Finding aid for the Arthur Petronio papers, 1919-1971 980053
Laura Schroffel and Annette Leddy
Special Collections
2009
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: Arthur Petronio papers
Creator:
Le Fauconnier, Henri, 1881-1945
Creator:
Mesens, E. L. T. (Edouard Léon Théodore), 1903-1971
Creator:
Floquet, Pierre Louis
Creator:
Hellens, Franz
Creator:
Petronio, Arthur
Identifier/Call Number: 980053
Physical Description:
5.7 Linear Feet
(2 boxes, 2 flatfile folders)
Date (inclusive): 1919-1971
Abstract: Small archive of Arthur Petronio, composer of verbophonic works, or works at the intersection of poetry and music.
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.
Processing History
In 2009 with grant funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), Laura Schroffel processed the collection
and made an inventory under the supervision of Ann Harrison, while the descriptive notes were written by Annette Leddy or
derived from curatorial notes.
Preferred Citation
Arthur Petronio Papers, 1919-1971, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession number 980053.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa980053
Arrangement
Arranged topically: letters received; articles, lectures, performances and other works by Petronio; CREER and miscellaneous
material.
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Separated Materials
Twenty-eight publications were separated from the archive and cataloged by the library as the Arthur Petronio Collection.
The majority of these were fascicles of journals published by Petronio.
Scope and Contents of Collection
Though not comprehensive, the Arthur Petronio papers offer a wide-ranging view of the issues and ideas that motivated the
artistic avant-garde of Belgium and France in the era between the two world wars. The archive captures the importance and
nature of Petronio's broader influence on contemporary artists and writers, as much as it documents his contributions to Sound
Poetry.
The working drafts found in this archive, as well as the posters and other printed ephemera documenting his projects, capture
Petronio's multi-media efforts to fuse music, the visual arts and poetry into one idiom. In addition to his direct role in
the development of Sound Poetry, Petronio's importance lay in providing forums for debate in his numerous arts publications,
and in influencing a wide array of artists. The various journals published by Petronio are represented here only through posters
and printed ephemera, but the enormous impact of these journals and of Petronio himself is demonstrated in the correspondence
preserved in his papers. The archive holds over 62 letters and postcards received from Petronio's associates and friends:
the poet, artist, musician and photographer E.L.T. Mesens, the writer Franz Hellens, the poet Pierre Louis Floquet and the
painter Henri Le Fauconnier. The contents of the letters between Petronio and Mesens, Hellens and Floquet are of particular
interest because they contain theoretical discussions of the meaning and nature of art, in addition to more prosaic discussions
of the contents of the journals that each was directing, the artists whose work was worthy of inclusion in these journals
and the artistic direction of the Créer group led by Petronio in which Floquet, Hellens and Mesens were participating.
Biographical/Historical Note
Arthur Petronio was born in Switzerland in 1897. His father was Leopoldo Fregoli, a music hall artist, and Arthur was trained
as a classical musician. He shared in the World War I era avant-garde fascination with sound poetry, visual poetry and the
music of ambient sounds, and under the influence of Wassily Kandinsky and Henri Le Fauconnier developed in 1919 a verbophonic
theory for incorporating vowel sounds as elements of a musical score. He also founded several magazines that investigated
connections among the arts, including
La Revue de Feu, and
Créer. Throughout the 1920s,
Créer served as an important forum for a diverse group that included Le Corbusier, Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, E.L.T. Mesens,
and others interested in the fusion of word, image, and sound into the creation of a total language. Among Petronio's most
admired verbophonic works are
Tellurgie (1964) and
Cosmosmose (1968).
Acquisition Information
Acquired in 1998.
Publication Rights
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Printed ephemera
Posters
Correspondence
Sound poetry
Literature, Experimental
Avant-garde (Aesthetics)
box 1, folder 1-6
Letters received,
1921-1967
box 1, folder 1
Flouquet, Pierre-Louis
1931-1959
box 1, folder 2-4
Hellens, Franz,
1921-1967
box 1, folder 5
Le Fauconnier, Henri,
1925-1935
box 1, folder 6
Mesens, E. L. T., (Edouard Léon Théodore),
1922-1923
Articles, lectures, performances and other works by Petronio,
1920-1966, undated
box 1, folder 7
"Vingt instantanés pour un univers poétique,"
1949
Scope and Contents
Contains four copies of limited original editions and one proof copy.
box 1, folder 8
"Tellurgie,"
probably 1964
Scope and Contents
Typewritten draft of the verbophonic poem with handwritten annotations in ink by Petronio on verso of Groupe Créer manifesto.
box 1, folder 9
"Verbophonie et poème fiction,"
1966
Scope and Contents
Special numbered issue of excerpt from
Vers universe.
box 1, folder 10
Untitled typescript,
undated
Scope and Contents
Pages 80-81 and 83-84 of a typewritten text with handwritten annotations in ink on verso of Groupe Créer statutes and manifesto.
box 1, folder 11
Program for an evening sponsored by Comité universaliste de Liège,
1920
Scope and Contents
Music by Ruyneman, Schönberg, Satie, and Casella. Petronio speaks on "L'origine, la portée et la signification de la Musique
moderne." Cover of program has drawing by Marcel Lempereur-Haut, two copies, signed and numbered 95 and 141.
box 2*, folder 1
Poster announcing lecture, "Un poète vous parle, ou la confession de minuit,"
undated
CREER,
1922-1971, undated
Scope and Contents
The term "créer" had particular resonance for Petronio. Functioning both as the acronym for his Centre de recherches poétiques
expérimental électroacoustique régionale, and as a play on the infinitive for the French verb "to create," the term was used
repeatedly by Petronio for a variety of different but interrelated projects, including one of his many arts journals, his
theoretical arts group and his string quartet.
Créer,
1927-1932, undated
box 1, folder 12
Exposition de Peinture et Sculpture,
circa 1927
Scope and Contents
Various materials relating to an exhibition organized by the Galerie Billiet of Paris under the auspices of
Créer; including announcements and invitation.
box 1, folder 13
Robert Mallet-Stevens letter,
1932
Scope and Contents
Handwritten letter sent along with his answer to a question to appear in issue number 19 of
Créer.
box 1, folder 14
Exhibition at Gallerie du "Lit d'Argent,"
undated
Scope and Contents
Three copies of exhibition announcement.
box 2*, folder 2-3
Posters,
undated
Scope and Contents
Includes cropped poster for issue no. 3, as well as the layout for a poster announcing that
Créer will be on sale at a concert.
Groupe Créer (Reims),
1931, undated
box 1, folder 17-20
Groupe Créer d'Épernay,
1932-1942
box 1, folder 17-19
Exhibition catalog,
1932-1942
box 1, folder 20
Invitation to opening of exhibition,
1933
flatfile 2**
Poster announcing painting exhibition,
undated
box 1, folder 21
Le quatuor "CRÉER" de Reims,
1933
Scope and Contents
Program for a concert of contemporary french music with Petronio playing first violin.
box 2*, folder 5
Créer concert poster,
1922
box 1, folder 22
Tractexpo internationale, Créer,
1969-1971
Miscellaneous material,
1919-1969, undated
Printed ephemera relating to journals published by Petronio,
1919-1921, undated
flatfile 1**
Le revue du feu poster,
circa 1919
Le libre essor,
1921, undated
box 2*, folder 6
Small posters announcing Issues two and three,
1921
Scope and Contents
Announcements for issue number two and for issue number three.
box 1, folder 23
Postcard stock with printed return address,
undated
box 1, folder 24
Program announcement form,
192-
box 1, folder 25
Catalog for Auguste Mambour exhibition sponsored by the journal,
1921
box 1, folder 26
Frans Vanderline drawing, signed and dated,
1969
box 1, folder 27
Advertising card,
undated
Scope and Contents
Includes E. L. T. Mesens gallery.