Page 50 - Studio International - February 1966

Book Reviews

Break-up or build-up? they were doing it. Probably the compulsion to show multiple
sides of an object forced us to break the object up—or even better
Modern Art Explained by Katharine Kuh to project a panorama that unfolded different facets of the same
Cory, Adams Et Mackay object. Here the word "gradual" is important and so is the word
136 pages 8 colour plates, 87 monochrome illustrations 50s. "blind-folded". It was only later we discovered that we were
Few people are better qualified than Mrs Kuh to 'explain' modern breaking something ; it didn't make a noise when it happened'.
art. As a Curator of the Art Institute of Chicago she had a decisive When that discovery was made artists reacted in very different
share in building up one of the most comprehensive collections ways—hence the early distinction between analytical and
of modern art to be seen anywhere in the world. She is at present synthetic cubism. The most significant distinction came later, with
art editor of The Saturday Review in New York, and therefore very surrealism. In so far as surrealism was inspired by psycho-analysis,
familiar with the latest developments in contemporary art. She it could still be described as a break-up, as an 'analysis' of dream
applies her great authority with modesty but decisively, with no imagery. But essentially surrealism was never analytical—it made
apparent prejudices. The result is a book which is ideal for the a virtue of 'automatism', of the integral projection of images from
beginner who does not wish to be burdened with too much theory the unconscious. It was neither a break-up nor a break-down,
or too much history. but a new kind of realism.
Her method, after a short general introduction, is to proceed In a similar way the neo-plasticism of Mondrian or the con-
deductively—that is to say, by the description and analysis of about structivism of Gabo and Pevsner are not in any unconfusing
one hundred selected works of art. She begins by characterizing manner to be described as break-ups. No doubt they would never
the modern period as one of 'break-up', and she says that this is a have happened but for the initial break-up of Cubism (though Gabo
process quite different from the process of breaking down. This denies this: constructivism was latent in the ethos of the machine
distinction is not very clear to me. Her various chapters are age, not to mention particular predecessors such as the Russian
called 'Break-up of Color', 'Break-up of Pigment', 'Break-up of painter Vrubel). But the whole effort of the constructivists has been
Form', 'Break-up of Content', 'Break-up of Space', 'Break-up of towards a build-up rather than a break-up and Mrs Kuh is not alone
Design and Space', and finally 'Break-up in Sculpture resulting in neglecting this essential distinction, which may prove of decisive
from New Methods and Materials', but is this one word adequate importance in the further development of modern art.
to describe methods such as those of Cezanne or Braque, which Mrs Kuh's specific gift is descriptive. It is not generally realized
are essentially analytical, and methods such as those of Mondrian how difficult it is to describe abstract works of art in words that
and Gabo, which are essentially constructive ? It is true that the make sense. Mrs Kuh's terminology is always clear and precise and
phenomenon of 'fragmentation' (as I would rather call it) is a is unusually free from jargon. That is why her book is to be
superficial characteristic of all modern art, and it may be that the recommended to that somewhat mythical character, 'the intelligent
modern epoch is distinguished by a general retreat from naturalism. layman'. I would say that it is particularly valuable to those people,
But the paths of that retreat have been divergent, and at their mostly young, whose curiosity about modern art has just been
extremes the artists found themselves running in opposite directions aroused (or is even still latent) and who should be introduced
In its beginning the modern movement was a break-up in the 'firmly but gently' into its complexities. Such people will not be
strict meaning of the word. Mrs Kuh quotes Marcel Duchamp as content with this book, or with any book: after reading it they will
saying : have an insatiable desire to extend their knowledge of the actual
'In the beginning the Cubists broke up form without knowing works of art. Herbert Read

Misrepresentations gave birth to Abstract Art. (The fact that not one of bane of most museums and art-historians in Germany.
German Painting in our Time by Gerhard Handler the Abstract Fathers was touched by it is no doubt a It is the greatest barrier between creative elements and
Rembrandt-Verlag (Berlin) n.p. triviality.) The comments on the painters of the classic the appreciation of the outside world.
Modern Austrian Art by Kristian Sotriffer generation are not much improvement. The effect of Modern Austrian Art is an even more remarkable
Thames Et Hudson 140 pages, 13 colour plates, the world on Christian Rohlfs 'made the mature production. The author makes almost no statement
110 monochrome illustrations, 26 line drawings 50s. man's eye tremble with joy'. Beckmann's 'tenebrous which he does not then flatly contradict. Take the
Now that Paris has lost its monopoly, we are reminded (sic) blacks form the spine of the painting'. The example of Kokoschka. He 'did not affect any
that there are some other centres even on the European bilious late works of Schmidt- Rotluff are full of advance in the development of European painting'
continent. To meet a possible new curiosity, the 'richly gradated (sic) colours'. Most astonishing, (p. 7). He 'has contributed much to European land-
Rembrandt-Verlag has produced a translation of Dr Kandinsky's Bauhaus paintings 'emphasize cubist scape painting, as well as enriching portrait painting'
Gerhard Handler's book, which it published in 1956. principles'. Tell that to Kahnweiler ! (p. 62). 'By the end of the 'twenties,' he had 'evolved
Unfortunately, the text has not been revised—and Lack of revision tells when the author comes to the his own style and forms of expression' (p.62) ; but
a lot of things can happen in ten years. Academic postwar period. The sections on Post-Expressionism, on the same page 'what made him great and caused
German, above all its purple passages, is really not Surrealism and Abstract Art are full of local names him to class as a European painter had already been
translatable ; and here the work has not been helped of the fifties which have sunk, some without a trace. achieved by the age of about forty' (i.e. 1926). Similar
by misprints on practically every page. 'Dangaster Half a dozen of the painters who, now over fifty, play absurdities occur in relation to Klimt, Schiele and
Moore' is not a reference to the sculptor, nor is 'the the main part are not mentioned. And the young every other painter of note. Nor are the historical
"Callas" and thick-stemmed flowers' a jibe at the generation emerged, almost all together, in the two generalisations much better. 'In 1921 there arose a
singer, or the painter "MacKaus" a member of an years after the first publication. Some of them, like the strong and dominating style that was full of vitality and
unknown Scottish clan. ZERO group, are now quite well-known outside energetic zeal'. Twelve lines later 'the essential
I doubt, though, whether the book when new and in Germany. One might as well have Rip van Winkle for features which existed in the period between the wars
the original, was a great work. At the start, four pages a guide to the contemporary in German art. What ... developed for the most part in the 'twenties outside
of quotations from Kant up to Heisenberg and C. G. finally condemns the book, though, is the lack of Vienna ... The sources that had still been so rich
Jung are needed to establish the growingly subjective values. It is typical that two province-surrealists, both around 1900 were now almost exhausted and pro-
concept of reality. This is held to explain and justify now forgotten, are presented on a level with Max duced only isolated personalities.' The author says
Expressionism in art. More surprisingly, Expressionism Ernst. This is the old 'historical approach' which is the quite correctly of the contemporary 'Fantastic Real-
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