391

391 has its own trajectory in which the encounter with Dada forms a key part and tells the history of the movement from Picabia's perpsective. There is virtually no reference to Berlin Dada. It was named in homage to Stieglitz 291 Gallery and sumptuous Magazine291 in New York, where Duchamp and Picabia had taken refuge from the war in Europe [...]
The encounter between 391 and Dada is clearly registered with the eighth issue, published in Zurich in February 1919, with the name 'Dada' inscribed among others in the grid on the cover and contributions from Hans Arp, Alice Bailly, and Tristan Tzara. Tzara had first written to Picabia in August 1918, soliciting a contribution for Dada 3 (December 1918). Picabia responded expressing interest in seeing the 'dada movement cahiers'; his actual contribution to Dada 3 was fairly minimal - a brief note mourning the death of hid friend the poet Apollinaire and an advertisement for his new book Poems and Drawings of the Girl Born without a Mother. But Picabia's sceptical, ironic and nihilistic attitude affected Zurich Dada and Tzara in particular, while the 'movement' also made itself felt in 391. There is an interesting collaborative text by Picabia and Tzara that intimates automatic writing, and a 'Little Manifesto' by Picabia's wife Gabrielle Buffet which is as much an anti-manifesto as Tzara's own 'Dada Manifest 1918' [...]
TEXT CREDITS
Dawn Ades, '391', in The Dada Reader. A Critical Anthology / edited by Dawn Ades (Tate Publishing : London 2006) 106-107.

DESCRIPTION
- N° 1 (January 1917) - N° 19 (October 1924).
- Edited by Francis Picabia. Published in Barcelona (N° 1-4), New York (N° 5-7), Zurich (N° 8), and Paris (N° 9-19).
- Special numbers:
  - N° 15 'Le Pilhaou-Thibaou', announced as an 'illustrated supplement of 391' (Paris, 10 July 1920)
  - N° 19 (October 1924) 'Journal de l'Instantaneïsme'
- Varying formats (32-56 cm.).

CONTRIBUTORS
Guillaume Apollinaire, Louis Aragon, Walter C. Arensberg, Céline Arnauld, Hans Arp, Pierre Albert-Birot, André Breton, Gabrielle Buffet, Jean Cocteau, Jean Crotti, Robert Desnos, Paul Dermée, Paul Éluard, Albert Gleizes, M. Goth, Max Jacob, M. Laurencin, René Magritte, Pierre de Massot, E.L.T. Mesens, Francis Picabia, Man Ray, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, Eric Satie, Walter Serner, Philippe Soupault, Tristan Tzara, Edgard Varèse, Marius de Zayas.

FACSIMILES/REPRINTS
online
- Digital Dada Library, International Dada Archive: numbers 2, 5, 7-8, 14-15.
printed
- 391 (Le Terrain Vague/Eric Losfeld : Paris, 1960-1966) 2 vols. Several re-editions. Vol. 1: 391 Revue publiée de 1917 à 1924 par Francis Picabia / réédition intégrale présentée par Michel Sanouillet. Bibliography in vol. 1 (p. 145-146) and vol. 2 (p. 260-263). Includes introduction by Philippe Soupault 'Francis Picabia et 391'.
- Reprinted by Ronny van de Velde (Antwerpen 1993).
- [anthology] Dawn Ades, '391', in The Dada Reader. A Critical Anthology / edited by Dawn Ades (Tate Publishing : London 2006) 103-144.

SECONDARY LITERATURE
William A. Camfield
'Du "291" à 391. Alfred Stiegtliz, Marius de Zayas et Francis Picabia, un dialogue à trois, 1913-1917', in New York et l’art moderne. Alfred Stieglitz et son cercle (1905-1930) (Réunion des musées nationaux etc. : Paris etc. 2004) 117-140. Catalogue of an exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay (18 October 2004-16 January 2005) and at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (10 February-16 May 2005).
Maria Caudill Dennison
'Francis Picabia’s "Américaine" from the cover of 391, July 1917', in The Burlington Magazine 146, no. 1218 (2004) 621-623.
Rémi Froger
'391', translated from the French text, published in the catalogue Dada (Editions du Centre Pompidou : Paris 2005) 64-65. The translation was part of the Press Kit, published by MNAM Centre Pompidou 2005, p. 61-62 [Press Kit. MNAM Centre Pompidou].
Chris Joseph
'After 391: Picabia's early multimedia experiments' (This version 14/02/2008; first version 01/04/2002).
Béatrice Mousli
'291-391', in Béatrice Mousli, Max Jacob (Flammarion : Paris 2005) 149-152.
Michel Sanouillet
'Francis Picabia et 391', in 391 / rééd. intégr. de la revue publiée de 1917 à 1924 par Francis Picabia. Vol. 2 (Éric Losfeld/Le Terrain Vague : Paris 1966). Thesis Faculté des Lettres de Paris, 1965.

L.H.O.O.Q. - Picabia and Duchamp
Francis Picabia requested Marcel Duchamp's permission to reproduce his 'L.H.O.O.Q.' in a special issue of 391. In December of 1919, however, Duchamp had returned to New York, probably bringing the original example of this work with him. Picabia wrote and asked if he could send the treasured artifact back, but, apparently, the work was held up in transit and Picabia could wait no longer. "My original did not arrive in time and in order not to delay further the printing of 391," Duchamp later explained, "Picabia himself drew the moustache on the Mona Lisa but forgot the beard."
Indeed, we can now reconstruct exactly that happened. Picabia purchased a relatively inexpensive engraving of Leonardo's celebrated masterpiece — of the type that can still be acquired on the bookstalls along the Seine even today — inked in a handlebar moustache and, on a separate piece of paper pasted below the image, wrote the same five letters that Duchamp wrote on the original. Finally, at the bottom of the reproduction he wrote in block letters: 'TABLEAU DADA PAR MARCEL DUCHAMP'. Before sending it off to the printers, he circled the portion of the image he wanted reproduced in the magazine, and penciled instructions for the printer along the right margin (requesting that the image be reproduced the same size as the engraving, and that the text be typeset rather than handwritten).
In the very next issue of 391 (Issue 12, March 1920), which was devoted to presenting Manifestos of Dada, the image appeared — more or less — exactly as Picabia had instructed. For all intents and purposes, this image represented an accurate facsimile of the original, except for the fact, as Duchamp was probably the first to notice, Picabia forgot the goatee. [...]
Over the years, whenever the subject of Picabia's replica came up, Duchamp always delighted in pointing out the fact that his old friend had forgotten the goatee. Some twenty years would pass before he would be given the opportunity to rectify this omission. In the early 1940s, the original Picabia replica of the L.H.O.O.Q. mysteriously resurfaced, found by no one less than another important Dada artist, Jean Arp. Arp brought the work to Duchamp for authentication, telling him that he had discovered it "while browsing in a bookstore." Duchamp seized the opportunity to "complete" the image by very carefully adding in black ink the goatee that Picabia had forgotten and, using a blue fountain pen, writing the following inscription: "moustache par Picabia / barbiche par Marcel Duchamp", indicating, of course, that whereas he had made the goatee, Picabia was responsible for the moustache. This incident represents the very first time in Duchamp's career that he was asked to indicate the conformity (or lack thereof) of a work he made that had been replicated by another artist, a practice that would be repeated on numerous occasions throughout the remaining years of artistic career.
TEXT CREDITS
Francis Naumann, www.francisnaumann.com/DUCHAMP/text2.html [visited 03/2009]
IMAGE CREDITS
Replica by Francis Picabia of a rectified readymade by Marcel Duchamp; engraving and pasted pieces of paper, handwritten inscriptions in pencil. Signed and dated lower right: Moustaches par Picabia / barbiche par Marcel Duchamp / Avril 1942.