Page 17 - Studio International - January 1971

News and notes Mrs Lilian Somerville's retirement from the Leger's city

British Council after a distinguished career as head
of the Fine Art Department was briefly noted in the
December 1970 issue of Studio International. The tri­ and Atget's
The Tate Gallery Report for 1968-70 contains butes below are from four artists of differing genera­
details of plans for the extension into the fourth tions, representative of British artists who were
quarter of the present site and for the reorganiza­ associated with Mrs Somerville in the course of her
tion of the present layout. Building is due to start official career.
this year. It is hoped that the adjacent RAMC
hospital site, which will cater for the Tate's long­ The retirement of Lilian Somerville as Director of
term needs for space, will become vacant in 1975. the Fine Art Department of the British Council
The report pays tribute to Miss Jennie Lee 'for her marks the end of a phase in the history of modern
services to the arts in this country during her term British art. After the death of Constable and Turner
of office as the Minister responsible', and to the it was said that 'the light went out of British paint­
numerous private benefactors and lenders upon ing'. The bold attempt at reform by the Pre­
whom the Tate is obliged to depend. The report Raphaelite movement turned out to be too pro­
contains an account of the important gift during vincial and too unrealistic to meet the crisis in full.
the period in question of the suite of paintings by Only through a re-integration with the avant garde
Mark Rothko, now very successfully installed in a on the Continent was any recovery really possible. 'Leger and Purist Paris', the admirably
specially designed area. Important acquisitions to So it was that the New English Art Club (French planned exhibition which can be seen at the
the Modern collections include Picasso's Still Life Impressionism), the Camden Town Group (Post­ Tate till January 22, shows Leger to be an
of 1914, the only example of his early cubist con­ Impressionism), the Vorticists (Cubism), the artist of impressive integrity and strength, and
structions outside the artist's possession. Once again Bloomsbury Group (Fauvism), Circle (Abstract traces with loving scholarly care the symbiotic
the report stresses the inadequacy of its annual Art) and Unit One (Surrealism) established the
Grant-in-Aid in the face of steeply rising prices for foundations of a new British School. exchanges of influence between artists in his
works of the early twentieth century. Since the However, by putting a stop to this dialogue with milieu from 1918 to 1928. The whole seems to
report went to press the Tate has announced the the Continent the Nazi war brought about a period support a remark thrown out by Thomas S.
gift by Mr Alistair McAlpine of his major collec­ of reaction which was in danger of precipitating Kuhn: 'I suspect. .. that some of the notorious
tion of contemporary British Sculpture. The collec­ British art into the groove of a new provincialism. difficulties surrounding the notion of style in
tion, which comprises 59 works by Annesley, Bolus, After the war, therefore, the problem was to reopen
King, Scott, Tucker, Turnbull and Witkin, will be contacts both with the European and the American the arts may vanish if paintings can be seen to
shown in its entirety in July and August this year. avant garde and, if possible, make further exten­ be modelled on one another rather than pro­
Until more space is available at the Tate Gallery sions. To achieve this meant close involvement with duced in conformity to some abstracted
the collection will be housed in a hall belonging to the central modern problem both by the artist and canons of style' .1
the Camden Council at 16 Chenies Street, WCI, by his sponsors. Michael Podro recently argued 2 that the
where it is hoped that a changing selection of works It is to the credit of Mrs Somerville at the British
may be shown. Council that she appreciated this situation from the standard theory of Analytical Cubism-that it
Do not bend is the name of a new independent moment she was appointed as Director of Fine Art. circumvents some limitation of ordinary per­
gallery dealing in photographs and fine art, run by By adopting the radical policy of promoting whole­ ception of objects-was based on a philo­
Clody Hall-Dare. The aim is 'to show the work of heartedly the works and experiments of the post­ sophical confusion: Cubism in practice had
modern international photographers, young pain­ war avant garde Mrs Somerville played a leading much more to do with the suggestion of
ters and sculptors of the highest quality'. Address: part in making it possible for British art to regain
112 Princedale Road, London W l l 4NH. some of the confidence and international reputa­ incompatible readings of the canvas. Admit­
The Illuminated Engineering Society has re­ tion it had not held since the days of Turner. tedly, many other aesthetic theories in other
cently prqduced a comprehensive report on the Victor Pasmore periods have been based on poor reasoning.
lighting of art galleries and museums (IES Tech­ However, it is a pity that John Golding and
nical Report No. 14). It has been prepared by a Lilian Somerville became Director of Fine Art at Christopher Green did not use the oppor­
panel of art gallery and museum authorities, archi­ the British Council at a crucial time after the war
tects and lighting engineers. Price £2; available when it was imperative that someone with absolute tunity, in their otherwise exemplary catalogue
from IES, York House, Westminster Bridge Road, confidence and assurance in British painting and
London, SE l . sculpture should tell the world what there were in F emard Leger
The Salvador Dali retrospective exhibition at Britain's painters and sculptors of great importance. The Mechanic 1920
the Boymans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, It was not only fortunate for British artists that oil on canvas
45½ x35
is open until January 10. The exhibition .includes Lilian Somerville had the necessary confidence and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
88 paintings from all periods, 70 goua,ches, water­ character, but she also possessed a remarkable gift
colours and drawings, sculptures and prints, and for knowing how best to present exhibitions to an
36 pieces of jewellery from the Owen Cheatham international audience. Her personal ambition to
Foundation, New York. establish British art abroad is immense.
Corrections. In Patrick Heron's article 'Two William Scott
Cultures' (December 1970 issue) a reference to
Donald Judd's critical writings should have read Lilian Somerville has had an absolute faith in art
' ... in the sixties ... ' and not 'fifties'. Also, two lines made in Great Britain and through that faith was
were inadvertently omitted from the final para­ able to commit herself to all artists who represented
graph. The sentences in question should have read: the country abroad. Her faith and her commitment
'Yet "minimal" has unfortunately become a label were seen and appreciated by people from other
for an idiom such as Judd's, which hands us a countries.
physical form, such as a box, which has been in Bernard Cohen
circulation for fifty thousand years. In other words,
it isn't new'. The installation shot of works by I shall always be grateful to Lilian Somerville for
Justin Knowles (same issue, p. 244) should have her courage and guidance during the troubled
been dated May 1969 and have indicated that the Venice Biennale of 1968. Unbowed amidst con­
works were of 1967--8. Under 'Contributors' the servatives and 'maoists', she kept a clear sense of
note on Mr Heron should have read: 'Patrick values and made the most positive and practical
Heron's most recent exhibitions (during the suggestions. Venice '68 was but one of the episodes
autumn) have been of screenprints and gouaches as in her career which have made the British Council
Waddington Fine Arts, Montreal; Mazelow Gal­ the envy of artists abroad.
lery, Toronto; Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney; and Phillip King
Crossley Gallery, Melbourne.' Leslie Waddington
Prints Ltd have also recently helq an exhibition of
his prints.
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