Page 63 - Studio International - November 1969

Supplement autumn 1969 quoted as paralleling Turner's views strongly
criticises the heavy centre and corner orna­
New and recent books ments which in fact characterize the frame of
Turner's Regulus as shown in Fearnley's oil
sketch of Turner at work in the Academy of
1837. There is even a final chapter on Turner's
following, including the fascinating criticisms
of Gautier and Signac. Throughout there are
Light on to particular aspects of Turner's art it will be useful corrections to Fin berg's now regrettably
Turner read for its value as a comprehensive account, out-of-date Inventory of the drawings in the
casting new light on every aspect. And so to a
Turner Bequest.
Colour in Turner: poetry and truth by John Gage. remarkable extent it does. Dr Gage certainly If anything it is colour that is neglected. The
252 pp. with 14 colour and 56 monochrome does not restrict himself exclusively to colour. analysis of the importance of engraving for
illustrations. Studio Vista. 90s. Among other things we are given the most Turner's colour has already been noted. The
intensive examination yet of Turner's early new pigments that became available in
British painting has long been peculiarly teachers, including t-he particularly valuable Turner's lifetime are listed and their varied
resistant to detailed art-historical criticism. suggestion that he may have worked in interest for Turner examined. There are some
The immensity of Turner's surviving output Reynolds' studio, and a precise assessment of interesting remarks on Turner's experiments
seems to have an especially deterrent effect, what Turner could have learnt from the un­ with different grounds, though little is said
despite his acceptance as probably the greatest characteristically free and pictorial archi­ of the importance of white grounds in the
of English painters. Recently however the tectural draughtsmanship current in the late striking lightening of key in Turner's pure
articles of Jerrold Ziff and John Gage, and, 1780s and early 1790s. Turner's ambitions as landscapes towards the end of the first decade
slightly less professionally, two books by Jack Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy of the century. Much space is devoted to
Lindsay, have demonstrated a new order of are taken seriously instead of being regarded Turner's opinions on colour theory and, parti­
detailed research. John Gage's Colour in as an aberration and, rather less convincingly, cularly valuable, for the first time his own
Turner marks the most far-reaching and ambi­ his later exceptional exploitation of Varnish­ writings on the subject are printed and his
tious achievement so far of this new approach. ing Days is seen as a continuation of his desire notes on Goethe's Theory of Colours surveyed
John Gage has come to Turner with com­ to instruct his fellow artists. A whole chapter in detail; the difficulty of reading Turner's
pletely fresh eyes. None of the old generaliza­ discusses Turner's work for engraving and its writings has inevitably left a rash of queried
tions about Turner's development have been discipline in translating colour into a conven­ readings, but at least they are now brought
accepted on trust. In some cases he shows tion of tones, as well as its importance in out into the open. But of detailed colour
them to be untrue; in others he has done the suggesting to Turner the importance of analysis there is very little, as indeed Dr Gage
necessary research to establish them on surer colour as relative rather than absolute and warns in his preface. Typically what promises
foundations. General introductions to Turner's descriptive. The importance of Shelley's to be a discussion of one of the paintings in
work, which have followed more or less the poetry as a source for much of Turner's late which Turner deliberately refers to colour
same pattern since the revolutionary un­ imagery is demonstrated, the iconography of theory, Watteau Study by Frosney's Rules,
exhibited oils of Turner's later years began to Rome from the Vatican is given a rational, if per­ dwindles into a display of what other artists
be disinterred from the National Gallery's haps somewhat forced, explanation, and the of the time thought of Watteau and the
cellars early in this century, must now be allegorica,I significance of Ulysses deriding Poly­ likely sources of Turner's discussion of the
entirely recast. phemus is laid bare. Fascinating information is relevant theory in his lectures. Even the
As the first book to approach Turner on this given about Turner's second gallery and his pages on the pair of pictures illustrating
new level of scholarship Colour in Turner suffers preference for framing his watercolours in Goethe's Theory are more devoted to the
from certain disadvantages. However much gold mounts, though disappointingly little significance of their imagery than to their
Dr Gage may have wished to restrict his range about his frames: the letter by Lawrence colour as such.

@) Pall Mal_l The Hand and Eye Sculptor, Craftsman, and
Ernst Barlach
of the Sculptor
books on art and photographs interviews with ten of the Playwright
Paul Waldo Schwartz records in words
Carl Dietrich Carls examines the work of
most important living sculptors: Henry one of the outstanding German sculptors of the
New York Painting and Moore, Reg Butler, Marino Marini, Giacomo expressionist movement. Includes Barlach's
Sculpture 1940-70 Manzu, Jean lpousteguy, Cesar, Edouardo drawings and woodcuts, as well as his prose
and dramatic works. 216 pp., c. 178 ii/us.
Henry Geldzahler The-permanent record Chillida, Jean Tinguely, Euglme Dodeigne 1970 £5 5s
and Roel d'Haese. 256 pp., 300 ii/us.
of the vast exhibition of American art at The November £4 4s
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Shows how
American art of the 'New York School'
established its dominance in the world of Wilhelm Lehmbruck
art. 333 ii/us. (48 in colour) 1970 £3 10s Augut Hoff's standard work has now
The New Painting been translated into English for the first
time. Deals with Lehmbruck's portrait busts,
Udo Kultermann, professor of history and Jacques Lipchitz etchings, lithographs and paintings, as well
theory of modern architecture at Washington Sketches in Bronze as with his fullsize sculptures. 168 pp.,
University, St Louis, brings new clarity and H. H. Amason This compendium of the c. 126 ii/us. ( 4 in colour) 1970 £4 15s
understanding to the vital art that has maquettes made over a period of more than
emerged from a decade of aesthetic fifty years by Jacques Lipchitz, are land­
upheaval. 72 pp. text, 500 ii/us. (32 in marks in twentieth-century sculpture. For latest catalogue please write to the
·
colour) November £7 c. 192 pp., 200 ii/us. 1970 £7 publishers, 5 Cromwell Place, London SW7

185