Page 24 - Studio International - June 1967

the concept of 'masses in relation' better allows for word which made up the review, and the quotations I Alecto Gallery
both visual and auditory expression in a poem. The used were analogies only to make the sense conveyed
look of the verse on the printed page gives the eye by the words even more explicit. Not one line in the Financial difficulties recently encountered by Editions
clues about organization, and this visual disposition entire article is Irrelevant, which, of course, makes the Alecto, the London-based concern which has made
of text simultaneously indicates the melodic structure. style very compact and therefore has to be read care- so striking a contribution through its high-quality
This happy union is observed in the less well known, fully or more than once. etchings, lithographs, block and screen prints, have
more visually operative version of Pound's 'In A I am one of the few sticklers for clarity'in the chaotic called attention to the high cost of producing super-
Station of the Metro', which I cited in the April world today. lative editions. They have also emphasized some of the
article. Compare that poem with the illustration of Yours faithfully, dangers of going too far too fast in a market where the
Gaudier-Brzeska's Birds Erect and I think one will F. N. Souza evident potential has still to be developed effectively
find in both equivalent visual implications of 'masses London, N.W.3 on a really considerable scale. One of Editions
in relation'. Alecto's shortcomings in the past has been the lack
Yours, etc., of any central showcase or retail centre, which has
Leeds University B. W. Rozran Erling Eng writes: affected the rate of turnover. This should now be
It was not my intention to impugn the sincerity of remedied in some measure by the opening of Alecto
Mr Souza. All that matters is a clear understanding of Gallery-this June-at 38 Albemarle Street, London,
Tantra Art the problems involved in attempting to use, in a rather W.1. The gallery is a separate entity apart from the
free fashion, motifs from contemporary Euro- print publishing company, and its establishment
Dear Sir, American art and fragments from reports of psyche-
The letter you published (from Erling Eng, April issue) delic (or psycholytic) drug experiences to elucidate represents one aspect of Editions Alecto's present
describing my review of Tantra Art (December 1966 the meaning of images employed within a traditional reorganization. It will show a complete range of
issue) as 'a mixture of ignorance, floundering quota- Indian meditative discipline. Once such problems Editions Alecto publications and screen prints, and
tion and glib comparisons with modern art...' is itself have been recognized.and discussed in the light of will also handle prints published in France, Germany,
full of incomprehensible quotations from Coomaras- available knowiedge, the singling out of resemblances the U.S. and elsewhere. One welcome aspect is that
wamy and name-droppings, e.g. Giuseppe Tucci, -and contrasts-may increase our understinding of the gallery will remain open on Saturdays.
Herbert V. Guenther, whoever these foreign-sounding the terms of comparison. I too am a 'stickler for clarity
gents are, I doubt if anyone would know offhand. in the chaotic world today'.
Careful thinking went into the selection of every In other publications
One example of such a problem: Mr Souza's failure
to find any references to 'Tantric Art' in the well- Control
known Indian authorities might have alerted him to The third issue of Control (edited by S. Willats, 5
the possibility that there is, in the Western sense, no London Mews, London, W.2) contains statements,
73 years ago such thing, inasmuch as Tantric devotees were, and illustrations of work, etc, by Peter Stroud, Joe Tilson,
are, concerned with the realization of 'non-duality in Noel Forster, John Latham, Stephen Willats, Peter
duality' in the context of both Hindu and Buddhist Upward, John Sharkey and Logie Barrow. The con-
tradition, and not with production of art works-how- tributors were asked 'to write from a platform which
ever we may categorize their realizational aids. If deals with an object-audience relationship'. Price:
there is a 'Tantra Art' it is of the nature of a discipline 9s. Print of 700.
and not of a corpus of productions.
This and related distinctions between such a tradi-
tional 'art' and modern developments involved with Form
'aesthetic' were carefully and concernedly treated by No. 4 contains the first of a series by Lewis Shelley on
Coomaraswamy in such books as 'Why Exhibit Works Black Mountain College and a report by Joseph
of Art?' (later changed to 'Christian and Oriental Albers on courses he conducted at the Hochschüle
Philosophy of Art') and 'The Transformation of für Gestaltung at Ulm. Stephen Bann lists and
Nature in Art.' For those interested in trying to gain describes the exhibits in the Brighton Festival Con-
some notion of the place of images, forms and crete Poetry Exhibition. Price: 3s. 6d./US$1. From 8
colours in Tantric practice, the chapter on yoga and Duck End, Girton, Cambridge, or, from June 17
tantrism by Mircea Eliade in his 'Yoga: Immortality onwards, 78 Norwich Street, Cambridge.
and Freedom' (Pantheon, 1958) is as good a place as
any to start.
New Galleries
Lexington,
Kentucky, U.S.A.
For a picture to be sufficiently conventional for the taste London
of buyers, the Nude must be very sparingly introduced. Lisson Gallery, 68 Bell Street, N.W.1-specializing in
Bathers and the nursery toilette have been indeed added kinetic works
of late to the list of allowable subjects for decorous
exhibition, and allegorical presentations of abstract June Fell, 86 York Street, W.1
personalities, such as 'Night' or 'Morning', have Sterile perfection
extended the list of imaginary beings who may appear Falcon Gallery, 70 Fulham Road, S.W.6-specializing
in public, naked and unashamed; but it is forbidden, as Dear Sir, in icons
a rule, to depict contemporary humanity seen in the I could not agree more with Patrick Heron's observa-
way that, as a matter of fact, it is rarely seen by tion [May issue] that current painting is typified by Clytie Jessop, 47 Sloane Avenue, S.W.3-bias towards
contemporaries.... sterile perfection. In fact this would seem to apply to Australian painting
From an article on 'The Nude in Photography' most art forms today. Concrete poetry, Beckett's
wordgames, La Monte Young's music, Judd's boxes, Lumley Cazalet Gallery, 24 Davies Street, W.1-
and Kelly's tricolour canvases may all be rather chic specializing in 20th-century lithographs, etchings,
The July/August issue intellectual anagrams, but the emotional and spiritual etc. The opening June exhibition is of Matisse
baby would seem to have flown out with the traditional graphics.
The issue will include an article by Professor Elsen, art water leaving us with impersonal intellectually
written in collaboration with Henry Moore, on aspects controlled clichés whose élan seems as predictable
of a Rodin sculpture; Ronald Alley on Patrick Heron's as the Academy's aldermen. One can only conclude Outside London
work; Ira Licht on Allen Jones; a comment by David that art must lose its cool to get back its soul. Latest addition to the Oxford art scene is the Stage
Thompson; commentaries from Washington, Israel Yours sincerely, Club Gallery, recently opened in the centre of the city,
and Berlin; and a supplement on new and recent art Neuchatel, where artists can hold one-man or group exhibitions.
Nicholas Zurbrugg
books. Switzerland There is wall space for up to 50 paintings.