Art: François Dufrêne (1930-1982)

Date Of Birth: 1930, Paris, France
Date Of Death: 1982, Paris, France

François Dufrêne was a french poet and plastic artist, considered the younger of the first generation sound poets.

In 1946 he adhered to Isidore Isou's Mouvement Lettriste and took part in all the manifestations of the movement from 1946 to 1953.
In 1953 he created the “Ultralettrisme", a form of electro-acoustic extended vocal technique which he described as crirythme which had no 'score' and existed for recording tape alone.
The crirythme explored the voice as a noise source revealing the nonabstracted essence of things much in the tradition of Antonin Artaud's Pour en finir avec le Jugement de Dieu, the brutist orchestras of Dada, and Luigi Russolo's L'arte dei rumori.

In the fifties, as plastic artist, his friends were Yves Klein, Raymond Hains and Jacques Villeglé.

For many of his artistic creations he used objects retrieved from the urban context, such as posters or stencils.
In 1959 he exposed at "Première Biennale de Paris", in 1960 he was invited to create a "Salle d'Art dit Expérimental" into the "Salon Comparaisons” and gave his contribution (with Klein, Tinguely, Arman, Hains and Villeglé) to found the “Premier groupe nouveau réaliste”.

Dufrêne’s crirythmes were presented at numerous sound poetry festivals and about a dozen were recorded on gramophone records between 1962 and 1975.
Since 1973 he has also exhibited "Dessous de stencils" and "Bibliothèques" in cellulose.

Discography:

• VV.AA. - Panorama Des Musiques Expérimentales (1962, Philips, 835 485/486 AY) contains: “U 47” (collaboration w/ J. Baronnet)

• VV.AA. - Panorama Of Experimental Music: Electronic Music And Musique Concrete (Mercury, SR 29123) contains: “U 47” (collaboration w/ J. Baronnet)

• VV.AA. - Images Fantastiques: Electronic Experimental Music (1968, Limelight, LS 86047) contains: “U 47” (collaboration w/ J. Baronnet)

• VV.AA. - Text-Sound Compositions: A Stockholm Festival 1968 (1968, Sveriges Radio, RELP 1049) contains: “Paris-Stockholm”

• VV.AA. - Phonetische Poésie (1970, Luchterhand) contains: "Crirythme", "Avril-déjà"

• VV.AA. - L'Autonomatopek 1 (1972, Editions Georges Fall, 40-41) contains: "Crirythme En Bref"

• VV.AA. - Poesia Sonora (1975, CBS, CBS 69145) (2001, Recorthings & Zona Archives, RT9002) contains: "Crirythme dédié à Henri Chopin" (1968)

• Oeuvre Désintégrale (1976, Guy Schraenen, GSCH 005/006/008)

• VV.AA. - Futura: Poesia Sonora (1989, Cramps Records, CRSCD 091-095) contains: "Un Retour À Mes Sources", “La Valse”

• VV.AA. - Licences n° 0 (1999, Licences, L0) contains: "Est-Ouest"

• VV.AA. - Lunapark 0,10 (1999, Sub Rosa, SR 80) contains: " Ouverture Sans Fin, Post-Scriptum Au Tombeau De Pierre Larousse (PS Au TLP)"

• VV.AA. (Edited By Henri Chopin) - Revue OU (2002, Alga Marghen, 15vocson045.1) contains: "Batteries Vocales" (1958) , "Paix en Algérie" (1958) , "Ténu Ténu" (1964), "Triptycrirythme" (1966) , "Crirythme dédié à Henri Chopin" (1968) , "Haut-Satur" (1968)

• VV.AA. - Polyphonix 1 (Première Anthologie Sonore) (2002, Get Back, GET418) contains: "Crirythme Exprès"

• VV.AA. - Text-Sound Compositions: A Stockholm Festival (2006, Fylkingen Records, FYCD 1024) contains: “Paris-Stockholm”

• Oeuvre Désintégrale (2007, Alga Marghen, 19vocson070 LP)

• François Dufrêne (2007, Alga Marghen, Plana-D ALGA 024)

(Art)Works:

• "Au 136 du Boulevard St-Germain, zone bleue", 1966
• "Entre-Deux-Mers", 1971
• "Appollo", 1972
• "A l'Asger coma à l'Asger", 1973
• "La cirque", 1973
• "Thé + odorat... qui s'ébaudit ?-Nono !", 1973
• "Cantate des Mots Camés", 1977

more (detailed discography, art/works, downloads) on:



(Art section)

Links:
UbuWeb Sound: François Dufrêne