Page 23 - Studio International - June 1966

Venice Biennale : the British five

by David Thompson

British participation at Venice is not usually the subject balanced, both in age and accomplishment, in order to
of much comment at home, particularly before the event. make a point about British abstract art over and above
But this year's selection of Caro, the Cohens, Denny, and the individual merits of the artists themselves.
Richard Smith seems suddenly to have aroused people's In no way do they, or are they supposed to, represent a
interest. Featured already in Vogue Magazine, (`Mer- movement or a shared aesthetic. But they obviously do,
chants of Venice ?'), trailed by B.B.C. cameras all the in a sense, link up with one another, represent a shared
way from their studios to the Giardini Pubblici, the five climate of achievement, and the point that their work
artists have obviously been recognized, even beyond the makes, particularly to a European audience, is that both
specialized confines of the art world, as ambassadors of a painting and sculpture in this country in the mid-1960's
new 'image' to this Biennale. Not since 1952, when the is led by a generation (the most senior of them only 42)
famous 'manifestation' at the British Pavilion put post- which need defer to no one—neither to English tradition
All works illustrated on these
' two pages are being exhibited war British sculpture on the international map, has the itself nor to America—in the originality of what it has to
at Venice. British Council deliberately chosen a team so equally say and the authority with which it says it. London may

Harold Cohen Sentinel 1966 Robyn Denny Above ground 1965/66
Acrylic on canvas 57 7/8 x 57 7/8i in. Oil on canvas 97 1/8 x 77 7/8 in.
Collection: Robert Fraser Gallery, London Collection: Galerie Muller, Stuttgart

• Richard Smith
Gift wrap 1963
▪ Oil on canvas
80 x 208 x 33 in.
Collection:
• Peter Stuyvesant Foundation