Page 49 - Studio International - December 1969

such righteous pomposity, their antagonists and yet, those planes peel off mysteriously,
have always refused to come to terms with it, like the paper creations of magicians. In the
and wouldn't be caught dead calling any- cold greens, or purples with scarlet outlines
thing vulgar. It is hard for me to bring myself streaking around them, the mechanistic is
to use the word, but finally it is the only word suggested, but finally annulled by the ambi-
for the Met's show. It is vulgar in the worst guous.
sense. Not vulgar like the language of the Remington's finely smoothed surfaces and the
people, but vulgar like the snobbery of the clarity of the parts in these equilibriated sur-
genteel merchants. It is based on the principle faces this time reminded me of certain of the
that if you show the most, the biggest, the more finished modes of oriental art. The pains-
most expensive, the brightest and the most taking character of her style fits the finicky
talked about, you can't miss. Nothing, as Mr demands of craftsmanship. In addition, there
Hilton Kramer correctly said in his Times is something of the structured perfection
review, qualifies this show as a clear historical found in the costumes of the Noh theatre in
account of the thirty-year period it tackles. It the way she composes. This is more obvious
is, as Kramer says, 'modish, arbitrary and in a group of finely stylized, lanternlike draw-
confused'. Moreover, the many excellent ings on pure linen with dully glowing red
works (wonderful sculptures by David Smith; accents and sooty black depths.
paintings by Gorky, de Kooning, Pollock and At the STAEMPFLI GALLERY, David Hare, who
tutti quanti) are lost in a wilderness of brash has long been silent, presents himself in a new
lighting, confusing sequences and in some guise—that of a painter. The long-ago Surreal-
cases, absolutely inadequate wall space (Mark ist, whose sculpture is considered a historical
Rothko). Even so splendid an exhibition- segment in the adventure of Abstract
within-an-exhibition as the group of Joseph Expressionism, has maintained certain con-
Cornell boxes is made unpalatable by a victions which he puts forward not only in the
chichi installation that entirely controverts work, but in his poetic catalogue statement as
the meaning of his work: a darkened velvety well. Hare, who has never hesitated to say
chamber worthy of a jewellery wholesaler. I what he feels, and who says it with unusual
won't attack the questionable aesthetic behind literary acuteness, lashes out at the fashion-
the biggest painting ever by Olitski, or the able and boldly preoccupies himself with the than the gallery claims, 'an introduction to
rather paltry significance of Warhol's fawning old obsessions that used to motivate his com- the experience of space and the inflections
representation of thirty-six representations of rades-in-arms—obsessions with myth, time, of shape through its infinite possibilities of
Ethel Scull, a prominent collector, or the philosophy and the meaning of art. His theme delineations'. His other work included piles of
overabundance of Pop Art, or even what I in the exhibition is Cronos, that old devourer sacks of flax, huddled in a corner, somewhat
believe to be the injudicious selection of artists of his own, that old timekeeper, seen in the lessened for me by an exhibition last year by a
I generally admire. All that can be let pass peculiar light of David Hare who blends the French artist, with sacks of jute. On the other
under the rule of de gustibus. What is question- image with landscape. Hare's paintings, hand, I thought his Nine Shapes, Three Timbers,
able from the very outset is the value of which are partly collage, are strongest where which, I take it, is an older piece, solid and
excessively large exhibitions, excessively broad- he gives rein to his grotesque imagination and almost traditional in its composition. The
cast, excessively decorated and excessively conjures an image of the old monster. The nearest thing to it is a Morandi still-life, and
lauded by the institution itself. Britons : be more he uses the means of the draughtsman, the the sensibility working in Flanagan when he
glad that you have no great corporations to stronger his imagery is. The more sentimental composes these forms is, in spite of his revo-
aid your museums in such endeavours; be landscapes with their heightened colours fall lutionary intentions, healthily traditional.
glad that the role of the private patron is not short of the power of his very large enactments There is not much more to be said about Jose
overweaning ; be glad that you are con- of the mythical drama. Hare is refreshingly de Rivera, a consummate forger of steel who
strained by various circumstances to shed candid, as always, even when his means fall for many years has perfected his linear, mov-
pretension and work modestly with your state- short of his dreams. ing sculptures. His new work in the BORGE-
supported institutions. In that realm between painting and sculpture NICHT GALLERY is as elegant as ever, as
In her new work at the BYKERT GALLERY, which is fast becoming colonized and is no admirably wrought and as finely poised. The
Deborah Remington proposes still other ways longer the mysterious terra incognita it was not idiom remains unchanged, but Rivera finds
to experience the peculiar mysteries of ambi- too long ago, the work of Robert Irwin at the unending variations within it.
guous forms when they are treated ironically. PACE GALLERY is salient. Irwin is developing It is hard to believe, but the present exhibition
What I mean is that Remington's forms are an idea he broached a couple of years ago : of watercolours and oils by Oskar Schlemmer
normally painted with absolute clarity; they that a disc, slightly hollowed and set out from at SPENCER SAMUELS AND COMPANY is the first
normally take place along a clear vertical the wall, will project lovely shadows on the full-dress Schlemmer show ever held in New
axis at the centre of the canvas and they are wall when properly illuminated. The disc it- York. Although there are a few drawings for
painted in a smooth, highlighted manner that self, in the new exhibition, all but disappears those astounding ballets at the Bauhaus on
relates to the immaculates America once as substance when centered in its wreath of view in museums here, the bulk of Schlem-
harboured, and yet they are highly ambigu- shadows. The ethereal effect is most attrac- mer's work after 1923 is scarcely known. This
ous. That's where the irony enters. She pre- tive, although I imagine it would soon pall if exhibition, full of exquisite small works
tends that in the central oval of one of her one were with it every day. belonging to Mme Schlemmer, and introduc-
larger paintings, there is a steely burnished Barry Flanagan offered 120 ft of ship's rope ing certain of Schlemmer's later, more mysti-
form which in reality sinks far back behind straggling through three rooms of the FISCH- cal works, was long overdue. It clearly indi-
the picture plane and acts as a profound BACH GALLERY as one of the main offerings in cates the highly personal character of
mirror of infinity. She renders each over- his first major New York exhibition. It looked Schlemmer's talent and the depth of his
lapping plane with tremendous precision, very healthy on that polished floor, a nice rumination on the human form. q
using her own hand to draw the even outlines, object, although I think it is something less DORE ASHTON