Page 38 - Studio International - December 1965
P. 38

No more an island




                              London  Commentary  by  G.  S.  Whittet
                                                                                After  almost  twenty  years  of  visiting  the  changing
                                                                                exhibitions  in  London's  galleries,  I  find  the  previous
                                                                                 insularity  completely  disappeared  and  instead  a
                                                                                growing  number of  exhibitions  by foreign  artists  who
                                                                                are  as  yet  not  even  of  great  repute  in  their  own
                                                                                countries. So great is the hunger of dealers for pictures
                                                                                and sculptures that trips abroad result in their directors
                                                                                returning  with  promises  of  forthcoming  works  from
                                                                                 Germany, from France, from Austria, even from America.
                                                                                  Gustav  Klimt  at  the  Marlborough  recalled  the  last
                                                                                year's show of work by his pupil and rival Egon Schiele.
                                                                                Certainly the older man could demonstrate in his later
                                                                                work  a  greater  richness  of  pattern  and  colour  that
                                                                                savoured  much  of  the  Jugendstil;  in  his  drawings,
                                                                                 however, we see little of the erotic fire that distinguished
                                                                                 Schiele.  But  such  is  the  popularity  of  the  Viennese
                                                                                 artist's  work  now  it  is  only  the  pencil  drawings  that
                                                                                 were for sale.  Forty-seven  years after his death  Klimt's
                                                                                 fame is secured far beyond his native Austria.
                                                                                  Used  as  we  are  to  the  cannibalism  from  machinery
                                                                                that  sculptors  adapt  to  form  their  images,  it  was  a
                                                                                 surprise to encounter the delicacy of a young  German
                                                                                 artist,  Gunter  Haese  working  in  wire-mesh,  showing
                                                                                 later  at  the  Marlborough.  He  studied  under  Ewald
                                                                                 Matare at Ousseldorf after abandoning painting and he
                                                                                 found his interest aroused by the forms he discovered
                                                                                 on dismantling a clock.  But it was not the mechanical
                                                                                movement of the parts that entranced him so much as
                                                                                 the  elegant  and  even  unsubstantial  forms  that  they
                                                                                 suggested.  From the incorporation of cogs and wheels
                                                                                 into  standing  artifacts  he  became  obsessed  with  the
                                                                                 wire-gauze that he used first to cage the tiny creations
                                                                                 and  then  to  model  shapes  in  the  gauze  itself.  Tiny
                                                                                 springs  that  dance  to  the  slightest vibration  animate
                                                                                these  lightweight  fantasies-constructions  seems  too
                                                                                 heavy  a  word  to  describe them-and the  brass metal
                                                                                 they  are formed with gives a bright reflection  to  their
                                                                                 intricacies.  Icons, toys, symbols of satire-his House of
                                                                                 Lords  is  as  witty  a  paraphrase  of  that  institution  as
                                                                                 could be conceived-it scarcely matters how we label
                                                                                 them.  Their  identity  is  sharply  defined  as  three­
                                                                                 dimensional comment on  life by analogy.
                                                                                  Another  German artist Gerhart Bergmann from Berlin
                                                                                 brought  some  three  dozen  of  his  paintings  to  the
                                                                                 Grabowski  Gallery  where their impact was immediate
                                                                                 and strong for all the indefinition of their motives. This
                                                                                 painter uses the terms of figurative art to present scenes
                                                                                 {which for want of a better word we must call them)
                                                                                 where  the  motives  are  unidentifiable.  Here  and  there
                                                                                 it seems we are allowed to recognise a form that could
                                                                                 be a  bird,  at least in  part,  and there are others which
                                                                                 might be human. This evanescent half-world resembles
                                                                                 the  drama  of  a  dream  where  bodies  are  sensed  to
                                                                                 contain  life  without  immediate  classification.  Two
                                                                                 statements  in  the  catalogue  note  really  sum  up  what
                                                                                 we feel in Bergmann: one is Goethe's phrase 'Colours
                                                                                 are  actions  and  sufferings  of  light'  and  the  second  is
                                                                                 'Bergmann's way of forming colours into pictures  (is)
                                                                                 specifically Central  European'.
                                                                                  Pieter  Kliesch  yet  another  German  was  showing  his
                                                                                 small  and  broadly  vivacious  little  paintings  with  an
                                                                                 ambivalent carnival  effect  at the  Brook  Street  Gallery
                                                                                 where upstairs  John  Paul Jones isolated his standing
                                                                                 and  seated  men  and  women  in  pastels  that  recalled
                                                                                 Odilon  Redon  in  their  fragile  colours  though  having
                                                                                 their own characteristics of almost surreal undertones.
                                                                                  Clelia Lotterio Thomas is an  Italian woman who reads
                                                                                 a great deal and who has a warm affection for  English
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