Ricciotto Canudo (; 2 January 1877, Gioia del Colle – 10 November 1923,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) was an early

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

film theoretician who lived primarily in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. In 1913 he published a bimonthly

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

magazine entitled ''Montjoie!'', promoting Cubism in particular. He saw

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

as "plastic art in motion", and gave cinema the label "the Sixth Art", later changed to "the Seventh Art", still current in French,

, and

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conceptions of art, among others. Canudo subsequently added dance as a precursor to the sixth—a third rhythmic art with music and poetry—making cinema the seventh art.

Work

In his manifesto ''The Birth of the Sixth Art'', published in 1911, Canudo argued that cinema was a new art, "a superb conciliation of the Rhythms of Space (the Plastic Arts) and the Rhythms of Time (Music and Poetry)", a synthesis of the five ancient arts:

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

, and

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

(cf. Hegel's '' Lectures on Aesthetics''). Canudo later added dance as a sixth precursor, a third rhythmic art with music and poetry, making cinema the seventh art.

''Montjoie!''

Between 1913 and 1914, he published a bimonthly

magazine entitled ''Montjoie!'', ''organe de l'impérialisme artistique Francais''. Participating artists included

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of t ...

, Maurice Raynal,

Albert Gleizes Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...

and Joseph Csaky. The magazine paid special attention to poetry, prose, articles on art, literature, music and history. The contributors included André Salmon, Igor Stravinsky, Erik Satie, Fernand Léger,

Blaise Cendrars Frédéric-Louis Sauser (1 September 1887 – 21 January 1961), better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss-born novelist and poet who became a naturalized French citizen in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the European mo ...

Alfredo Casella Alfredo Casella (25 July 18835 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Life and career Casella was born in Turin, the son of Maria (née Bordino) and Carlo Casella. His family included many musicians: his grandfather, a fr ...

Raoul Dufy Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textile as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted ...

, Stefan Zweig,

Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstra ...

, Max Jacob, and Emile Verhaeren.Montjoie!, kubisme
The first issue was published on 10 February 1913. The second included an essay signed by Igor Stravinsky presenting his new ballet

The Rite of Spring , image = Roerich Rite of Spring.jpg , image_size = 350px , caption = Concept design for act 1, part of Nicholas Roerich's designs for Diaghilev's 1913 production of ' , composer = Igor Stravinsky , based_on ...

as a religious work of faith grounded in a pagan, pantheistic conception. A special issue in the second volume of ''Montjoie!'', published on 18 March 1914, was devoted entirely to the 30th Salon des Indépendants. The article written by André Salmon included photographs of works by Joseph Csaky,

, Marc Chagall, Alice Bailly,

Jacques Villon Jacques Villon (July 31, 1875 – June 9, 1963), also known as Gaston Duchamp, was a French Cubist and Abstract art, abstract painter and printmaker. Early life Born Émile Méry Frédéric Gaston Duchamp in Damville, Eure, Damville, Eure, ...

Sonia Delaunay Sonia Delaunay (13 November 1885 – 5 December 1979) was a French artist, who spent most of her working life in Paris. She was born in Odessa (then part of Russian Empire), and formally trained in Russian Empire and Germany before moving to Fr ...

, André Lhote, Roger de La Fresnaye, Moise Kisling,

Ossip Zadkine Ossip Zadkine (russian: Осип Цадкин; 28 January 1888 – 25 November 1967) was a Belarusian-born French artist. He is best known as a sculptor, but also produced paintings and lithographs. Early years and education Zadkine was born on ...

, Lucien Laforge and

Valentine de Saint-Point Valentine de Saint-Point (''née'' Anna Jeanne Valentine Marianne Glans de Cessiat-Vercell; 16 February 1875, Lyon – 28 March 1953, Cairo) was a French writer, poet, painter, playwright, art critic, choreographer, lecturer and journalist. She ...

. Publication of the magazine stopped in June 1914, on the eve of the First World War. In 1920, he established an avant-garde magazine ''Le Gazette de sept arts'', and a film club, CASA (Club des amis du septième art), in 1921. His best-known essay "Reflections on the Seventh Art" ("Réflexions sur le septième art") was published in 1923 after a number of earlier drafts, all published in Italy or France.Canudo, ''Quaderni del Novecento Francese'', Rome, Bulzoni, 1976

Other writings

* ''La ville sans chef'', Paris 1910 * ''Music as a religion of the future'', London 1913 * ''L'usine aux images'', Paris 1926. (A collection of his essays)

Notes

References

* ''French Film Theory and Criticism: A History/Anthology, 1907–1939'' by Richard Abel (Editor), Princeton University Press, (1993) ** ''The Birth of the Sixth Art'' pp. 58–66 ** ''Reflections on the Seventh Art'' pp. 291–303 * ''The Visual Turn'' by Angela Dalle Vacche (Editor), Rutgers University Press, (2002),

External links

''Montjoie!'', Special edition for the Salon des Artistes Indépendants, 18 March 1913

''Montjoie!'', January-February 1914, N. 1 - N. 2

''Montjoie!'', March 1914, N. 3

''Montjoie!'', April, May, June, 1914, N.4, N. 5, N. 6

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canudo, Ricciotto Film theorists 1879 births 1923 deaths Italian film critics 20th-century male writers 20th-century French poets 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French musicologists French art critics French screenwriters French film critics Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) 20th-century French screenwriters 19th-century musicologists