Page 34 - Studio International - November 1972

UK commentary

FRIEDRICH VORDEMBERGE-GILDEWART AT ANNELY constructivist art. crescents, cones, pieces of frame which
JUDA, LONDON, 15 SEPTEMBER TO I I NOVEMBER It is also characteristic that transform the picture into a relief and
Vordemberge-Gildewart not only stayed emphasize its architectural character.
faithful to his chosen path, but followed it with He follows through the exploration of
When Vordemberge-Gildewart began work in admirable consequence, so that he could fairly horizontals and verticals with the introduction
Hanover in 1923, the vocabulary for a new say of himself that he never weakened, never of the diagonal, thus bringing a dynamic
language in art already existed. Kandinsky, the succumbed to any trend, never fell into any element into the picture. By use of the diagonal,
`STIJL' group (especially his friends Mondrian temptation or opportunism. This loyalty to his the slanting line, he adds a new dimension; the
and van Doesburg), the Russian Constructivists self and work might make one assume that he problem of balance takes on a new importance.
(with whom he had contact through restricted himself to a single formula which he And here begins the actual field of experiment
El Lissitzky, also living in Hanover) had already had evolved and that its exploration satisfied for Vordemberge-Gildewart. He soon
prepared the way. This meant that from him. But if one looks at his entire oeuvre — not recognized that the slightest change could
elementary laws of form, colour, line, plane, large, but covering 4o working years — one disturb the relationship of the pictorial
matter and space one could develop an notices that his work developed in an individual, elements, planes, wood, sticks, lines, etc.
autonomous plastic reality in which form and original and continuous way. Finding the unstable balance under
content were one. The picture did not Clearly it was not the elementary form which continuously new formal conditions was both
signify that which it was not. Vordemberge- interested him; rather the relationship evolved his problem and his talent. It has been said that
Gildewart was one of the pioneers of from various juxtapositions. These can provoke the confrontation of coarse and fine elements
this new reality. The remarkable but also release tensions. In the foreground (especially characteristic in his works of the
thing about him was that from the very looms the question: what happens when . . . ? 193os) functions in the same way as does a
beginning he spoke this new language and Each work, however, is a convincing answer to balancing pole for a tightrope walker. This
belonged to this new world without ever looking this constantly reformulated question. The touches on the gaiety and playfulness in his
back. He was one of the first (and stayed one of conditions for the juxtaposition of form and line compositions, and he has spoken himself of the
the few) who did not have to take the long route are also valid for the juxtaposition of form and choreographic principle in their creation. This
through abstraction to the non-objective. space. These are apparent in the foreground of is especially applicable in those works which
Already the earliest works show self-reliance in the early paintings. Added to the pictorial plane contain two similar triangles which
the use of the new vocabulary of geometric, are elementary, stereometric bodies, wood, overlap and float embracing in space.

(Left)
Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart
Composition no. (19 194o
Oil on canvas
43 1/4 x 57 in., 110 x 145 cm

(Opposite)
Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart
Construction with Wall Street 1924
Oil and paper on cardboard
x r31 in., 41 x 34 cm

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