Page 15 - Studio International - November 1965

Editorial

What is the subject matter of most works of art today? elements in painting and sculpture means that the time
A very pertinent question and one that is not so easy to is not far distant when objects will take over from art.
answer even if one tries to evade it by saying that si nee And if objects take over. their manipulators will not be
so much of modern art consists of abstraction there is artists but machine-men whose attitudes will however
really no subject matter as such. It was said not so long be no less humanistic than those that have been obvious
ago that the painting became its own subject matter in artists for some time now.
since its organisation and execution was the choice of When critics and writers on art speculate vaguely on
the artist. But even this kind of subject was no subject the driving force that has operated on twentieth century
at all in as much as its evasion of suggesting a subject artists they frequently refer to the discoveries of science
was part of the escapism that has affected art in and space travel that. they claim. must have inevitable
increasing intensity. Art-as-art has not always the influence on the visual artists. This. of course. is the
intention of commenting on art as all figurative art must most wishful thinking and also the most dangerous. It
do since the very act of representation immediately calls means in effect that the two cultures so dramatically
into being the system of comparisons on which all highlit by Lord Snow are in danger of coming one and
civilised vision operates. And for a long time though that the arts and the sciences are leading to a surrender
action painting or abstract expressionism offered limit­ of one to the other. with the arts in the position of the
less possibilities for the artist to escape from reality by most vulnerable. The signs are that this is already
engaging himself in the physical act of putting paint on a happening in the channelling of talents into the sciences
canvas. this very act qualified for merit by the arbitrary whereas once they would have been forced into the
standards of physical fitness. intuitive rhythms of move­ cultivation of creative fields of the imagination that were
ment. pre-selected chromatic arrangements by opening concerned with human relationships. Now the chances
this or that can of paint. Escapism again so far as the are that. in pursuing the material exploration of physical
end product was to a great extent unforeseeable and space. the investigation into the area of consciousness
dependent on circumstances that were not invariably and emotional and mental conflict and harmony will be
predictable. The surprises the public or the dealer neglected and left to the primitive and intuitive artist
received when the work was offered for view were not who will always, thank heaven. survive but in a non­
always greater than those sustained by the artist when professional and vocational way.
he stood back from his canvas. Thus the question arrives: are the spheres of painting
Commitment of the artist to non-commitment was and sculpture at an end for their employment in artistic
reached by Ad Reinhart with paintings that looked as if purpose? Have they been superseded or replaced by
they were all one colour in one tone although closer other forms of visual metaphor such as the cinema or
scrutiny might reveal that this was not quite the case mechanically driven apparatus invented for stimulating
since there might be a motive painted in a change of senses of form and colour? The answer is surnly No. It
tone. But this motive too played its part in non-commit­ might be as well to declare the art of drama dead
ment since its role was concealment. not display. Robert because of the aforesaid cinema or the more insidious
Irwin. another American isolationist. creates the ultimate television screen. Far from the art of the past rendering
in painting; one canvas can be one colour. All of this that of the present still-born. it is ever more true that it is
has the result of drawing attention to what is not done the part of the past that sustains the present. It is not a
on the canvas. So that the artist by non-activity brings bad time for painting because of Rembrandt. it is not
the whole situation of non-art into the aspect of art. This now a bad time for sculpture because of Michelangelo.
has its pointed and very relevant place. For. if non-art not It is a bad time because of artists who are afraid. afraid
only points up the failure of art. it draws attention to the of comparison with Rembrandt. with Michelangelo.
lacuna in a way that is obvious in various factors. with the cinema. with the still photograph. It is a bad
First is the factor that this non-art is chosen by the time because life in all its urban development. its com­
sponsors of official art for exhibition in arenas of public mercial sales methods. has driven the potential artist into
confrontation such as a Biennial at Venice. an occa­ seclusion or into non-functioning. Only a few survive.
sional ·survey· such as the Gulbenkian '54 : 64' show certain (though frequently unsure) of their destiny to
or the Carnegie or the Documenta. Here the message create in the medium of the masters the essence of life as
tends to become somewhat lost. as it may almost be they see it. Tennessee Williams once described the·
accepted as a latter-day movement in art. But if it is. it process. though he meant. of course. the dramatic
has renegued on its intention. Even in works that do not process in his own case. as follows: 'putting the blocks
quite decide the ultimate rejection of art as being the together in a different way·. But arranging the blocks is
mark of a creative spirit in a material substance. we are not enough as an exercise of basic design-and this. it
in the presence of a withdrawal. of the artist leaving must be said. is what appears in the overpraised work of
most of his field barren as if to invite laymen humans to young artists in Britain. The blocks must bear a pattern
place against it their own marks. Barnett Newman at that is a paraphrase or a poem with relation to life. real
the Sao Paulo Bienal had this effect. life not a life class. The artist will thus not merely be an
For the artist the dangers are obvious. If he abdicates observer of life; he will be a part of it, an actor in it; in
from the responsibility of placing his autographic mark other words. he will know more of life that he knows of
on canvas. the way is open for automation. The Golden art. His own art will be the richer for it. ■
Section will be replaced by the computer-calculated
variations that can be played on a proportional analysis
of any work of art in the world. So within the bounds of
human imagination is an optical rendering by dots of the
same composition Leonardo used in the Mona Lisa with
colours to personal choice. Impersonality in painting
Studio International
Volume CLXX No. 871 means that sooner or later mechanization will take over.
November. 1965 And the growth in popularity of the optical and kinetic
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