Page 44 - Studio International - April 1966

Victor Pasmore Spatial Construction (Projective relief)1965-6 The Constructionist movement in Britain
With the Martins, Pasmore founded the British constructionist The British Constructionist group has a rather different
group in 1951 or thereabouts. Much of his work reveals his deep
interest in architecture and his involvement with the environmental character from those of the .Nouvelle Tendence, although
implications of art. there are areas of common outlook. It arose earlier—it was
probably the first major postwar reawakening of interest
in the Constructivist family of ideas—and from circum-
stances that resembled the emergence of the original
Constructivist movement; that is, it grew directly out of
an awareness of the consequences of non-figurative art.
In the late forties Victor Pasmore, whose work had
become increasingly abstract, first turned to collage, and
then began to question the adequacy of painting as a
medium for non-figurative art. From a series of discus-
sions with Kenneth and Mary Martin came the search
for a more relevant form which resulted in Pasmore's
early constructed reliefs—works of great sensitivity con-
sidering the severity of the means—and a dedicated study
in controlled movement which led Kenneth Martin to
the mobile. Mary Martin made her first reliefs also at
this time, and the nucleus of the group was formed. How-
ever, it was not until after the exhibition Artist v.
Machine (BUILDING CENTRE, 1954), which included An-
thony Hill and John Ernest, that these five artists came to
be referred to as the British Constructionists. All parti-
cipated in the exhibition This is Tomorrow (WHITECHAPEL
ART GALLERY, 1956), where Hill and Ernest openly
declared their roots to be in historical Constructivism by
displaying their own constructions against a background
of photographs and replicas of the period. Surprisingly,
it was not until 1961 that—with the addition of Stephen
Gilbert and Gillian Wise—they were all shown together as
a group (Construction : England: 1950-1960 DRIAN GALLERY,
1960). Pasmore has since turned from severe construction
to a more informal idiom, closer to painting; otherwise the
direction of the group has remained largely unchanged.

Kenneth Martin
Screw Mobile 1959
25 x 22 in.
Phosphor bronze
Collection: Ashley Havinden
One of a famous series. The Mary Martin Diagonal Permutation 1964
work transcends the Stainless steel, formica, wood 44 x 44 x 4+ in.
immediate references of its Collection : Peter Stuyvesant Foundation
period. It would have been Like Pasmore, Mary Martin has strong beliefs about the role of art
considered beautiful in i n society. A number of her works have been projects meant to be
ancient Greece. carried out on an environmental scale.