Page 26 - Studio International - September 1965

1
1
Porrra11 of a chdd 111 Red cha,r
72 X 54 In
Ori on Canvas
2
Pauerns of an 1111e11or
72 X 96 In
011 on Canvas
3
W111dow Gazer
72 X 54 1n
Oil on Canvas
4
The Sleep,nq Cluld
60 X 66 In
Oil on Canvas

are layered on faces as. ,n life. his children repeat his system. he works through it from one side to the other
own childhood: or an image becomes a gathering until he has freed himself of whatever claims it had on
together of the darkness around it, as every new genuine him. So 1f occasionally the lyricism seems conventional
understanding is a gathering together of all one's past. that 1s because the conventional 1s an element of every
The strength of Blackman's recent work is an intricate response: the more conventional canvases are neces­
nakedness which he has come to the hard way. When sary steps towards his final m3stery and understanding
he paints dozen upon dozen variations on his themes of his themes. Hence. too. the sadness of so much of
he seems to be working on the principle of purgation his work: each new stage of 1ns1ght 1s at once a sum­
through pa,nt; he repeats an image until 1t is out of his mation of the past and a shedd1ng of 1t. It is as though
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