The Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology, Second Edition

The Dada Painters and Poets offers the authentic answer to the question "What is Dada?" This incomparable collection of essays, manifestos, and illustrations was prepared by Robert Motherwell with the collaboration of some of the major Dada figures: Marcel Duchamp, Jean Arp, and Max Ernst among others. Here in their own words and art, the principals of the movement create a composite picture of Dada--its convictions, antics, and spirit.

First published in 1951, this treasure trove remains, as Jack Flam states in his foreword to the second edition, "the most comprehensive and important anthology of Dada writings in any language, and a fascinating and very readable book." It contains every major text on the Dada movement, including retrospective studies, personal memoirs, and prime examples. The illustrations range from photos of participants, in characteristic Dadaist attitudes, to facsimiles of their productions.

A reprint of the authoritative second edition published by G.K. Hall in 1981.
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Acknowledgments

Foreword by Jack Flam

Preface

Introduction, by Robert Motherwell

List of Illustrations

PART I: PRE-DADA

1. Exhibition at the independents, by Arthur Cravan: 1914
2. Arthur Cravan and American Dada, by Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia: 1938
3. Memories of an Amnesic (Fragments), by Erik Satie: 1912-13
i. What I Am
ii. The Day of a Musician

PART II: EN AVANT DADA: A HISTORY OF DADISM, by Richard Huelsenbeck: 1920

PART III: DADA FRAGMENTS, by Hugo Ball: 1916-17

PART IV: MERZ, by Kurt Schwitters: 1920

PART V: A DADA PERSONAGE

Two Letters, by Jacques Vaché (to André Breton): 1917-18

PART VI: SEVEN DADA MANIFESTOES, by Tristan Tzara: 1916-20

1. Manifesto of Mr. Antipyrine
2. Dada Manifesto 1918
3. Proclamation without Pretension
4. Manifesto of mr. aa the anti-philosopher
5. Manifesto on feeble love and bitter love
Supplement: how I became charming delightful and delicious Colonial Syllogism

PART VII: HISTORY OF DADA, by Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes: 1931

PART VIII: THE DADA SPIRIT IN PAINTING, by Georges Hugnet: 1932 and 1934

1. Zurich and New York
2. Berlin (1918-22)
3. Cologne and Hanover
4. Dada in Paris

PART IX: THREE DADA MANIFESTOES, by André Breton: Before 1924

1. For Dada
2. Two Dada Manifestoes
3. After Dada

PART X: MARCEL DUCHAMP, by André Breton: 1922

New York Dada, edited by Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray
New York, April 1921. Facsimile

PART XI: DADA FRAGMENTS FROM ZURICH

Notes from a Dada Diary, by Jean (Hans) Arp. 1932
monsieur duval
vases with umbilical cords
sketch for a landscape
End of the World, by Richard Huelsenbeck: 1916

PART XII: DADA FRAGMENTS FROM PARIS

(Two Poems), by Paul Eluard: 1921
Project for a History of Contemporary Literature, by Louis Aragon: 1922 Facsimile
The Magnetic Fields, by André Breton and Philippe Soupault: 1920

PART XIII: FROM THE ANNALS OF DADA

1. Zurich Chronicle, by Tristan Tzara: 1915-19
2. Collective Dada Manifesto, by Richard Huelsenbeck: 1920
3. Lecture on Dada, by Tristan Tzara: 1922

PART XIV: SOME MEMORIES OF PRE-DADA: PICABIA AND DUCHAMP, by Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia: 1949

La Pomme de Pins, edited by Francis Picabia St. Raphael
February 25, 1922. Facsimile

PART XV: THEO VAN DOESBURG AND DADA, by Kurt Schwitters: 1931

PART XVI: DADA LIVES! by Richard Huelsenbeck: 1936

PART XVII: DADA X Y Z..., by Hans Richter: 1948

PART XVIII: DADA WAS NOT A FARCE, by Jean (Hans) Arp: 1949

Sophie, by Jean (Hans) Arp: 1946

Appendices

A. The Dada Case, by Albert Gleizes: 1920
B. A Letter on Hugnet's "Dada Spirit in Painting," by Tristan Tiara: 1937
C. Marcel Duchamp: Anti-Artist, by Harriet and Sidney Janis: 1945
D. Sound-Rel 1919, and Birdlike 1946, by Raoul Hausmann

Bibliography
Did Dada Die? a Critical Bibliography by Bernard Karpel (Librarian, Museum of Modern Art, New York)

Index to Bibliography

Addenda: Dada Alive and Well, by Benard Karpel: 1981

Additional Bibliography

Dada Manifesto 1949, by Richard Huelsenbeck

An Introduction to Dada, by Tristan Tzara

General Index