Page 68 - Studio International - February 1967

The discoveries of modern medicine played a part.
Art prices be comprehended mathematically, and its con- Population densities started to increase at a
crete existence was even doubted. Space, formerly
current the distance between discrete objects, became in- frightening rate, and it became harder to get away
from the crowd. All the old disciplines were being
extricably mixed with time. Euclid became out-
dated, and Einstein showed that all kinds of con- progressively abandoned, and cultural deteriora-
cepts previously regarded as absolute were in tion was alarming long before the beginning of the
reality relative. New and unsuspected kinds of Second World War. Some psychologists, more per-
radiation were detected, and light became a series cipient than others, began to be apprehensive that
of electromagnetic waves, with colour as a property intelligence among the masses was deteriorating,
of wave-length. Light-waves were found to possess and it would not be difficult to find evidence to
some of the properties of particles, and particles support this view.
some of the properties of waves. Max Planck Art, encouraged by such technical innovations as
elaborated his theory of the quantum of energy. oil-colour in collapsible tubes, began to be experi-
Looking for permanent values The messages brought in by the five senses were mental in the nineteenth century. Following the
by George Savage shown to be an interpretation by the brain of vision of Turner, the Impressionists created a new
phenomena quite unlike what they seemed to be,
world of light and colour. The Expressionists
and the physical world, from being a comparatively turned to the emotions, and others began to
logical and straightforward kind of place, became, theorize about the nature of art, sometimes basing
quite suddenly, bewilderingly complex. their ideas on evanescent scientific theories which
Never at any time since the beginning of civiliza- In the field of psychology all kinds of wildly were usually misunderstood and, in any case, had
tion has it been so difficult to exercise judgment improbable theories were propounded and solemnly often been abandoned before they became an
in the acquisition of works of art. That art, always discussed, and ancient wisdom was tricked out in a object of interest to the artist.
a mirror of its time, should fail to reflect the revolu- brand new terminology. Politics became increas- The Romantic movement of the eighteenth cen-
tion of the past century or so in our approach to the ingly doctrinaire, and such new sciences as soci- tury largely petered out in a slough into which
world is hardly conceivable, but it is sometimes ology, which lacked the discipline of the natural nineteenth-century official art found its way, and
difficult to realize how great this revolution has sciences, jockeyed for public attention and money. the so-called industrial arts, once predominant,
been. Religions, based on historical improbabilities and decayed under the malign influence of machine
Until the middle of the nineteenth century no one indefensible dogmas, no longer seemed a feasible manufacture. In former times a single style had
would have thought Dr Johnson odd for refuting explanation of the problem of human existence, marked the art of every age; now there was
Berkeley's idealism by striking his stick on the nor of the universe in which we live. In a world of nothing worth calling a style. Eclecticism was an
ground. If anyone thought about the ultimate curved space-time heaven was not up nor hell article of faith. The anarchy of the twentieth century
structure of matter at all, they assumed atoms to be below. Moral sanctions, based on the needs of a has been promoted by all the resources of modern
solid building units, rather like billiard balls or society far removed from that of urbanized man, publicity. Urban man, irked by the increasingly
microscopic bricks. Then, in a matter of decades, were seen to be irrational, although no one ad- restrictive nature of government, has sought free-
the atom became a mysterious system of electric vanced anything to replace them which achieved dom elsewhere, and every trivial quirk of fashion
charges poised in empty space. Soon it could only widespread acceptance. has been inflated to a size out of all proportion to

Part of the exhibition at
Christie's to mark the 200th
anniversary of the day on
which James Christie held
his first sale at premises in
Pall Mall, London-the
exhibition brought together
paintings and drawings from
collections on both sides of
the Atlantic, with an extensive
selection of photographs of
pictures and works of art, all
of which at one time or
another have passed
through Christie's hands.
For the exhibition design,
carried out by John
Bruckland A.R.I.B.A. and
Ronald Sandiford, all natural
daylight was excluded, and
a carefully controlled flexible
system of flood and
spotlighting was suspended
below light canvas false
ceilings in white and varying
subtle colours stretched
from wall to wall, to reduce
drastically the normal height
of the galleries and create a
more intimate scale.