Page 29 - Studio International - October 1965

Lord Haig

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addition, the sensuous and tactile qualities of good
painting. Using ·canvas-netting collage· with aptness
and imagination (notably, for instance. in the symbolic
cloud forms). Haig expresses certain qualities which are
inextricably bound up with primal experience. It is this
capacity to express what is natural as well as funda­
mental that imparts to his painting its peculiar relish.
In this respect. he is atypical of his time and generation.
He has not succumbed to the anguish of his age;
though no one might have greater cause to join the
ranks of the existentialists (he was a special hostage
of the Nazis as a prisoner of war). Philosophically and
intellectually he has remained completely detached
from every form of extremism. This is a matter of tem­
perament and personal history. 'Landscape is for me a
necessity. My roots are in it; its shapes and forms have
physical and spiritual meaning for me. I remember
often dreaming of the red Border earth as a prisoner of
war and having returned to it. I appreciate it all the
more. Keeping close to nature-in harmony with it
-means that one lives in touch with life-giving forces.·
At forty-seven, Haig's powers are not fully extended.
He has burgeoned rapidly in the past few years and
is now preparing his fifth London exhibition. ■
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