Page 53 - Studio International - October1973

Five of the black panels were tall linking the sculpture to, and Hides' sculptures work towards a
verticals with a pattern corresponding separating it from, the ground base. tautness, a sprung quality, that can
in design to the blue and red give them an enormous energy and
monochromes. The remaining Hide's weakness has been a tendency elegance, but the two most successful
seven were square in format to make this add up to no more than pieces— Trapezium and 36-foot Span
employing a broader scheme of didactic demonstrations of sculptural —'have a finality, a closed, hermetic
symmetrically trisected divisions. The mechanics. For example, a rational feel to them that seems like the end of
square paintings were 5 x 5 with one understanding of the basic principles a chapter. The sculpture Hide is
exception, a six footer. (The 10x 10 of compression holding his working on at the moment bears this
black quadruptych, shown in New Compression Piece together, out. It is tending to sacrifice the
York, was not in the show; nor, remains a rather arid experience so clarity these pieces have, to get hold
incidentally, were the most recent long as this knowledge fails to of a bulkier, volumetric quality and a
pale gray paintings of 1967.) The activate any excitement in our sense
famous 'invisibility' of the black of compression. Similarly, although Peter Hide Trapezium 1973
Ad Reinhardt paintings arises, of course, only from the steel sections of which the piece Photo courtesy G LC
Abstraction no. 111973 an initial impression — on closer
inspection the surfaces open up to
the explicitly geometrical and reveal a perspicuous array of deep
quasi-cubist work equally gave way reds, blues, grays, and greens ; but the
to the mature 'hieratical symmetries' colour is admitted with great
of the 1950s. reluctance and is never merely
demonstrative. The paint is applied in
An intermediary 'white' painting of an almost pedestrian fashion : there
1950 signals the beginning of is no attempt to build-up or
Reinhardt's major work. The painting establish a rich, sensuous surface. The
is a slim vertical — a form much paintings are, in a sense, quasi-
favoured by the artist — framing an bureaucratic in their refusal to
array of white horizontal brushstrokes endorse the usual humanistic
broadly but deftly applied to a lightly excesses; the matte brushwork is
primed, off-white ground. The occasionally visible, but the traces
brushstrokes are clear and specific — reveal a brushing out of inflexion
nudging each other with a sureness of rather than an attempt to create it ;
touch to build up an open, casual, the divisions are tacitly acknowledged
almost architectural structure. It's but never emphasized ; the paint
an extremely elegant piece. Another handling is almost wilfully routine,
painting of the same year, in dry, flat, and non-assertive. The
approximate scale to the white black paintings are beautifully
vertical, encloses several discrete scaled and remarkably poised :
tiles of mauve and gold within a their aesthetic weight, clarity, and
grayed, imperceptibly green field ; force defies description. Reinhardt's
some of the tiles are negative forms — knowledge of art was profound. The
the gold is underpainting. marking-up and defacement of the
paintings will be a big problem in the
A different sense of order began to future. Perhaps, one day, a Reinhardt
permeate Reinhardt's work around museum will be established and the
this time : he continued to move in art will be properly conserved.
several directions, but he gradually R. J. Rees
pared the options down. The
subsequent refinement manifested
itself in the red and blue Steel Sculpture from the
monochromes of the early 50s. Stockwell Depot, at Marble
There were five blue and four red Hill House, Twickenham, London,
paintings from this series in the show— 6 July-14 October
each work exhibiting the now Peter Hide has put up work ranging
familiar pattern of closely valued, from stuff made as a student at St
interlocking square and rectangular Martin's to pieces that he did up to
divisions. The blue paintings are a year ago at Stockwell Depot. From
vertical panels ; their surfaces vary : the start, he seems to have been
some are coarsely textured, others concerned with making visible the
fine — and the paint application inherent properties of his main
ranges from an impasto finish to a material, steel. The dramatic elements is composed alternate the massively John Foster Slab III 1973
thin delicate wash. Occasionally, an in these sculptures are the places dense and solid, with the echoing and h. 100cm x l.400 cm x w. 260cm
optical vibrance will conflict with where plane meets plane, made hollow, it's asking a bit much of the
the steady, even inflexion of the emphatic by bolts, screws, welds, etc. spectator to appreciate this straight more complex and ambiguous spatial
surface, but in the majority of cases the Joins are the active, tension-giving off, despite the fact that the colour of articulation. The aim is to take hold of
paintings are pretty definite and impart elements, and between them lengths the piece alludes to it. the surrounding space whereas the
an explicit, unmitigated power. The of steel are either braced up under work in this show inflects it.
four red paintings in the exhibition pressure or bend under their own The best pieces are those in which
were disappointing, however. Their weight. Hide deliberately turned his volume has been kept to a minimum, The big surprise for those who only
surfaces are waxy and pulpy, back on the novel possibilities that and where the thing reads primarily as know Hide's work from the Stockwell
possibly because of deterioration, these ideas held, a few years ago, in outline. As one moves round them, a Depot, will be how different
and the hues register as variants of a terms of installations. Instead, he shallow volume is revealed by the the work looks out-of-doors. Inside,
dull, queasy brown. A couple of the opted for the less flashy but more angled sections of the steel and by the sculptures seemed aggressively
paintings employ a broad horizontal substantial course of producing the thin skins of colour that often, as huge. In the eighteenth -century
format — and this form rarely works separate sculptural entities, built to in Trapezium, cover the upper surfaces landscape, they seemed relaxed and at
for Reinhardt. last. Everything about these works only, leaving the underside raw and ease, amplifying Hide's belief that they
has always been deliberately related rusty. Colour for Hide is very much can provide a link between human and
There were twelve black paintings to the ground plane, which he has the last decision to be made about a landscape scale.
in the exhibition. This series began in latterly emphasized through his use work, and is invariably an emotional
the early 50s, and Reinhardt of pyramidal (shades of Newman) neutral, being used simply to light the John Foster's work, having its first
continued with it until his death. bases. This has a dual purpose, both pieces or clarify an all over shape. public airing, would be seen to better
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