Page 27 - Studio International - May 1970

tones with cold. This dualism of colour is also red and yellow, or rather by opposing these m
the basis for representing mass in painting. colours, that is by contrasting two warm These four principles—form revealed by
For instance, Raphael and Cezanne express colours, which on the strength of their own colour, gradation of purity of tone, planned
light with warm and shadow with cold tones. intensity reveal the forms; but it also means proportions in painting, emotional perspect-
Space in a picture is constructed on the same that parts of the form of the body and the ive—are not, of course, a recipe for good
principle, horizontal planes being expressed landscape merge into a uniform patch, in painting. They are not binding even for me.
with warm tones and vertical with cold. other words, into a single form. Put differently, In the course of the next few years, I may
For many years I had been worried by the parts of the shapes of Adam and Eve remain modify or even change them. But their
fact that, although aware of this principle and unrevealed and do not exist in the picture. significance remains and will continue to re-
understanding its primary importance in 2. The second fundamental element in the main. They constitute the elements and basis
painting, I did not feel this contrast when look- construction of a picture is the gradation of of a discipline in painting. In painting, as in
ing at nature. Only with the passing of years the intensity or strength of the colours. In any other field of human activity, rules and
and particularly during my stay in Brittany Baroque painting, for example, the axis of an awareness of direction are indispensable if
did I realise that this principle is contrary to plastic expression was the gradation from the artist is to achieve his aims; but as soon as
my own way of seeing — although it is un- light to almost black colours. Tintoretto and the elements of painterly awareness start to
doubtedly fully justified in the case of those Rembrandt were long considered the greatest get in his way, the wise worker will put aside
artists who in their painting try to express the masters of this process. the useless tool and reach out for another.
solidity of the human body and material Building a picture on the basis of contrasting At the moment of writing, I am convinced
objects, as well as the depth and configuration tones and not values, I gradate tone by its that the principles set out here are important,
of the landscape. purity, not by its brightness or darkness, and perhaps not for my painting alone. How-
In my visual experience, people, trees, houses moving from the least expressive colours—that ever this may be, my own art owes much to
and animals—or parts of them—in the light or is greyish wade by blending two or more these discoveries, gleaned painfully from the
against the light, appear in colours which colours—to those possessing pure resonance. fruits of my own work. On occasions when
sometimes reveal concrete shapes through Pure tone is, as it were, the melody of the my creative energy has weakened, or I have
contrast with other colours. Sometimes, how- picture; it reveals the pathos of impression. exulted in painting for its own sake, they have
ever, where there is no contrast of colours, no Thus I build the whole picture out of near protected me, and still protect me, from leav-
concrete shapes appear. Seen in this way, the grey tones in preparation for the final cry, the ing my own path and straying along byways
picture as a whole, that is nature translated final rapture of colour. that are accidental and inessential to my
into painting, becomes the translation of the 3. These tones or patches of the same colour experience. In other words, they protect me
tangible and concrete mass—in other words react in various ways. Sometimes they produce from painting pictures which, though 'success-
physical nature—into coloured forms, into an effect of total opposition, depending on the ful' or 'beautiful,' contribute nothing to the
those forms and only those forms which the size of the patch in relation to the size of furtherance of my own vision and my ability
contrast of colour reveals. other patches of colour in the picture. In to depict reality as I see it.
Dualism of colour (warm and cold colours) is order to render in a painting the sensation of If, when looking at my canvases, people see
thus replaced by a colour monism. Leaving colour aroused by nature, we must find the nature represented in a way that differs from
the realm where warm and cold colours are right proportion of this patch in relation to reality—from their reality—the reason must be
contrasted with each other, we enter that the whole; but we must not be guided by the sought in this: I see, feel and represent nature
where the unity of colour and solidity of form actual dimensions in nature. as a phenomenon of colour and of colour
are expressed in relation to other colours and The construction of the patches of colour in a alone. Year by year, month by month, day by
forms through the degree of contrast revealed picture and their proportion to the whole, day, I try to rid my vision of every vestige of
by opposing tones. determines the colour of the painting, in the the influence and suggestions of others that
The application of these principles in practice same way that formal proportions are decisive may still intrude between my eyes and
gives rise to painting of a quite specific charac- in architecture. To a large extent so-called nature. Day by day, therefore, my art will
ter. As an example, let us take a picture `design' in a painting is reducible to the inevitably appear more and more 'unnatural',
representing Adam and Eve against the back- proportion which the patches of colour bear while at the same time it becomes purer and
ground of a landscape. The part of the nude to the whole. truer.
girl's body which is in shadow and that part 4. Perspective in drawing and painting, that For the world, seen as a phenomenon of
of the body of the man standing next to her is the representation of space by the aid of colour, exists independently of the reality of
which is in the light are the same colour—warm line and colour, must break away from the objects and physical existence. It is a world
yellow. On the other hand, that part of the mathematical perspective to which, five that is true yet unproved by the sense of
girl's body which is in the light and that part of centuries ago, Leonardo da Vinci devoted so touch, like the existence of the human soul.
the man which is in shadow are both reddish- much energy. To make the lines of a road (in This sensation and vision of the world is, or
pink. What is more, the background against nature parallel) converge, or to make windows can be, just as unerring, absolute and omni-
which the two figures stand—a yellow field—is and houses (in nature rectangular) rhomboid, present as is the feeling of the existence of
almost identical in colour with the yellow of is, in my conviction, contrary to our natural God and of the divine omnipresence to the
the bodies. The picture is thus constructed in feeling. believer. q

GILBERT AND GEORGE, one-time fellow students at MARK HAWORTH-BOOTH is assistant keeper, Rutherston IAN DUNLOP, formerly art critic of the Evening Standard,
St Martin's School of Art, have been offering 'Art for Collection, at the City of Manchester Art Galleries. works in a London publishing house.
All' for two years. They recently presented works in
Düsseldorf, Amsterdam and Berlin, and were repre- PETER FULLER is the editor of Synthesis. RONALD ALLEY is keeper of the modern collection at the
sented in the exhibition, 18 Paris IV 70 (see Studio Tate Gallery and is currently preparing a revised
International, April 1970). Gilbert and George were DR JOHN GOLDING, author of a standard work on Cubism, edition of the Tate's foreign catalogue.
responsible for the presentation of pages 218-221. is a lecturer at the Courtauld Institute of Art and is
arranging an exhibition of Léger and the Purists. CHRISTIANE DUPARC is art critic of the French weekly
JOHN RUSSELL is art critic for the Sunday Times. He Nouvel Observateur and administrator for Robho.
recently published a book on Max Ernst, and was co-
author, with Suzi Gablik, of 'Pop Art Re-defined'.