The Dimensionist Manifesto (back page)

MOSAIC

The fundamental change in our world view, the profound transmutation which results in the great formal revolution of the arts, resides in the absolute negation of materialism and of pure spiritualism. The result of this change is the advent of the synthetic idea in which spirit and matter constitute a single process.
In art, spirit is the source, while matter (form) is the expression.

Kandinsky.

The pedestrian's shuffling gait : letters = linear literature. Cars on the roads, fast trains : accelerated lines = literature in two dimensions.
Why do I practice superposition in painting? Because it has not been done so up until now.

Picabia.

The longitudinal contraction of pictorial space.

Louis Fernandez.

Polymaterial Compositions -- the contemporary joy in the creation of the world.

Prampolini.

The winged man : Painting in Space
It is my greatest satisfaction to have ventilated Euclid's brain : Sculpture Ouverte

Kotchar.

The fact that a new mode of expression exists in the plastic arts which differs from the traditional one, is in my opinion, sufficient proof to justify it. Life evolves unceasingly, obeying only its own mysterious fundamental law, according to which it renews itself perpetually.

Kann.

I insist on the utmost importance of the particularly psychological preoccupations which have permitted poetry, on its part, to evolve towards the automatic poem.
After this last stage, poetic expression tends towards realizations in many dimensions.
I consider Surrealist objects to be poetic expressions in three dimensions. It seems evident to me, that this road leads to a New Reality and that it could not have anything to do with the confusions engendered by concrete and abstract art terms.

Arp.

Western painting has symbolically conquered space (depth using perspective) since the Renaissance. Cubism has rejected this conquest. It has reoccupied the surface. Abstract art, by forever simplifying itself, has rigorously maintained this result of Cubism.
When the abstract painters see that there is nothing more to do within a two-dimensional surface, Painting must either die on Mondrian’s last square or accept the only living possibility, that is say, to grasp the third dimension : evolve in space. To really conquer three dimensional space.

Kotchar-Nissim.

A New Reality imposes itself outside of all known Realisms; neither perspectival, nor Euclidean nor chiaro-scuro (sic). New materials. Colours in the non-imitative sense. Electric light as rhythm. Rhythm as subject.
Architecture being dimensional, this new expression takes its place in it by bringing surfaces and voids alive. Only a polychrome and non-decorative architecture can become dynamic and plastic in conjunction with this contemporary art.

Delaunay.

Painting? The plane is dead. Today objects wish to break through the canvas. Every day, then, painting pursues its attempt at liberation: this is how it declares itself true to its tradition.

Nissim.

Rotation, life form of Universes. A life form unknown to art. Use of movement in the plane for the creation of forms in space : Rotoreliefs.

Duchamp.

In the universal void poetic creation invents the new dimensions of pleasure. I wish to invent, as a poem, a live animal of an unknown kingdom.

Bryen.

Mankind `biological unit and entity' the only basis left to us for an entirely new art (sic). Fusion of music and sculpture : cosmic art. Whether we want it or not, this revalorisation of mankind as a centre of creation will impose itself.

Sirato.

The deep meaning of Dimensionism: the Biological Revolution.

Sirato-Bryen

The forms of art are materializations of a spiritual state. The great Revolution of form, which has been developing since the start of our century, is the organic result of a fundamental change in our conception of the world.
The Manifesto allows for the possibility of developing in a more detailed way all of the problems it raises; in our Revue by the artists themselves, and by Charles Sirato in his book Les Arts et les Artistes non-euclidiens.

The Signatories.

DIMENSIONISM

is not a willed movement, created or directed; it is an evolution which has existed in a latent form for a long time. The Manifesto is in reality a general ascertainment deduced from the works of certain advanced artists, and, at the same time, an enlargement of the initial ideas derived from two-dimensional literature.

This is the first time that a Statement of 60 lines has been able to assemble in such a short time (around two months) the unanimous and spontaneous approbation of 25 artists, the most remarkable of all the countries.

This proves that our Statement is an awakening of consciousness/conscience/ [une prise de conscience]. We have brought to the light of day a truth -- and without our background research no one would have been able to explain it with as much precision.

The Dimensionist Manifesto is liberal in conception. From the interpretation of the arts to Cosmic Art, it allows for a wide range of nuance. The works of the signatories are, all of them, saturated by the Dimensionist spirit. On the other hand, we have invited only those artists to approve of us, whose work clearly exudes dimensionist value, and who already in advance had well-established positions in the future development of our theories.

OUR MANIFESTO IS A DEPARTURE.
LA REVUE N + 1
FOR THE NON-EUCLIDEAN ARTS

ACTIVITÉ
After the appearance of the first French edition, our manifesto will appear simultaneously in several foreign languages. Each of these editions will include a photograph of the artist representing the Dimensionist Movement in their country. For example the South American edition will include Huidobro’s portrait; that of Russia the portrait of Kakabadzé; that of Portugal the portrait of Pedro, etc. These special editions will be identical to the original French edition with the exception of the second page in which the text at centre will be replaced by one of these photographs.
In proceeding this way, we wished to accentuate the international tendency of our movement. Ever compelled by the social sense, we have wished that our theories should reach the largest number of artists, that our ideas should become living factors everywhere that there is the possibility of evolution.
The first issue of Le Revue N + 1 appears in October.
Our announced books will appear every four months.
Our first Exhibition will take place in the fall.
WE INVITE ALL THE ARTISTS IN ACCORD WITH OUR IDEAS EXPRESSED IN THE MANIFESTO TO COLLABORATE WITH US.
THAT THEY JOIN US, THAT THEY SEND US PHOTOS OF THEIR WORKS, WHICH WE WOULD BE ABLE TO PUBLISH IN OUR JOURNAL.
THAT THEY PARTICIPATE IN OUR EXHIBITION. THAT THEY PROPAGATE -- OUTSIDE OF OUR INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION -- OUR MANIFESTOS, OUR IDEAS, OUR WORKS.

* Texts from the verso of the Dimensionist Manifesto, a loose-leaf insert to the planned La Revue N + 1. An abbreviated version of “Mosaique” appeared in plastique no. 2 (Summer 1937): insert. Thanks to Claudine Majzels and Gabrielle J. Botar for assistance with the translation.