Page 53 - Studio Internationa - March 1971

study of the status of the sketch in the almost anything and were deliberately too
academic canon, which he carries back into commonplace to express the personality of any
recipes of light, dark and half-tone based on the individual. They suggested that everyone
study of the antique, as well as forward to Manet should go and discover his own soup tins—
and Monet, in whose hands the whole question whatever appealed to him, whether cheap or
of finish and its idealist implications is dissolved expensive, unique or ordinary, new or old.
into direct sensation. But, for example, I didn't The connection between this attitude and the
know until I read this book that Couture had popularity of such institutions as Portobello
recommended his pupils to 'think of nothing' Road, King's Road and Carnaby Street is
when they painted; nor that he had obvious.' The same confusion also leads to the
recommended the locomotive as a subject ten delightful statement that `... in America most
years before Monet's Gare St Lazare. q of the great painters of the forties and fifties
ANDREW FORGE admitted to enjoying Hollywood movies more
than "serious" ones'. This is hardly helpful,
even—or perhaps particularly—to the general
Pop and pop
reader who, I suspect, would find a more
Pop Art by Michael Compton. 189 pp with 150 consistent critical approach, concentrated
monochrome and 5o colour illustrations. entirely on the art, a good bit more illuminating.
Movements in Modern Art. Hamlyn. £1.75. Consistency of approach and interpretation
Paolozzi by Diane Kirkpatrick. 143 pp, 87 are fully evident in Diane Kirkpatrick's book,
illustrations in colour and monochrome. Studio Eduardo Paolozzi. It is a complete and finished
Vista. 44.50. package, with criticism and biographical
Anatomy of Pop edited by Tony Cash. 131 pp, material neatly linked throughout, together
illustrated in monochrome. BBC publication. with a final section of appendices taken from
70p. Paolozzi's own writings, a chronology at the
beginning and a bibliography and index at the
Michael Compton's book provides a swift end. The quality of the illustrations is high.
historical survey of Pop art, and contains ideas The author's picture of Paolozzi suggests a
and information of value to the reader who has man concerned to adapt a certain rather
seen some of the painting and wants to know traditional concern of the artist—the
more about it. He would find Pop divided into transformation of reality in very personal
British, American and European styles, with terms —to the assimilation of a very wide range
critical surveys of each and short biographies of material from the mass media, technology
and criticism of major artists in each area. There and philosophy. Paolozzi emerges as an artist
are also chapters on origins, subject-matter and who gets on with it, steadily widening the
the formal qualities of Pop, as well as a collection range of his techniques and subject-matter,
of relevant documents by artists and critics. confident of the value of a personal vision.
There are no surprises in the choice of artists `Perhaps the central unifying concept which has
or illustrations, and I suppose this means that underlaid his work from his student days to the
they are a representative collection. The present is the desire to express the quality of
critical ideas are also representative, and there is mystery, of magic, which he finds at present in
no evaluative analysis of the art at all. The book the ordinary objects and events of the world—
is essentially an introductory survey and as such what he has called "the sublime of everyday
it is useful (though the author seems more at life". More recently this has been joined by the
home in England than in America), and with one desire to express something of "the
major exception, lucid—if a bit late on the scene. schizophrenic quality of present western urban
There is, however, an inevitable confusion life".' This is from the author's first paragraph;
in treating the movement as a whole, including near the conclusion she repeats the idea:
social as well as artistic change. By doing this `These designs allow him to present the vast
the author is forced into a general style of aggregations of everyday items which create the
criticism so that, for instance, concerns of magical, evocative meanings of his works.'
purely British artists, or ideas from the wider Miss Kirkpatrick also sees Paolozzi as
sociological field, are loosely applied where they concerned to `... link the inner dream world of
are not really appropriate. Mr Compton is man's subconscious with his conscious mental
perfectly aware in his specific criticisms that life'. In this way, in the mind of the spectator,
`... the issues of popularity and social `... the brain freely uses the visual material to
significance—even the subject-matter itself— trigger memory responses and mental analogies
were not at first of primary importance to any from its own resources'. Paolozzi is creating
of them.... While they worked they were `... mysterious and potent emblems of the
completely involved in formal and pictorial modern age'. The author describes most
considerations'. But the idea of Pop as a source lucidly the increasing inclusiveness of
of confusion still makes itself felt in much of the Paolozzi's work, its ability to take in more and
writing. It lies behind the peculiar transition more material and to express more complex
of ideas in this quotation for instance : 'The ideas in doing so. Perhaps the only gap in the
soup tins signed and sold by Warhol were book is some really precise analysis of the later,
bought because they became fashionable; but more complex works in terms of their specific
the point was that the soup tins stood for imagery; something which the author has done
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