Page 66 - Studio International - November 1968

can't help feeling that Mr Geist avoids this point. He Ezra Pound and Erik Satie, my reaction is to begin one to interpret his work? He assumes a certain
neither catalogues nor discusses the great Arch of wondering whether all that simplicity didn't become mystic significance for it that is hard to accept at
1917 in the Arensberg Collection in Philadelphia. yet a bit of a pose. Is not Brancusi a not unknown mixture face value: we need to investigate.
this is arguably Brancusi's most influential piece of of the childish and the super-sophisticated. a wily Just what Mr Geist thinks about all this isn't at all
sculpture. It breaks with a monolithic conception of old bird keeping his end up in smart society? And clear. Perhaps some enterprising publisher would
sculpture and opens up the space as no other work doesn't this show in his later work? Are we really produce a nice coffee-table book on Brancusi and
of the period does. And Mr Geist gives us detailed expected to take those streamlined Seals and Turtles ask him to write the introduction?
measurements of the various Fish, yet does no more all that seriously? Or some of those Propos de Alan Bowness
than mention their 'elaborate pedestals' -which look Brancusi. like the insane and notorious quotation I've
more like sculpture to me than the Fish themselves. used as an eye-catching title?
3: 'Brancusi considered the intelligence an impedi­ I'm not trying to knock Brancusi (or Mr Geist) but 1 All these writings appeared in the New York
ment to creativity· ... Je fais pipi sur !'intelligence, he what we badly need is a more critical. more question­ magazine, Arts. for June 1958. January 1960, Janu­
said angrily' (Oscar Chelimsky, Arts, June 1958). ing appraisal of Brancusi's achievement. Like ary 1964 and October 1964 respectively. Mr Geist is
But can an artist get away with such an attitude? Duchamp, Brancusi seems to have spent almost half over-modest in that he doesn't mention the first two
'Quand nous ne sommes plus enfants, nous sommes his life cultivating his public image. and in both cases in his bibliography. preferring to list instead two
dej� marts' (Brancusi). But isn't there a childish (not a bit of demythologizing is overdue. Brancusi was articles published in Rumanian weeklies which I've
a child-like) quality in Brancusi which flaws his hostile to criticism, and asked 'What use is under­ not seen.
work? When Mr Geist goes to great pains to em­ standing? I am, I exist, and therefore I must search 2 As said to Robert Payne. Brancusi, World Review,
2
phasize that Brancusi was no Rumanian peasant, for beauty, and there is nothing else.' Ifs all right for October 1949-an interesting article that seems to
but a man of the Parisian literary world, friend of Brancusi to take this line, but not for us: yet how is have missed the Brancusi bibliographers.

been selected to show the mind of this artist favours are often splendid. direct and forceful when they deal
Homage to Smith a particular interpretation of his life, emphasizes a with Smith's methods and enthusiasms, inspiring
certain view of his death. Smith's words. many of them
when they express his faith in art and his belief in the
attached to occasions, many of them attacks upon his superiority of the artist's calling. The writing is not
critics or upon the Establishment, rationalizations or polished. but it always makes its poinf': some of
David Smith: Sculpture and Writings edited by Cleve explanations of his practices along the way in his Smith's sheer drive is in it.
Gray. 176 pp. with 142 monochrome and 8 colour development (when he had this or that axe to grind), What I'm saying is that this book is not the whole
plates. Thames & Hudson. 6 gns. are made to seem pronouncements. Perhaps some of story. (A critical biography is needed.) Here Smith
them were artist's rhetoric-muscle-flexing or image­ comes off as a bit larger than larger-than-life-sized.
The nature and quality of the artist's struggle, his building. When Smith repeated himself. it was The romantic individualist, already full grown. is made
commitment and personal fate, have a way of in­ usually to some commonplace purpose like lecturing. to tower over the practical man, the severe self­
fluencing how his work is seen. The tug of wills of a Taken out of context, grouped under chapter head­ disciplinarian and clever organizer who made all those
Michelangelo and a Pope Julian itself becomes a ings such as 'History and Tradition' and The Artist's sculptures. Work was the centre of Smith's existence:
metaphor of the artist's aesthetic effort. More often lndentity', linked to photographs of specific works, he remade his life in order to make sculpture. accord­
inadvertantly. but sometimes by design, the artist is a the words tend to give a distorted impression. Smith ing to his vision of it. He could write, 'Beneath the
collaborator in his own myth. Sometimes he's helped did not brood upon themes; he reacted to circum­ whole art concept. every pass in the act, every stroke.
along the way to stereotype by his admirers. stances. should be our own identity'. But he knew men as well
The problem becomes plain in a book of this kind. Please don't mistake me. I am glad to have this as metal; he knew how to get on.
We are given a selection of the writings of the Ameri­ book. It is handsome. embellished with many of This book might be thought of as a Homage to
can sculptor, David Smith. who died in a motor acci­ Smith's own photographs. It shows the range of his Smith. as a souvenir rich in sentiment. His death is
dent in 1965 at a time when his work. already dis­ interests; it reflects, in the wealth of illustration far perhaps too close for it to have been anything else. It
tinguished, had entered upon a new and. as it seemed. more than in the words, the singleness of his dedica­ is an act of love.
especially promising phase. The point is that what has tion. And. of course, the book is moving: the words Gene Baro

by this exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. tive rebel. His actively supporting the making of
Come to Dada finally castrated. highly priced limited editions of his 'ready mades'
The exhibition and the catalogue present the works that were originally chosen on the basis of ·a reaction
as a series of masterpieces isolated from their of visual indifference· can possibly be explained as a
social context; as such the notion of a group activity 'geste· at the credulity of the bourgeoisie. In this final
Dada, Surrealism and their heritage by William S. falls apart, and the unity of social intent is dissipated. hope the catalogue is to be thoroughly recommended.
Rubin. 294 illustrations. Museum of Modern Art, What is left is the remarkable variety of individual A. P. Carter
New York. W. H.Allen & Co Ltd. Paperback 42s. solutions to the problem of rebellion. The exhibition
does provide a real look at the work of Picabia and Contributors
The issuing of the catalogue of the exhibition of the Schwitters and both can be seen as the major figures Chimen Abramsky lectures on Jewish History at
same name held at the Museum of Modern Art, that have so often been described and rarely sub­ London and Oxford Universities. Gene Baro is a
New York, in the early summer and now touring to stantiated. Chirico. Ernst and Miro are also well frequent contributor to Studio International and other
Los Angeles and Chicago is to be welcomed. The presented-but there is no surprise or fresh evalua­ journals. Jonathan Benthall works in computer
justification for doing so depends on the lucid essay tion of their work arising from this exhibition. The research. Alan Bowness is Reader in art history at
by William Rubin and the extensive illustration of catalogue is more helpful in relating Chirico to the the Courtauld Institute. Anthony Carter is a neuro­
works in the exhibition. The catalogue also contains Movement. The Salvador Dali Taxi now seems logist and works at the Middlesex Hospital. Nicolete
valuable sections on the chronology and biblio­ contrived. while the perversion of his subject matter Gray teaches typography at the Central School.
graphy of the Dada and Surrealist movements. is well displayed. Norbert Lynton is art critic of The Guardian and
William Rubin's essay is a clear exposition of the The Dada and Surrealist heritage is represented head of the art history department at the Chelsea
main ideas that enabled so many variously talented in accordance with the standard American history School of Art. Suzanne Levitt is an American
artists to participate in the 'collective experience of of twentieth-century art. The older generation of graduate in art history. Joseph Masheck is an
individualism', and briefly outlines the activities of European expatriots returned after the war to a still American historian working in London. Stephen
the principal members both as a group and indi­ sleeping Europe (pace de Gaulle) and Americans Rees-Jones is Reader in art history at the Courtauld
vidually. There is only a partial explanation of how a from Jackson Pollock to Claes Oldenburg have Institute. Barbara Reise is an American art historian
movement characterized by nerve and panache and continued the enlightenment. The rebellion is over. teaching at Coventry College of Art. Virginia Spate
founded in rebellion and disgust could be absorbed Or is it? There is a fair chance that the enigmantic is an Australian art historian and teaches at the Bath
into 'the mainstream of twentieth-century art' and. Marcel Duchamp will always be seen as the instinc- Academy of Art and at the Central School.
224