin reasoned that it would be easier to acquire ten thou¬
41. These paintings were commissioned by the wealthy
sand subscribers at the lower rate than one thousand at
Russian collector, Sergei Shchukin, to decorate a stairway
the higher rate. His success was even greater than he had
in his palace.
anticipated; after three months, La Presse counted twenty
42. For an excellent analysis of Matisse’s Interior with thousand subscribers. See Henri Avenel, Histoire de la
Eggplants as an expression of the artist’s decorative ideal, presse frangaise depuis 1789 jusqu' a nos jours, 368.
see Dominique Fourcade, “Rever a trois aubergines .. . ,”
49. Walter Benjamin made this observation in his discus¬
467-89. According to Fourcade, Matisse painted an original
sion of the feuilleton in Charles Baudelaire: A Lyric Poet in
"faux cadre,” consisting of a pink five-petal flower motif,
the Era of High Capitalism, 35.
on the same canvas as the tableau. Although later cut off, a
few centimeters of this frame are still extant, nailed to the 50. Notably, the conservative Journal des Debats was the
only paper not to reduce its price of eighty francs without
edge of the stretcher. Analysis of the black and white pho¬
suffering diminished influence or prosperity. Ibid., 369.
tograph of the definitive version of Interior with Eggplants
suggests that this frame was then replaced with another in 51 For a fascinating discussion of the new serial form and
which Matisse seems to have reversed the relation of the the narrative structures it engendered, see Peter Brooks,
colors with respect to the tableau; the flowers may have “The Mark of the Beast,” in Reading for the Plot: Design
been brownish-red on a blue ground, for example (472— and Intention in Narrative, 143-70.
74). According to Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Matisse claimed that 52. This newspaper, founded the same day as La Presse,
the frame was removed against his wishes: see Matisse, His and with nearly identical principles, eventually became
Art and His Public, 540, n. 7. Fourcade, however, in the ar¬ even more successful than its competitor, attaining a cir¬
ticle cited above, argues it was probably Matisse himself culation of thirty-eight thousand in a few years.
who cut off the frame for aesthetic reasons. Interior with
53. Balzac, who had incurred great debts during his brief
Eggplants proposes a centrifugal view of the decorative
attempt to establish his own printing press, was only too
work of art, which overflows its boundaries to merge with
well aware of the choices faced by a young aspiring writer
the world beyond the frame. According to Fourcade, Ma¬
of his day: an unscrupulous but financially successful ca¬
tisse may have felt that the frame, although painted with
reer as a journalist or a long, arduous attempt to be a
the same decorative motif as the tableau, limits the possi¬
writer of literature, with little hope of recompense. This
bility of infinite extension, and therefore decided to sup¬
theme is the subject of the second part of his three-part
press it. (485)
novel Lost Illusions, in which journalists are characterized
43. “Estienne: Interview with Matisse, 1909,” in Flam, Ma¬ as men of little principle who have turned the press into
tisse on Art, 49. This interview, printed just four months af¬ an instrument for achieving social advancement and politi¬
ter “Notes of a Painter,” omits the famous reference to cal power. Balzac himself, however, had contributed to
painting being like a “good armchair,” which may have many newspapers during the twenties and thirties and had
given rise to some misunderstanding, but otherwise it re¬ even played a role in founding and directing some of them.
peats the earlier statement.
54. Le Petit Journal, founded by Mofse Millaud, revolution¬
44. “Matisse’s Radio Interview: First Broadcast, 1942,” in ized the French press by achieving, almost immediately,
Flam, Matisse on Art, 91. the unheard of circulation of one hundred thousand copies
45. “On s’est mepris sur le vrai sens du cubisme qui etait per day. By 1900 the figure had surpassed one million. This
une ecriture qui se voulait severe, ferme, precise, et on a wide distribution was made possible by use of the rolling
cru qu’il s’agissait simplement de decoration." Mes Galer- press, invented by Hippolyte Marinoni, who eventually be¬
ies et mes peintres, 90. came director of the paper. The presses rotatives could
print forty thousand papers per hour. Other papers were
46. Ibid.
forced to follow suit and eventually five centimes became
47. “Si, comme je le soutiens, la peinture est une ecriture, the standard cost of a daily paper. See Avenel, Histoire de
il est bien evident que toute Ecriture est une convention. II la presse frangaise, 491, 853-65.
faut done accepter cette convention, apprendre cette ecri¬
55. Ibid., 468.

56. Norman Stone, Europe Transformed, 1878-1919, 14.

 Notes to Pages 142—44 276

57. “Le vers est partout dans la langue ou il y a rythme, [Pour moi, le cas d’un poete, en cette sociyty qui ne lui
partout, excepte dans les affiches et a la quatrifeme page permet pas de vivre, c’est le cas d’un homme qui s’isole
des journaux.” “Sur 1’evolution littyraire,” Oeuvres, 867. pour sculpter son propre tombeau ] “Sur Involution Iitt6r-
Not surprisingly, Mallarmy at times also expressed a fasci¬ aire,” Oeuvres, 869.
nation for this demonized other. In the notes to “La Mu- 64. “Le reploiement vierge du livre, encore, prete a un sac¬
sique et les lettres,” we find the following remark on the rifice dont saigna la tranche rouge des anciens tomes; [’in¬
poster and the newspaper: “L’affiche, lapidaire, envahis- troduction d’une arme, ou coupe-papier, pour ytablir la
sant le journal—souvent elle me fit songer comme devant prise de possession. . . . Les plis perpytueront une marque,
un parler nouveau et l’originalit6 de la Presse,” Oeuvres, intacte, conviant a ouvrir, fermer la feuille, selon le maitre.
655. [The poster, with its pithy phrases, invading the news¬ Si aveugle et peu un proc6d6, l’attentat qui se consomme,
paper—often it sets me dreaming as if before a new speech dans la destruction d’une frele inviolability.” “Le Livre, in¬
and the originality of the press. | strument spirituel,” Oeuvres, 381.
58. From the context of this statement, it is clear that Mal¬ 65. Jacques Derrida has discussed the paradoxical mean¬
larmy intends to contrast literature with journalism. At ings of the “fold” in Mallarmy’s writing in “The Double Ses¬
times in his critical essays, however, the term literature as¬ sion,” 173-286. As Derrida puts it, “But in the same blow,
sumes a negative value in relation to the pure art of so to speak, the fold ruptures the virginity it marks as vir¬
poetry. ginity. . . . But after the fact, it still remains what it was, a
59. “Un desire indyniable a mon temps est de s^parer virgin, beforehand, faced with the brandished knife . . .”
comme en vue d’attributions difterentes le double ytat de (259).
la parole, brut ou immediat ici, la essentiel. Narrer, ensei- 66. "Journal, la feuille ytaiye, pleine, emprunte a I’impres-
gner, meme dycrire, cela va et encore qu’a chacun suffirait sion un r£sultat indu, de simple maculature: nul doute que
peut-etre pour echanger la pensee humaine, de prendre ou l’ydatant et vulgaire avantage soit, au vu de tous, la multi¬
de mettre dans la main d’autrui en silence une pifece de plication de l’exemplaire et, gise dans le tirage.” “Le
monnaie, l’emploi eiymentaire du discours dessert l’univer- Livre,” Oeuvres, 380. The use of the word gise should be
sel reportage dont, la literature except6e, participe tout noted. Mallarme had already suggested that a tome (book)
entre les genres d'ecrits contemporains.” “Crise de vers,” was like a tombeau (tomb) for the writer of literature.
Oeuvres, 368. Here, however, through the conjunctions of the sounds
60. “Plutot la Presse, chez nous seuls, a voulu une place gise dans (gisant), he implies that the improper use of the
aux ecrits—son traditionnel feuilleton en rez-de-chaussee press results in a stillborn (horizontal) writing, incapable
longtemps soutint la masse du format entier . . . Mieux, la of flight from the earth. Death and flight are metaphors
fiction proprement dite ou le r£cit, imaginatif, s’ybat au that circulate throughout Mallarme’s opposition of poetry
travers de ‘quotidiens’ achalandys, triomphant it des lieux and journalism, and sometimes they serve to suggest a
principaux, jusqu’au sommet; en deloge Particle de fond, hidden relationship between these two apparently contra¬
ou d’actualite, apparu secondaire.” “Etalages,” Oeuvres, dictory forms of writing.
376. 67. “Une monotonie—toujours l’insupportable colonne
61. “Personne ne fit d'allusion aux vers.” Ibid., 373. qu’on s’y contente de distribuer, en dimensions de page,
62. Here Mallarme is speaking of debased forms of litera¬ cent et cent fois.” Ibid., 381.
ture, such as the roman feuilleton. This negatively valued 68. See Marinetti, “Destruction of Syntax—Imagination
literature is opposed to poetry in the ideal form of the without Strings—Words-in-Freedom,” in Apollonio, Futurist
book. See n. 58 above. Manifestos, 96.
63. “Je . . . techniquement, propose, de noter comment ce 69. “Mon sens regrette que le discours dyfaille a exprimer
lambeau differe du livre, lui supreme. Un journal reste le les objets par des touches y repondant en coloris ou en al¬
point de depart; la litterature s’y decharge a souhait. lure, lesquelles existent dans l’instrument de la voix, parmi
Or— les langages et quelquefois chez un. A coty d'ombre,
Le pliage est, vis-a-vis de la feuille imprim^e grande, un opaque, tbndbres se fonce peu, quelle dyception, devant la
indice, quasi religieux: qui ne frappe pas autant que son perversity confyrant h jour comme a nuit, contradictoire-
tassement, en epaisseur, offrant le minuscule tombeau, ment, des timbres obscur ici, la clair. Le souhait d’un
certes, de l’ame.” Oeuvres, 379. Mallarme had also com¬ terme de splendeur brillant, ou qu’il s’yteigne, inverse;
pared literature to a “tomb" in a passage in “The Evolution quant a des alternatives lumineuses simples—Seulement,
of Literature”: “For me, the situation of the poet in this so¬ sachons n’existerait pas le vers: lui, philosophiquement ry-
ciety that does not permit him to live, is the situation of a munyre le defaut des langues, complyment supyrieur.”
man who isolates himself in order to sculpt his own tomb.” “Crise de vers,” Oeuvres, 364.

70. Mallarmy writes of “le hasard vaincu mot par mot” in

“Le Mystyre dans les lettres,” Oeuvres, 387.
 Notes to Pages 144-47 277

71. Mallarme s famous definition of the symbol appeared in I’autre.] La littdrature de tout a I’heure, 292, n. 1. Morice
his essay "Sur (’evolution litteraire”: “Nommer un object, explained his aversion to journalism in the following
c’est supprimer les trois quarts de la jouissance du poeme terms: “The very idea of selling a poetic object is repug¬
qui est faite de deviner peu a peu: le suggdrer, voila le nant to one’s honor: an archaic and epic point of view . . .
reve. C’est le parfait usage de ce mystere qui constitue le But this very action is contrary to logic since it is la rue du
symbole: evoquer petit a petit un objet pour montrer un Sentier, in the last analysis, that is the arbiter of art as well
etat dame, ou, inversement, choisir un objet et en degager as of commerce, since in other terms, art has become a
un etat d’ame, par une s6rie de dechiffrements.” [To name trade.” [L’idee seule de vendre la chose poetique repugne
an object is to suppress three-quarters of the pleasure of a a I’honneur: point de vue archaique et legendaire. . . Mais
poem which is the product of divining little by little: to le fait meme repugne a la logique depuis que c’est la rue
suggest it, there is the dream. It is the perfect use of this du Sentier, en derniere analyse, qui est Larbitre de Part
mystery that constitutes the symbol: to evoke a bit at a aussi bien que du commerce, depuis, en d’autres termes,
time an object in order to reveal a state of mind, or, in¬ que Part est devenu un commerce.] (291).
versely, to choose an object and to disengage from it a
77. “Le travail d’apres nature etait la derniere sauvegarde
state of mind, through a series of decipherings ] Oeuvres,
du metier de peintre. On est arrive ces dernieres ann6es a
869.
s’en passer completement. On ne fait plus que noter des
72. In his “Autobiographic,” Mallarme described his “spiri¬ sensations, Part n’est plus que le journal de la vie. C’est le
tual book” or "Great Work” as “L'explication orphique de la journalisme dans la peinture .... c’est Poeil qui mange la
Terre,” Oeuvres, 663. tete.” Maurice Denis, “Les Arts a Rome ou la Methode Clas-
73. “La constellation y affectera, d’apres des lois exactes, sique,” Le Spectateur catholique, nos. 22, 24 (1896), repr.
et autant qu'il est permis a un texte imprime, fatalement in Theories 1890-1910, 52-53.
une allure de constellation. Le vaisseau y donne de la 78. Rosalind Krauss, in “The Motivation of the Sign,” in Pi¬
bande, du haut d’une page au bas de l’autre, etc.; . . . le casso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism, vol. 2, argues that in
rythme d'une phrase au sujet d'un acte, ou meme d’un ob¬ the collages executed during the fall of 1912, Picasso’s use
jet, n’a de sens que s’il les imite, et figure sur le papier, re- of newspaper represents a demonstration of the way even
pris par la lettre a I’estampe originelle, n’en sait rendre, this commercial material can assume the characteristics
malgre tout, quelque chose.” Letter from Mallarme to Mallarme had reserved for poetry: the fold, the presence of
Andre Gide written in 1897. Oeuvres, 1582. white spaces, a play on the absence of the material refer¬
74. “Le livre, expansion totale de la lettre, doit d’elle tirer, ent. For Krauss, this takes on special significance in the
directement, une mobilite et spacieux, par correspond- context of Apollinaire’s new interest in Futurism and theo¬
ances, instituer un jeu, on ne sait, qui confirme la fiction. ries of simultaneity, which would have dismayed Picasso.
Rien de fortuit, la, ou semble un hasard capter l’idee, l’ap- While I agree that in Picasso’s collages, newspaper can and
pareil est Legal: ne juger, en consequence, ces propos—in¬ often does take on Mallarmean formal qualities, I also wish
dustries ou ayant trait a une materiality.” “Le Livre,” to maintain a sense of Picasso’s positive engagement with
Oeuvres, 380. mass-cultural forms of expression. This fascination with
commercial artifacts can be observed as early as the
75. “A mon tour, je meconnais le volume et une merveille
spring of 1912 in Picasso’s use of machine-printed oilcloth
qu’intime sa structure, si je ne puis, sciemment, imaginer
in the Still Life with Chair-Caning and in his use of Ripolin
tel motif en vue d’un endroit special, page et la hauteur, a
paint and stenciled letters. Indeed, Apollinaire’s celebra¬
l’orientation de jour la sienne ou quant a I’oeuvre. Plus le
tion of urban posters and advertisements in his poem
va-et-vient successif incessant du regard, une ligne finie, a
Zone, written in September and October of 1912, not only
la suivante, pour recommencer: pareille pratique ne repre¬
suggests a rapprochement with Blaise Cendrars and the
sente le delice, ayant immortellement, rompu, une heure,
Futurists, but may also reflect his awareness of Picasso’s
avec tout, de traduire sa chimere. Autrement ou sauf exe¬
prior interest in this theme, as exemplified by Landscape
cution, comme de morceaux sur un clavier, active, mesu-
with Posters of the summer of 1912.
ree par les feuillets—que ne ferme-t-on les yeux a rever?”
Ibid., 380. 79. Selected Writings of Guillaume Apollinaire, 116-17.

76. Charles Morice, for example, writing in 1889, shared 80. Maurice Raynal reported seeing books by Verlaine,
Mallarme’s views on the distinction between journalism Rimbaud, and Mallarme in Picasso’s studio in the rue Ra-
and literature: “I don’t think I have to specify in what ways vignan (that is, before 1909), in Picasso, 52-53. Picasso
literature and journalism, although they employ the same would also have had occasion to discuss the poetry of Mal¬
alphabet, constitute two arts absolutely foreign to each larme with his many poet friends, including Apollinaire

other.” [Je ne pense pas avoir a specifier en quoi la Littera- and Soffici. The latter described Picasso’s treatment of

ture et le Journalisme, bien qu'ils emploient le meme al¬ form as similar to the elliptical syntax and grammatical

phabet, constituent deux Arts absolument etrangers l’un a transpositions in Mallarme’s poetry in his La Voce article
 Notes to Pages 147-55 278

of 24 August 1911, “Picasso e Braque,” which he sent to ment in contrast to the newspaper which he compared to
Picasso. Picasso read the article in November of 1911 and the sea. It was the newspaper and its mechanical sense of
probably discussed it with Soffici when he visited Paris lettering that Picasso subverted to his own semiotic pur¬
during the spring of 1912. poses. He not only used the newspaper for its form (flat¬
Despite the fact that Un Coup de dds was published in ness) and value (stark dark light contrasts) with many
Cosmopolis in May 1897 and was not republished in its de¬ reversible effects, but began using the letters to create an
finitive typographical version by Gallimard until 1914, the abreviated (s/c] telegraphic poetry. . . . Perhaps there is a
poem and its unusual format seem to have been familiar to more immediate relationship to Apollinaire’s Calligrams
members of the Parisian avant-garde, especially those who and to Alfred Jarry’s puns in this fragmentation process,
frequented the Closerie des Lilas. Paul Valdry, who had sense of surprise, and humor than to Mallarme, but it is
seen the original manuscript and heard Mallarme read it, the latter who began the process." “Picasso’s Musical and
no doubt did a great deal to keep the legend surrounding Mallarm^an Constructions,” 127.
this poem alive, as did Andr6 Gide. Also, Albert Thibau- 85. Musde Picasso, Carnet 109, 1865 / 45.
det's intelligent book La Podsie de Stdphane Mallarmd of
86. Rosenblum, “Picasso and the Typography of Cubism,”
1912 contained a chapter on Un Coup de dds in which the
36.
author described the innovative aspects of the poem:
“Mallarme wanted, for this poem, a visual aesthetic, typo¬ 87. Apollinaire continued to supplement his meager in¬
graphic, constructed through the difference of characters, come as poet and critic by writing and editing pornogra¬
the breadth of the white spaces, the dimension of the lines, phy, and Picasso was certainly aware of this activity. It is
all the architecture of the page.” [Mallarmd a voulu, pour also interesting to note that Apollinaire’s first work to be
ce poeme, une esthetique visuelle, typographique, batie published, albeit under another man’s name, was the bulk
par la difference des caract^res, I’ampleur des blancs, la of the serial novel Que faire?, which appeared in Le Matin
dimension des lignes, toute I’architecture de la page.] in 1900. Apollinaire was never paid by the hack journalist
(338). Because he recognized that few people had seen Un Esnard, who signed the installments written by various au¬
Coup de dds. Thibaudet reproduced the first page of the thors. For an account of Apollinaire’s publications, see
Cosmopolis version of the poem (even while noting that it Roger Shattuck, “The Impresario of the Avant-Garde,” in
did not follow Mallarme’s manuscript faithfully) and sev¬ The Banquet Years, 253-97.
eral other fragments in his book. 88. Benjamin, Charles Baudelaire: A Lyric Poet in the Era of
81. Mallarme advises those who would read to confront the High Capitalism, 37.
whiteness of the page “forgetful even of the title which 89. The lyrical fragment Ma Jolie was excerpted from the
would speak too loudly.” [oublieuse meme du titre qui refrain of Fragson’s Derniere chanson, written in 1911 and
parlerait trop haut.j “Le Myst&re dans les lettres,” Oeuvres, popular during 1911 and 1912. The refrain was as follows:
387. “O Manon, ma jolie, mon coeur te dit bonjour!” See Rosen¬
82. Robert Rosenblum, “Picasso and the Typography of blum, “Picasso and the Typography of Cubism,” 38. Rosen¬
Cubism,” 33-47. blum credits Maurice Jardot with this reference.
83. Patricia Leighten, “Picasso’s Collages and the Threat of 90. “Car l’oeuvre, seule ou preferablement...” “Le Livre,”
War, 1912-13.” See also her “La Propagande par le rire: Oeuvres, 381.
Satire and Subversion in Apollinaire, Jarry and Picasso’s 91. “L’oeuvre pure implique la disparition 61ocutoire du
Collages,” 163-72, and Re-Ordering the Universe Picasso poete, qui c£de l’initiative aux mots, par le heurt de leur
and Anarchism, 1897-1914. inegalite mobilises; ils s’allument de reflets reciproques
84. Ronald Johnson mentions Mallarme’s aversion to the comme une virtuelle trainee de feux sur des pierreries,
newspaper in connection with his analysis of Picasso’s rempla^ant la respiration perceptible en l’ancien souffle ly-
collages and constructions but does not emphasize its rique ou la direction personnelle enthousiaste de la
commercial associations. He is more interested in demon¬ phrase.” “Crise de Vers,” Oeuvres, 366.
strating the similarities between Picasso’s constructions 92. “Quoi? c’est difficile a dire: un livre, tout bonnement,
and Mallarme’s aesthetics than the differences. Thus his en maints tomes, un livre qui soit un livre, architectural et
analysis turns on concepts of chance, suggestion, and pr6m£dit6, et non un recueil des inspirations de hasard
creativity as a destructive process. Of the newspaper he fussent-elles merveilleuses. . .
says, “Picasso in fact became a poet of puns and word Voila l’aveu de mon vice, mis a nu, cher ami, que mille
fragments, turning to printed words, whereas Mallarm£ fois j’ai rejet6, I’esprit meurtri ou las, mais cela me
used visual processes to add another dimension to his po¬ possede et je reussirai peut-etre; non pas a faire cet ou-
etry. Mallarme thought of the book as a spiritual instru- vrage dans son ensemble (il faudrait etre je ne sais qui
pour cela!) mais a en montrer un fragment d’execute, a en
faire scintiller par une place I’authenticite glorieuse, en in¬
diquant le reste tout entier auquel ne suffit pas une vie.
 Notes to Pages 155-65 279

Prouver par les portions faites que ce livre existe, et que and New York. It counted innumerable correspondents. It
j’ai connu ce que je n’aurai pu accomplir.” Oeuvres, was the businessman’s newspaper par excellence.” [Le Ma¬
662-63. tin fait alors figure de journal tres moderne. 11 a des fils
93. “Surtout manqua cette notion indubitable: que, dans speciaux qui le relient a Londres et a New York. II compte
une societe sans stability, sans unite, il ne peut se crder d’innombrables correspondants. . . . C’est par excellence le
d’art stable, d’art definitif. De cette organisation sociale in- journal que lisent les hommes d’affaires.] Le Quatrierne
achevee, qui explique en meme temps l’inquidtude des es- Pouvoir: La presse, de 1830 a 1930, 55. Gris’s A Man in a
prits, nait I'inexplique besoin d'individualite . . .” “Sur Cafe seems to play on this commercial association.
1’evolution litteraire,” Oeuvres, 866-67. 103. Picasso, who met Matisse in 1906, agreed to an ex¬
94. “Car moi, au fond, je suis un solitaire, je crois que la change of works and selected the Portrait de jeune fille.
poesie est faite pour le taste et les pompes supremes d’une According to Salmon, “These small gifts did little to bring
soc:ete constitute ou aurait sa place la gloire dont les about a good friendship, and a certain Portrait de jeune
gens semblent avoir perdu la notion. L’attitude du poete fille was subjected to the most burlesque outrages by its
dans une epoque comme celle-ci, oil il est en greve devant owner and his guests.” [Ces petits cadeaux contribuerent
la societe, est de mettre de cote tous les moyens vicies qui peu a entretenir la bonne amitie, et certain Portrait de
peuvent s'offrir a lui. Tout ce qu’on peut lui proposer est jeune fille dut subir de son proprietaire et de ses hotes les
inferieur a sa conception et a son travail secret.” Ibid., plus burlesques outrages.] La jeune peinture frangaise, 16.
869-70. 104. Paradoxically, to make fragile works out of the debris
95. Robert Rosenblum discusses the unusual date of these of a commodity culture was both to associate the work
newspaper clippings in "Picasso and the Coronation of with the inherent obsolescence of the commodity and to
Alexander III: A Note on the Dating of Some Papiers satirize contemporary expectations of preciosity, thereby
Colles," 605. making works that were less saleable.

96. The first line of the article, small bits of which are 105. Eagleton, Walter Benjamin, or Towards a Revolution¬
missing, reads, "La ceremonie qui s’est deroulee sous / ary Criticism. 11.
mes yeux depasse tout ce qu’on peut re- / [ . . . ] grandeur
veritable en pitt[ore]s- / ” [the text is cut off here], Chapter 6. The Futurist Collage Aesthetic
97. Philosophical Investigations, trans. G. E. Anscomb, 3d
1. Marinetti, “The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism,” in
ed. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 1968), 153, §584.
Apollonio, Futurist Manifestos, 22. “Musei: cimiteri! . . .
98. “L'homme peut etre democrate, l’artiste se dedouble et Identici, veramente, per la sinistra promiscuity di tanti
doit rester aristocrate. . . . corpi che non si conoscono. Musei: dormitori pubblici in
L’heure qui sonne est serieuse: l’education se fait dans le cui si riposa per sempre accanto ad esseri odiati o ignoti!
peuple, de grandes doctrines vont se rdpandre. Faites que Musei: assurdi macelli di pittori e scultori che vanno truci-
s’il est une vulgarisation, ce soit celle du bon, non celle de dandosi ferocemente a colpi di colori e di linee, lungo le
Fart, et que vos efforts n’aboutissent pas—comme ils n’y pareti contese!” “Fondazione e Manifesto del Futurismo,”
ont pas tendu, je l’espere—a cette chose, grotesque si elle in Apollonio, Futurismo, 48-49.
n’etait triste pour 1’artiste de race, le poete ouvrier." “L’art
2. Ibid., 22. “Perche volersi awelenare? Perchd volere im-
pour tous,” Oeuvres, 259-60.
putridire?” In Apollonio, Futurismo, 49.
99. “On va repetant, non sans verite, qu’il n’y a plus de lec-
3. Ibid., 23. “E vengano dunque, gli allegri incendiarii dalle
teurs; je crois bien, ce sont des lectrices. Seule, une dame,
dita carbonizzate! Eccoli! Eccoli! .. . Suwia! date fuoco
dans son isolement de la Politique et des soins moroses,
agli scaffali delle biblioteche! . . . Sviate il corso dei canali,
a le loisir necessaire pour que s’en degage, sa toilette
per inondare i musei! . . . Oh, la gioia di veder galleggiare
achevee, un besoin de se parer aussi Fame.” “Chronique
alia deriva, lacere e stinte su quelle acque, le vecchie tele
de Paris,” La Derniere Mode, Oeuvres, 716.
gloriose!” In Apollonio, Futurismo, 49.
100. Crow, “Modernism and Mass Culture in the Visual
4. “Mentre i nostri predecessori, tutti indistintamente (Ce¬
Arts,” 224. zanne e Renoir compresi) avevano come sogno e punto
101. For an analysis of the early buyers of works by Pi¬ d’arrivo il MUSEO, noi pittori futuristi avremo creato un tipo
casso, Braque, Gris, and Leger, see Douglas Cooper, “Early concreto di sintesi plastica, frutto della nostra sensibilita
Purchasers of True Cubist Art,” The Essential Cubism 1907- futurista ormai stanca e nauseata di avere davanti a s6 dei
1920, 15-31. cadaveri imbalsamati da contemplare.” “Vita moderna e

102. J. Andre Faucher describes Le Matin in the following arte popolare,” Lacerba (1 June 1914), repr. in Carlo Carra,

terms: “Le Matin at this time presented itself as very mod¬ Tutti gli scritti, 38.
ern. It had special telegraph wires connecting it to London
 Notes to Pages 166-71 280

5. “Anche per noi futuristi la pittura non risiede nei tubetti 13. . . non puo sussistere pittura senza divisionismo." “La
Lefranc’. Se un individuo possiede senso pittorico, qualsi- Pittura Futurista—Manifesto Tecnico,” in Apollonio, Futur-
asi cosa crea, guidato da questo senso, sar& sempre nel ismo, 57.
dominio della pittura. Legno, carta, stoffa, pel I i, vetro, 14. Tutta la vita di un pittore, 116-18.
corda, telacerata, maiolica, latta e tutti i metalli, colori,
15. “Futurist Painting: Technical Manifesto,” in Apollonio,
mastici, ecc. ecc., entreranno come materiali legittimissimi
Futurist Manifestos, 29. “11 divisionismo, tuttavia, non d nel
nelle nostre presenti costruzioni artistiche.
nostro concetto un mezzo tecnico che si possa metodica-
La quantita e la scelta di questo materiale sarc» regolata
mente imparare ed applicare. II divisionismo, nel pittore
caso per caso dal nostro spirito creatore il quale in ma¬
moderno, deve essere un complementarismo congenito, da
teria d’arte 6 il solo autorevole arbitro che ammettiamo.
noi giudicato essenziale e fatale.” “La Pittura Futurista—
Cost, se saranno modificate e distrutte le categorie,
Manifesto Tecnico,” in Apollonio, Futurismo, 57.
tutt'affatto arbitrarie del resto, che facevano della pittura
un giuoco artificioso perpetralo con dei colori e della tela 16. For a discussion of the role of these theories in the de¬
I’art se ne awantaggerii poich£ sar& resa libera da ogni velopment of Seurat’s mature style, see Robert L. Herbert,
pregiudizio e si manifestera nella sua massima sincerity e ‘“Parade de Cirque’ de Seurat et I’esthdtique scientifique
purezza.” Ibid. de Charles Henry,” Revue de I’art, no. 50 (1980): 9-23.

6. “Se noi accusiamo i cubisti, . . . di non creare opere ma 17. “Guide par la tradition et par la science, il harmonisera
soltanto frammenti, b perche nei loro quadri si sente la ne¬ la composition & sa conception, c’est-a-dire qu’il adaptera
cessity di un ulteriore e piu vasto sviluppo. Inoltre, £ les lignes (directions et angles), le clair-obscur (tons), les
perche le loro tele mancano di un centro essenziale couleurs (teintes) au caractdre qu’il voudra faire prevaloir.
all’organismo dell’opera intera, e di quelle forze circostanti La dominante des lignes sera horizontale pour le calme,
che confluiscono a tale centro e gravitano intorno ad esso. ascendante pour la joie, et descendante pour la tristesse,
Infine, 6 perche si nota che Farabesco dei loro dipinti 6 avec toutes les lignes intermediaires pour figurer toutes
puramente accidentale, mancando di un carattere di total¬ les autres sensations en leur varidte infinie. Un jeu poly¬
ity indispensabile alia vita dell’opera.” “Da Cezanne a noi chrome, non moins expressif et divers, se conjugue a ce
futuristi,” Lacerba (15 May 1913), repr. in Carra, Tutti gli jeu lindaire: aux lignes ascendantes, correspondront les
scritti, 14. teintes chaudes et des tons clairs; avec les lignes descen-
dantes, predomineront des teintes froides et des tons
7. “Noi futuristi cerchiamo invece, con la forza
fonces; un equilibre plus ou moins parfait des teintes
dell’intuizione, d’immedesimarci nel centro delle cose, in
chaudes et froides, des tons pales et intenses, ajoutera au
modo che il nostro io formi colla loro unicity un solo com-
calme des lignes horizontales.” D 'Eugene Delacroix au
plesso.” “Piani plastici come espansione sferica nello spa-
nbo-impressionnisme, 76.
zio,” Lacerba (15 March 1913), repr. in Carra, Tutti gli
scritti, 9. 18. “The Exhibitors to the Public,” (Galerie Bernheim-
Jeune, Paris), English version from the catalogue of the
8. “cadrebbe ogni accusa di arbitrario ..." “Da Cdzanne a
“Exhibition of Works by the Italian Futurist Painters,”
noi futuristi,” 16.
(Sackville Gallery, London, March 1912), in Apollonio, Fu¬
9. “Balia dipingeva con colori separati e contrastanti, come turist Manifestos, 49.
i pittori francesi; la sua “qualita pittorica” era di
19. See Herbert, “ Parade de Cirque’ de Seurat,” 13-14.
prim’ordine, genuina, con qualque analogia con la materia
e la qualita di un Pissarro. Fu una grande fortuna per noi 20. Severini regarded the painting of “states of mind” as a
d’incontrare un tale uomo, la cui direzione decise forse di mistaken “literary” enterprise and Boccioni’s concept of
tutta la nostra camera.” Severini, Tutta la vita di un pit- “divisionismo congenito" as meaningless jargon. See Tutta
tore, 22. la vita di un pittore, 124, 136.

10. Ibid., 47, 117-18. 21 "The Exhibitors to the Public," 48.

11. “Mentre Picasso e Braque, forse per meglio accentuare 22. Ibid., 46
la loro reazione all’impressionismo, avevano adottata la 23. Severini recalled in his memoirs that during this period
gamma dei colori di Corot, io conservavo come base la he went almost every night to the Brasserie dell’Hermitage
formula dei neo-impressionisti, aggiungendovi perd il nero with Picasso, Fernande, Marcoussis, and Eva Gouel. See
puro, il bianco e il grigio, convinto che tale formula della Tutta la vita di un pittore, 150-52. He also recalled that it
divisione dei colori, meglio di ogni altra, si adattava al div- was after the Futurist exhibition of February 1912 that he
isionismo delle forme.” Ibid., 88-89. became a close friend of Apollinaire: “I saw him [Apolli¬
12. Ibid., 91. naire] everyday, at Picasso’s, at my place or at Braque’s,
who had his atelier above mine, or at Dufy’s, who had his
atelier next to mine. He saw me work on very well-known
canvases, because he came very often to my atelier.” [Moi
 Notes to Pages 171-79 281

je le voyais tous les jours, chez Picasso, chez moi, ou chez 32. See chap. 1, n. 24.
Braque, qui avait son atelier au-dessus du mien, ou bien
33. "Marinetti dice che io sono portato ad esagerare il va-
chez Dufy, qui avait son atelier a cotb du mien. II m’a vu
lore degli altri . . . Ma io non posso negare a me stesso il
travailler a des toiles bien connues, car il venait trbs sou-
piacere di considerare I’opera di alcuni giovani francesi
vent a mon atelier.] See Gino Severini, “1960, Souvenirs sur
come eccellente e dichiarare a me stesso che Picasso 6 un
Apollinaire: Lettre a Sangiori,” Ecrils sur I'art, 355.
talento straordinario, ma che mancano di tutto quello che
24. “La mia amicizia con Apollinaire era divenuta intima. io vedo e sento e per il quale credo e spero di superarli fra
Fin dal 1912 veniva spesso da me mentre lavoravo. Fu non molto.” Archivi, 1:240.
verso la fine di quell’anno, non ricordo piu se
34. . . mostrando, durante questo tempo, un grandissimo
all’Hermitage, o al Lapin o al mio studio, che mi parlb di
interesse per la scultura. Ogni giorno, e ad ogni momento,
alcuni primitivi italiani che avevano messo nei quadri degli
erano discussioni o conversazioni su questo argomento.”
elementi di vera realta; osservando che tale presenza, e il
Tutta la vita di un pittore, 163.
contrasto da essa provocato, aumentavano la vita delle
35. Braque returned to Paris on 6 June and remained there
pitture e tutto il loro dinamismo. Mi portb l’esempio di un
until late July or early August. It is not known exactly when
S. Pietro esposto all’Accademia di Brera di Milano, che ha
Boccioni’s visit to Paris took place since Severini’s dates
in mano delle chiavi vere, e di altri santi con altri oggetti,
are not always precise.
senza contare le aureole fatte con vere pietre preziose e
vere perle. 36. “Prendi tutte le informazioni possibili sui cubisti e Pi¬
Fu cosi che mi venne l’idea di fare un ritratto di Paul casso e Braque. Va da Kannailere [s/c] se ci sono fotografie
Fort con le copertine di ‘Vers et Prose’ e di altri suoi libri ultimissime di lavori (fatti dopo la mia partenza) comprane
di poesie, e di costruire una ballerina con delle forme in una o due.” In Archivi, 1:246.
rilievo sulle quali incollai dei veri lustrini di ballerina.” 37. Published as a leaflet by Poesia, dated 11 April 1912,
Tutta la vita di un pittore, 174-75. this manifesto did not appear in the newspaper L’ltalia un¬
25. "11 contrasto tra un elemento realistico (di un realismo til 30 September 1912. The French version was published
trascendentale, s’intende) ed altri elementi portati in un in Je Dis Tout on 6 October 1912.
piano di assoluta astrazione, genera, come tutti i contrasti, 38. Severini was dismayed by the publication of this mani¬
dinamismo e vita.” Ibid., 89. festo, which claimed precedence for many of the ideas dis¬
26. “In fotografia, queste applicazioni risultavano poco, ma cussed in the studios of his friends, since it made it look as
la pittura originate guadagnava molto in intensity espres- if he had been Boccioni’s accomplice. Tutta la vita di un
siva.” Ibid. pittore, 164-65.

27. “Creando cioe delle zone per i lustrini, che cosi non er- 39. “Futurist Painting: Technical Manifesto,” in Apollonio,
ano messi per descrivere una realta, ma per esprimerla in Futurist Manifestos, 62. “In scultura come in pittura non si
modo trascendentale.” Ibid., 175. pub rinnovare se non cercando lo stile del movimento.”

Ibid., 100.
28. A second Portrait of Paul Fort, which includes the
poet’s calling card, other publications associated with him, 40. Ibid., 64. “Non v’b ne pittura, ne scultura, ne musica, ne
a pair of eyeglasses, a cummerbund, a fake moustache, and poesia, non v’e che creazione!” “La Scultura Futurista," in
a wooden snuff box, was executed sometime after 1915. Apollonio, Futurismo, 103.

29. “Suppongo che questa sia la ragione per cui Picasso in 41. Ibid., 65. “Distruggere la nobilta tutta letteraria e tradi-
alcuni quadri mise addirittura dei numeri e delle lettere zionale del marmo e del bronzo. Negare I’esclusivita di una
fatte con lo stampino. Ma piu tardi abbandonb questo materia per la intera costruzione d’un insieme scultorio.
mezzo meccanico e dipinse anche lui degli elementi realis- Affermare che anche venti materie diverse possono con-
tici, abbastanza evidenti per contrastare con l’astrazione correre in una sola opera alio scopo dell’emozione plas-
con cui il resto del quadro era fatto.” Tutta la vita di un tica. Ne enumeriamo alcune: vetro, legno, cartone, ferro,

pittore, 89. cemento, crine, cuoio, stoffa, specchi, luce elettrica, ecc.
ecc.” In Apollonio, Futurismo, 104.
30. In Apollonio, Futurist Manifestos, 123.
42. Ibid., 64-65.
31. “La teoria dei contrasti poteva anche svilupparsi, sop-
pratutto come inspirazione poetica, dal lato delle analogie. 43. “lo lavoro molto ma non concludo, me sembra. Ciob
Un complementarismo di immagini, usato non per rendere spero che quello che faccio significhi qualche cosa perche

piu evidente una immagine con la guist’apposizione della non capisco cosa faccio. E strano ed e terribile ma sono

sua analoga, ma crearne una nuova, tale era il mio scopo. calmo. Oggi ho lavorato sei ore consecutive alia scultura e

In conclusione, io volevo, restando nello spirito della pit¬ non capisco il risultato . . .

tura, portare le immagini oltre la metafora nel piu elevato

piano poetico.” Tutta la vita di un pittore, 207-08.
 Notes to Pages 179-86 282

Piani su piani, sezioni di muscoli, di faccia e poi? E I’ef- 51. “Deformazione organica di leggera astrazione raggiata e
fetto totale? Vive cid che creo? dove vado a finire? Posso imposta architettura statica di blocchi d’atmosfera, di am-
chiedere ad altri entusiasmo e comprensione quando io biente, di luce; massa squadrata e profilo lineare di volumi
stesso mi domando qual’d I’emozione che scaturisce da ci£> tortili, s’incontrano e sensa potersi fondere, si stanno al-
che faccio? Basta ci sara sempre un revolver . . . e pure lato. . . . Testa + casa + luce non potra mai divenire Tes-
sono calmissimo." [July or August 1912] Archiui, 1:248. tacasaluce." Ibid., 15.

44. “La tua cara cartolina mi coglie in un momento terri- 52. Ibid., 17.
bile. Quello che dobbiamo fare d enorme; I’impegno preso 53. "Non siamo dunque ancor giunti a una vera concezione
d terribile e i mezzi plastici appaiono e scompaiono al mo¬ di organismo isolato e situato.” Ibid., 15.
mento della realizzazione. E terribile!
54. See Wescher, “Collages futuristes,” 21-22.
Non so cosa dire, non so cosa fare. Non capisco piu
nulla! . . . 55. This phrase can be found in many Futurist manifestos
E il caos dell'arbitrio? Quale la legge? beginning with the “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Paint¬
E terribile! ing.” See Apollonio, Futurist Manifestos, 27.
Io lotto poi con la scultura! lavoro lavoro lavoro e non 56. Bergson discusses the difference between relative and
s6 cosa do . . . absolute motion in his essay “Introduction a la m^taphy-
I cubisti han torto . . . Picasso ha torto.” “Letter from sique” of 1903, which Giovanni Papini had published in
Boccioni to Severini [August 1912], reproduced in Severini, Italian translation in 1909 with the title “La filosofia
“Lettere e documenti,” Crilica d'arte, 12; also partially re¬ dell’intuizione.”
produced in Archiui, 1:249.
57. In Lacerba (15 March 1914), repr. in Apollonio, Futurist
45. “Io quindi pensai che scomponendo questa unita di ma¬ Manifestos, 150-54.
teria in parecchie materie, ognuna delle quali servisse a
58. “The Exhibitors to the Public,” in Apollonio, Futurist
caratterizzare, con la sua diversita naturale, una diversita
Manifestos, 48
di peso e di espansione dei volumi molecolari, si sarebbe
gia potuto ottenere un elemento dinamico.” “Prefazione al 59. In Passages in Modern Sculpture, Rosalind Krauss offers
Catalogo della la Esposizione di scultura futurista,” Ar- an extremely lucid analysis of the role of the structural
chivi, 1:118. core in Boccioni’s sculpture Development of a Bottle in
Space of 1912 (see esp. 41-51). The revealed hollow center
46. “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Literature,” in Flint,
of this work provides the viewer with a stable, unified ob¬
Marinetti, Selected Writings, 88.
ject of knowledge, while the overlapping and displaced
47. “Si les reflets ont une vie compos^e et interpenetrable, profiles of the bottle and dish suggest a multiplicity of
en est-il de meme des formes? Je ne le pense point. La sci¬ views synthesized so that they may be taken in from a sin¬
ence qu’on peut evoquer pour dire leur p^netrabilite ne dit gle, frontal vantage point. The sculpture thus becomes a
pas que cette penetration s’exerce par masses solides.” demonstration of the power of consciousness to achieve
Kahn, "iere Exposition de sculpture futuriste de M. Umberto total knowledge of an object. In contrast, Picasso’s Cubist
Boccioni (Galerie la Boetie),” 420. constructions have no central core, and as Krauss argues,
48. “De plus il est facheux qu’un artiste tel que M. Boccioni “fail to deliver that ‘sign’ of unity through which the es¬
condescende a ces petits jeux de juxtaposition de mature sence of the object can be grasped.” (47)
d’art et de materiaux vulgaires qu’ont pratiqu^e et bien a 60. “La creazione che si rifa semplice azione; l’arte che
tort, hors I'exemple des mieux dou6s, quelques enfants torna natura greggia.” “11 Cerchio si chiude,” 189.
perdus du Cubisme. Il ne sera jamais artiste de meler a la
61. Papini evidently knew Severini’s 1913 Portrait of Mari¬
glaise ou de coller sur la toile du verre, des cheveux, du
netti only in reproduction, since the moustache in question
bois decoupee.” Ibid.
was a fake.
49. Ibid., 421.
62. “Si tratta di sostituire alia trasformazione lirica o ra-
50. See Longhi, Scultura futurista Boccioni. In his interpre¬ zionale delle cose le cose medesime.” Ibid., 190.
tation of Boccioni’s sculpture, Longhi was very much influ¬
63. “Ma appena questa realta entra a far parte della ma¬
enced by the ideas of Soffici and Papini. This can be seen
teria elaborata dell’opera d’arte, I’ufficio lirico a cui essa
in his emphasis on the importance of Impressionism to the
viene chiamata, la sua posizione, le sue dimensioni, il con-
Futurists, his belief that art is a matter of expressive defor¬
trasto che suscita, ne trasformano l'anonimo oggettivo e
mation, and his view that the juxtaposition of different ele¬
1’incamminano a divenire elemento elaborato.” “Il Cerchio
ments in a single sculpture resulted in “realism” rather
non si chiude,” 192.
than in lyrical transformation.
64. “Nelle nostre opere ultime gli elementi di realta greg¬
gia, come tu dici, vanno diminuendo assorbiti, sintetizzati
e deformati nell’astrazione dinamica." Ibid.
 Notes to Pages 186-95 283

65. “In Picasso invece, logicamente, gli elementi di realta 73. “Medardo Rosso, simile in questo agl’impressionisti
greggia vanno aumentando proprio nella produzione piii francesi . . . , non concepisce le cose se non come una
recente.” Ibid. successione rapida di movimenti in un mutuo continuo
66. “Picasso mi ha fatto vedere le fotografie di pareti del rapporto di colori e di luci. Secondo lui, come secondo i
suo studio dove erano (accomodati da lui) diversi oggetti e suoi colleghi pittori, il colore e l’aspetto di un oggetto var-
mi ha detto che secondo qualcuno quegli aggruppamenti iano senza posa, a seconda dell’ambiente in cui questo si
di oggetti veri eran gia dei quadri.” “Cerchi aperti,” 195. trova, o la vicinanza di uno o di un altro oggetto che col
That someone was undoubtedly Gertrude Stein. suo riflesso o col suo contrasto influisca su esso.” “Me¬
dardo Rosso a Firenze,” La Voce (May 1910), repr. in
67. “La materia impiegata dall'artista resta tutta e sempre
Medardo Rosso (1858-1928). 38-39.
inerte, morta, inespressiva, se non 6 condotta dal genio a
spiritualizzarsi; a divenire ciofe puro elemento di raffigura- 74. “Secondo lui il movimento di una figura non deve ar-
zione lirica simbolica. 11 che equivale a sparire in quanto restarsi alle linee di contorno, come il suono alle pareti di
materia.” Primi principi di una esletica futurista, 92. una campana di cristallo, ma per un’impulsione prodotta
dall’intensita dei giuochi dei valori, dei sobbalzi e delle li¬
68. “Vero e che un’obbiezione si presenta subito alia
nee dell’opera, propagarsi nello spazio, spandersi
mente, in tale materia: ed 6 che un oggetto, un brano di
all’infinito, a guisa di un’onda elettrica che sprigionandosi
giornale, di affisso, di stoffa, o qualunque altra cosa, appli-
da una macchina ben costrutta, vola a reintegrarsi con la
cati in un quadro o in una scultura per evitare la fatica di
forza eterna dei mondi.” “Per Medardo Rosso” La Voce (4
rappresentarli non possono se non restarvi come qualcosa
March 1909), repr. in Medardo Rosso, 19.
di estrinseco e di morto, oltre che come un segno di gros-
sezza spirituale o d’impotenza. E non ci sarebbe da ripe- 75. All of these fragments were excerpted from the 15
tere, se questa fosse dawero la loro assurda funzione. Ma March 1913 issue of Lacerba.
se invece, e precisamente, tali cose non hanno nessuna 76. Carra’s introduction of a bit of trompe Foeil wood grain
funzione rappresentativa in un’opera dove, nemmeno, si in the lower right part of his collage is unusual in a Futur¬
tratta di rappresentar checchessia; ma 1’oggetto, il pezzo di ist work and further suggests this collage is a response to
carta, o di stoffa, ecc. hanno soltanto una funzione croma- Cubist constructions. In an essay of 1 June 1914, “Vita
tica, o di tono, o di forma plastica, o comunque di ele¬ moderna e arte populare,” published in Lacerba, Carra ad¬
mento armonico, di materia tecnica, proprio come i colori, vocated the use of oilcloth and tin in constructed works. In
le Crete, le pietre, i metalli, eccetera, in luogo dei quali the spring of 1914 Picasso had executed a series of con¬
sono impiegati?” Ibid., 91-92. structions made with milk tins, including the example in

69. Soffici’s closest ties in Paris were to the Baroness Oet- the present comparison.
tingen, her brother Serge Ferat, and Apollinaire, who were
jointly engaged in publishing Les Soirees de Paris at this Chapter 7. Collage Poems
time.
1. Reality, of course is a problematic term here, since for
70. Tatlin was also taken by the “open” cut-out diagonal
the most part the collage elements in Picasso’s works were
pattern of this bottle and included a similar form in one of
already cultural signifiers in their own right. One could
his earliest constructions titled The Bottle.
make a similar argument for the conventionalized or
71. “II pittore impressionista . . . veniva a provare come “coded” character of Marinetti’s onomatopoeias, but the
tutto potesse esser materia di bellezza e di poesia se con- poet considered these disruptive sounds to be elements of
templato da un occhio di creatore ... la figura umana, untransformed reality.
I’animale, il piu insignificante cantuccio della natura, la
2. “ . . . fondere il dinamismo plastico con le parole in lib¬
stessa cosa inanimata—l’utensile, un bicchiere vuoto, che
erty.” Cited in Giovanni Lista, Le Liure futuriste de la liber¬
so io? un cencio sgualcito—ebbero uno stesso valore in
ation du mot au poeme tactile, 43. In a letter to Soffici
quanto pun elementi artistici, non differenziati da altro che
dated 21 July 1914 regarding the publication of Carra’s
dal loro colore e dalla loro forma.” Soffici, Cubismo e Fu-
Festa Patriottica in Lacerba, Marinetti urged him, “Do not
turismo. 8-9. This paragraph had also appeared in Soffici’s
forget, I beg of you, to put under the picture by Carra this
article “Picasso e Braque” (1911).
caption, exactly: carrA—FREE word picture (Patriotic
72. Soffici, like Papini and Carra, considered art to be a de¬ Festival)
formation from the everyday appearance of things, in¬ Severini has also agreed always to designate in this man¬
tended to reveal the personality of the artist. He was ner these fusions of Futurist painting and of parole in lib-
clearly indebted to Maurice Denis for this attitude, as his erta, to avoid confusions and to establish the lineage.”
many references to Denis reveal. See, for example, “Arte [Non dimenticare, ti prego, di far mettere sotto la foto-
Francese moderna,” (January 1913), repr. in Opere, 1: 303- grafia del quadro di Carra questa dicitura, esattamente:
OS. CARRA—dipinto parolibero (Festa patriottica)
 Notes to Pages 195-203 284

Siamo d’accordo anche con Severini di chiamare sempre 17. For an analysis of the rhetoric of crisis in Mallarm6’s
cosi queste fusioni di pittura futurista e di parole in lib- essay, see Paul de Man, “Criticism and Crisis, in Blindness
erta, per evitare confusioni e determinare la corrente.] and Insight Essays in the Rhetoric of Contemporary Criti¬
Cited in Soffici: Immagini e documenti (1879-1964), 231. cism, 3-19.

3. Marinetti, Grande esposizione nazionale futurista," 23. I 18. “J’apporte en effet des nouvelles. Les plus surpren-
am grateful to Giovanni Lista for bringing this citation to antes. Meme cas ne se vit encore. On a touche au vers.”
my attention “La Musique et les lettres,” Oeuvres, 643.

4. For a detailed analysis of Apollinaire’s borrowings from 19. “ . . . vers rompu, jouant avec ses timbres et encore les
texts by Marinetti, Paolo Buzzi, Blaise Cendrars, and others rimes dissimul^es: selon un thyrse plus complexe.” Ibid.,
in “Zone" and subsequent poems, see Francis J. Carmody, 644.
The Evolution of Apollinaire's Poetics, 1901-1914, 71-120. 20. The full passage reads, “Nous assistons, en ce moment,
5. See Billy, Apollinaire Vivant, 54-55. This poem was pub¬ [m’a-t-il dit], a un spectacle vraiment extraordinaire,
lished in the catalogue of a one-man exhibition of the unique, dans toute Fhistoire de la po^sie: chaque poete al¬
works of Robert Delaunay in Berlin in January 1913. lant, dans son coin, jouer sur une flute, bien a lui, les airs
qu’il lui plait; pour la premiere fois, depuis le commence¬
6. Guillaume Apollinaire, Calligrammes: Poems of Peace
ment, les poetes ne chantent plus au lutrin. Jusqu’ici,
and War (1913-1916), 26-27.
n’est-ce pas, il fallait, pour s’accompagner, les grandes
7. Ibid., 54-55. orgues du mfetre officiel.” “Sur Involution litt^raire,”
8. Oliver Shell made this observation in an unpublished pa¬ Oeuvres, 866.
per, University of Pennsylvania, 1988.
21. “ ... donne le signal et Forientation de ce mouvement
9. The manuscripts for some of Apollinaire’s calligrammes po6tique.” Kahn, “Preface,” Premiers Podmes, 3.
are preserved in the Bibliothfeque National in Paris
22. For Kahn, the category Romanticism included the Par¬
(“Oeuvres Poetiques” NAF 16280). They show that mock-
nassian School. Ibid., 5.
ups for several poems included in Etendards and other
23. “Le Vers est la parole humaine rythmee de fagon a pou-
poems such as “Visee” involved the use of collage as a
voir etre chantee, et, a proprement parler, il n’y a pas de
compositional technique.
poesie en dehors du chant.” Cited in ibid., 6.
10. My reading of “Visee” is indebted to that of Anne Hyde
Greet and S. I. Lockerbie. See Apollinaire, Calligrammes: 24. [The law of rhyming] “est une loi absolue, commes les

Poems of Peace and War, 420. lois physiques.” Theodore Faullain de Banville, Petit traitd
de la podsie franqaise, 65.
11. “Quel che mi fece piu piacere, furono due righe di
Apollinaire in una cartolina, con cui mi diceva che tale mia 25. “11 n’y en a pas.” Ibid., 68.

intuizione riportava alia sua memoria dei poemetti del 17° 26. Ibid., 11.
secolo, nei quali le parole erano disposte in modo da sug- 27. “L’unite vraie n’est pas le nombre conventionnel du
gerir la forma. Ed infatti poco dopo vennero fuori i “calli- vers, mais un arret simultane du sens et du rythme sur
grammi” che ognuno conosce, e ai quali, suppongo, deve toute fraction organique du vers et de la pensee. Cette
aver contribuito anche il ricordo di Mallarm6; come contri- unite consiste en un nombre ou rythme de voyelles et de
bui ai miei primi quadri con applicazione di pagine stam- consonnes qui sont cellule organique et independante. . . .
pate ecc.” See Severini, Tutta la vita di un pittore, 210-11. L'unite du vers peut se definir encore: un fragment le plus
12. Ibid., 210. court possible figurant un arret de voix et un arret de
13. Ibid., 102. sens.” Kahn, “Preface,” Premiers Poemes, 26.

14. For a discussion of Picasso’s attitude toward Mallarm6, 28. Ibid., 33.

see chap. 5. 29. “Mallarm6 attracted me because of his talent and be¬

15. In a letter to Soffici, for example, Marinetti insisted on cause of his formidable lack of success. I take pride in hav¬

maintaining a distinction between the Futurists’ parole in ing paid my first respects to the most unrecognized man of

liberta and the “ideograms” of Apollinaire. He criticized world literature.” [Mallarme m’attirait et par son talent et

the latter for being “passatisti, puramente decorativi e par son formidable insuccfes. Je me targue d’avoir port£

quasi mallarmdens" [passatisti, purely decorative, and al¬ mes premiers respects a Fhomme le plus m6connu de la

most Mallarmean}. Letter from Marinetti to Soffici [be¬ litterature mondiale.] Gustave Kahn, Symbolistes et Deca¬
dents, 22.
tween 15 August and 1 December 1914], Archivi, 1:344.

16. The "Enquete” was sponsored by the Symbolist paper 30. “D’abord, je m’etais rendu compte de la parfaite imper¬
L'Ermitage. Cited in Olga Ragusa, Mallarmd in Italy: Liter¬ meability des masses populaires vis-a-vis de la litterature
ary Influence and Critical Response, 46. de nos aines, et leur art m’apparaissait batard, incapable
de satisfaire le populaire, incapable de charmer I’elite . ..”
 Notes to Pages 203-06 285

Ibid., 32. Given the context of this statement, Kahn’s refer¬ della vecchia sintassi ereditata da Omero. Bisogno furioso
ence to the elite seems to imply the bourgeois intelligent¬ di liberare le parole, traendole fuori dalla prigione del per-
sia, since he had already observed that a new generation iodo latino! Questo ha naturalmente, come ogni imbecille,
of poets had begun to appreciate Mallarm6. una testa previdente, un ventre, due gambe e due piedi
31. M. Stephane Mallarmt;, qui pensait que le vers man- piatti, ma non avra mai due ali. Appena il necessario per
quait d’euphemisme et de fluidity, ne cherchait point a le camminare, per correre un momento e fermarsi quasi sub-
lib^rer, bien au contraire; pour ainsi dire, il I’essentielli- ito sbuffando! Ecco che cosa me disse I’elica turbinante.”
sait; c’etait affaire de fonds et de choix de syllabes.” Kahn, “Manifesto tecnico della Letteratura Futurista,” in Apol-
"Preface,” Premiers Poemes, 14-15. lonio, Futurismo, 105.

32. Kahn, “Symbolistes et Decadents,” 32. 43. “Destruction of Syntax—Imagination without Strings—
Words-in-Freedom,” in Apollonio, Futurist Manifestos, 98.
33. Kahn recalled, with some irony, MallarmtTs advice to
“Manate di parole essenziali. . . .” “Distruzione della sin¬
young poets: “II enhardit a ne point craindre toute compli¬
tassi—lmmaginazione senza fili—parole in libertA—La sen¬
cation d’idees, sous pretexte d’obscurit6, a renoncer a la
sibility futurista,” in Apollonio, Futurismo, 146.
carrure vulgaire dans la mise en page d’une id£e.” “Pre¬
face,” Premiers Poemes, 20. Thus for Kahn, typographical 44. Ibid., 98.
experimentation was associated with obscurity, and he 45. “L’6crit, envoi tacite d’abstraction, reprend ses droits
wished to reject both. en face de la chute des sons nus.” Mallarme, “Le Mystfere
34. “Le vers et la strophe sont tout ou partie de phrase dans les lettres,” Oeuvres, 385.
chantee et sont de la parole avant d’etre une ligne £crite. 46. “ . . . une prealable disjonction, celle de la parole, cer-
En vertu de notre definition, tous les artifices typograp¬ tainement par effroi de fournir au bavardage.” Ibid., 385.
hies utilises pour l’homologation de deux vers (rime
47. See n. 16 above.
pour l’oeil) sont d’un coup ecartes Le poete parle et ecrit
48. “Destruction of Syntax,” in Apollonio, Futurist Manifes¬
pour l’oreille et non pour les yeux.” Ibid., 31.
tos, 105 (translation amended). “Combatto l’estetica decor-
35. For Kahn’s criticism of Gris’s inclusion of fragments of
ativa e preziosa di Mallarme e le sue ricerche sulla parola
mirror and printed letters and numbers in his paintings,
rara, dell’aggettivo unico insostituibile, elegante, sugges-
see chap. 4, n. 59.
tivo, squisito . . . . [il suo] ideale statico.” “Distruzione
36. This manifesto was probably published as a leaflet in della sintassi,” in Apollonio, Futurismo, 152. Mallarm6, of
late June or early July. Reviews of the French version ap¬ course, never described his poetic ideal as static. He fre¬
peared on 8 July 1912 in L’Intransigeant and Le Figaro. An quently referred to the mobility of words, as did Kahn and
Italian version was published by La Gazzetta di Biella on other Symbolist poets.
12 October 1912. 49. “Quel pivot, j’entends, dans ces contrastes, a 1’intelligi-
37. The manifesto was later reprinted in Zang Tumb Tumb bilite? il faut une garantie— La Syntaxe—.” Mallarme, “Le
(1914) and in Les mots en liberty futuristes (1919). Mysore dans les lettres,” Oeuvres, 385.

38. See Marinetti, / poeti futuristi, 11. 50. “Un parler, le fran<;ais, retient une elegance a paraitre
en neglige et le passe temoigne de cette qualite . . . mais
39. The Marinetti Archive at Yale University contains at
notre litterature depasse le ‘genre’, correspondance ou
least seventy-four pieces of correspondence from Kahn to
m6moires. Les abrupts, hauts jeux d’ail, se mireront, aussi:
Marinetti, most of which are dated 1899 to 1909. Signifi¬
qui les mene, pergoit une extraordinaire appropriation de
cantly, Kahn did not endorse Marinetti’s “Founding Mani¬
la structure, limpide, aux primitives foudres de la logique.
festo” in 1909 and seems to have withdrawn his support for
Un balbutiement, que semble la phrase, ici refoule dans
Marinetti’s endeavors from this time.
l’emploi d’incidentes multiplie, se compose et s’enlfeve en
40. Marinetti wrote a series of articles titled “Une Bataille
quelque equilibre superieur, a balancement prevu diver¬
moderne” for the French newspaper L’lntransigeant.
sions.” Ibid., 386.
41. For a fascinating discussion of the relation of aerial
51. In Flint, Marinetti, Selected Writings, 84-85. “ogni sos-
perspectives to Marinetti's literary theories and Futurist
tantivo deve avere il suo doppio, cio£ il sostantivo deve es-
art, see Linda Landis, “Futurists at War,” in The Futurist
sere seguito, senza congiunzione, dal sostantivo a cui £
Imagination: Word + Image in Italian Futurist Painting,
legato per analogia. Esempio: uomo-torpediniera, donna-
Drawing, Collage and Free-Word Poetry, ex. cat., ed. Anne
golfo, folla-risacca, piazza-imbuto, porta-rubinetto.
Coffin Hanson, 60-75.
Siccome la velocity aerea ha moltiplicato la nostra con-
42. “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Literature,” in Flint, oscenza del mondo, la percezione per analogia diventa
Marinetti, Selected Writings, 84. sempre piu naturale per 1’uomo. Bisogna dunque soppri-
“In aeroplano, seduto sul cilindro della benzina, scaldato mere il come, il quale, il cos!, il simile a. Meglio ancora,
il ventre dalla testa dell’aviatore, io sentii l’inanita ridicola
 Notes to Pages 206-12 286

bisogna fondere direttamente l’oggetto coll'immagine che quented, see Daniel J. Robbins, “Sources of Cubism and
esso evoca, dando l’immagine in iscorcio mediante una Futurism,” 324-27. Apollinaire regarded Ghil as a precur¬
sola parola essenziale.” ' Manifesto Tecnico della Lettera- sor of contemporary literature, admiring him especially for
tura Futurista,” in Apollonio, Futurismo, 106. his celebration of life and work, but rejected Ghil’s tradi¬
tional syntax and theory of “instrumentation.” For a dis¬
52. Paul de Man, The Rhetoric of Romanticism, 248.
cussion of Apollinaire’s views on Ghil, see P. A. Jannini, Le
53. In Flint, Marinetti, Selected Writings, 85. “L’analogia non
Auanguardie letterarie nell’idea critica di Guillaume Apolli¬
e altro che l’amore profondo che collega le cose distanti,
naire, 30.
apparentemente diverse ed ostili.” "Manifesto Tecnico
della Letteratura Futurista,” in Apollonio, Futurismo, 106. 65. Marinetti, “Destruction of Syntax,” in Apollonio, Futurist
Manifestos, 104. “ . . . un lirismo telegrafico che non abbia
54. Ibid., 89. “ . . . oseremo sopprimere tutti i primi termini
assolutamente alcun sapore di libro, e, il piu possibile, sa-
delle nostre analogie per non dare piu altro che il seguito
pore di vita. Da cio l’introduzione coraggiosa di accordi
ininterrotto dei secondi termini.” In Apollonio, Futurismo,
onomatopeici per rendere tutti i suoni e i rumori anche i
111.
piu cacofonici della vita moderna.” “Distruzione della sin-
55. Ibid., 86. “Per awiluppare e cogliere tutto cid che vi d tasi,” in Apollonio, Futurismo, 151.
di piu fuggevole e di piu inafferrabile nella materia, bis¬
66. “Geometric and Mechanical Splendor,” in Apollonio, Fu¬
ogna formare delle strette reti d’immagini o analogie, che
turist Manifestos, 158.
verranno lanciate nel mare misterioso dei fenomeni.” In
Apollonio, Futurismo, 108. 67. Ibid.

56. Ibid., 87. “ . .. l’ossessione lirica della materia.” In Apol¬ 68. In Apollonio, Futurist Manifestos, 30. This English ver¬
lonio, Futurismo, 109. sion is from the catalogue of the “Exhibition of Works by
the Italian Futurist Painters,” (Sackville Gallery, London,
57. This poem was appended to the “Supplement to the
1912).
Technical Manifesto of Futurist Literature” dated 11 August
1912. The French version of the “Supplement” was re¬ 69. “Geometric and Mechanical Splendor,” in Apollonio, Fu¬
viewed on 20 August 1912 by L'Instransigeant and Paris- turist Manifestos, 157.
Journal. The Italian version was included in the volume / 70. “Destruction of Syntax,” in Apollonio, Futurist Manifes¬
poeti futuristi. tos, 106. “Poco importa se la parola deformata, diventa
58. “Bataglia Peso + Odore.” in / poeti futuristi, 12. The equivoca.” “Distruzione della sintassi,” in Apollonio, Futur¬
French version of this poem makes the typographic ad¬ ismo, 153.
vance of the “avant-gardes” more clear than the Italian 71. “Geometric and Mechanical Splendor," in Apollonio, Fu¬
version. In translating this parole in liberta, I have con¬ turist Manifestos, 157. “Queste tavole sinottiche non de-
sulted the French as well as the Italian version and noted vono essere uno scopo, ma un mezzo per aumentare la
that there are considerable differences between the two. forza espressiva del lirismo. Bisogna dunque evitare ogni
59. Marinetti had declaimed parts of this parole in liberta preoccupazione pittorica, non compiacendosi in giochi di
during Futurist evenings in 1913 and 1914, before its publi¬ linee, nd in curiose sproporzioni tipografiche.” “Lo splen-
cation in March 1914. The first performance took place in dore geometrico e meccanico,” in Apollonio, Futurismo,
Berlin on 16 February 1913. 214.

60. In this free-word poem, as in “Battle of Weight + 72. Marjorie Perloff, The Futurist Moment: Avant-Garde,
Smell,” Marinetti wrote of his experiences while serving as Avant Guerre, and the Language of Rupture, 60.
a war correspondent in Turkey from 11 October to 15 No¬ 73. In Apollonio, Futurist Manifestos, 157. “Le parole in lib¬
vember 1912. erta, in questo sforzo continuo di esprimere colla massima
61. In Apollonio, Futurist Manifestos, 104. [Onomatopoeia forza e la massima profondita, si trasformano naturalmente
serves to] “vivificare il lirismo con elementi crudi e brutali in auto-illustrazioni, mediante Fortografia e tipografia lib-
di realta . . .” In Apollonio, Futurismo, 151. ere espressive, le tavole sinottiche di valori lirici e le anal¬

62. Rene Ghil, Traits du verbe, Avec auant-dire de Stdphane ogie disegnate.” In Apollonio, Futurismo. 214-15.
Mallarmi, 28. 74. John .1 White, “The Argument for a Semiotic Approach

63. “ . . . un vrai morceau de musique, suggestive infini- to Shaped Writing: The Case of Italian Futurist Typogra¬
phy," 53-86.
ment et ‘s’instrumentant’ seule: musique de mots dvoca-
teurs d’lmages-colordes, sans qu’en souffrent en rien, que 75. “Geometric and Mechanical Splendor,” in Apollonio, Fu¬
Ton s’en souvienne! les Idees.” Ibid., 30. turist Manifestos, 157.

64. For an account of Ghil’s theories and of his association 76. Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics,
with the Abbaye de Crdteil, which Marinetti also fre¬ 70, 73.
 Notes to Pages 212-22 287

77. David Cundy has pointed out that Futurist typographic 81 This newspaper is actually a fragment of Soffici’s simul¬
practice did not make use of modern printing technology. taneous poem "Treno-Aurora,” which records with consid¬
Ironically, the demand for a variety of typefaces and inks erable irony the various disconnected snatches of
led to multiple handset pressings and the use of outdated conversation overheard at a train station. The text has to
equipment. See “Marinetti and Italian Futurist Typogra¬ do with the thoughts and emotions of an eloping couple.
phy,” 349-52.
82. “ . . . un flusso, un tessuto di sensazioni diffuse.” Soffici,
78. Benedikt Livshits, The One-and-a-Half-Eyed Archer, Primi principi di una estetica futurista, 85.
191.
83. “La scatola di cerini che ho davanti a me si lega, come
79. Giovanni Lista published this interpretation, given to immagine, a un mio pensiero sul mondo, a una memoria
him by Luce and Elica Balia, in Le Livre futuriste, 44. amorosa, e questa alia campagna serale che vedo dalla fi-
80. Numerous connections between Futurist poetry and nestra, strettamente complementare del titolo nero del
Dada experiments with "bruitisme,” sound compositions, Corriere della Sera." Ibid.
and simultaneous poetry, etc. could be traced Tristan 84. For a discussion of the relation between Apollinaire’s
Tzara clearly admired Marinetti, and many of his Dada calligrammes and Soffici’s free-word poetry, which differs
manifestos refer to Futurism, a movement he hoped to ri¬ somewhat from my own, see Willard Bohn, “Free-Word Po¬
val. Fritz Glauser recalled a conversation with Tzara in etry and Painting in 1914: Ardengo Soffici and Guillaume
which the latter expressed his desire to found a new move¬ Apollinaire,” 209-26.
ment in art: “The fame of Marinetti, the leader of the Ital¬
85. Primi principi, 87.
ian Futurists, would not let him sleep. Excitedly he told me
about a visit by this esthetic sect in Bucharest. .. . Tzara 86. “Animata poi di colori e luci, in combinazioni sorpren-

dreamed of fame; Dada sounds much better than Futurism denti, posta in movimento nei piu vivi gurgiti della nostra

and the public is so dumb.’” “So war das damals,” in Das esistenza, la sua efficacia diviene ancora piu evidente. Effi-

war Dada Dichtungen und Dokumente, ed. Peter Schifferli cacia di suggestione e di complemento figurativo. Non piu

(Berlin: Deutsches Taschenbuch, 1963), 127; cited in Gor¬ muto segno di convenzione, ma forma viva fra forme vive,

don Frederick Browning, Tristan Tzara: The Genesis of the la lettera pud far corpo con la materia della rappresenta-

Dada Poem or from Dada to Aa, 33, n. 7. On 31 March zione.” Ibid., 88.

1916, Tzara, Janco, and Huelsenbeck presented their poem 87. “Ho incominciato subito il quadro Poema—pittorico—
“L’amiral cherche une maison a louer,” a simultaneous forse viene interessante. Ho visto le parole in liberta di
reading of nonsense verse in French, German, and English, Apollinaire mi piacciono.” Letter from Carra to Soffici
at the Cabaret Voltaire. The poem was published, with par¬ dated 23 June 1914. Repr. in Carlo Carra, Ardengo Soffici:
allel lines of text extending across two pages, in the single Lettere 1913 /1929, 58-59. On 4 July 1914 Carra wrote to
issue of the review Cabaret Voltaire, dated 25 May 1916, Soffici again to tell him that he had finished the “first pic¬
along with an explanatory “Note pour les bourgeois.” In torial poem,” “La Festa patriottica." Ibid., 60. For a discus¬
this note, Tzara justified his interest in simultaneity by in¬ sion of this work and its relation to Apollinaire’s “Lettre-
voking the work of Mallarme, Marinetti, Apollinaire, Henri Ocean,” see Bohn, “Circular Poem-Paintings by Apollinaire
Barzun, Fernand Divoire, and others. Interestingly, he also and Carra,” 246-71.
suggested a parallel with the Cubist “transmutation of ob¬ 88. Bohn, “Circular Poem-Paintings,” 256.
jects and colors.” See Tristan Tzara, Oeuvres completes.
89. As Bohn points out, “Lettre-Ocean” may have been in¬
Tome 1 (1912-1924), 492-93. In the February 1916 entry of
spired by Marinetti’s “Captive Turkish Balloon,” which was
Tzara’s “Chronique Zurichoise,” we also find a reference to
published in Zang Tumb Tumb in March 1914. In this work,
“cartes-poemes geographiques futuristes: Marinetti, Can-
Marinetti had inscribed the center of the balloon with the
giullo, Buzzi” hanging on the walls of the Cabaret Voltaire.
notation “hauteur 400 m.” In fact, Apollinaire cites the Fu¬
Ibid., 561. Hugo Ball notes in his diary on 9 July 1915 that
turists' innovations in an essay titled “Simultanisme-Li-
“Marinetti sends me Parole in Liberia by himself, Can-
brettisme,” which was published in the same June 1914
giullo, Buzzi, and Govoni. They are just letters of the al¬
issue of Les Soirdes de Paris as “Lettre-Ocean.” Other prec¬
phabet on a page; you can roll up such a poem like a map.
edents for a circular, simultaneous composition existed in
The syntax has come apart. The letters are scattered and
the contemporary painting of the Delaunays. See Bohn,
assembled again in a rough-and-ready way. There is no
“Circular Poem-Paintings,” 264.
language any more, the literary astrologers and leaders
proclaim; it has to be invented all over again. Disintegra¬ 90. “II est impossible de les lire sans concevoir immddiate-
tion right in the innermost process of creation.” See Flight ment la simultaneity de ce qu’ils expriment, podmes-con-

Out of Time: A Dada Diary, 25. In the entry for 18 June versation ou le poete au centre de la vie enregistre en

1916 Ball interpreted the Dada desire to expand the ex¬ quelque sorte le lyrisme ambiant.” Apollinaire, “Simultan-

pressive force of “isolated vocables” as a means of going isme-Librettisme,” 323.

beyond Marinetti’s parole in liberta. (68)

 Notes to Pages 222-29 288

91. Willard Bohn, The Aesthetics of Visual Poetry, 1914- 104. “Dynamic and Synoptic Declamation,” in Flint, Mari¬
1928, 35. netti, Selected Writings, 143. “Col nuovo lirismo futurista,
espressione dello splendore geometrico, il nostro io letter-
92. See Severini, Tutta la vita di un pittore, 210.
ario brucia e si distrugge nella grande vibrazione cosmica,
93. “La sensazione di penetrazione luminosa di due reflet- cosi che il declamatore deve anch’esso sparire, in qualche
tori elettrici—alia quale si riattaccava, per analogia, quella
modo, nella manifestazione dinamica e sinottica delle pa¬
di una pallottola mauser che strappi lo spazio sibilando,—
role in liberta.” “La declamazione dinamica e sinottica” (11
b resa dal contrasto di due angoli acuti, che si incontrano
March 1916), Per conoscere Marinetti e il Futurismo, ed.
nelle due punte.” Severini, "Ideografia Futurista,” repr. in
Luciano De Maria, 177.
Mostra Antologica di Gino Severini, 24.
105. Ibid., 145.
94. Ibid.
95. “Le opere del nuovo lirismo non potranno certo esser
Chapter 8. Futurist Collage and Parole in Liberta in the
lette, ma possiamo forse noi leggere le nostre tele, e pub il
Service of War
musicista leggere la sua sinfonia? Si legge il canto degli
uccelli?” Ibid., 24-25. 1. “Le mouvement futuriste exerga tout d’abord une action
96. “Ho visto su I’ultimo n° di Lacerba un tuo disegno che artistique, tout en influen^ant indirectement la vie poli¬
da un certo punto di vista mi ha interessato moltissimo, tique italienne par une propagande de patriotisme rbvolu-
perche anch'io in questi ultimi tempi ho fatto un lavoro, tionaire, anticlerical, directement lancb contre la Triple
che ho chiamato “festa patriottica—poema pittorico” e che Alliance et qui prbparait notre guerre contre I’Autriche.”
col tuo ha molti punti di contatto. ... 2 giorni fa I’ho por- Marinetti, Les mots en libertd futuristes, 9.
tato dal fotografo per riprodurlo in fotografia ...” Letter 2. See, for example, “Merveille de la guerre,” in Apollinaire,
from Carra to Severini, dated 11 July 1914, in Archivi, Calligrammes Poernes de la paix et de la guerre (1913-
1:341. 1916) (Paris: Gallimard, [1925] 1966), 137-39. As the war
97. "Futurist Painting: Technical Manifesto 1910,” in Apol- progressed, Apollinaire grew increasingly less optimistic
lonio, Futurist Manifestos, 28. “Noi porremo lo spettatore about it. Even the early poems demonstrate some ambiva¬
nel centro del quadro.” “La Pittura Futurista—Manifesto lence and are never a celebration of militarism for its own
Tecnico,” in Apollonio, Futurismo, 56. sake. For an intelligent, well-informed interpretation of
Apollinaire’s poetry in the light of his wartime experiences,
98. See Landis, “Futurists at War,” 63.
see Claude Debon, Guillaume Apollinaire apres Alcools:
99. Within a few months Futurists like Carra would no Calligrammes, Le poete et la guerre.
longer cry, “Long Live the King” but would instead menace
3. For Cendrars’s view of the war as “a painful delivery,
him with revolution if he did not take up the intervention¬
needed to give birth to liberty,” see Perloff, The Futurist
ist cause.
Moment, 6.
100. “Simultanisme-Librettisme,” 324. In this passage Apol¬
4. “Bisogna dunque che il Futurismo non solo collabori di-
linaire is describing the first attempt at simultaneity un¬
rettamente alio splendore di questa conflagrazione (e pa-
dertaken by Blaise Cendrars and Sonia Delaunay, La Prose
recchi di noi sono decisi a giocarvi la pelle energicamente)
du Transsibdrien et de la Petite Jehanne de France, but
ma anche diventi l’espressione plastica di quest’ora futur¬
their work is cited as exemplary of a contemporary ten¬
ista. Voglio parlare di una espressione ampia, non limitata
dency that includes his own work.
a un piccolo cerchio di intenditori; di una espressione tal-
101. Ballerini, Italian Visual Poetry, 1912-1972, 6.
mente forte e sintetica da colpire l’immaginazione e l’oc-
102. “Una scrittura dunque non piu mezzo della funzione chio di tutti o di quasi tutti i lettori intel 1 igenti. . . . Cerca
espressiva-comunicativa della lingua, . ..ma una scrittura di vivere pittoricamente la guerra, studiandola in tutte le
finalmente awiata alia liberazione da ogni problema di sue meravigliose forme meccaniche (treni militari, fortifi-
denotazione d’oggetti fuori di essa esistenti, liberazione cazioni, feriti, ambulanze, ospedali, cortei ecc.).” Letter
cioe dal suo platonismo tipico, finalmente oggetto essa from F. T. Marinetti to Severini, dated 20 November 1914.
stessa e luogo d’invenzione e d’immaginazione, passo ul- In Archivi, 1:349-50.
teriore sulla strada della liberazione della realta.” Tavole
5. “Italia sovrana assoluta. —La parola italia deve domi-
Parolibere Futuriste (1912-1944), ed. Luciano Caruso and
nare sulla parola liberta.
Stelio M. Martini, 4.
Tutte le liberta, tranne quella di essere vigliacchi, paci-
103. For Marinetti’s remarks, see Giacomo Balia and For- fisti, anti-italiani.
tunato Depero, “Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe,” Una piu grande flotta e un piu grande esercito; un po-
in Apollonio, Futurist Manifestos, 198. Marinetti’s interpre¬ pulo orgoglioso di essere italiano, per la Guerra, sola ig-
tation of Balia’s “plastic complexes” as new “objects” is iene del mondo e per la grandezza di un’ Italia
also discussed in chapter 8 below. intensamente agricola, industriale e commerciale.
 Notes to Pages 230-41 289

Difesa economica ed educazione patriottica del disordine.” “Manifesto tecnico della Letteratura Futurista,”
proletario. in Apollonio, Futurismo, 108. Inexplicably, this sentence
Politica estera cinica, astuta e aggressiva.— Espansion- (number 10 in the manifesto) was omitted from Flint’s
ismo coloniale.—Liberismo. standard translation.
Irredentismo.—Panitalianismo.—Primato dell’ltalia.”
18. “Futurist Painting: Technical Manifesto,” in Apollonio,
Marinetti, "Programma Politico Futurista,” Lacerba (15 Oc¬
Futurist Manifestos, 27.
tober 1913), 221,
19. “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Literature,” in Flint,
6. “Technical Manifesto of Futurist Literature,” in Flint,
Marinetti, Selected Writings, 84.
Marinetti, Selected Writings, 85.
20. Marinetti, “Geometric and Mechanical Splendor,” 158.
7. The fragments have been cut from page 122 of the sec¬
One can also note that Saussure had drawn attention to
tion titled “Hadirlik quartier generale turco” in Zang Tumb
the fact that onomatopoeias are largely conventional in
Tumb, 1914.
character: “As for authentic onomatopoeic words (e.g.
8. “Bombe, infatti, o meglio siluri sono i loro versi liberi. glug-glug, tick-tock, etc.), not only are they limited in num
L’immagine pub sembrare eccessiva soltanto ai miopi cer- ber, but also they are chosen somewhat arbitrarily, for
velli incapaci d’intuizione profonda.” Marinetti, 1 poeti fu- they are only approximate and more or less conventional
turisti, 11. imitations of certain sounds (cf. English bow-wow and
9. This title has been given to this mock-up to distinguish French ouaoua). In addition, once these words have been
it from the two published versions of this free-word introduced into language, they are to a certain extent sub¬
picture. jected to the same evolution—phonetic, morphological,
etc.,—that other words undergo . . . obvious proof that
10. Marinetti, “Geometric and Mechanical Splendor,” 158.
they lose something of their original character in order to
“L’amore della precisione e della brevita essenziale. . . ”
assume that of the linguistic sign in general, which is un¬
“Lo splendore geometrico e meccanico,” in Apollonio, Fu-
motivated.” Course in General Linguistics, 69
turismo, 218.
21. Cited in Tisdall and Bozzolla, Futurism, 104.
11. “Libri quadrati = cella / Le idee schiacciate = farfalle
tra le pagine quadrate.” Cited in Fracesco Cangiullo, Le 22. “Non vedo in cib una prostituzione del dinamismo plas
serate futuriste, 149. tico; ma credo che la grandissima guerra, vissuta intensa-
mente dai pittori futuristi, possa produrre nella loro
12. For an analysis of the role played by military maps in
sensibilita delle vere convulsioni, spingendoli a una sem-
Futurist art, see Landis, “Futurists at War.”
plificazione brutale di linee chiarissime, spingendoli in¬
13. This parole in liberta was first published on 9 Septem¬ somnia a colpire e ad incitare i lettori, come essa colpisce
ber 1917 in L’ltalia Futurista 2, no. 28 with the title “Morbi- e incita i combattenti.” Letter from F. T. Marinetti to Sever-
dezze in agguato + bombarde italiane” [Softnesses in ini, dated 20 November 1914, in Archivi, 1:349.
ambush + Italian bombings],
23. “Probabilmente si avranno dei quadri o degli schizzi
14. The “Arditi” (daredevils) were a group of volunteer meno astratti, un po’ troppo realistici e in certo modo una
shock troops who later in 1919 became the Fasci Futuristi. specie di post-impressionismo avanzato.” Ibid., 350.
They were renowned for rushing into battle stripped to the
24. This collage was published in January 1915 in Grande
waist with a dagger between their teeth and a grenade in
Ulustrazione and must have seemed, with the inclusion of
each hand. For a discussion of the role they played in the
a January 4 text, as hot off the press as the newspaper
war and in the transition to a Fascist state after the war,
fragment itself.
see Tisdall and Bozzolla, Futurism, 204-05, and Enrico
Crispolti, Storia e critica del futurismo, 202-04. 25. See Landis, “Futurists at War,” 64.

15. Charles Baudelaire, “The Painter of Modern Life,” in 26. Ibid., 64-65.

Selected Writings on Art and Artists, trans. P. E. Charvet 27. “L’angolo retto, per esempio, serve a dare espressione
(Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1972), 402. di calma austera e di serenita, quando la composizione

16. For an illuminating discussion of the temporal unfold¬ esige un ritmo semplice, appassionale, neutro. Con questo

ing of narrative and of the necessary “dissymmetry” be¬ stesso intento di neutrality, si utilizzano, in altri casi, la li-

tween the time of the telling in relation to the told, see nea orizzontale e la verticale pura. . . . L’angolo acuto, in-
vece, e passionale e dinamico, esprime volonta e forza
Peter Brooks, Reading for the Plot, 20-22.
penetrativa.” Carra, “II Dinamismo plastico: Piani plastici
17. “Siccome ogni specie di ordine b fatalmente un pro-
come espansione sferica nello spazio,” Guerrapittura, 66.
dotto dell’intelligenza cauta e guardinga bisogna orches-
This is a revised and expanded version of Carra’s mani¬
trare le immagini disponendole secondo un maximum di
festo “Piani plastici come espansione sferica nello spazio”
published in Lacerba (15 March 1913).
 Notes to Pages 242-44 290

28. ‘‘II modo di esprimere con nuovi mezzi di lirismo sinte- basis of his slogans, but he couldn’t have done that with¬
tico l’intenso realismo delle nostre emozioni mi vien sug- out removing the last romantic covering from reality. Mari¬
gerito dal mio disegno parolibero net quale accordai netti’s ecstatic screaming was nothing more than the
volontariamente forma [s/c] ed angoli acuti con speciali passionate inclination, the frenzied thirst of the propertied
parole, e forme rotonde o angoli aperti con altre." Severini, classes of a semi-agricultural country to possess, at what¬
“Ideografia Futurista,” 24. ever cost, their own industry, their own export markets
and their own colonial policy. The Tripoli War, which Mari¬
29. “Noi siamo agili, multiformi, e voi siete duri, uniformi,
netti eulogized, and the rejection of nature (‘Death to
grig'-
moonlight: we glorify the tropics bathed in electric
Noi siamo caldi, passionali, e voi freddi, apassionali.
moons!’) were but varying forms of the manifestation of
Voi siete per I’erudizione, per I’intellettuale, il professo-
the same force which pushed Italy along this path.” The
rume e l’accademia, e noi siamo per I’intuizione, la rapida
One and a Half-Eyed Archer, 186.
esperienza e adoriamo I’ignoranza, la geniale ignoranza
che giudichiamo essenziale virtu e forza igienica del 36. “Noi gridiano |s/c] oggi:—O la Guerra o la Rivoluzione!
cervello. Ascolti chi deve ascoltare.” Carra, “Guerra o Rivoluzione
Noi siamo la sensibilita resa anatomia, e voi siete I’in- purificatrici, ringiovanitrici,” Guerrapittura, 18.
sensibilita fatta cervello. 37. Severini, Tutta la vita di un pittore, 13-16.
Come si vede, si tratta di un vero rovesciamento di va-
38. There are numerous references to anarchist events and
lori—e I'accordo non sara mai possibile.” Carra, “I tedes-
workers’ strikes in Carry’s autobiography. See La mia vita,
chi questuanti d’amore,” Guerrapittura, 14.
23-26, 37-42. Carra recalled having been influenced by his
30. Giovanni Lista has pointed out that the bellicose tone reading of Marx, Plato, Thomas More, Max Stirner,
of this manifesto can be attributed largely to Marinetti. In a Nietzsche, Kropotkin, Fourier, Owen, Saint-Simon, Bakunin,
manifesto of December 1913 titled “Futurist Manifesto of and the Italian theorists Carlo Pisacane and Antonio La-
Men’s Clothing,” Balia had described his ideas for an “anti- briola, an impressive list.
passatista” suit without, however, mentioning war or the
39. “Dobbiamo avere fiducia e coraggio in noi stessi e
colors of the Italian flag. See Lista, Balia, 57. According to
come artisti e come italiani. Rinnegare il nazionalismo
Cangiullo, Balia initially resisted Marinetti’s idea that he
vuol dire assoggettarci al nazionalismo d’altri.
turn his antipassatista suit into an antineutralista tricolor
Se non opereremo con audacia contro i francesi, credilo
suit. Marinetti eventually prevailed, and the suit was first
amico, noi supporteremo ancora per un pezzo il loro stu-
worn by Cangiullo in a prowar demonstration at the Uni¬
pido giogo. Il futurismo, nato da noi, vuole che l’ltalia ab-
versity of Rome on 11 December 1914. The manifesto, al¬
bia di nuovo una grande Arte—vuole che gli stranieri,
though written after this event and largely by Marinetti,
barbari o smidollati che essi siano dovranno d’ora in
was dated September 1914. See Cangiullo, Le serate futur-
avanti, guardare L’ltalia e non piu la Francia.” Cited in
iste, 199-219. Nonetheless, Balia did participate in many of
Cavallo, Soffici: Immagini e documenti (1879-1964), 170.
the Futurist interventionist serate and did sign the
The purpose of this letter was to convince Soffici to
manifesto.
change the title of his book Cubismo e oltre to Cubismo e
31. “The Anti-Neutral Suit,” repr. in Virginia Dorch Dorazio, Futurismo for the second edition.
Giacomo Balia, An Album of His Life and Work, n.p. “Noi
40. Carra, “Nazionalita,” Guerrapittura, 5-6.
futuristi vogliamo liberare la nostra razza da ogni neutral¬
ity, dall’indecisione paurosa e quietista, dal pessimismo 41. See Soffici’s remarks in Primi Principi di una estetica fu¬

negatore e dall’inerzia nostalgica, romantica e rammol- turista, 64.

lente. Noi vogliamo colorare I’ltalia di audacia e di rischio 42. “Cosi, ora mi appariva chiaramente, come quel
futurista, dare finalmente agl’italiani degli abiti bellicosi e borghese capitalista e quel proletario non fossero che fig¬
giocondi.” Also in ibid., n.p. ure drammatiche, e i loro rapporti economici non altro

32. “Si pensa e si agisce come si veste.” Ibid., n.p. che gli elementi poetici del loro contrasto, contrasto so-
ciale; tutto insieme: un’armonia immaginata e posta come
33. “Se il Governo non deporra il suo vestito passatista di
legge di quella creazione di un mondo sui generis, inesis-
paura e d’indecisione, noi raddoppieremo, centuplicheremo
tente nella realta, ma vero nella infinita sfera dello Spir-
il rosso del tricolore che vestiamo." Ibid., n.p.
ito.” Ibid., 65-66.
34. In Apollonio, Futurist Manifestos, 22.
43. Ibid., 69.
35. Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
44. Ibid., 15.
Reproduction,” 241-42. Benedikt Livshits, who met Mari¬
netti on his visit to St. Petersburg in 1914, came to a simi¬ 45. See Soffici, “Per la Guerra,” Lacerba (1 September
lar conclusion about the ideological basis of Marinetti’s 1914), 253-56.
program: “He made no mention of what really lay at the
 Notes to Pages 246-57 291

46. In Apollonio, Futurist Manifestos, 197. “Balia comincid Chapter 9. Collage and the Modernist Tradition
collo studiare la velocita delle automobili, ne scopri le
leggi e le linee-forze essenziali. Dopo piu di vend quadri 1. Crow, “Modernism and Mass Culture in the Visual Arts.”
sulla medesima ricerca, comprese che il piano unico della Crow bases his analysis on the criticism of St^phane Mal-
tela non permetteva di dare in profondita il volume dinam- larme and the early writings of Clement Greenberg, espe¬
ico della velocita. Balia sent! la necessity di costruire con cially “Avant-Garde and Kitsch” of 1939.
fili di ferro, piani di cartone, stoffe e carte veline, ecc., il 2. “Les pointillistes ne scandalisaient plus; le Salon des Ar¬
primo complesso plastico-dinamico.” “Ricostruzione futur- tistes Frangais devenait le refuge de I’impressionnisme tol-
ista dell’universo,” in Apollonio, Futurismo, 254. 6re, chez ces moderns, comme un radicalisme inoffensif;
47. Ibid. “Daremo scheletro e carne all’invisibile, Bonnard et Vuillard ne pouvaient indigner que quelques
all'impalpabile, all’imponderabile, all'impercettibile. Tro- amateurs de banlieue, les autres, lecteurs anciens de la
veremo degli equivalenti astratti di tutte le forme e di tutti Revue Blanche, trouvant infiniment de charme a leurs “vil-
gli elementi dell'universo, poi li combineremo insieme, se- I6giatures” intellectuelles. On se montrait g6n£ralement
condi i capricci della nostra ispirazione, per formare dei pacifique; on industrialisait Cezanne et Gauguin. . . . Les
complessi plastici che metteremo in moto.” “Ricostruzione r6volutionnaires s’embourgeoisaient-ils?” Salmon, La jeune
futurista dell’universo,” in Apollonio, Futurismo, 254. peinture frangaise, 9.

48. Ibid, “trasparentissimo. Per la velocity e per la volatility 3. Metzinger, “Note on Painting,” in Fry, Cubism, 59. Met-
del complesso plastico, che deve apparire e scomparire, zinger mentions Picasso, Braque, Delaunay, and Le Fau-
leggerissimo e impalpabile.” “Ricostruzione futurista connier, but none of the latter three would have
dell’universo,” in Apollonio, Futurismo, 254. denounced the “theoreticians of emotion” in 1910. More¬
over, a section referring to Picasso alone follows the pas¬
49. Cited in Lista, Balia, 49.
sage quoted here.
50. In the “Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe,” Balia
4. “Picasso les yeux brul6s par des deformations criardes
and Depero declared that the new “plastic-dynamic com¬
de plus en plus insupportables, car malgre tout, si defor¬
plex” should be "autonomous, that is, resembling itself
mations il y a, ne deforme pas qui veut, Picasso, dis-je, ne
alone.” In Apollonio, Futurist Manifestos, 197. “autonomo,
vit bientot plus en elles qu’improvisations laborieuses,
cioe somigliante solo a s6 stesso.” "Ricostruzione futurista
brutalites trop voulues, travaux penibles semblant faits de
dell’universo,” in Apollonio, Futurismo, 254.
‘chic’, a tel point que ces tentatives finissaient par rendre
51. Lista discusses the importance of Fuller’s dances, fatigantes, nous ne craignons pas de le dire, meme l’oeuvre
which Balia would have had the opportunity to see in Paris responsable de Cezanne.” Raynal, Picasso, 68.
in 1900 and in Rome in 1902 and 1906: see Balia, 77. Fuller
5. Cited in Antonina Vallentin, Pablo Picasso, 130.
performed a series of abstract “Synaesthetic symphonies”
in Paris in 1914, and Balia would undoubtedly have heard 6. Perloff, “The Invention of Collage,” in Collage, ed. Jean-
or read reports of this event. ine Parisier Plottel, 6. This essay is reprinted in Perloff’s
recent book, The Futurist Moment.
52. “Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe,” Apollonio,
Futurist Manifestos, 198, translation modified by the author. 7. Greenberg, “Modernist Painting,” 103.

(Apollonio mistakenly translated “Presenza” as “Present” 8. See Greenberg, “The Pasted-Paper Revolution,” and
rather than “Presence,” an important distinction in this “Collage.”
context.) “L’arte, prima di noi. fu ricordo, rievocazione an- 9. Greenberg, “Collage,” 71.
gosciosa di un Oggetto perduto (felicita, amore, paesaggio)
10. Ibid., 76.
percib nostalgia, statica, dolore, lontananza. Col Futurismo
invece, I’arte diventa arte-azione, cio6 volonty, aggres- 11. Ibid., 77.
sione, possesso, penetrazione, gioia, realta brutale 12. Ibid., 80.
nell’arte. (Es.: onomatopee.—Es.: intonarumori = motori),
13. Ibid.
splendore geometrico delle forze, proiezione in avanti.
Dunque Parte diventa Presenza, nuovo Oggetto, nuova 14. See Krauss, “Re-Presenting Picasso.”

realta creata cogli elementi astratti dell’universo. Le mani 15. Letter from Picasso to Braque, dated 9 October 1912,
dell’artista passatista soffrivano per l’Oggetto perduto; le repr. in Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, “Braque, la lenteur de la
nostre mani spasimavano per un nuovo oggetto da creare. peinture,” 41.
Ecco perch6 il nuovo oggetto (complesso plastico) appare 16. See, for example, Ardengo Soffici, Cubismo e Futurismo,
miracolosamente fra le vostre.” “Ricostruzione futurista and Umberto Boccioni, “Per l’ignoranza italiana; Sillabario
dell’universo,” in Apollonio, Futurismo, 255. pittorico,” Lacerba (1 August 1913), 179-81.
53. Ibid., 199. “Ricostruzione futurista dell'universo,” in
Apollonio, Futurismo, 258.
54. Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction,” 223.
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Index

Page numbers in italics Adorno, Theodor, 124 Bakunin, Mikhail, 243 Boccioni, Umberto:
African art, 36, 37, 39, 43- Ball, Hugo, 215 collages of, 166, 181-87;
refer to illustrations
52, 57. See also Grebo Balia, Giacomo: collages color used by, 179;
mask of, 237-38; and compared with Balia,
Alberti, Leon Battista, Divisionists, 167; on 246; competition with
107-8, 111 Futurist clothing, 242- Picasso and Braque, ix,
Alexander III, 156 43; and the “Futurist 177, 183; critical
Allard, Roger, 59 Reconstruction of the response to, 180-81,
Allegory: Gris’s use of, Universe,” xiii, 245-51; 183, 185-87; on
105; Picasso’s use of, lack of influence by elements of reality in
31-32, 50 Cubism on, 20; parole works of art, 21; force¬
Analogy: Cangiullo's use in liberta by, 215; lines used by, 170-71;
of, 210; Futurist plastic complexes of, influence of Divisionism
principle of design 243, 245-51 on, 167-71, 179-80;
analogies, 210; —works: Bankruptcy, 246; influence on Marinetti,
Marinetti’s theory of Colored Plastic 195;interest in
poetic analogies, 175, Complex of Force-Lines, molecular composition
206-7; Picasso’s formal 249, 250, 251; Colored of objects, 180, 181;
analogies, 54; plastic Plastic Complex of motion in, 180, 181; on
analogies, 175; Soffici’s Noise + Dance + Joy, Picasso, 128; on
use of, 219 249, 250; Dimostrazione relationship with
Apollinaire, Guillaume: patriottica, 246, 248; spectator, 181, 183;
calligrammes of, x, 196, “Disconcert of States of response to war by, ix,
198, 219-20, 226; as Mind,” 215, 218; Line of 26, 229, 230, 237-38,
critic, 59, 61, 67, 93, Speed + Vortex, 246, 240; sculpture,
105; friendships of, x, 247; Line of Velocity + constructed and mixed-
171-72, 191, 215; Landscape, 246, 247; media, ix-x, 20-21,
influence on Severini, The Madwoman, 167; 177-81, 186, 248; and
21; method of Rumoristica plastica the “Technical
composition of, 236; BALTRR, 215, 217, 246; Manifesto of Futurist
poetry of, 113, 147, The Worker’s Day, 167 Sculpture,” 20, 177-78;
195-99, 215, 219-21; Balzac, Honore de, 142 on theory of innate
pornographic novel of, Banville, Theodore de, complementariness, 171
152; response to war 202-3 —works: Charge of the
by, 198, 229 Baudelaire, Charles, 112, Lancers, 21, 23, 238,
—works: “Coeur 152, 206, 234, 236 240, 242; Development
Couronne et Miroir,” Benjamin, Walter, 32, 152, of a Bottle in Space,
219-20, 219, 226; “Les 243, 253 179; Dynamism of a
Fenetres,” 196; “II Berchtold, Leopold, 222 Man’s Head, 183, 185;
Pleut,” 198, 199, 226; Bergson, Henri, 180, 181 Dynamism of a
“Lettre-Oc6an,” 196, BiF §ZF + 18, 220-21, Woman's Head, 183,
197, 198, 221-22, 224- 220 184; Fusion of a Head
25; “Rue Lundi Billy, Andr6, 196 and a Window, 20, 20,
Christine,” 196; “Vis6e” Blanc, Charles, 95, 96, 179, 180; Head + House
198, 199; “Zone,” 196 135, 136, 137, 169 + Light, 180; Horse +
Aragon, Louis, viii-ix Rider + Houses, 248-
Arp, Jean, 257 49, 249; States of Mind;
Aurier, Albert, 96, 138 The Farewells, Those
Who Go, and Those
Who Stay, 170; Still Life
 Index 307

with Glass and Siphon, wallpaper used by, 3, 5, influences on, x; parole conception / vision
181, 182, 183; Unique 94, 104, 137 in liberta by, 195, 220, dichotomy in Gris’s
Forms of Continuity in —works: Black and White 221-22; response to war work, 93-94, 105-23;
Space, 179 Collage, 99, 102; by, ix, 26, 222, 225, 229, and decoration, 137-41;
Bonnard, Pierre, 253 Construction, 162, 163; 237, 238, 240, 242, 243- fragile nature of, 162;
Braque, Georges: The Fruitdish, 3, 4, 5, 44; tavole parolibere by, fragments and, 154-63;
collaboration with 98; Fruitdish and Glass, 192 frames of reference in
Picasso, 1, 3, 5, 31, 68; 2, 3, 5, 98, 104; Homage —works: “Bilancio,”,221; Picasso’s collages, 59-
color used by, 12-13, a J S. Bach, 33; Houses Free-Word Painting— 89; by Futurists, 19-28,
15, 99, 168; conception at L’Estaque, 98; Large Patriotic Festival, 24, 163, 164-92, 226, 237-
and vision in, 59, 93- Nude, 91; The 25, 221, 224; French 45, 256-57; by Gris, 17-
105; constructed Portuguese, 33, 34, 68; Officer Observing 19, 93-94, 105-23, 183;
sculptures of, 1, 3, 20, Still Life BACH, 42, 99; Enemy Movements, 26, inclusion of aspects of
39, 41, 43, 178; Still Life with Guitar, 26; Guerrapittura, 240, mass culture in, xii, 13,
dissociation of color, 102, 103; Still Life with 243; “Immobilita + 31, 37, 111, 128-29, 137,
drawing and form in Le Courrier, 158, 161; Ventre,” 221; The Night 140-41, 146-53, 155-63,
works of, 41, 43, 99- Still Life with Tenora, of January 20, 1915 / 254, 256; invention of,
102; on distinctions 99, 101; Still Life with Dreamed This Picture 1-29; and the modernist
between fine and Violin, 99, 101; Violin (Joffre’s Angle of tradition, 73, 253-57;
applied art, 126; family and Palette, 10, 33, 34; Penetration on the museum versus home
of, 96-97; faux bois Violin and Pipe, 158, Marne against Two status of, 129-37; by
paper used by, 6, 37, 41, 160; Violin and Pitcher, German Cubes), 26, 27, Picasso, 1-17, 19, 25,
43, 95, 98-99, 104-5; 10, 33; The Violin, x, 240, 242; Pursuit, 238, 31, 52-57, 59-89, 254-
interest in African art, 191, 192; Woman, 91 239, 240; “Rapporto di 56; by Severini, 171-72,
37, 39; invention of Bricollage, 36, 57 un Nottambulo 174-77; by Soffici, 187-
papiers colics by, 1-17, Burgess, Gelett, 91 Milanese,” 221-22, 222, 91; war and, 25-26,
19; Kahnweiler as 223; “Sintesi Futurista 237-45. See also Papier
dealer for, 125, 126, Calligrammes, x, 196, 198, della Guerra,” 241, 241; coll6; Parole in liberta;
162—63; naturalistic 219-20, 226 Still Life: Noises of a Tavole parolibere
details in paintings of, Cangiullo, Francesco, 195, Night Cafe, 192, 193, Color: Boccioni’s use of,
79; negativity of public 213-15, 234 225 179; Braque’s use of,
reaction to, 125, 126; —works: “Fumatori,” 210, Cena, Giovanni, 243-44 12-13, 15, 99, 168; in
new materials used by, 212, 213; Great Crowd Cendrars, Blaise, 147, 229 Cubism, 12, 15;
3, 5, 37, 43, 95, 98-99, in the Piazza del Cezanne, Paul, 32, 86, 165, Futurists’ use of, 170;
158; overlapping used Popolo, 215,2/6, 226; 253, 254 Helmholz’s theory of,
by, 41, 99; papiers Pisa, 213, 214, 215; Ch6ret, Jules, 223, 224 208; Picasso’s use of,
colics by, 37, 41, 60, 94- “Serata in Onore di Chevreul, M. E., 169 12-13, 15-16, 126, 168;
105; photograph of, 63; YVONNE,” 213 Chiaroscuro, 12, 13, 15, scientific laws of, 169;
relationship with Carco, Francis, 50-51 32-33, 37, 39, 43, 45, 92, Severini’s use of, 168;
public, 162-63; Riviere’s Carra, Carlo: on choice of 99, 104, 129, 170 as symbol of human
view of, 92; signature materials by artist, 165— Collage: Aragon on, viii- emotion, 170
on works of, 134, 188; 66; collages of, 25, 26, ix; by Boccioni, 181-87; Constructed sculpture: by
and Soffici, ix; table and 191-92; correspon¬ by Braque, 1-17, 19, 25, Balia, 245-51; by
tableau in, 86; tactile dence with Boccioni, 93-105; by Carra, 191 — Boccioni, ix-x, 20-21,
versus visual spaces in, 177; correspondence 92; color in, 12-13, 15- 177, 186, 248; by
41, 97-99, 121; on with Soffici, 221, 223- 16; comparison of early Braque, ix, 1, 3, 20, 39,
trompe 1’oeil tradition, 24; on Cubism, 166-67; collages of Braque and 41, 43,178; development
67, 97; use of Picasso, 1-17, 19, 25; of, 31; fragile nature of,
housepainter’s comb conception/vision 162; by Picasso, 5, 31,
by, 1, 67, 97; use of dichotomy in Braque’s 52-57, 59-89, 181, 256
letters and numbers, work, 93-105;
17, 34, 68, 104, 141;
 Index 308

Cornell, Joseph, 257 Dada, x, 29, 215 Futurism: aims and Grebo mask, 5-6, 6, 31-
Corot, Jean-Baptiste, 168 Dalize, Rent:, 196 innovations of, 168-69, 32, 33, 34-36, 36, 39, 41,
Courbet, Gustave, 157 David, Jacques-Louis, 157 185-86, 236; Balia’s 46
Crivelli, Carlo, 172, 173 Decoration, and collage, "Futurist Reconstruc¬ Greenberg, Clement, 31,
Cubism: achievement of, 137- 41 tion of the Universe,” 73,254-56
xi, 29; analytic Cubism, Deformation, 102, 104, xiii, 245-51; Boccioni’s Gris, Juan: and Soffici, ix;
32, 33, 95; as art of 138, 183, 185, 251 collages and sculptures, collages by, 17-19, 183;
realism, 13, 59-61, 78, Delacroix, Eugene, 169 177-87; Braque’s compared with Picasso,
79, 81, 86-87, 88; cafe Delaunay, Robert, 196 response to, 191; 111-12, 116, 120, 121;
setting in collages, 158; Denis, Maurice, 137-38, Carra’s collages, 191 — conception and vision
on changing market and 144 92; collages by in, 93-94, 105-23; on
exhibition conditions, Depero, Fortunato, 245, Futurists, 19-28, 164— distinctions between
125-29; chiaroscuro in, 246 92, 226, 237-45, 256-57; fine and applied art,
12, 13, 15, 32, 37, 39, 43, Derain, Andr6, 92 compared with Cubism, 126; faux marbre in,
45, 92, 99, 104, 129; Divisionism, ix, x, xiii, 21, x-xi, 19-21, 25-26, 28, 111; gridlike structure
color in, 12, 15, 168; 167-71 128, 165-67, 171, 178, in, 112-13, 116, 120,
compared with Duchamp, Marcel, 12, 137, 195, 237; conception of 123; illustrations for
Futurism, x-xi, 19-21, 257 self in, 226; and popular satirical
25-26, 28, 165-67, 171, Dufy, Raoul, 92 decoration, 137; magazines by, 126;
178, 195, 237; compared Dumas, Alexandre, 141 Divisionist heritage Kahnweiler as dealer
with Marinetti, 226; Dunoyer de Segonzac, 92 and, 167-71; Picasso’s for, 125, 126, 162-63;
conception and vision response to, 190-91; light in, 112, 120;
in, 91-94; as form of Engels, Friedrich, 243 and relation to the past, negativity of public
writing, 28, 141; Ernst, Max, x, 257 257; response to war, response to, 107, 126,
fragments and, 155-63, ix, 21, 25-26, 163, 229- 180; newspaper used
166-67; Futurism as Fascism, 243 51; sculpture of, 20-21; by, 19, 158; poetry
synthesis of Fauvism, xii, 102, 111, Severini’s collages, 171— incorporated into
Impressionism and, 190; 153, 158, 253-54, 257 72, 174-77; Soffici’s collages of, 141;
and modernism, 73, Faux bois paper, 6, 37, 43, collages, 187-91; as relationship with
163, 253-57; and 47, 95, 98-99, 104-5 synthesis of Impres¬ public, 162-63;
museum versus home Faux marbre, 111 sionism and Cubism, repetition of forms in,
status of, 129-37; F6n6on, F6lix, 168, 169 190; and the “Technical 116-17, 120-21;
negativity of public Ferat, Serge, 36 Manifesto of Futurist wallpaper used by, 137
reaction to, 125-29, Flaubert, Gustave, 95 Painting,” 168, 170, 209; —works: The Bottle of
141; political subject Force-lines, 170-71, 178 and the “Technical Banyuls, 121, 122;
matter of, 21, 25-26; Fort, Paul, 172, 175, 201 Manifesto of Futurist Fruitdish and Carafe,
Puteaux Cubists, 17, 92, Framing motifs, 61-73, 79, Sculpture,” 20, 177-78. 117, 119, 120; Glass of
107, 125, 126, 168; 82, 84, 86, 129-35, 137, See also Parole in Beer and Playing Cards,
representation and 138- 39, 162, 191-92 liberta; Tavole 113, 114, 116; The
imitation in, 45, 59; Franz Ferdinand, parolibere; and names Guitar, 108, 110; Le
Riviere on, 91-92; assassination of, 222 of specific artists Lavabo, 17, 18, 105,
Section d’Or exhibition Free verse, 202-3, 204 107, 113; A Man in a
of, 17, 92, 105, 107, 125; Free-word pictures. See Gabo, Naum, 251 Cafe, 158, 159; Le
tableau-objet and, 86; Tavole parolibere Gauguin, Paul, 43, 46, 137, Paquet de Cafe, 158,
use of three- Free-word poetry. See 138, 141, 253 159; The Siphon, 111,
dimensional objects in Parole in liberta Ghil, Rent:, 208 112, 113, 116, 117; Still
works, 36-37. See also Fuller, Loie, 249 Gide, Andrt:, 144 Life, 112, 113; The
Braque, Georges; Girardin, Emile de, 141 Table, 117, 118, 120,
Collage; Gris, Juan; Gleizes, Albert, 78, 91, 93 121, 158; Violin and
Picasso, Pablo Gouel, Eva, 36 Engraving, 108, 109;
The Watch, 105, 106,
113, 117
 Index 309

Grosz, George, x Kahnweiler, Lucy, 85 Manet, Edouard, xii, 32, by, 225, 230-37; and the
Guys, Constantin, 234 Kelly, Mary, 257 157, 257 “Technical Manifesto of
Kruger, Barbara, 257 —work: The Spanish Futurist Literature,”
Heartfield, John, x, 257 Singer, 79, 81, 81 204; typography in, 207,
Helmholz, Hermann, 208 Lacerba, 21, 213-25 Mare, Andr6, 136, 137 208, 210, 213, 230, 236;
Henry, Charles, 169, 171 Laforgue, Jules, 202 Marinetti, F. T.: analogies as war correspondent,
Hoch, Hannah, 257 Language, structural in, 175, 206-7, 210; and 205, 207, 229
Huelsenbeck, Richard, 215 analysis of, 48-50, 56 Boccioni, 177, 178; and —works: “Aeroplano
Huysmans, J. K., 155 Leger, Fernand, 78 Carra, 177, 221; Bulgaro,” 195; “After
Leonardo da Vinci, 107 compared with the Marne, Joffre
Impressionism, 95-97, 99, Lhote, Andre, 86, 92 Severini, 223; on the Visited the Front in an
102, 111, 144, 158, 167, Line: force-lines, 170-71, destruction of Automobile,” 230, 232,
168, 189, 190, 253-54, 178; Futurists’ use of, museums, 165; and 233-34, 237; “Battle of
257 170-72 “Destruction of Weight + Smell,” 204,
Intimists, 158 Livshits, Benedikt, 212-13 Syntax—Imagination 207-8; “Bombardment,”
Italian Primitives, 21 Lombroso, Cesare, 243-44 without Strings—Words 230, 231, 236-37;
Longhi, Roberto, 180-81 in Freedom,” 205, 208; “Captive Turkish
Jacob, Max, ix, 50 dramatic readings of Balloon,” 210,2//,
Jarry, Alfred, 204 Malevich, Kasimir, x poetry, 212-13, 256-57; “Decagono della
Johns, Jasper, 257 Mallarm6, St^phane: and “Founding and Sensibilita Motrice,”
aristocratic stance of, Manifesto of Futurism,” 196, 198, 198; “Dynamic
Kahn, Gustave, xiii, 107, 157, 158; on art as free 229, 243; friendships of, Verbalization of the
180, 201, 202-4, 205, of utilitarian and x; and “Futurist Route,” 232, 232; / poeti
210 political concerns, 142— Political Program,” 229- futuristi, 230; “In the
Kahnweiler, Daniel-Henry: 44, 146, 244; and “Crisis 30; and “Geometric and Evening, Lying on Her
on African art, 51; of Poetry,” 143, 153; Mechanical Splendor Bed, She Reread the
correspondence with denunciation of the and the Numerical Letter from Her
Braque, 1-2, 39, 41; newspaper by, 142-44, Sensibility,” 208, 209, Artilleryman at the
correspondence with 146, 253; influence of, 210, 236; iconoclasm of, Front,” 234, 235, 237,
Gris, 108, 113, 121, 123; 201, 203; Marinetti and, 190; invention of parole 238; “Montagne +
correspondence with xiii, 201-2, 205-7; on in liberta by, ix, 25, 26, Vallate + Strade x
Picasso, 37; on Cubism, metaphor of creation, 28, 192, 195, 201, 204- Joffre,” see “After the
45-46, 59, 141; as 123; on the musical and 13; and journal Poesia, Marne”; Les mots en
dealer, 1, 125, 126, 162, hieroglyphic effect of 204; on the newspaper, liberty futuristes, ix,
177; on Gris’s collages, letters, 208; on new 144; onomatopoeia in, 225, 229-30, 234;
17, 108; on heroism of poetry, 142, 144, 153, 195, 208-9, 213, 225, “Pallone Frenato
artists, 126; important 154-55, 201-2; Picasso’s 236-37; poem included Turco,” see “Captive
role of, 127; photograph familiarity with, 147; on in Soffici’s work, 190; Turkish Balloon”;
of, 84, 85; and Picasso’s poetry as collection of and poetry as power of “Ponte,” 213; Premier
comments on Cubism, fragments, 154-55; on flight, 205; presence Record, 226, 227;
29; and Picasso’s the “spiritual book,” and voice in, 225-26, “Synchronic Chart,”
comments on link 143-44, 146, 154-55, 251; rejection of 210, 211; “A
between art and nature, 209; syntax of, 206-7; Mallarmd’s aesthetic, Tumultuous Assembly
78; Picasso’s portrait of, and Vers et Prose, 201; 205-7; response to war (Numerical
46, 47; on Picasso’s Still on women as readers of by, 26, 191, 226, 229-37, Sensibility),” 28, 29,
Life with Chair-Caning, poetry, 157 238, 242-43, 244; 234; “Vive la France,”
67; on Picasso’s studio, Symbolist influence on, 230, 231, 234; Zang
137; on pictorial unity, 147, 201, 208, 205-7; Tumb Tumb, 28, 195,
60-61; on sculpture, syntax in, 205-7, 236, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212,
180; on the tableau- 257; tavole parolibere 213, 230, 236-37
objet, 86
 Index 310

Markov, Vladimir, 52 Paper sculpture. See color used by, 12-13, relationship with
Marx, Karl, 243 Constructed sculpture 15-16, 126, 168; public, 162-63;
Matisse, Henri, 102, 137, Papier coll£: by Braque, compared with Gris, representation of
138-41, 158 37, 41, 60, 94-105; 111-12, 116, 120, 121; reality in, 21, 59;
—works: La danse, 139; conception / vision compared with resemblance in works
Interior with Eggplants, dichotomy in, 93-105; Marinetti, 195; of, 50, 51; Riviere on,
139, 139; La musique, development of, 41; compared with Matisse, 92; signature on works
139; Portrait of a Young invention of, 3, 5, 15, 139-40; constructed of, 134; and Soffici, ix,
Girl (Marguerite), 158, 94-95, 125, 255; by sculpture of, 31, 32-33, x; Sorgues sketchbook
162 Picasso, 31, 60. See also 43, 45, 52-57, 59-89, of, 39, 39, 40, 41; studio
Metzinger, Jean, 59, 78, Collage 181, 256; on creative of, 137; table and
91, 93, 253 Papini, Giovanni, 21, 183, process, 152-54; and tableau in, 86-88;
Modernism, ix, xi, xiii, 66, 185-87, 191 decorative motifs, 137, tableau-objets of, 51-
73, 163, 253-57 Parnassians, 202-3 139-41; dissociation of 52, 57; and technique of
Morbelli, Angelo, 169 Parole in liberta: analogy volume and mass in appropriation and
Morice, Charles, 138, 202 in, 206-7, 210, 219; works of, 41, 43; on the recontextualization, 1,
Museum status of Apollinaire, influence Fauves and 10-12, 13, 21, 31-32, 34,
artwork, 129-37 on, 219-20, 221; by Impressionists, 253-54; 36, 52, 62, 111, 140-41,
Museums, Marinetti’s view Balia, 215; by Cangiullo, fragments in works of, 152-53, 156-57, 254;
on,163 213-15; by Carra, 220, 156-57; friendships of, three-dimensional
221-22; critical 171; influence of African objects in works of, 36-
Nabis, 137 response to, 225; art on, 37, 39, 43-52, 37; unity in, 1, 13, 15,
Neo-Impressionism, 140, Futurists and, 165; 57; “inner frames” in, 32, 34, 41-43, 52, 60-61,
158, 167, 168, 169, 170 Lacerba and, 213-25; 61-73, 79, 82, 84, 86, 70-73, 86, 87-88. 195,
Nevelson, Louise, 257 Marinetti’s invention of, 191-92, see also 254, 256; wallpaper
Newspaper: Boccioni’s ix, 21, 26, 28, 165, 192, Framing motifs; used by, 6, 53, 73, 82,
use of, 183, 237, 238; 195, 201, 204-13; invention of collages 84, 137, 148, 153, 157
Braque’s use of, 158; onomatopoeia in, xiii, by, 1-17, 19, 25; —works: “Almanacco
Carra’s use of, 192, 237, 195, 208-9, 213, 222, Kahnweiler as dealer Purgativo.” x, 190-91,
238; compared with 225, 236-37, 256; for, 125, 126, 162-63; on 191; Assemblage with
book, 143-44; Gris’s use presence and voice in, link between art and Guitar Player, 19,80,
of, 19, 158; history of, 225-26; response to war nature, 78; love of 81, 88, 162, 186—87; At
141- 42; Mallarm6 on, in, 229-37; by Severini, poetry by, 141; and the Lapin Agile, 32; Bar
142- 44, 146, 155, 253; 220, 223-24; by Soffici, museum versus home Table with Guitar, 99,
Marinetti on, 144; 215, 219, 220-21; status of artwork, 129— 100; Bottle and Glass on
Marinetti’s use of, 195; typography in, xiii, 207, 37; negativity of public a Table, 56, 57, 148,
Picasso’s use of, 6, 146— 208, 210, 213, 230, 236, reaction to, 125-26, 149; Bottle, Newspaper
53; Severini’s use of, 256 128; new materials used and Instruments of
175, 238; Soffici’s use Pelizza da Volpedo, by, 3, 5-6, 10, 12, 32, Music, x; Bottle of Bass,
of, 188, 237, 244 Giuseppe, 167, 169 36-37, 61, 73; Ace of Clubs, Pipe, 129,
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 243 Perception, laws of, 169 newspaper used by, 6, 131; Bottle ofVieux
Picasso, Pablo: on 146-53; Papini on, 186— Marc, Glass, and
Olivier, Fernande, 50, 62, achievement of Cubism, 87; photograph of, 63; Newspaper, 73, 76;
126 29; anthropomorphized pictorial oppositions in, Bottle of Vieux Marc,
Onomatopoeia, xiii, 195, musical instruments in, 78, 86, 93, 121, 181; Newspaper and Glass,
208-9, 213, 221, 222, 54; Boccioni on, 177; political views of, 25- 73, 74, 156-57, 156;
225, 236-37, 242, 256 collaboration with 26; puns in works of,
Ostranenie Braque, 1, 3, 5, 31, 68; 54, 56, 147-48, 152;
(estrangement), 32 collages of, 1-17, 19, rejection of the canvas
25, 31, 52-57, 254-56; by, 5, 111, 128;
 Index 311

Bread and Fruit Dish on The Poet, 97; Portrait of as power of flight, 205; Section d’Or exhibition,
a Table, 32; The Chess Daniel-Henry and Symbolist legacy, 17, 92, 105, 107, 125
Pieces, 62, 65, 66; Kahnweiler, 46, 47; 201-4. See also Parole Segantini, Giovanni, 167
Construction with Portrait of Gertrude in liberta Serusier, Paul, 138
Guitar. 70, 71, 188; The Stein, 32; The Reservoir, Previati, Gaetano, 167, Seurat, Georges, 137, 138,
Factory at Horta de Horta de Ebro, 32; 169 157, 168, 169, 243
Ebro, 32; Glass, 129, Saltimbanques, ix; Puns, visual, 54, 56 Severini, Gino: collages
132, 133; Glass and Siphon, Glass, Puteaux Cubists, 17, 92, of, 20, 21, 166, 171-72,
Bottle of Bass, 82, 83, Newspaper, Violin, 6, 9; 107, 125, 126, 168 174-77; correspon¬
84, 129, 148; Glass and Souvenir de Marseille, dence with Boccioni,
Bottle of Suze, 115, 116; 39, 39; Still Life: “Au Rauschenberg, Robert, 178-79; correspon¬
Glass, Die and Bon Marchd," 148, 151, 257 dence with Carra, 223-
Newspaper, 82, 82, 192; 152, 158, \88; Still Life: Raynal, Maurice, 17, 59, 24; correspondence
Guitar, xi-xii, 5, 5, 31, “Notre Avenir est dans 92-93, 107, 117, 148, with Marinetti, 229, 237;
39, 41, 43, 44, 45, 48, l Air, ” 13, 14, 15\ Still 254 early political views of,
49-50, 52-53, 57; Life (The Snack), 84, 85, Renoir, Pierre Auguste, 243; friendships of, x;
Guitar: “J’aime Eva, ” 36, 86; Still Life with Bottle, 165 influence of Divisionism
37, 37; Guitar and Cup 148, 150; Still Life with Rimbaud, Arthur, 208 on, 167-69, 172; parole
of Coffee, 73, 77, 78; Bottle and Glass, 147, Riviere, Jacques, 59, 91- in liberta by, 195, 220:
Guitar and Sheet Music, 147; Still Life with 92 on “plastic analogies,”
31; Guitar and Chair-Caning, xviii, 1, Rodin, Auguste, 43 175; response to war
Wineglass, 6, 7, 52, 53, 13, 31, 32, 33, 36, 57, 61, Romains, Jules, 147 by, 177, 224, 241-42;
99, 148, 153; Guitar on 66-68, 73, 126, 137, 195; Romanticism, 95, 134, 144 use of real moustache
a Table, 73, 76; Guitar, Still Life with Fruit, 54, Rood, O. N„ 169 in portrait by, 186; use
Wineglass, Bottle of 55, 56; Study for a Rosso, Medardo, 43, 189— of sequins by, 172, 187
Vieux Marc, 73 , 75, 78; Figure, 148, 150; Violin, 90 —works: The Blue
Head of a Harlequin, 6, 8, 12, 13, 13, 15, 53- Rousseau, Henri, 32 Dancer, 21, 22, 172;
12, 12; Head of a Man, 54, 54, 72, 73, 148; —work: Myself, Portrait- “Danza Serpentina,”
6, 9, 40, 41, 54, 88, 89, Violin and Musical Landscape, 36-37, 38 198, 200, 201, 223-24,
148, 149; Head of a Score, 6, 8, 12, 54; Russian Constructivism, 241-42; Pan-Pan, 172;
Woman (Fernande), 33, Violin and Newspaper, 29 The Portrait of Paul
34; Landscape of Ceret, 68, 69, 70, 73; Violin Russolo, Luigi, 186, 229, Fort, 172, 174, 175; Sea
10, 11, 12; Landscape and Sheet Music, 15, 16; 230 = Dancer, 172, 174; Sea
with Posters, 13, 14; Les Violin Hanging on a = Dancer + Bunch of
Demoiselles d’Avignon, Wall, 70, 71; Woman Saar, Betye, 257 Flowers, 175; Still Life:
ix, 32, 46; The Letter, 3, with Pears (Fernande), Salle 41, 125 Bottle, Vase and
3, Man with a Violin, 40, 32-33, 33 Salmon, Andr6, 51-52, 78, Newspaper on a Table,
41; Mandolin and Glass Poe, Edgar Allan, 206 96, 97, 181, 253 175, 176, 177, 238
of Pernod, 62, 64, 66; Poetry: Banville on, 202- Salon d’Automne, 125, 137 Signac, Paul, 78, 169, 169—
Musical Score and 3; and Braque, 141; of Salon des Artistes 70
Guitar, 10, 10, 12; The Dadaists, 215; female Frangais, 253 Soffici, Ardengo: collages
Piano, 37; Pipe and readers of, 157; free Salon des Independants, of, 21, 187-91;
Musical Score, 129, 130, verse, 202-3, 204; and 125, 253 compared with Balia,
140; Pipe, Glass, Gris, 141; Kahn on, 202- San Giuliano, Antonino di, 246, 248;
Musical Score, Ace of 4; by Mallarme, 142-47, 222 correspondence with
Clubs, Guitar, “Ma 153-55, 157, 201; Saussure, Ferdinand de, Carra, 221, 244;
Jolie,” 153, 154; Pipe, onomatopoeia in, 195, 48-49, 56-57
Glass, Newspaper, 208-9; and Picasso, 141; Schwitters, Kurt, x, 257
Guitar, Bottle of Vieux Sculpture. See
Marc (“Lacerba”), x; Constructed sculpture
 Index

friendships of, x; opposition to debased Wallpaper: artists’ use of,

influences on, x, 189— forms of mass- 138; Braque’s use of, 3,
90; parole in liberty by, produced, popular 5, 94, 104, 137; Gris’s
195, 215, 219, 220-21; culture, 142-44, 146, use of, 137; history of,
and Picasso, ix, x; 155, 253; and parole in 135-37; Picasso’s use
political views of, 244; liberty, 201-6; Picasso’s of, 6, 53, 73, 82, 84, 137,
response to war by, 25- response to, 87, 153; 148, 153, 157
26, 229-30, 237, 244-45; poets’ use of War: Apollinaire’s
on task of artist, 187; onomatopoeia, 208-9; response to, 198, 229;
and typography, 221; on on revelation of Balkan Wars, 25, 148,
use of unusual temperament of artist, 208, 210-11, 229;
materials in art, 187 92-93 Futurists’ response to,
—works; “Al Buffet della ix, xiii, 21, 25-26, 163,
Stazione,” 215, 218, 219, Tableau, and table in 177, 191, 192, 213, 222,
220, 221; BiF § ZF + 18, Picasso’s work, xii, 57, 223, 224-25, 226, 229-
220-21, 220; Bottle and 66, 86-88 51; Picasso’s response
Glass, 244-45, 245; Still Tableau-objet, xii, 51, 57, to, 25-26, 28-29
Life (Piccola Velocitd), 86 Werth, Ldon, 91
188-89, 189; Still Life Tatlin, Vladimir, x, 245- Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 157
with Lacerba, 21, 23, 46, 249, 257 World War I. See War
190; Still Life with Tavole cangiulliane, 213-
Matches, 187-88, 188; 15 Zeuxis, 104
“Tipografia,” 188, 189, Tavole parolibere: by
221 Cangiullo, 213-15; by
“Spiritual book,” 143-44, Carra, 192, 222; by
146, 154-55, 209 Marinetti, 28, 225, 230-
Stein, Gertrude, 51, 70, 37; spectator in center
72, 73 , 79, 125, 128 of, 225
Stendhal, 142 Tolstoy, Leo, 243
Sue, Eugene, 142 Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri
Sue, Louis, 137 de, 32, 126
Superville, Humbert de, Trompe l’oeil, 5, 33, 34,
169-70 51, 66, 67, 88, 94, 95-97,
Surrealism, 29 104, 105, 107, 111
Symbolism: aesthetic Typography, in parole in
theory of, xii; on art as liberta, xiii, 28, 207,
decoration, 137-38, 208, 210, 213, 230, 236,
140, 152; compared 256
with Cubism, 128-29, Tzara, Tristan, x, 215
158; compared with
Impressionism, 91; and Uhde, Wilhelm, 126, 128
Futurism, 21, 167, 171,
257; as influence on Van Gogh, Vincent, 137,
Marinetti, xiii; Kahn as 138, 141
Symbolist poet, 201, Vauxcelles, Louis, 107
202-4; Mallarm6 as Verhaeren, Emile, 202, 204
Symbolist poet, 123, Verlaine, Paul, 154, 202
141-48, 201-2, 205-6; Vers libre, 202-3, 204
Victor Emmanuel III, 243
Villon, Jacques, 17, 107
Vuillard, Edouard, 253