Gil J. Wolman
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Gil Joseph Wolman (7 September 1929,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
– 3 July 1995, Paris) was a French artist. His work encompassed painting, poetry and film-making. He was a member of
Isidore Isou Isidore Isou (; 29 January 1925 – 28 July 2007), born Isidor Goldstein, was a Romanian-born French poet, dramaturge, novelist, film director, economist, and visual artist. He was the founder of Lettrism, an art and literary movement which ...
's
avant garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
Letterist Lettrism is a French avant-garde movement, established in Paris in the mid-1940s by Romanian immigrant Isidore Isou. In a body of work totaling hundreds of volumes, Isou and the Lettrists have applied their theories to all areas of art and culture ...
movement in the early 1950s, then becoming a central figure in the
Letterist International The Letterist International (LI) was a Paris-based collective of radical artists and cultural theorists between 1952 and 1957. It was created by Guy Debord and Gil J. Wolman rejoined by Jean-Louis Brau and Serge Berna as a schism from Isidor ...
, the group which would subsequently develop (without Wolman himself) into the
Situationist International The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...
.


Lettrism

Wolman joined the Letterists in 1950, although he quit the group only two years later. His first published work appeared in the 1950 first issue of their journal ''Ur'', where his 'Introduction to Wolman' would set the scene for later creations: "In the beginning, there was Wolman"! While still in the group, Wolman would make two major contributions. First, in
sound poetry Sound poetry is an artistic form bridging literary and musical composition, in which the phonetic aspects of human speech are foregrounded instead of more conventional semantic and syntactic values; "verse without words". By definition, sound poe ...
, he devised the notion of the 'megapneume': while lettrism was based upon the letter, megapneumes were based upon the breath. Second, in film, he produced '' L'Anticoncept'', the work for which he is now primarily remembered. The film was shown for the first time on 11 February 1952 at the 'Avant-Garde 52' cinema club. It consisted of blank illumination projected onto a weather balloon, accompanied by a staccato spoken soundtrack. The film was banned by the French censors on 2 April 1952—when the Letterists visited the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...
the following month, they were forced to restrict the audience to journalists only. The text of the soundtrack was published in the sole issue of the Letterist journal ''Ion'' (1952; reprinted Jean-Paul Rocher, 1999), and later reissued in a separate edition augmented with associated texts (Editions Allia, 1994). ''Ion'' also included the text of
Guy Debord Guy-Ernest Debord (; ; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situat ...
's film ''Howls for Sade'', which was dedicated to Wolman and featured his voice in its own soundtrack.


First Letterist International

In June 1952, Wolman and Debord formed the
Letterist International The Letterist International (LI) was a Paris-based collective of radical artists and cultural theorists between 1952 and 1957. It was created by Guy Debord and Gil J. Wolman rejoined by Jean-Louis Brau and Serge Berna as a schism from Isidor ...
, which, with
Jean-Louis Brau Jean-Louis is a given name, especially for French males. Notable people named "Jean-Louis" include: * Jean-Louis Alléon-Dulac, French naturalist * Jean-Louis Aubert, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and producer * Jean-Louis Baribe ...
and
Serge Berna Serge may refer to: *Serge (fabric), a type of twill fabric *Serge (llama) (born 2005), a llama in the Cirque Franco-Italien and internet meme *Serge (name), a masculine given name (includes a list of people with this name) *Serge (post), a hitchi ...
, would officially split from the main group that December. Wolman contributed several texts to the Letterist International's own bulletin, ''Potlatch''; and, with Debord, he co-authored some of its most important texts, published in the Belgian
surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
review ''
Les Lèvres Nues LES or Les may refer to: People * Les (given name) * Les (surname) * L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer Space flight * Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews * Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies * Lincoln Experimental S ...
'' (Naked Lips). These included 'A User's Guide to Détournement' and 'Theory of the Dérive' (both 1956). The term ''
détournement A détournement (), meaning "rerouting, hijacking" in French, is a technique developed in the 1950s by the Letterist International, and later adapted by the Situationist International (SI),'' Report on the Construction of Situations'' (1957) t ...
'' (literally 'diversion') signified the deliberate re-use of plagiarised material for a new and usually subversive purpose. The ''dérive'' ('drift') was a process of aimlessly wandering through urban environments in order to map their
psychogeography Psychogeography is the exploration of urban environments that emphasizes interpersonal connections to places and arbitrary routes. It was developed by members of the Letterist International and Situationist International, which were revolutionar ...
. In 1955, Wolman wrote "Why Lettrism?", also with Guy Debord, published in ''Potlatch'' no. 22. The following year, he represented the Letterist International at the World Congress of Artists in
Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English-language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingd ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. This conference established important links between the Letterist International and those figures (primarily
Asger Jorn Asger Oluf Jorn (3 March 1914 – 1 May 1973) was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International. The largest collection of Jorn's worksâ ...
and Pinot-Gallizio of the
International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus The International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus was a small European avant-garde artistic tendency that arose out of the breakup of COBRA, and was initiated by contact between former COBRA members Asger Jorn and Enrico Baj and Sergio Dangelo ...
) who would soon afterwards be joining forces with it to form the Situationist International. Wolman himself, however, never made it as far as the Situationist International. He was officially excluded from the Letterist International on 13 January 1957, just six months before the creation of the new group, the exclusion being announced in obituary format in ''Potlatch'' no. 28. Debord seems to have been the driving force behind the exclusion, which did cause some consternation among his colleagues. Even
Michèle Bernstein Michèle Bernstein (born 28 April 1932) is a French novelist and critic, most often remembered as a member of the Situationist International from its foundation in 1957 until 1967, and as the first wife of its most prominent member, Guy Debord. ...
, Debord's wife at the time, has stated that she did not understand why Debord took so suddenly against Wolman. Jean-Michel Mension, an early member of the Letterist International, recalls that "Gil was reticent, sweet—an incredibly sweet guy. I don't think I ever heard him actually raise his voice, except occasionally, except when he was reciting his poetry, but that was different. Everyone loved Gil." He also could not understand why Debord had excluded him, and observed: "I think Wolman, in Guy's eyes, was a truly extraordinary artist, clearly superior to the other artists in the Letterist International. Personally, I've never believed in the exclusion of Gil.".
Ralph Rumney Ralph Rumney (5 June 1934 – 6 March 2002) was an English artist, born in Newcastle upon Tyne, where his father was an Anglican vicar. In 1957 lifelong conscientious objector Rumney—he evaded National Service by going on the run in continen ...
, an early member of the Situationist International, speculated that the real reason behind the exclusion was that Wolman and his wife, Violette, had just had a child: "Guy, and Michèle for that matter, had an absolute horror of domesticity and babies in particular. They were trying to experiment with new ways of living, which for Guy meant total sexual freedom. Wolman's happy family life could not be tolerated."''The Game of War'', p. 117.


Back with the Lettrists / Second Letterist International

Following his exclusion, Wolman continued to develop his own work, and he re-established links with the original Letterist movement and exhibited with them from 1961 to 1964. He devised Scotch Art in 1963, a process which consists in tearing off bands of printed matter and using adhesive tape to reposition them on fabrics or wood. In 1964, however, he split again from Isou's group, to establish the short-lived Second Letterist International with
Jean-Louis Brau Jean-Louis is a given name, especially for French males. Notable people named "Jean-Louis" include: * Jean-Louis Alléon-Dulac, French naturalist * Jean-Louis Aubert, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and producer * Jean-Louis Baribe ...
and
François Dufrêne François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; ...
; thereafter, Wolman worked largely in isolation. He later developed the "separatist movement", and series of "dühring dühring", "decompositions" and finally "depicted painting".


Posterity

Three years after his death, the magazine "Poézi Prolétèr" (No.2), directed by Katalin Molnar and
Christophe Tarkos Christophe may refer to: People * Christophe (name), list of people with this given name or surname * Christophe (singer) (1945–2020), French singer * Cristophe (hairstylist) (born 1958), Belgian hairstylist * Georges Colomb (1856–1945), Frenc ...
, published in 1998 an article on Wolman including several of his texts gathered under the title "Introduction of the word". Although at times often seen as a side-kick of Guy Debord, he is now regarded, along with
Robert Filliou Robert Filliou (17 January 1926 – 2 December 1987) was a French artist associated with Fluxus, who produced works as a filmmaker, action poet, sculptor, and happenings maestro. Life In 1943, Filliou became a member of the French Communis ...
, as one of the more influential artists of his day. Wolman, however, who started a decade before Filliou, did not subscribe to Filliou's "genius without talent", but rather said that "genius is what we all have when we stop improving one thing in order to make something else. When we only refuse to have talent" (1964). Several of Wolman's audio recordings were published through
Henri Chopin Henri Chopin (18 June 1922 – 3 January 2008) was a French avant-garde poet and musician. Life Henri Chopin was born in Paris, 18 June 1922, one of three brothers, and the son of an accountant. Both his siblings died during the war. One was sh ...
's journal, ''OU''; and an l.p., ''L'Anticoncept'', was issued in 1999 by Alga Marghen, which gathered together various sound works from 1951 to 1972. A volume of his uncollected writings was published in 2001 by Editions Allia, ''Défense de mourir''. The first international retrospective of Wolman's works was held at MACBA (Barcelona, 2010) and Museu SERRALVES (Porto, 2011), curated by
Frédéric Acquaviva Frédéric Acquaviva (born 20 January 1967) is a French autodidact experimental composer and avant-garde sound artist living between Paris, Berlin and London who works with voices, instruments, electronics, film and body sounds. In 2020, he was a ...
, Bartomeu Mari and Joao Fernandes, with a catalogue "Gil J Wolman, I am immortal and alive" in 3 different versions : English, Spanish-Catalan, French-Portuguese. The Centre Pompidou in Paris devoted a room to Wolman's works in 2015 while La Plaque Tournante, an independent art space in Berlin, programmed the first Wolman Retrospective in Germany with 500 works and documents.


Notes


External links


Wolman, Lettrism, Sound Poetry and Beyond
Radio Web MACBA podcast reconstructing the link between Lettrism, sound poetry, and the work of some isolated but fundamental figures (radio/phony_9 of Frédéric Acquaviva).
Gil J Wolman. I am immortal and alive
Monographic exhibition (curated by Frédéric Acquaviva and Bartomeu Mari), on the work of Gil J Wolman, MACBA (2010)
"Wolman in the Open"
An essay by Frédéric Acquaviva * Gil J Wolman Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolman, Gil J Lettrism 1929 births 1995 deaths Artists from Paris Wolman, Gil Joseph