Page 91 - Studio International - July August 1970

and highly unverified. Schwarz makes no Faith or good works ? is not enough. In the end it looks like a
attempt to trace in depth the technical nature Op Art by Cyril Barrett. 192 pp. 20 colour reluctance to commit oneself to anything.
of Duchamp's activity. The important trans- plates, 45 half-tone illustrations and 54 line- Fr Barrett gives us an historical introduction,
itional period, which began in 1911, is in- block illustrations. Studio Vista. 84s. from Turner and Impressionism onwards, a
sufficiently researched. No new facts are useful section on the main optical effects and
brought to light and Schwarz relies heavily on The key issue of Father Barrett's book con- their exploitation by artists, and then a rather
common knowledge. Whenever a fact is fronts us even before we have opened it. Printed short section on the main propagators of Op
acknowledged he goes off on a tangent and on its see-through jacket is a pattern of black in Britain and America and on the Continent.
attempts to 'interpret' it. There is an exces- lines. The same pattern is repeated on the There are quite a number of not very signific-
sive use of psychoanalytical cliché. Duchamp's cover of the book. As we handle the thing, ant mistakes (the oddest of which is the notion
own comments, which are quoted extensively small movements between jacket and book that, a propos some Balla decorations, the word
in the text, are often dismissed, patro- produce quite powerful moiré effects. Nobody `casa' is the recipient's Christian name).
nizingly, particularly when they contradict is credited with the design or invention. Is it Some mistakes or mis-steerings are more
the author's theories. Schwarz falls down on a work of art ? worrying. For instance, Fr Barrett talks of the
several counts. In 1923, Duchamp 'retired' It's not a question we can evade when what optical flicker in a Mondrian painting of 1917,
and, notwithstanding his avowed indifference, you and I may accept as an art form, but one of the 'plus and minus' pictures, and gives
became an assiduous conservator of his own many others have challenged, derives as us a hard black on hard white line-block
works. The inherent implications of this directly as Op has done from scientific dia- illustration of it. Has he ever seen the original ?
should have been discussed. The author's grams and demonstrations. Fr Barrett, He says that in Britain 'the earliest Op paint-
estimation of Duchamp's achievement is lecturer in aesthetics and philosophy, knows ings seem to have been done by Steele in
negligible. There is no real comparative this. He is quite generous with quotations 1950'. If it matters, could we have more
evaluation. He treats Duchamp in isolation, from critics (mostly American) and also from information and more evidence?
consults the witchdoctors Jung and Freud, artists that relegate Op to the category of A friend tells me I should at this point declare
and milks the diagnosis throughout the entire mindless trickery. But he fails to provide an the fact that I was educated by Benedictines
monograph. A lot of stuff has been written answer. He asserts that Op artists do not use and thus am not likely to be objective about
about Duchamp over the past fifty years or so, the devices they do use for their own sake a book by a Jesuit. I declare it, though it all
both for and against. Schwarz cites only the (whatever that would mean), that Op images seems a long time ago and another world. My
fans. The book should have been more critical, produce psychological reactions of a partic- point about books about art that are really
more of a polemic. Duchamp is overrated, ular sort (the same reactions in everybody, books about selected words about art seems
anyway. Schwarz is too reverent, too ecstatic, some would say, thus making Op the most more relevant. Perhaps, so help me, it's all
and at times delirious. Duchamp doesn't democratic medium ever), and that therefore the same thing. q
deserve this kind of adulation. No one does. Op artists, however much or little they con- NORBERT LYNTON
In many ways, the text is a disservice to the sciously direct their choices, are in the
artist. The definitive book has yet to be writ- communication business like every other artist.
ten. Apparently, this one was endorsed and It happens I agree with this as a general Contributors
finally approved by Duchamp. He must have theory but it doesn't satisfy me and wouldn't Andrew Forge, painter and writer, is Head
been pulling Schwarz's leg. Or perhaps he even amuse a non-believer. Do we have to of the Department of Painting at Gold-
envisioned it as a posthumous joke. q assert, for Op's sake, that diagrams and smith's College, London.... Paul Oliver is
demonstrations cannot ever produce compar- Head of the Department of Arts and History
Don Judd remarked somewhere that Ameri- able reactions? Better not. Do we then have at the Architectural Association School of
cans have for a century or so pretended to to talk of intention? The artist's, the specta- Architecture. ... John Elderfield read fine
values and art which they did not have and tor's ? How shall we know what the intention art at Leeds University and is a painter, art
ignored those which they did have. In her was/is ? historian and lecturer at Winchester School
preface to American Painting of the Nineteenth Take the case of Albers. Fr Barrett honours of Art....Norbert Lynton, formerly Head
Century Barbara Novak discusses the two main him as one of the creators of Op through of the Fine Art History Department at the
purposes of the book. Primarily, it is an example and teaching. No one would want Chelsea School of Art, is now Director of
attempt to isolate characteristics of American to exclude his black-and-white line structures Exhibitions for the Arts Council of Great
art that seem to be specifically indigenous. from the Op canon. But what about the Britain.... George Melly, television critic
What makes these qualities indigenous 'is Homage to the Square paintings ? Albers hasn't for The Observer, is the author of a new
not their uniqueness to America but rather said and Fr Barrett hasn't asked. After stress- book on pop culture entitled Revolt into
the frequency or constancy of their occurrence ing the control and subtlety of Albers's colour Styles which will be published by Penguin
within continuing American traditions. Cer- modulation he drops the matter with, 'If this Books in the autumn.... Timothy Hilton
tain concerns, qualities of form, and modes of is Op, then it is Op at its gentlest'. studied at the Courtauld ' Institute and is
procedure seem to occur again and again, That 'if' is pretty unnerving in a book intended writing a book on Ruskin.... Frank Whit-
though time and circumstances may have to be definitive. Significantly, it surfaces at a ford is a contributing editor to Studio
changed'. The second purpose of the book is moment, one of the very few moments, when International.... Bernard Denvir, principal
didactic, and is an attempt to provide an Fr Barrett is considering actual Op produc- lecturer in art history at Ravensbourne
intermediary literature, between survey and tions. I'll admit here to a dislike of books College of Art and Design, is London corres-
monograph, of intensive essays on key figures about art, especially about particular areas of pondent for Art International.... Christopher
of the period. Miss Novak situates her thesis art, that stay too long on the level of broad Fox is studying at the Slade School of Art....
between the eighteenth century and the theory and adduce as evidence not works but Jonathan Benthall is currently acting as
present, and is thus able to discuss the subject statements. Any book on Op is likely to em- adviser to the Institute of Contemporary Arts
within a reciprocal tradition. body quotations from Vasarely, Soto, Riley, for an exhibition of Dr Hans Jenny's work on
Much of the available literature on this sub- Seitz, Ehrenzweig, etc. But manipulating a vibration and periodicity....Anthony Fros-
ject in this country is mediocre. This book plethora of statements from these and others, haug is a freelance photographer and printer.
is first-rate. q usually without giving their date or occasion, ...Ronald Rees lectures at Birmingham
RONNIE REES sometimes even without naming the author, College of Art and Lanchester Polytechnic.
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