Page 58 - Studio International - June 1965

New books

Ben Shahn Graphic Work George Grosz one or two excursions into historic drama
Text by James Thrall Soby. 11 ¼ by 8¾ in. Introduction by Ruth Berenson and like the convulsive Baule of Serbs and
142 pp. (London: Cory Adams & Mackay) Norbert Muhlen. Edited by Herbert Bmner. Turks by Janka Brasic. one of the few
£3 /Os. With an essay by George Grosz. 111 by artists who like to paint in a grand scale.
For Ben Shahn. drawing has always been B¾ in. 52 pp. and 114 illustrations An excellent picture anthology and survey
an integral part of his art: it has formed including 6 plates in full colour. (London: of a little known field of contemporary
the basis of paintings and murals and Peter Owen) £4 4s. painting also some impressive sculptures.
indeed dates back to his training as a George Grosz. born in 1893. came to
lithographer's apprentice while still a boy. fame as the brilliant caricaturist of the life
His graphic designs have a strength and in the German capital before and after The Irresponsible Arts
overall urgency about them that makes World War II. Yet from 1932 when he By William Snaith. 8¾ by 5½ m. x + 278 pp.
their appeal immediate-and very rarely went to the U.S.A. until his return in 1959 (London: Victor GollanczLtd.) 25s.
pretty. His strong humanitarian outlook to Germany where he died. he was Author of this book is only one of many
which saw its earliest opportunity in the pursuing a different kind of art. devoid of erstwhile champions of the vanguard arts
series of gouaches produced on the bitterness and almost reflecting the who have suffered a change of heart in the
theme of the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti optimism that his new country inspired past few years. Anti-art is now almost a
has always been apparent and he has never in him. Under the title 'The Two Worlds of dominant feature of the scene in Western
even flirted with the abstract idiom which George Grosz· the co-authors of this new European and American production and
to him has always suggested an aesthetic book describe the division in the life and to all who actively sponsored the break­
dilletantism. This book brings together production of the artist. Grosz himself through in values that was the keynote of
more than a hundred reproductions of his wrote an essay to describe his approach abstract expressionism it is not possible to
designs. including eight in colour. They to his art which latterly was painting for welcome wholeheartedly the devaluation
are of an incomparable variety ranging which the drawings were preliminary that is being intentionally carried out by
from Father and child. 1 946. a tempera studies. There is a bibliography and a so-called artists. William Snaith. an
painting in the Museum of Modern Art. catalogue of the plates but for most American who is president of Loewy/
New York. typical of the social realist readers the chief attraction will lie in those Snaith, described as one of the world's
works of that period which established his mordant graphic commentaries on night leading design, research and planning
considerable reputation. to the alphabetic life. the army and the rapacious faces that organisations. is by no stretch of imagina­
drawings that create their own heraldic crowd his drawings. How far an artist is the tion a ·square· (he in fact recognises the
pattern. Whether he draws the repeated true reflector of his time and conditions has genius of Josef Albers) and his coubts are
motives of brickwork in a building or the never been better exemplified than in the real ones. In this collection of essays he
heads of wheat in a field he gives a case of Grosz: when he personally was casts a searching eye on such subjects as
Drawing comm,ss,oned by dynamic animism to the rendering in a better off. he lost the urge to depict the the decline of discipline. architecture and
Edward R. Murrow and personal fashion that is autographic. James plight of others.
Fred W. Friendly for the film communication in art. He neatly packages
"Ambassador Satchmo" 1956. Thrall Soby writes an introduction that art history into two wrappings titled
edited by M1l1 Lerner. 12 X 9i;. elicits the main virtues from the drawings 'Aesthetics and Originality', the first cover­
Owned by the artist. of the different periods and describes the Primitive artists of Yugoslavia
From Ben Shahn. Graphic Work By Oto Bihalji-Merin. 12½ by 9¾ in. 202 pp. ing the period 1830-1914 and the second
symbolism that Shahn imposes on what (Maidenhead. Berks.: McGraw-Hill from 1914 to date. Witty. based on
seem to be prosaic subjects. A chronology knowledge. the criticisms record the most
and bibliography complete what is the Publishing Co. Ltd.) £5 5s. flagrant examples of irresponsibility: where
most splendid book on Shahn's graphic Though unknown to Western exhibition the author fails is to leave the other side
visitors. there has in the past few years
work yet published. of the penny obscured. If art is that bad as
grown up a thriving body of artists in
Yugoslavia who are naive or primitive in practised by Rauschenberg. who now is
The Posters of Picasso the original folk art sense of the term. doing it better? In other words. by not
By Joseph K. Foster. 12¾ by 9¾ in. 36 pp. Perhaps the best known is Ivan Generalic being for the pompiers Mr Snaith must be
and 48 colour plates. (London: W. H. and the School of Hlebine. some of whose ·agin' them too. Good reading-it should
Allen) £2 2s. works were shown at a gallery in London fill his post bag for years.
Most generous giver of his gifts is Picasso recently. Other communities where there
and in making posters for exhibitions of has been a reflowering of peasant painting
his work he requires no second hand. Over are Kovacica. Uzdine. Oparic and the The National Gallery 1962-64
the years he has created a number of nearby villages. and there are some 10 by 7½ in. 142 pp. 7 colour plates and
important posters that ranks with his individuals who pursue their muse in rural 12 black and white illustrauons. (London:
paintings. sculpture and pottery in a isolation. For the prime conditions of National Gallery) 2s. 6d.
personal autographic way. Forty-eight of primitive art are generally in force where Most impressive reading for half a crown.
them are reproduced here and include the the economy is agrarian and the workers this report by the Trustees of the National
famous doves of peace. posters for bull­ are far from urban leisure distractions. This Gallery covers 18 months' activities until
fights in Vallauris and pottery exhibitions is the first book to emerge from Yugoslavia the end of 1964. Its greatest news is the
in that town and in Paris. Colours are as on what is a unique happening within its plan to extend northwards partly taking
in the originals and the lithographic borders and the author. who is a world over the site occupied by the National
process is repeated. Joseph K. Foster authority on the subject. has introduced the Portrait Gallery which will have new
writes a history of the poster as an art form national talent with a survey of naive premises on the vacant lot west of the main
in Europe since Cheret and Toulouse painting as it exists outside the republic. building. The opening of the Reserve
Lal:ltrec with some examples by Matisse. British followers of the genre are listed Collection helps prepare the completion of
Cassandre and Braque among others. He as Alfred Wallis. described as a Devonport what. in spite of its detractors. is one of the
describes the activities of Picasso in the fisherman and small shopkeeper. Eden Box most attractive public galleries in the
field and also some revealing personal and Scottie Wilson. Rousseau the Douanier world. Large fold-out colour plates of
anecdotes that add to the greatest legend is. of course. given the palm. Copiously Water Lilies by Monet and Les Grandes
of the present day. Notes on each plate illustrated by the paintings in monochrome Baigneuses by Cezanne. two recent
are fully informative. At a time when and colour. the works are lent a heightened French acquisitions. illustrate the largest
posters are becoming collector's pieces actuality by comparison with the photo­ additions to the catalogue. Descriptions
and galleries such as Lord's (near the graphs of the artists and the surroundings of restorations carried out are full of
cricket ground) are displaying choice where they live. While most reflect the even fascinating detail. Average cost of a new
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examples. the book is a valuable album of tenor of the pastoral scene and the frame for an old painting. for example. was
the work of the greatest modern master. domestic serenity of family life. there are £116.
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