Page 28 - Studio International - November 1965

Hitchens, John Piper, L. S. Lowry, Graham Sutherland, showed at the Beaux Arts Gallery Others of more
Victor Pasmore, William Scott, Francis Bacon, Sidney recent vintage include the diversely talented American
Nolan, Patrick Heron, the late Peter Lanyon, Eduardo long settled here: R. B. Kitaj, Richard Smith, Anthony
Paolozzi, William Turnbull, Reg Butler, Elisabeth Frink Caro, Bridget Riley, Philip Sutton, the Cohen brothers,
(a senior artist? one suddenly feels ancient), Bernard Peter Blake, Joe Tilson, David Hockney, Gwyther
Meadows, Lynn Chadwick, Kenneth Armitage, F. E. Irwin, Phillip King, Antony Donaldson, Patrick Procktor,
McWilliam, Robert Adams, Robert Medley, Ceri Derek Boshier, Brian Wall, Michael Andrews, Peter
Richards, Keith Vaughan, Merlyn Evans, Roger Hilton, Phillips, Anthony Fry, Brett Whiteley, Howard Hodgkin,
Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, Henry Mundy, Patrick George Fullard, Michael Fussell and several others. The
George, Prunella Clough, Donald Hamilton Fraser, joint authors alternate their commentaries.
Adrian Heath, Alan Davie. By now the list is so long If the foregoing stresses the textual contributions it
that the authors' excuse of an arbitrary choice dictated must be emphasised that the book's primary impact is
by space will no longer hold water. Most of the artists visual, from the misty cover plate in colour of a Henry
are well known; their works have been reproduced and Moore reclining woman to the 267 monochrome plates
there has been articles about most of them in previous and 101 illustrations in full colour. Lord Snowden's
numbers of this magazine. But omissions are the more photography throughout is brilliantly composed and his
startling for their obviousness; where is Geoffrey collaboration with Germano Facetti in the typography
Clarke, Bryan Kneale, John Hoskin, Robin Philipson, and layout will inspire art editors for years to come when
Michael Tain, Alan Reynolds, Arthur Boyd, Leon a general interest magazine is speculating on the inclu­
Underwood, Ruskin Spear? 'The missing men' is per­ sion of a feature about art. Gems of camera studies
haps the most intriguing section of the book. include those reproduced with this review and of the
'Power and its background' is the dialogue between others a reference can be no less than of the arbitrary
John Russell and Bryan Robertson (who is the kind condemned above. One looks straight into the
energetic director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery where faces of such well-known figures as Sir Herbert Read
most of the important one-man retrospective exhibitions 'without compliments', Sir Anthony Blunt (a vividly
of living British artists have been held since 1952). This drc:matic portrait with a Picasso transparency reflected
part deals with art schools, their function and their on his eye), Mr. Fischer and Mr. Lloyd of Marlborough
growing importance with special reference to the Royal Fine Art doing their well-timed double act, Barbara
College of Art, the Slade and the St. Martin's School of Hepworth as a wool-wrapped Cornish pixy, Mrs. Helen
Art which has become the nursery of the most experi­ Lessore, unforgettably solemn, seated on a couch at the
mental sculpture under Anthony Caro. It also criticises late Beaux Arts Gallery-these and scores of others ear­
the activities of the Tate Gallery and suggests how pro­ mark this book as a bound gallery of photographs that
gress could be made in its exhibition policy; the alone are worth the money. Allied to the text of two of
composition of its board of trustees is also discussed. the best-informed writers on the contemporary art
Public patronage and tribute to such bodies as the Peter scene in Great Britain, they make Private View a
Stuyvesant Foundation and the Contemporary Art fascinating album of personalities now. It is already the
Society are topics for pointed comment, also the 'Debrett' of art-if you are not in it, you are 'out'. ■
relationship of architects with the artists. Memories of
maladroit handling of recent exhibitions at the Tate are
recalled by Bryan Robertson when he writes: 'Architects
seem to despise painters and sculptors or feel in com­
petition with them or else they simply don't understand
the nature of a painting and sculpture'. Exceptions to
this generalisation are obvious such as Eugene Rosen­
berg, Denys Lasdun and, of course, Sir Basil Spence.
Critics come in for mention too and with regret for the
poverty of space afforded them in most newspapers as
well as the encouragement of the knocking criticism
which is not criticism at all but a prejudiced attitude
towards something that offends by its very novelty.
Dealers and the System, so-called, are the subject of
honest assessment with a fair recognition that most
dealers are worthy of praise rather than the condemna­
tion they occasionally get, often from unsuccessful
artists. (By an extraordinary feat of arriere-pensee, this
part which one is reminded is called 'Power and its
background' concludes with spreads dealing with Roy
de Maistre, Mary and Kenneth Martin, Josef Herman
and David Jones.)
The last part of the book which is over 100 pages long
is devoted to 'The New Generation' though again the
age grouping Is somewhat arbitrary-is Richard
Hamilton, for example, really Junior to Eduardo
Paolozzi with whom he has collaborated more than
once 7 We are introduced to many younger artists, it is
true, ranging from those who have gained reputations
as early as Jack Smith who about 1952 was a well­
known realist of the so-called Kitchen Sink School that
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