Page 52 - Studio International - February 1974

Bookroom' by Eleanor Farjeon, of a
very small girl in a casual and
spacious library, absorbed in her
private world. She probably feels like
a fairy princess of books and so,
I imagine, will the little girl who
identifies herself in the figure.
By positioning himself well clear
of any connection with mainstream
art, Ardizzone both insulates his work
from technological or contemporary
Edward Ardizzone illustration from 'The Little imagery and isolates it from modernist
Bookroom' by Eleanor Farjeon, Oxford criticism. His consciousness is pure
University Press, 1955
and pleasant, about a hundred years
his serious side. It is perhaps the out of date. On such a charge he could
great quality of sympathy in these be dismissed as retardataire. Yet it is
images which exempts them from the precisely the artist's prerogative to do
embarrassing descriptions of as he pleases that Ardizzone has
overstated humanism they might taken advantage of, and if that
have been. inclination is whimsical or old-
On a lighter note, Ardizzone is fashioned, it is also natural. There is no
excellent at portraying and great formal thoughtfulness in his
caricaturing the English following their work, nor enlarging dialectic, but
Dan Flavin Untitled 1973.10 alternating cool and several other Flavins that I pastimes : fishermen who drawl along there is also no question but that his
white/warm white circular fluorescent lights
remember— were similar in design piers, smoking thoughtfully; hearty sensibility is genuine; his extensive
and implication to aspects of drinkers forming expressive notebooks reveal such pleasure and
Fitz Hugh Lane's paintings— collectives in pubs. Conveyed in interest in the surfaces of life.
particularly those produced around the latter is that quality of Ardizzone is not a modern artist but
1863. (Lane's drawings and studies claustrophobic enclosure so alarming then not everyone is meant to be ;
are especially close in spirit to Flavin's to the outsider in an English bar, the one need only remember the growing
own diagrams.) A connection lack of physical space in which to numbers of practitioners who ignore
between Flavin's art and American move, that yet seems to promote the personal aspect of their talents to
luminist painting of the 19th century
is pretty obvious to make, though : a
corresponding light, omnipresent and
explicit; isolative incident within a
tacit continuity; spare, matter-of-fact
organization ; and a conspicuous
scepticism about general ideas.
R. J. Rees
Edward Ardizzone at the Victoria
and Albert Museum, London,
15 December-13 January.
Edward Ardizzone recently
featured in a retrospective exhibition
at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The catalogue essay obliquely
informs us that he is a typically
English artist in a tone of slight
apology and one wonders if they
don't mean that actually he's rather
gauche. Even when it's very good,
English painting often tends to look a
little out of focus, as if the image were
based on a mental construct instead Edward Ardizzone The Delicate Nose 1954 imitate 'successful' modern styles to
Pen and water-colour, lent by the Mayor
of a visual one. This observation be refreshed by simplicity which is
Gallery
certainly applies to Ardizzone, a not a stance. Further, to make
prolific illustrator who specialized conviviality and conversation. Only something lively for children in this
in genre scenes. His line and colour occasionally does a dose of irony add tough and mechanical world is a
are blunt and undistinguished, but a modern flavour to the work. The generous impulse. As an artist
this seems in keeping with the style Bar at the Contemporary Art Society Ardizzone is anything but brilliant, but
of the subject matter. Ardizzone's soirée of 1950 is such an example, as an Englishman he has an engaging
special knack is an ability to suggest where gentlemen tailored for gift for describing his own kind.
Dan Flavin Untitled 1973. 6 alternating cool
white/warm white fluorescent lights a milieu, just the character of evening make a unified slant toward Cara Montgomery
atmosphere that might be found release.
manifests itself as a continuous and if one were on the spot. Perhaps the most charming things Mola Art at the Bards Gallery,
luminous line, and this provided a The body of works falls into several in Ardizzone's oeuvre are his London, 1-24 December 1973.
subtle mediation with the effulgent distinct categories. Ardizzone was an illustrations for children's books. Consciously and unconsciously we
glow. official War Artist in 1940 and, like No qualifying reserve about style is transvalue applied and high art, the
The fourth exhibit dated in many good genre painters, has the necessary to enjoy these completely. functional and the non-functional.
conception from 1967. Two warm facility to convey pathos in a way that That which is pleasing to children, Confronting the anomaly and
white tubes— one a five-footer, the makes it genuine but not hokey. imagination and gaiety, pleases in a anonymity of mass production Sonia
other nearly six foot— were coupled Photography has largely replaced timeless way. The illustrations and Delaunay transmuted Orphism into
and placed horizontally on the wall this function if only because a totally those texts he has written have none cloth and clothes; Raoul Dufy wove
of a diminutive room. The smaller realistic image desentimentalizes its of that instructive pedantry so the Fauve into cotton. Placing the
tube was set equidistantly on top of subject so completely; Ardizzone offensive in children's literature. functional in the non-functional art/
the larger. The lamps imparted a belongs to an older and more They are stories of children who are gallery context turns the meanest mug
steady unmitigated glare : accentuated emotional climate. Townspeople adventurous and clever. The into a priceless Picasso. The market
by the confined space. This piece and making a house to house dash - under catalogue includes a charming place/auction room interpretation of
the two circular light arrangements— shell fire of 1944 is epigrammatic of illustration from 'The Little history makes plebeian Sung into