Page 70 - Studio International - June 1968

years or so. had started out very flatly or graphically and has gradually to make the viewer aware that he is looking at a convention rather
become more and more precise. detailed and specifically erotic in than at an actual figure. that the picture is about how we perceive
recent times. This was interesting as it had not occurred to me that this rather than what we perceive. that there should be no confusion of Art
was happening. I had just seen it as a general hardening-up of the with Life.
paintings. But I see now that the earlier reasons for using such under­ The woman on the extreme left of this print is from a Mexican mail
garments as bras, girdles and stocking tops in a very flat manner was order catalogue for erotic clothing. although I had actually got it from
to enable me to describe the human figures without recourse to another magazine which had incorporated it as a piece of art work.
modelling. It was also my limitation at that time. trying to deal with The second woman is from an English foundation garment catalogue
a subject using formal devices more associated with Abstract Expres­ and seems very design conscious. The falling man is from a previous
sionism. Since then I have learned how to handle highly modelled falling man by Allen Jones. whilst the remaining two figures are from
tactile surfaces and have been able to discard the props of earlier work. a series featured in an American girlie magazine.
Given a mid-twentieth century sensibility, I think it is impossible to A lot of the Mexican feti�h drawings that I have seen. typified by the
violate the integrity of the picture surface, and paintings related to first figure in the print. have a similar intensity to German Expressionist
asserting this integrity are academic. woodcuts and look as if they were originally executed in this technique
The advantage of lithography or indeed any other printing technique or perhaps scraperboard. The combination of popular eroticism with
is that the surface is done for you.·Also it is very difficult to change one's such a tough drawing method has produced a very powerful image. It
mind when once a mark has been made and this forces a sort of tough­ is interesting that a lot of turn-on material. if seen after a lapse of time,
ness about making decisions which one is not normally aware of in say fifteen years from when it was produced. loses its sting because
the activity of painting as a student. I found this discipline of tre­ the style in which it was executed is now obsolete. Thus Beardsley
mendous help in the beginning. Teaching lithography made plates can now be sold at Smiths, and works. no matter how outrageous in
and presses available and led to a consequent lack of ceremony that their time, become judged eventually in the cold light of their formal
enabled me to experiment with images and ideas very freely. This has achievements. Armed with this knowledge a painting like Bronzino's
become a central part of my working habit. Often ideas worked out in Venus, Cupid, Time and Folly at the National Gallery must have been
paintings can be seen postulated in the prints of six months before. impressive in its day. Perhaps containing more punch than can be
For me lithography is a substitute for drawing. found in any of the works that today would close a gallery.
My most recent print. Icarus, is really a development of my Life Class The rule today seems to be that looking at paintings can be enjoyable
folio. Both use a range of conventions for representing the figure and so long as we are aware that we are having an aesthetic experience
endeavour to weld them into a homogenous situation. The problem is and that the experience is held at arms length. D

LAMEDUSA LAMEDUSA LAMEDUSA

GRAPHICS GRAPHICS GRAPHICS

124 VIA BABU I NO - ROME 124 VIA BABUINO - ROME 124 VIA BABUINO - ROME
EDITIONS OF LITHOGRAPHS AND BOOKS

LITHOGRAPHS BY ETCHINGS BY

Giorgio de Chirico Morandi -De Chirico "After Boccioni"
H undertwasser Russolo -Carri -Guttuso by Claudio Bruni
Max Ernst Severini -Magnelli -Afro £2.2.0
Appel Capogrossi -Manzu "Mayo"
Matta with black + white + coloured
Picasso -Dali - Bonnard
Chagall - Zao W ou-ki illustrations
Appel -Hundertwasser text by Cesare Vivaldi
Alechinsky £5.5.o
IN PREPARATION
The general Catalogue of the
complete works of
Giorgio de Chirico.

Catalogue of the complete Graphic
works of Giorgio de Chirico.

PERMANENT EXHIBITION OF ORIGINAL GRAPHICS BY ITALIAN AND FOREIGN ARTISTS

336