Page 45 - Studio International - October1973

introduced by them, beginning with a and Germany, showing films, but also techniques he's used to create a this translation of a book first
complete review of the home grown taking the opportunity to see any new finished print. On the opposite wall published in Germany in 1970 is
product; (3) occasional special work, talk to film-makers and see how hang the prints the artists consider based on the catalogue of the Blue
exhibitions of installation, and cinema the interest in film and video in the art their finished work. Rider paintings owned by the
in the round, work prepared for the gallery situation was developing. Städtische Galerie, Munich ; the text
gallery situation. Highlights, ... long discussion with The artists included in the is written by a former director of the
In addition, the Tate should Kurt Kren, Birgit and Wilhelm Hein, a portfolio are well-known : Denny, gallery. A useful addition to the
consider the possibility of building up new film Violets are Blue by Jos Hockney, Paolozzi, Cohen, Rot, literature on the Blue Rider, with
a collection of film work giving it the Schoffelen, a couple of visits to Sander, Abrahams, etc. plenty of coloured illustrations; no
same status as painting and sculpture. Ursula Wever's Projection Gallery in Not every artist has brought bibliography is provided.
In the USA, the Museum of Modern Cologne, and a chance to look freshness to the show ; some are too
Art has a major collection of films, through some of the films she has by facile. And the honesty of the proofs Photographis 73 edited by Walter
many of which are classics of the Nauman, Ruscha, Serra and Sonnier. could be questioned since the artists Herdeg. 263pp, fully illustrated, many
commercial cinema. There is a good Broad conclusions ... in both Holland knew that they too were going on in colour. Zurich, Walter Herdeg, the
collection of the early avant-garde, and Germany there is little liaison view. Still, much of the show Graphis Press, 1973. £13.
and a small but growing collection between the film-maker/artist making demands attention and it's Herdeg's glossy annual features
of modern work. In Britain, because and showing in the context admirable in the insight it gives. examples of advertising and editorial
the B Fl deals with the collection of established through the underground Andrea Adam photography chosen from book
classics of the commercial cinema, movement — and the artist/film (or jackets, calendars, packaging,
and because there is no equivalent video) maker showing or selling record and magazine covers, and
to the Anthology Archive here, the through the art gallery set-up. There television photography. The short
Tate has a unique opportunity is a distinct difference in their aims ; introduction comments on the
to build a collection of avant-garde the former still seeks to encourage tremendous expansion of colour
cinema. popular involvement in film viewing photography and predicts the total
and making, rarely selling films, demise of black and white. Those of
Pat. No. 60179/72. relying on film rentals, the latter us who still struggle with a medium
From 30 October to 25 November economically rests on the notion of such as oil paint, by hand, can only
the Whitechapel Gallery, Gareth the 'exclusive' object or limited gawk at the sheer slickness,
Jones will be showing his Light edition selling to a wealthy few. In professionalism and polish of this
Drawings. These are the results of a spite of this the products come truly international applied art. Would
novel patented invention used in increasingly close, Sonier or Serra for that reality were one tenth as inviting
conjunction with a standard example are producing work which as these escapist images make out.
domestic TV set. The modifications can easily be related to the
are not electronic, but very simple 'structuralist' films. In Britain, the two Pictorial history of world art by
paper masks, eliminating, in most contexts have begun to overlap a Nathaniel Harris. 121 pp, 155
cases, all but thin linear strips of the good deal, but here and in Europe, illustrations, 100 in colour. Hamlyn,
picture. Though the device is simple, the main resistance to this 1973. £2.75
the results are not simplistic, nor development comes from that aspect David Hockney Postcard of Richard Lascaux to Roy Lichtenstein in 121
are they simply decorative of the commercial gallery scene where Wagner with glass of water 1973 pages: amazing encapsulation ! This
abstraction — again, though they do something expensively saleable has kind of picture book is probably aimed
not encourage a 'puzzling-out' of the been made out of 'non-objective' at the secondary school market and
picture which is being masked, they ideas, or easily reproducible, depends for its appeal on souped-up
do encourage questions concerning cheaply-made art works. BOOKS colour reproductions; unfortunately
the nature of the information normally Malcolm Le Grice it is typical of such ventures that truth
carried by broadcast TV. They Arts and crafts movement in to the originals is the first casualty.
utilize and draw attention to factors America 1876-1916 edited by
of the televisual image, like tone, Robert Judson Clark. 192pp, Torres-Garcia by Enric Jardi. 287 pp,
colour, rhythm, rate of change, as GRAPHICS illustrated, bibliography. Princeton, fully illustrated, many in colour,
information normally made redundant New Jersey, Art Museum Princeton bibliography, text in Spanish.
by the identification and Last year the Bernard Jacobson University, 1972. $15, paperback Biblioteca de arts Hispanico.
interpretation of the picture. Gallery, Maddox St, London, W1, $5.95. Barcelona, Ediciones Poligrafa, 1973.
published a portfolio 'Big Prints' A large format book/catalogue of an Distributed in England by Idea Books.
by fourteen different artists. The exhibition of arts and crafts, mainly £16.
gallery felt those particular artists' furniture and pottery, borrowed from Joaquin Torres-Garcia (1874-1949)
works would look better on a larger museums and collectors throughout is a minor figure in terms of modern art
scale. This month many of the same America, organized by R. J. Clark, as a whole, but an important artist in
artists are represented in a show of assistant professsor in the art the context of South American art.
miniature prints that are for sale as department of Princeton University. He is probably best known for his
a portfolio in an edition of 100 at the There are three essays on work ideographic, compartmentalized
price of £900 produced in different regions of the paintings halfway between figuration
United States—the Eastern seaboard, and abstraction. Torres-Garcia was a
The idea for the exhibition seems Chicago and the mid west, the Uruguayan artist who spent many
dangerously gimmicky and Pacific coast— plus an essay on book years working in various European
commercial but Bernard Jacobson design, and one on art pottery, all by countries, however he is chiefly
has brought it off and even added a different writers. Here, for once, is an associated with Spain, hence his
new dimension to the popularization American art movement that was comprehensive monograph in the
of the print medium. Eighteen artists chiefly inspired by Britain. Strange 'arte Hispanico' series. His early
were commissioned and their only that these refined and tasteful objects development was very similar to that
restriction was size — 5 7/8 x 8¼ in., the were being created in America during of Picasso's, showing the influence of
N CC, the end size of Bernard Jacobson's memo the era of the Wild West. A scholarly Toulouse-Lautrec. Reproduced in this
At the end of August, Derek Hill pads. The aim of the show was to and discreetly designed publication book are many examples of prosaic
declared his New Cinema Club illustrate the complex process of with a four page bibliography. Pity murals closely imitating the neo-
redundant, though this does in fact print making and the different there are no colour plates, without classical formula of Puvis de
leave quite a gap. However, we can decisions the artist must make in them the iridescent glazes of the art Chavannes. It was not until 1917 that
certainly expect him to show up in reaching his conclusion. pottery are merely tones of grey. Torres-Garcia began to assimilate the
new guises in the near future, lessons of Cubism, then he created
perhaps as film critic for a national On two walls there are several The Blue Rider by Hans K. Roethel. some elegant wooden sculptures
paper or as a film programmer for TV. series of drawings and proofs, 274pp, 100 illustrations, 77 in colour. which are perhaps better than his
mounted in sequence, in order to Praeger, 1971. $17.50. paintings. At £16 this publication
Holland and Germany show the viewer — step by step — the In 1911 Kandinsky and Marc founded is mainly for specialist art libraries.
Recently, I went on a tour in Holland artist's thinking and the different the Blue Rider group in Munich and John Walker
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