Francis Picabia (French, 1879-1953)
Contributions by Hans Arp (French, born Germany, 1886–1966)
Contributions by Marcel Duchamp (American, born France, 1887-1968)
Contributions by Tristan Tzara (French, born Romania, 1896-1963)
Printed by Pierre-André Benoit (French, 1921-1993)
691
INV-2537
Francis Picabia (French, 1879-1953)
Contributions by Hans Arp (French, born Germany, 1886–1966)
Contributions by Marcel Duchamp (American, born France, 1887-1968)
Contributions by Tristan Tzara (French, born Romania, 1896-1963)
Printed by Pierre-André Benoit (French, 1921-1993)Alès, France: P.A. Benoit, 1959
20th Centurybookdrawings (visual works)
Date
Alès, France: P.A. Benoit, 1959
Medium
Letterpress on white wove paper; two wove paper cut-out designs (one loose); two photolithographs after drawings, one line block reproduction of a hand-written note in blue on buff wove paper; one line block reproduction of hand-written shape poem in black on graph paper watermarked P.J.A. VELIN
Dimensions
H.: 33 cm (13 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Mary Reynolds Collection Fund, Ryerson & Burnham Libraries
691 features text-based works by Dadaists Tristan Tzara and Marcel Duchamp as well as illustrations by Hans Arp and Francis Picabia. Some of these pieces are detachable from the page, creating an interactive experience for the reader.
Francis Picabia was a Dadaist writer and artist who was close to Marcel Duchamp and active in avant-garde art circles of the time. In 1913 photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz curated a solo show for Picabia’s work at his gallery 291. This number became the inspiration for Picabia to create his own Dadaist publication entitled 391, which ran from 1917 to 1924.
Upon the end of the publication’s run, Picabia distanced himself from Dada and moved south, away from the chaos of Paris, but by the 1940s, the tensions across Europe had drawn Picabia back to the world of avant-garde art. It’s from this personal renaissance that Picabia, along with his artistic associates and publishing connections, produced the short work 691. The magazine was published by Pierre-Andre Benoit, an art collector and publisher of many avant-garde artists and writers of the time.
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