Page 62 - Studio International - June 1971

unique'1 or not. This uniqueness, no longer alone, without the thought, 'My God, this is the Extending the
indigenous with media itself (i.e. painting and only one, and I have it !', distracting him from print market
certain forms of sculpture), should ideally be clearly understanding and judging the artist's
determined by the implication of content alone, statement. And the artist, in turn, will be more It has been obvious for years that the
rather than being an economic ploy necessitated acutely aware of his responsibility as a direct commercial system for the distribution and sale
by the sheer pragmatism of an artist's communicator and 'explicator' to many—as a of art is no longer relevant to the world in which
productive survival. Hopefully, art patronage true oracle. we live, or the kind of art most gifted artists
of the future will take these factors into account, As a benefactor of the traditional graphic arts wish to produce. Just as galleries for old masters
and artists will be supported through and the ancient art of sculpture, the unlimited, continue to thrive, so the Bond Street and
sponsorship of projects or time periods by which reproducible work of art will hopefully serve a Madison Avenue galleries will remain emporia
art is produced in high-yield multiples, and primary, functional role in man's mental world, for 20th-century masterpieces. The public
modest royalties from these large or open-ended along with the other humanities and sciences. q involved in such enterprises remains minute,
editions will sustain him, similar to the time- whilst the numbers who flock to major
honoured tradition of literary compensation. institutional exhibitions and art events constantly
1Donald H. Karshan, 'The Multiple is Unique: The
The screen has become the canvas for many. Lure of Print Collecting,' Winter Antique Show, increase. The art world represents 'two
Super-eight-millimetre, sixteen-millimetre and Catalogue, 1968 nations', the small coterie who visit and even
even thirty-five-millimetre film-making has 2 US Customs still admit a model and only up to ten buy from the commercial galleries, and those
fast emerged during the last several years as a casts, by a professional artist, as original art. who seek art experience for its own sake. An
'Although patented in 1798 by its inventor, Alois
major multiple medium for artists. Several now Senefelder, the process was not used by artists in any increasing number of artists are reluctant to
devote themselves solely to the utilization of significant manner until the early nineteenth century. co-operate with the commercial system, hence
4 Most of the lithographic posters that were executed
film and look upon television as an extraordinary in the 188os and '9os by artists ranging from Chéret their involvement with art forms which are
carrier of their art, as well as the cinémathèque to Toulouse-Lautrec were printed in very high virtually unsaleable, often without permanent
and general audience theatre. Problems of editions (the number of impressions often being in form or designed as temporary experiences.
distribution and public accessibility are probably the thousands) and in their commonness were Another group of artists have sought a viable role
described as the 'art of the streets'.
in the process of being revolutionized by the 5 In the 'Graphics 70' programme presented by in society through the concept of multiples, with
introduction of the low-cost cassette system. Donald Karshan in Art in America, an original offset its promise of 'art for all' and the exploitation of
Artists and their galleries (or a more apt term: lithograph was bound into each of the six 1970 issues our mass-produced, urbanized, technological
of the magazine. These lithographs, by Richard
their 'distributors') will offer, as they are now Anuszkiewicz, Alexander Calder, Peter Dechar, Paul civilization. Whilst an increasing number of
beginning to do, film cassettes for home Jenkins, Ray Parker and Robert Rauschenberg, were artists, both famous and young, have turned to
printed by a controlled offset process described in
projection and university and college use. An detail by Donald Karshan in the January—February multiples, and some galleries have played
art library of film multiples will in several years 1970 issue, and in editions ranging in size from pioneering roles in the development, there has
become as common a storage area of imagery as 5o,000 to 65,00o impressions. been a reluctance to face up to deeper
6In the cliché verre process of printmaking employed
the bookshelf or picture cluster on the wall. connotations. These imply the rejection of the
in the nineteenth century, primarily by the artists
Another medium of awesome 'informational' of the Barbizon school, photosensitive paper was present gallery system in order to achieve an
potential is direct fascimile transmission and printed by light transmitted through the areas on a artistic and social appeal to a wide popular
piece of glass not drawn upon by the artist—a process
reception in the home. Not pure 'software' as is audience. When Editions Alecto was founded in
similar to the printing of a photographic negative.
projected imagery, artists' statements will be 7 This technique, 'Light Graphics', utilizing the 1962 there were intimations of a search for a new
printed on paper or plastic sheets by the little collotype process to obtain printed images from social role, but inevitably its products could
images on transparent sheets (e.g. acetate) was
`black box' in the home. These fixed images can only be marketed within the existing set-up. The
developed by Triton Press, New York, in 1970, in
be retained for repeated study. News media and collaboration with the American painter, Paul Jenkins, emergence of Alecto International, which
instructional material will also be produced in and this writer. The artist executes directly on the hopes to be operational within months, is a
acetate sheets the separate images for each colour,
this manner, and through micro-electronic logical development of Alecto's original concept
similar to image separations on the traditional blocks,
computers for automatic language translation plates or stones. and a recognition of the urgent need for change
at central 'language depots' the multi-lingual 8 Because of the extreme hardness of the endgrain felt throughout the art world. Despite its
boxwood used, the wood-engraving process can yield
barrier will undoubtedly be surmounted within revolutionary nature, Alecto's purpose could
a very large edition, e.g. Winslow Homer's many
several years, making substantial cross-cultural wood engravings for Harper's Weekly in the latter not be simpler—to produce a large range of
communications an everyday practice rather half of the nineteenth century. prints and objects by leading and talented
9 A Currier and Ives lithograph—one of over a
than a periodical event. The prospect of the thousand impressions that sold for one dollar when international artists, priced between three and
artist actually 'publishing' his works right in the issued in the 1850s —is worth over one thousand dollars three thousand dollars, to be displayed and sold
home is not a flimsy science-fiction dream. It today. in special shops or departments of leading
is the capability of present technology and 10By way of describing the same process employed to international stores. The selection and stocking,
produce Wart, an original offset lithograph by Robert
awaits the administration of an enlightened Rauschenberg, executed for the November—December and the production, will be the responsibility of
society. 1970 issue of Art in America. All collage elements are Alecto, backed by the advice of an international
reproduced and the process described in detail in the
The insertion of more and more print, panel who will choose and discover the artists
accompanying article by Donald H. Karshan.
sculpture and 'conceptual' multiples into the "Multiples, Inc., a New York firm, can probably be and their works. The essence of the scheme is to
art market, with the consequent diminishing credited with popularizing the term 'multiple' in the create and make available forms of art for the
output of unique'1 works, will only make past United States, although it was coined in Europe in widest audience, without lowering standards and
the late 19505. The expression is still not in the
unique'1 works of art even more scarce. Rare as dictionary. without the exclusivity and sense of barrier
the best of them are, by widespread museum 12Probably the leading theoretician of this multiple inherent in the present gallery system. It is also
acquisitiveness, the waning balance will be, as concept (no less practitioner) as it applies to the broad hoped that museums will incorporate multiples
aspects of art, interior design, architecture, city
one catalogue writer termed it, 'excruciatingly planning and economics, is Victor Vasarely, whose shops, thus serving a large interested public.
rare'. With these reversed objects of the profuse and often impassioned writings on this subject One of the most interesting aspects of the plan is
prolonged period of the cult of the unique'1 have been periodically published for decades. the expansion of Alecto's London headquarters
Is Organized by John Coplans for the Pasadena Art
inevitably ensconced in the repositories of the Museum, and circulated to London, Paris and New into a fully-equipped creative centre. Expert
past, the mystique of the unique'1 may no longer York. technical staff will be available to encourage
be the experience of the contemporary art 14Donald H. Karshan, 'The Seventies: Post-Object visiting artists to investigate and experiment in
Art', Studio International, Vol. 18o, No. 925
collector. He will be able to examine content (September 1970), p. 69. fields or media new to them. q
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