Page 47 - Studio International - December 1973

Gabriela Mistral Building (UNTAD), indefinable touch of European on hand to hand, man to man.
where some 40 works are exhibited grandeur that enveloped so many Today, etching proliferates in
and another 300 are in storage ... the artists of his generation. He brought Britain like an overgrown adolescent.
representatives of the military junta with him a glimpse of that time when It is being extended in many and
decided to store them in the Museo de artists were not afraid of being not exciting directions, but much of it,
Bellas Artes in the Parque Forestral. only good, but superb, craftsmen, a technically, leaves a lot to be
Another 300 works are also on show time when artists called the tune, desired. Amongst the chaos are
in the Contemporary Art Museum in and when asked, could invariably pockets of knowledge and skill made
Quinta Normal, which is under the play it. possible by Merlyn Evans and one or
aegis of the Institute of Latin- Every etcher worth his salt is two of his contemporaries who have
American Art, a part of the Fine Art aware of the massive aquatints provided us with a valuable and
Faculty of the University. A third and mezzotints pulled from the huge personal lifeline to a considerable
group is in the dock-yard customs at copperplate presses in Merlyn's heritage.
the port of Valparaiso. Hampstead studio. He not only Norman Ackroyd
Some individuals associated with perpetuated the considerable
the military junta are craftily British tradition of etching, but with
negotiating a claim to the works, not these prints pushed it into new and
for cultural reasons, but to put an end sympathetic directions. California
to the feeling of solidarity of the He was, among other things, a
world's artists with the Chilean master craftsman and it is with this
people. This must be avoided at all revealed not only the logic of his craftsmanship, kept alive during report
costs, because I am sure that the development—congruent as it was decades of non-recognition and
artists who support Chilean with the evolution of his vision and exercised with a love and In October at Ace Gallery, Venice,
democracy will not stand for the his determined will to express the persistence of extraordinary Keith Sonnier exhibited a piece
intervention of a fascist military essential truths in which he believed tenacity, that I am most fascinated. entitled Quad-Scan 1 which was
régime in this matter. — but also his masterly graphic He, with one or two other artists, engineered by Kurt Munkacsi. This
Therefore, I am writing to you to techniques, Merlyn Evans's sudden kept the real values of etching alive was a sound piece comprised of
ask for your help in arranging the but not entirely unexpected death on and so provided a bedrock on which amplified long and short wave radio
recovery of the works with the object 31 October 1973 could have been we now can build. They have built receivers using 32 air tracks in the Los
of bringing about the realization of the called tragic. In his forty years of and set up in the etching studios at Angeles area. The transmissions
'Museum of Solidarity with the creative activity, during which he the Slade and Royal College a received were police communications
Chilean People' project, this time unfolded his severe talent — the bottomless pit of knowledge and from squad cars. Each one of the
outside Chile. Because the works hallmark of his style — only the war attitudes ungleanable from any four speakers was set approximately
came to Chile under conditions of and a sequence of serious illnesses book. The etching room at the Central in the centre of each wall of the
temporary importation, the donation interrupted the even flow of his School is in itself a living and very darkened gallery whose
has not been adequately formalized creativity. Death stepped in before he practical monument to Merlyn. dimensions are about 40 x 50 feet.
and the purpose for which the works was able to finish his series of etchings No other etching studio I have worked The voices were unintelligible unless
were gathered no longer exists. and aquatints for Baudelaire's Les in, in the USA or Britain has, one stood immediately in front of a
The Mexican government, through Fleurs du Mal (eleven of the fourteen however opulent, that indescribable speaker. When standing in the middle
the Museum of Modern Art, which have been accomplished) ; the design air of craftsmen past engraved into it. of the gallery, the sounds enveloped
directs our friend and colleague for his last monumental composition It is something money can't buy and is one as they continually changed
Fernando Gamboa and is a dependant of five brick reliefs for a new building utterly essential. their source from one wall to another,
of the National Institute of Fine Art in Wales was fortunately I knew Merlyn Evans only for the often one speaker overlapping
and Literature, is happy to receive accomplished some time before. last six years and most of my another.
these works, either for exhibition or Merlyn Evans was born in Cardiff in memories of him stem from an At Ace, Los Angeles, the newly
storage until we reach a definite 1910. He studied at the Glasgow etchers' class we taught together at opened gallery in the former Irving
solution. School of Art and The Royal College of the Central School in 1968/69. Blum Gallery space, Edward Ruscha
Meanwhile, I implore you to make Art in London, and then travelled a It was then that I became aware of his presented new paintings in various
the situation known to the most great deal. We find him in Paris encyclopaedic knowledge of etching materials (September 25 to October
important artists in your country, (where he met Giorgio de Chirico), matters. He managed to put it over 16). The 14 paintings consisted of
museums and other artistic channels, Berlin, in Italy and Denmark. He was with love and wit and authority. phrases painted in large chunky
so that with your backing, an a fascinating personality endowed I, for one, learned much. lettering in various food stains on
energetic campaign directed towards with an incorruptible artistic will, a A more recent memory is from canvas, satin or waterfall rayon.
the recovery of the works might be rare thirst for knowledge and a great earlier this year, personally and Sea of Desire was painted in hot
mounted. The artists donated them as moral integrity. He was interested in patiently showing a group of sauce on waterfall rayon, and
testimony of their sympathy with the literature, philosophy and music — a students round his retrospective An Invasion of Privacy was grass
Chilean public at the wonderful side of his complex personality which exhibition at the Victoria 8- Albert stain lettering on canvas. The
stage in the development of their after his marriage to the pianist Museum. Afterwards over a long paintings were a continuation of the
nation ; they were not given to a Marjorie Few flourished intensely. lunch round a table, with wine earlier work utilizing stains of many
country oppressed by sinister fascist Music accompanied his private and flowing, he was imparting kinds, as in the 1969 Book of Stains
forces, where there's no hope of their his artistic life. He was also often knowledge and answering questions which contains 75 different stains.
being given a space which would intensely involved in the dynamics of with enthusiasm, humour and above The pages of this book were also
emit feelings of spirituality and politics. Both experiences found all, precision. exhibited, laid out side by side under a
freedom. their way into his work : the musical So why do I call this article 'The line long piece of glass.
I beg you to send me a cable in theme, the political theme. For many from Muirhead Bone' ? Who was The long awaited Eva Hesse
agreement, so that, depending on years he was attracted by C. G. Jung's Muirhead Bone ? Well he was one retrospective exhibition, originating
your backing and that of your friends, depth psychology and his penetrating of the many British etchers of at the Guggenheim Museum, was on
we can begin to work. (Mario Pedroza) intellect grasped all the facets of the consummate skill who were working view at the Pasadena Museum of
Tony Rothon human psyche. His creative at the turn and beginning of the Modern Art from September 18 until
activities and his restlessly searching twentieth century. It was a period of November 11. Installed at Pasadena
mind were enriched by an exceptional lines singing across creamy papers by the Director, William Agee, this
of a huge variety of grounds, hard
show gave many West Coast
Merlyn sense of irony and humour. Had his grounds, soft grounds, spirit grounds, artists their first opportunity to see
apercus and witticisms ever been
collected they might well have inks, acids and papers all used with the work of the late Eva Hesse 'in the
flesh'. Working in New York in the
versatility and comprehensive
competed with those of an Oscar
Evans Wilde or a Bernard Shaw. knowledge by many different artists. late 1960s, in close contact with the
J. P. Hodin The slump in etching as a collectable minimalists LeWitt, Andre, Bochner
Had it not been for the retrospective art form in the 1920's until well after and Serra, Hesse developed her own
at the Whitechapel in 1956 and the Merlyn Evans, the distinguished the 2nd war, led to an almost intensely personal language,
display of his graphic work at the painter and etcher died in October, complete loss of all that peculiar producing sculpture made from such
Victoria and Albert in 1972 which 1973. To me he always had that expertise that can only be handed 'anti-art' materials as latex, rubber
243