Page 21 - Studio International - November 1968

Light as a creative medium—photographs
Correspondence
figures far in excess of reality of the damage students
wanted have done, then what they have spent in punitively
Dear Sir, maintaining their authority will be seen to be at least
Gyorgy Kepes has been working for some time now disproportionately large. I will be surprised if the
on a book on light as a creative medium. He is actions of certain aldermen are not called into
collecting black-and-white photographs of works in question by the ratepayers they have been seeking
this field, to illustrate some of the points he wants to to protect by using liberal portions of the Borough's
make. He would like to have some material from finance.
England and has asked me to collect it for him. I am grieved when I think of the thousands of
Any artists exploring this territory who are interested pounds the Council has wasted. In my department I
in contributing illustrations for Kepes's book should may not give a free tube of paint or a free brush to
send the photographs to me at 12 Belsize Park needy students—yet the Education Committee can
Gardens, NW3, together with a description or full sanction expenditure upon the following educational
caption. necessities :
Jasia Reichardt Uniformed guards and Alsatian dogs—one of which
leapt upon me while I was in the company of Mr
Utopian environments Tony Smythe, the secretary of the National Council
Dear Sir, for Civil Liberties—thus invalidating the Council's
I would like to find architects and artists who have claim that the dogs were under strict control. The
made models or designs for Utopian environments. cutting off of the main electricity supply—and the
Any information, photographs or expressions of subsequent rejoining of it the next day—necessitating
interest should be sent to Jasia Reichardt at the the employment of eight men for two days. The area
Institute of Contemporary Arts, Nash House, 12 Carl- manager assured me of the high cost of such action.
ton Terrace, London, SW1. The later redirection of the utilities to the college—the
Yours sincerely, cutting off of all telephone connections in anticipa-
Rolf Wedewer tion of students attempting to re-occupy the college.
Director The erection of 12-in. spikes radiating in bristling
Leverkusen Museum clutches from every salient feature of the college
Germany building. The sending home of administrative staff,
clerical and technical, on full pay. The re-organization
Cost of the Hornsey revolution
Dear Sir,
May I, as a member of the staff of Hornsey College
of Art, be permitted to express my gratitude to Pro-
fessor Lord Queensberry, whose letter to The Times
on September 26 questioned the quite unnecessary
system of assessment employed by the college
authorities to evaluate the work of students of the
college.
Not only is there general feeling among the staff that
the present unusual assessment is wasteful, but there
is much resentment among those of us whose pro-
fessional responsibilities towards our students have
been so rudely and unexpectedly disregarded by those
concerned with the introduction of outside assessors.
There seems to be no valid reason educationally for
this decision since each department should be at the
end of the year well versed regarding the progress of
each student and ought to be in such close contact
with its students to enable a report to be made out
to the grant authorities (if indeed it is at all necessary)
with the minimum of bureaucratic effort.
It is difficult for many of us to interpret the actions of
the Haringey Education Committee as other than
those of a body obsessed with political considerations 75 years ago
far removed from the sphere of education. At the Egyptian Hall, the two leaders of the little
Before the assessment idea was currently being Dudley Gallery Society, Mr Severn and Mr Stevens,
used as an excuse for not opening the college—it are even better contrasted this year than before— the
appears to have been the Commissions now under one with his carefully tender and cheerful style, so cer-
the distinguished chairmanship of Lord Longford, tain to look well on the walls of a drawing room; the
who himself has expressed the view that there appears other with his brown tones, broad treatment, and free
to be no reason why the college should not open in swing of the brush, that produces work almost equally
a good atmosphere—one well-known alderman pub- certain to find its way to the study or the dining room.
licly expressed the view that things could not return From 'Lesser shows of June', by Edwin J. Ellis.
to normal—i.e. the re-opening of the college at the
correct date, since he had not received the report of 50 years ago
the Commission. A day or so previously he had As regards the art of the year the general observation
stated, again publicly, that he could not wait for the may be made that it is free from artificial embellish-
report of the Commission before taking decisions ment, sensationalism or levity of thought and purpose.
regarding the future of they college. There are no war distractions, but evidence of a genuine
On no occasion have the authorities accepted that desire to present the true and beautiful apart from the
the student action has been a most valuable contri- transient influences of the time. Among the veterans
bution to the evolution of further education in this Mr Robert Alexander attains a high quality of art in
country and have chosen to brand the dispute as his sympathetic rendering of a huntsman visiting his
political and to accuse the students of doing material dog-kennel, while Mr Lawton Wingate's three small
damage to the building. It seems that when the landscapes show his skill in interpreting Nature in her
account is published of the cost of the sit-in unless most sensitive moods.
the Haringey Education Committee can produce From a review of the Royal Scottish Academy.
179