Finding aid for the L'Architecture lettriste collection, 1968-1988 880210

Sara McGillivray
Special Collections
2017
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu


Contributing Institution: Special Collections
Title: L'Architecture lettriste collection
Creator: Didier Lecointre et Denis Ozanne (Firm)
Creator: Broutin, Gérard-Philippe
Creator: DuPont, Albert, 1951-
Creator: Hachette, Micheline
Creator: Isou, Isidore
Creator: Poyet, François
Creator: Sabatier, Roland, 1942-
Creator: Satié, Alain, 1944-
Identifier/Call Number: 880210
Physical Description: 58.17 Linear Feet (28 boxes and 4 flatfile folders)
Date (inclusive): 1968-1988
Abstract: A collection assembled for an exhibition in 1988 at Lecointre-Ozanne in Paris featuring maquettes, projects, plans and writings of Isidore Isou, Roland Sabatier, Alain Satié, François Poyet, Gérard-Philippe Broutin, Albert DuPont, and Micheline Hachette. Included are manifestos and bulletins; proposals for playgrounds and housing; designs for towns of the future; and decorative designs.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record  for this collection. Click here for the access policy .
Language of Material: Collection material is in French.

Conditions Governing Access

Open for use by qualified researchers. Contact the repository for information regarding access to the maquettes.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Acquired in 1988.

Arrangement

Materials by individual artists/authors are grouped together following the order in the catalogue of the sale exhibition at Lecointre-Ozanne. Titles are drawn from the catalogue.

Biographical / Historical

Didier Lecointre et Denis Ozanne, also known as Librairie Lecointre-Ozanne, was a gallery and rare books dealer in Paris run by Didier Lecointre and Denis Ozanne. Lecointre and Ozanne opened a location in Odéon on the rue de Tournon in the early 1980s, specializing in twentieth-century avant-garde art movements, photography, and artists' books. They continuously published catalogues of their holdings and exhibitions, including Vingt ans d'architecture lettriste in 1988, Reliures lettristes in 1991, and several catalogues related to the 1991 Biennale du livre d'artiste in Uzerche. In 1987, Lecointre-Ozanne opened a location in Drouot on the rue de Provence. This location would later operate as Chloé & Denis Ozanne Rare Books, while the original Odéon location became Didier Lecointre et Dominique Drouet booksellers. Both businesses continued to collect and sell artists' books and other works by avant-garde groups like the Lettrists and Situationists.

Preferred Citation

L'Architecture lettriste collection, 1968-1988, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 880210.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa880210

Processing History

The collection was rehoused upon receipt. Sara McGillivray wrote the finding aid in 2017.

Related Archival Materials

For Lettrist writings see the Lettrism papers , the Lettrist movement papers , and the Jean Brown Collection .

Scope and Contents of Collection

This collection consists of materials assembled for an exhibition, Vingt ans d'architecture lettriste, held at Librairie Lecointre-Ozanne in Paris in March 1988. The works include maquettes, projects, plans and writings which date from 1968 to 1988, and were created by seven members of the Lettrist movement: Gérard-Philippe Broutin, Albert DuPont, Micheline Hachette, Isidore Isou, François Poyet, Roland Sabatier, and Alain Satié. Included are manifestos and bulletins; proposals for playgrounds and housing; designs for towns of the future; and decorative designs.
The avant-garde movement, Lettrism, was formed in 1945 by Isidore Isou and Gabriel Pomerand. The Romanian-born Isou came to Paris after World War II, and upon forming the group began issuing leaflets, manuscripts, and manifestos. The group alleged that arts have life cycles, defining two distinct periods before an art's "death," the amplique and the ciselante. The amplique is a period in which an artistic discipline grows and expands (amplifies) through the use of techniques drawn from other disciplines out of utility, rather than from pre-existing aesthetic techniques. The ciselante follows the amplique as a period in which the art looks inward and is deepened (chiseled in) through self-reflection, but becomes inaccessible to the amateur. It then dies due to a lack of possibility for original creation, and all subsequent efforts are known as "neo"-arts. Lettrists sought out originality in their work, and often denounced revivalist artistic movements as imitative. Early Lettrists named poetry and music as dead arts and cast Lettrism as a new art. The group drew from poetry and music for their lettries, compositions of letters assembled for the aesthetic purpose of pleasing the eye or ear. While formatted and often performed like poetry, unlike the poem, these works emphasize the forms and sounds of letters over words, and as such, have no translatable meaning; the letter becomes a visual object symbolic only as a phoneme.
The Lettrists' experimentation with notation systems continued into more visual works and expanded into other fields of art, asserting that, like music and poetry, literature and painting had reached their respective ends and there was no room left in either field for original creation. Lettrism sought to reinvent dead fields by injecting them with experimental techniques revolving around the letter, such as uniting pattern and typography, and utilizing pictographs and varied ink colors to arrive at works that were neither figurative nor abstract. This fusion between art and writing was first termed metagraphics, and grew into hypergraphics in the 1950s. While lettries stripped meaning from notational symbols to create purely aesthetic works, hypergraphy introduced diverse notational symbols into works to add layers of meaning. This allowed Lettrist paintings to be "read," while Lettrist novels wove together narratives using all manner of symbols. Inserting images into a novel was termed plasticizing, and Isou's first hypergraphic novel, Les Journaux des dieux, was published in 1950.
The Lettrists' work regarding architecture can be traced back to Isou's 1968 "Manifeste pour le bouleversement de l'architecture,"  (#13 in the Lecointre-Ozanne sale catalogue), but would be more fully fleshed out with Roland Sabatier and Alain Satié's publication of "Le Bouleversement de l'architecture,"  in 1979 (#14 in the sale catalogue). Sabatier joined the Lettrists in 1963, Satié and Hachette in 1964, Poyet in 1966, Broutin in 1968, and DuPont in 1973. These artists would explore the relationship between Lettrist ideas and architecture in the works within this collection, both individually and collaboratively, as in the proposal for a façade in Fécamp and the exterior of the Mid Mad Mod store in Paris.
The Lettrists defined architecture up to the Modernists as the discipline's amplique period, and sought to usher the discipline through its ciselante period and into the hypergraphic. Isou proposed to liberate the architectural form from utilitarian goals, experimenting with typographical massing in his maquettes featured in this collection. Broutin's maquettes explore the Pyramid of Cheops' potential as a monumental hypergraphic structure, while Satié and Poyet's work explores the hypergraphic on an urban scale. Lettrist architecture focused on aesthetics and materiality, and experimented with the part as a whole. Like Lettrist work creating universal notation systems, meca-architecture encompassed a universal system of building materials, including any and all objects as possible building components, as illustrated in Micheline Hachette's piece, "Méca-esthétique pour la construction d'une demeure," where the rubber boot is presented as both possible building material and possible building form.
Lettrist architecture explored the unbuilt as construction projected in an imaginary dimension. This is tied to the group's notions of the infinitésimale and super-temporelle, which are inter-related Lettrist concepts of imaginary and impossible works which can only be suggested or represented by surrogates in reality. Infinitésimale works often involved stimulation of the senses, in which a work invokes another thing, sense, or memory. Two of Isou's maquettes utilize veils and incandescent lights to suggest symbolic and allegorical imagined projects, while two of Sabatier's pieces pair objects (a mirror and a vinyl record) with hand-written quotes to imply works that must be imagined by the public. These works require participation on the part of the viewer. Likewise, the super-temporelle requires audience intervention, it demands the audience "fill-in" the work with their own ideas, meaning that the work is perpetually in an unfinished state and cannot exist within a typical temporal framework, which allows it to transverse temporal existence. These concepts are illustrated in the many drawings and maquettes included in this collection.
Sources consulted:
L'architecture lettriste : Ciselante, hypergraphique, infinitésimale & super-temporelle (1968-1988) : 20 ans d'architecture lettriste : Livres, plans, projets, maquettes . Paris: Didier Lecointre-Denis Ozanne, 1988.
Acquaviva, Frédéric. Isidore Isou, Hypergraphic Novels, 1950-1984. Stockholm, Sweden: Rumänska Kulturinstitutet, 2012.
Curtay, Jean-Paul, Letterism and Hypergraphics : the Unknown Avant-Garde, 1945-1985. New York: Franklin Furnace, 1985.
Failing, Patricia. An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Letterist Painting : As Exemplified in the Oeuvre of Maurice Lemaître. Paper presented at the First International Symposium on Letterism, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR, May 26, 1976. Paris: Centre de Créativité, c. 1978.
Lemaître, Maurice. What Is Letterism? : The Only French Avantgarde Movement Born Since Dada and Surrealism. Paris: Centre de Créativité, c. 1979.

Publication Rights

Separated Materials

Published material from the sale exhibition was separated from this collection and catalogued by the library. These materials consisted of sale exhibition catalogue number 13, "Manifeste pour le bouleversement de l'architecture,"  numbers 14 and 15, "Le Bouleversement de l'architecture,"  and number 49, "Particuliers, promoteurs ne confiez plus vos constructions aux escrocs […]" 

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Architectural design
Lettrism

 

Broutin, Gérard-Philippe, 1987

Scope and Contents

Gérard-Philippe Broutin's work in this collection consists of a series of ten plaster maquettes depicting the Pyramid of Cheops, accompanied by hand-painted quotes.
box 2**

Partons de la pyramide de Cheops, pyramide dont la fonction est religieuse...

Physical Description: 19 x 18 cm;
Physical Description: polyester plaster, Chinese ink

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 1. "Partons d'une pyramide, celle de Chèops par exemple, pyramide dont la fonction est religieuse..." inscribed on piece.
box 2**

Donnons-lui, comme Isidore Isou, la seule valeur d'objet esthétique...

Physical Description: 19 x 18 cm;
Physical Description: polyester plaster, Chinese ink

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 2. "Donnons lui, comme Isidore Isou, la seule valeur d'objet esthétique..." inscribed on piece.
box 2**

Analysons cette pyramide...

Physical Description: 19 x 18 x 20 cm;
Physical Description: polyester plaster, Chinese ink

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 3. Title inscribed on piece.
box 2**

Injectons-lui une dose de rêve...

Physical Description: 19 x 18 x 20 cm;
Physical Description: polyester plaster, Chinese ink, acrylic gouache

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 4. "Injectons lui une dose de rêve..." inscribed on piece.
box 2**

Et encore une dose de rêve...

Physical Description: 19 x 18 x 20 cm;
Physical Description: polyester plaster, Chinese ink, collage

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 5. "Et encore une autre dose de rêve..." inscribed on piece.
box 2**

Détruisons-la...

Physical Description: 19 x 18 x 20 cm;
Physical Description: polyester plaster, Chinese ink

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 6. "Détruisons la...(blocs juxtaposés de façon ha andeuse)" inscribed on piece.
box 2**

On pourrait même utiliser des êtres humains comme élément de construction...

Physical Description: 19 x 18 x 20 cm;
Physical Description: polyester plaster, Chinese ink, acrylic gouache

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 7. "On pourrait même utiliser des êtres humains comme éléments de construction..." inscribed on piece.
box 2**

Servons-nous de cette pyramide comme d'un support à une architecture hypergraphique...

Physical Description: 19 x 18 x 20 cm;
Physical Description: polyester plaster, Chinese ink, acrylic gouache

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 8. "Servons nous de cette pyramide comme d'un support à une architecture hypergraphique..." inscribed on piece.
box 2**

En dépassant la pyramide hypergraphique, pourquoi ne pas penser à d'autres architectures inexistantes ou possibles...

Physical Description: 19 x 18 x 20 cm;
Physical Description: polyester plaster, Chinese ink, acrylic gouache

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 9. "[?]ant cette pyramide [?]hique, pourquoi ne [?]r à d'autres archi- [?]nexistantes ou possibles" inscribed on piece.
box 2**

Vous pourriez même aider à construire et détruire ce monument pendant des siècles et des siècles...

Physical Description: 19 x 18 x 20 cm;
Physical Description: polyester plaster, Chinese ink

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 10. "Vous pourriez même aider à construire et détruire ce monument pendant des siècles et des siècles." inscribed on piece.
Flatfile 4**

DuPont, Albert, Projet de décoration d'une façade d'immeuble à Fécamp, 1978

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 11. Drawing of a decorative design for a façade in Fécamp, done in conjunction with Roland Sabatier and Alain Satié.
box 3**

Hachette, Micheline, Méca-esthétique pour la construction d'une demeure, 1968;

Physical Description: 29 x 17 x 35 cm;
Physical Description: paint on rubber boot

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 12. Title inscribed on piece.
 

Isou, Isidore, 1987-1988

Scope and Contents

Isidore Isou's work in this collection includes several maquettes of mixed materials and a typescript. Isou's other writings on architecture were separated from this collection and catalogued by the library; see "Manifeste pour le bouleversement de l'architecture,"  and "Le Bouleversement de l'architecture,"  (Sale exhibition catalogue numbers: 13-15).
box 4**

Projet pour le musée Isidore Isou, 1987;

Physical Description: 30 x 16 x 75 cm;
Physical Description: hand-painted balsa wood

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 16.
box 5**

Transformation de la jungle en Paris, élevée au rang de ville paradisiaque, 1987;

Physical Description: 50 x 36 x 38 cm;
Physical Description: hand-painted balsa wood

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 17.
 

Proposition pour l'architecture cosmique, 1987-1988

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 18.
box 6**, box 7**

Maquette

box 1*, folder 1

Photographs

box 1*, folder 1

"Manifeste de l'architecture cosmique"

Scope and Contents

Photocopy of corrected typescript.
box 8*, box 9*

Projet d'architecture esthapéïriste ou infinitésimale, 1987;

Physical Description: veils, electric fan, lights

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 19.
box 10**

De l'architecture ciselante à l'architecture infinitésimale, 1987;

Physical Description: building maquettes, brick, electric fan, flashlight, veil

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 20.
box 11**

Poyet, François, Application de l'hypergraphie modulaire à l'architecture, 1967;

Physical Description: 74 x 56 x 42 cm;
Physical Description: polystyrene

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 21. Maquette depicting a modular hypergraphic city of the future.
 

Sabatier, Roland, 1968-1970, 1980

Scope and Contents

Roland Sabatier's works in this collection include architectural drawings, quotes on graph paper, paintings, and mixed media works. Also included with Sabatier's work are the designs for the sign and exterior of the Mid Mad Mod store in Paris, done in collaboration with Maurice Lemaître, Alain Satié and Micheline Hachette. For Sabatier's writing on architecture, see "Particuliers, promoteurs ne confiez plus vos constructions aux escrocs […]"  (Sale exhibition catalogue number: 49).
box 1*, folder 2

Dix projets d'architectures ciselantes et hypergraphiques, 1969-1970

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 22. Ten collages, ink and gouache presented together in a paper jacket. "Dix projets d'Architectures ciselantes & hypergraphiques" inscribed on piece.
Flatfile 2**

Œuvre de narcissisme architectural, 1970

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 23. Title inscribed on piece.
box 1*, folder 3

Architecture sonore (édifice infinitésimal), 1969

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 24. Title inscribed on piece.
Flatfile 2**

Récréation (architecture poudriste supertemporelle), 1970

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 25. "Je sìgne tous les dessins, châteaux de sable ou traces de pas, volontaires ou non, réalisés à dater de ce jour sur toutes les plages du monde, comme les éléments d'une vaste architecture poudriste supertemporelle intitulee: Récréation" inscribed on piece.
Flatfile 2**

Le gardien du sommeil (édifice infinitésimal et supertemporel polyautomatique), 1970

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 26. "Je sìgne tous les rêves que vous effect[?] cette nuits et durant toutes les nuits à venir comme autant de "briques" possibles d'un édifice infinitésimal & supertemporel polyautomatique ou multi-instinctif entitulé: le gardien du sommeil" inscribed on piece.
Flatfile 2**

Architecture tactile, 1969

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 27. "Touchez cette matìere et [v]oyez'vous dans la sensation qui naîtra de cet acte (architecture tactile)" inscribed on piece.
Flatfile 2**

Architecture esthapéïriste en forme de trilogie Hégélienne, 1970

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 28. "Architecture esthapéïriste en forme de trilogie hegelienne" inscribed on piece.
Flatfile 2**

Les profondeurs (plan infinitésimal), 1970

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 29. "Je signe tous les trous qui seront réalises à dater de ce jour, non comme des ready-made tardifs résultant de l'appropriation de la realité, mais comme des éléments valables pour autant qu'ils permettent d'imaginer sur un plan infinitésimal les éléments inconcevables d'une oeuvre architecturale esthapéïriste intituleé: les profondeurs" inscribed on piece.
Flatfile 2**

Incomplet (œuvre d'architecture infinitésimale et supertemporelle), 1969

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 30. "Toutes les absences constateés en ce lieu ou en des lieux différents, par vous-même ou des personnes de votre connaissance, aujourd'hui et dans les jours à venir, participent à l'oeuvre d'architecture infinitésimale et supertemporelle intituleé: incomplet" inscribed on piece.
Flatfile 2**

La construction des constructions, 1969

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 31. "Réunissez vous autour de cet emplacement pour refléchir ensemble, dans un profond silence, sur les conditions d'un chef-d'oeuvre architectural inexistánt et [invisible?] intitulé: la construction des constructions" inscribed on piece.
Flatfile 1**

Immeuble au centre hypergraphique, 1980

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 32. Title inscribed on piece.
Flatfile 1**

Ensemble architectural polythanasique, 1980

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 33. Title inscribed on piece.
Flatfile 1**

Projet d'une architecture polythanasée, 1980

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 34. Title inscribed on piece.
Flatfile 1**

Projet d'architecture hermétique dense et relâchée, 1980

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 35. "Projet d'Architecture hermétique (dense & relachée)" inscribed on piece.
box 1*, folder 4

Aire de jeux, 1972

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 36. Title inscribed on piece.
box 1*, folder 3

Architecture définition (Logement), 1968

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 37. "Architecture définition" inscribed on piece.
box 1*, folder 3

Architecture définition (Architecture), 1968

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 38. "Architecture définition" inscribed on piece.
box 1*, folder 3

Différentes briques, 1970

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 39. Title inscribed on piece.
box 12*

Leçon d'architecture ciselante, 1969

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 40.
box 13*

Briques, 1969

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 41.
box 14*

Ecrits sur l'architecture, 1969

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 42.
box 15*

Pavillon de la propriété créatrice, 1980

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 43.
box 16*

Plan hypergraphique, 1968

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 44.
box 17*

La polythanasie de l'architecture, 1969

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 45.
box 1*, folder 5

Projet d'architecture parlante, 1969

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 46. Title inscribed on piece.
box 1*, folder 3

Mur musical, 1969

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 47. Title inscribed on piece.
box 1*, folder 6-7

Projet de décoration extérieure du magasin MID MAD MOD, 1969

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 48. Exterior design for a store on the Rue de Buci in Paris. Designed with Maurice Lemaître, Alain Satié and Micheline Hachette. Architect: Yves Fernandez. Photographic montage, drawing, and maquettes of the building's sign created by all four participants.
 

Satié, Alain, 1969-1985

Scope and Contents

Alain Satié's works in this collection include two hypergraphic paintings, and materials for architectural projects consisting of drawings, maquettes, and photographs of the maquettes. These projects include proposals for playgrounds, housing, and towns of the future. Also included are additional drawings for the design of a façade in Fécamp, undertaken with DuPont and Sabatier.
box 18**

Plan de situation d'une ville nouvelle, 1980

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 50.
box 19*

Décoration de façade, immeuble ou tour, 1984

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 51.
box 1*, folder 8

Décoration d'une salle de billard, 1981-1982

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 52. Design for a billiard room, including photographic montage and drawings on one board.
 

Projet d'un ensemble commercial et d'habitation, 1978

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 53. Design for a commercial and residential complex.
box 20*

Maquette,

Physical Description: 7 x 7 x 41 cm;
Physical Description: wood
box 1*, folder 10

Drawings and photographs

 

Projet de ferme modèle avec serre incorporée, 1985

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 54. Design for a farm with an incorporated greenhouse.
box 21*

Maquette,

Physical Description: 39 x 21 x 10 cm;
Physical Description: wood and plastic
box 1*, folder 10

Drawings

 

Trois tubes renversés libérant des lettres, 1976

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 55. Design for a playground or schoolyard.
box 22**

Maquette,

Physical Description: 60 x 47 x 10 cm;
Physical Description: cardboard and plastic
box 1*, folder 9

Drawings and photographs

 

Tour d'habitation aux formes qui se complètent, 1978

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 56.
box 23**

Maquette,

Physical Description: 47 x 34 x 33 cm;
Physical Description: cardboard and plastic
box 1*, folder 10

Drawings and photographs

 

Projet de décoration d'une façade d'immeuble à Fécamp, 1978

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 57. Decorative design for a façade in Fécamp.
box 1*, folder 10

Photograph

Flatfile 3**

Drawings

box 24**

Projet de tour d'habitation aux formes molles, 1978

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 58. Wood and plaster maquette.
 

Project d'une ville nouvelle, 1979

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 59.
box 25**

Maquette,

Physical Description: 90 x 80 x 15 cm;
Physical Description: wood
box 1*, folder 10

Drawings and photographs

box 26**

Project d'une ville nouvelle, 1969;

Physical Description: base 25 cm diameter, H 55 cm

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 60. Wood maquette.
box 27**

Quatre projets de décoration entrant dans le cadre du 1%, 1973-1978

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 61. Cardboard and plastic maquettes.
box 28**

Projet de lotissement social, 1978;

Physical Description: 48 x 16 x 8 cm;
Physical Description: wood and cardboard

Scope and Contents

Sale exhibition catalogue number: 62. Design for a subdivision.