Page 23 - Studio International - February 1969

Corres ondence News
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The Magritte retrospective opens at the Tate
Gallery on 14 February. The IOI works which will
be on show have been selected by David Sylvester,
who has also written the catalogue introduction.
Plans of the Tate Gallery's £2 millon
extension scheme have been shown at the Tate
to test public opinion. The scheme, which has
been prepared by the architects Llewel yn -Davies,
Weeks, Forestier-Walker and Bor, provides for
extensions at front and back of the existing build­
ing. The one at the front involves the removal of
the present portico and steps and runs clear across
the whole site-nearly 300 ft wide and l00 ft deep.
It has a lower ground floor, two main floors and a
Visual poetry small group of offices set in the roof. The rear
Dear Sir, extension will be on one floor with a basement,
Whilst one can sympathize with attempts on the and will include a lecture theatre, a study centre
part of commentators to bring as much evidence and an archive store. Space for the permanent
as possible together in support of their arguments, collections will be on one floor, the greater part
however bizarre, one has to object when en­ with natural top, lighting, and will represent an
thusiasm allows inaccuracies to be incorporated increase of some 50 per cent. as compared with the
in such arguments. space hitherto available. An upper exhibition
In his recent evaluation of visual poetry (December gallery, occupying the full width and depth of the
issue), John Sharkey claims that 'The extension of front extension, will be used for temporary
words in space/time construction is the most exhibiti?ns and for the Moore gift and other
important and singular British contribution to the special collections which can be shown out of the
international field of visual poetry'. This is not main pattern of circulation.
true. The most singular British contribution is the
work of one man, the Scottish poet Ian Hamilton The Art Gallery of Ontario has recently
Finlay, who first conceived of the poem or poster announced that Henry Moore will donate to the
print, the glass poem and the stone poem. It gallery a large and representative selection of his
would be a mistake to ignore these three genres own work. Details of the works are not yet known,
because they do not tower feet high, gyrate, hum, but the president of the gallery has expressed the
squirt juices about, etc., or work by electricity. 75 years ago hope that it will be possible to make concrete plans
Yours faithfully, for a new wing to house the donation.
Stuart Mills Now that after an interval of two years the Arts
Tarasque Press, and Crafts Exhibition Society has gathered 'European Painters T o day' is the title of
The Trent Book Shop, together material for a fourth show, it may be an exhibition on view at the Jewish Museum,
West Bridgford, well before discussing the present display to tum New York, until 16 March 1969, with 80
Notts. to the preface to the catalogue of its first exhibition paintings by 49 artists from 9 countries. Among
in 1888. Therein we find a protest against the those represented are Hundertwasser, Magritte,
modern industrial system which has thrust the Riley, Bacon, Stroud, Arman, Klein, Vasarefy,
personal element further and further into the Schumacher, Mack, Appel, Van Amen, Dorazio,
background until the production of ornament Tapies and Fahlstrom. The exhibition is presented
instead of growing out of organic necessities has as a personal selection by Franc;:ois Mathey,
become a marketable affair controlled by the Director of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs,
salesman and the advertiser, and at the mercy of Paris, Werner Schrnalenbach, Director of the
every passing fashion. To proclaim that the true Kunstsamrnlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Diisseldorf,
root and basis of all art lies in the handicrafts, and Fontus Hulten, Director of the Moderna Museet,
to give visible expression to such belief, were the Stockholm, and Sam Hunter, former Director,
objects for which the Society was started; coupled and Kynaston McShine, former Curator of Paint­
with a determination to give full prominence to ing and Sculpture, of the Jewish Museum. Colour
the individuality of each designer and craftsman slide sets of works shown are available from
engaged in the production of its exhibits. Sacdak Inc., of New York City for sale to art
From 'The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society at centres and educational institutions, and an
the New Gallery, 1893.' accompanying text has been written by Dore
October 1893. Ashton. The exhibition, sponsored by the Mead
Corporation, will go on tour to the Smithsonian
50 years ago Institution, Washington ( 19 April-I June), the
Our frontispiece this month is a reproduction of Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (5 July-
The Pool, a characteristic painting by Mr Anning 8 September), the High Museum of Art, Atlanta
Bell, in which his refined sense of colour and (28 Scptember-26 October) and the Dayton Art
disciplined draughtsmanship are admirably Institute, Ohio (17 November-14 December).
exemplified. In these days, when the cult of
colour tends to run to extremes and we are often An exhibition and sale of works of art donated
called upon to admire paintings which have in aid of the Marx House Restoration Fund will
about as much right to· be called works of art as be held at the Alpine Galleries, 74 South Audley
a bit of 'crazy' yatchwork, it is necessary to insist Street, W. l, from 24 February to I March. A
upon the significance of form as a vital element in preservation order on this early eighteenth-century
pictorial productions. The correlative importance house at Clerkenwell Green was confirmed in 1967.
of colour and form in a painting was years ago A number of artists from abroad, including some
emphasized by Ruskin, who certainly was no whit from Eastern Europe, will be contributing to the
behind the ultra-modei-ns of to-day in recognizing exhibition. Those interested should contact the
the aesthetic value of colour. Restoration Fund at 37a Clerkenwell Green,
From 'Studio-Talk', September 1918. E.C.I.
63