Page 15 - Studio International - January 1973

Feedback Motherwell, Noland, Olitski and Poons. For The publication Lidlraum is a record of
each artist an excellent large colour plate of one Jörg Immendorff's week's work at Lidlraum in
work is accompanied by a biography, a list of Blucher/Ecke Parstr., Düsseldorf; way back in
exhibitions and selected references. Kenworth 1968. His activity was broadly concerned with
Moffett in his short introduction suggests that the planning of Lidlstadt on the floor of
`the works in this exhibition testify to the vitality Lidlraum; like a child playing at trains or
of today's abstract painting'. villages, streets were chalked on the floor-tiles
and the inhabitants of Lidlstadt, cagebirds,
Paintings on canvas are not conspicuous in terrapins and fish were housed at appropriate
Douze ans d'art contemporain en France, the places. A blackboard was used to produce a
Items for review should be sent to Clive Phillpot, catalogue of the exhibition at the Grand Palais diagram of the state of the work, and this was
Studio International, 37 Museum Street, in Paris during the summer of 1972, but perhaps revised several times a day. The booklet is
London WCI. the balance of the show is a fair reflection of the largely composed of photographs of the work
French scene. The title has been carefully and of the blackboard at successive moments
A miscellany of exhibition catalogues and chosen, for a minority of the 7o artists are throughout the week. Since the exhibition was
booklets. French born; in fact those artists included are a obviously conceived of as evolving over a, period
The Third British International Print very mixed bunch as regards their work, as well of time probably only a handful of people were
Biennale catalogue published in 1972 by as their origins; practically every possible able to witness its entire development, hence the
Bradford City Art Gallery, price £1.00, is far tendency is represented, even cartoonists, who importance of this record : the photographic
more comprehensive than the two which seem to enjoy an inflated status in France. This documentation will be the only residue, other
preceded it. There are between 40o and 500 paperback catalogue, published by la Réunion than that left in the minds of those who saw all
artists represented, mostly by a single des Musées Nationaux, is a handsome production or part of the happenings, which can be shared
illustration, and although these are sometimes and surprisingly cheap (c. £2.70), since it is more widely.
rather small they are well printed; 16 of the nearly 40o pages long and measures 32x 23 cm.
prizewinning entries are illustrated in colour. It is in French throughout, the preface is by Without the photographs provided by Maria
The Biennale is truly international with some Francois Mathey, the postface by Gaëtan Picon, Reiche and the Peruvian Air Force the
forty countries represented; just over a quarter and there is also a three-column chronology significance of the discoveries of Dr Paul Kosok
of the artists are from Great Britain. The dealing with 'France', 'Etranger' and 'Politique' would have been less easy to appreciate, and
catalogue is in three main parts, the from 1943-1972. Another section contains an they too would have been denied a wide
prizewinners, the large open section, and the anthology of art criticism from the French press, audience. Maria Reiche has provided a trilingual
invited artists, about 6o of them, including chosen to evoke the atmosphere and diversity of (German, English, Spanish) guide in the
some of the highest stature. After the mass of `La vie artistique parisienne' in the year 1960. booklet Nazca-Peru, Mystery on the Desert, 1968
illustrations there is a short essay by Charles There are four more essays on different aspects (published by Maria Reiche, Nazca Peru SA,
Spencer entitled 'On Printmaking', and a of French art and a section devoted to 'Les films Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Lutzweg 9 at £1 .25), the
`Glossary of Printmaking Terms' by d'artistes'; in this respect Ben, Boltanski, Foldès subject of which is the aggregation of giant
Pat Gilmour. and Lapoujade are the most prolific, but Filliou ground drawings, often hundreds of feet long, in
and Raysse have also made a number of films. a desert in the region of the tributaries of the
The catalogue II Bienal de Arte Coltejer, These various sections occupy the first quarter Rio Grande in southern Peru. Parallels between
Medellin, Colombia, was published in 1971, the of the catalogue, the rest is devoted to the these drawings and the work of Oppenheim and
year after the actual Bienal. Over 15o artists are artists who have three or four pages each, these others need not be laboured. There are just
represented, four-fifths of whom were born or carry illustrations, a biography which includes under too pages of text, aerial photographs,
are resident in South America, thus the exhibitions, a bibliography, a piece by a critic or colour photographs from just above ground
publication is particularly valuable for its an artist's statement plus a list of exhibited level, maps, some scale drawings and a
coverage of modern South American art. Among works. bibliography in this pocket sized book.
the artists represented are Bornstein, Cruz Diez, The catalogue of the exhibition Grids
D'Arcangelo, Kepes, Le Parc, Motherwell, mounted by the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Those who get as much pleasure from a crisp,
Marca-Relli, Soto, Tomasello and Town. Every University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in newly minted paperback as an antique leather
artist's work is illustrated — the prizewinners and 1972 costs $5.00. The design is very satisfying, binding should enjoy Passage by Telfer Stokes
a few others in colour. Texts and statements by the cover is embossed, and there are 22 black published by Weproductions in 1972 at £0.50,
artists and critics are in Spanish throughout. and white illustrations. There is a note inside to for it is a fine piece of book production. The
Terminos del Arte Contemporaneo was published the effect that publication of the Grids book is made up of photographs paired, or in
for the III Bienal in 1972. It is a 48-page glossary catalogue was only possible thanks to a grant sequence, and which exploit the book format:
of 15o art terms, in Spanish, from Art Nouveau from a Corporation. If a modest catalogue such one can almost hear the tackiness of the parting
and Impresionismo, through Abstraccionismo, as this can only be produced with such help, jammy surfaces as one opens up a sandwich by
Dripping (Pollock), Tremendismo (Bacon,. museums in the US must indeed be going turning a page. In a peculiar way one's intimate
Cremonini, Jardiel), and Arte Otro (a la Tapié) through a lean time. The inevitable linearity of involvement in the book and its self-contained
to Arte Como Idea (Baxter) and Borde Duro Lucy Lippard's essay is more grid-like on the quality suggest more than the photographic
(Albers, Bill, Liberman). page, enmeshing short statements by ten of the documentation of events; in the rise and fall of a
twenty-seven exhibiting artists; her linking wall, for example, one is involved in a narrative
The Boston Museum of Fine Arts published passages are predominantly informative but which one recreates as one proceeds, much as
a 36-page, large, square-format catalogue, display some passing insights into the use of one would in a prose account, save that the
Abstract Painting in the 70's, a selection, to grids. The whole topic was taken further by images are not only given, but specific; this
accompany their 1972 exhibition. Twelve John Elderfield in an essay in the May 1972 process is also analogous to watching a movie
painters were each represented by three or four issue of Artforum, which in spite of its conclusion but with the difference that the recipient is in
recent paintings; they are: Bannard, Bush provided sufficient justification for the very complete control of the rate and order of intake
Christensen, Diebenkorn, Dzubas, difficult task of trying to mount a meaningful of information. q
Frankenthaler, Goodnough, Gottlieb, thematic exhibition of art-now. CLIVE PHILLPOT
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