Page 37 - Studio International - July August 1974

Circum Gria Green 19 73
Acrylic on canvas, 79 in. diameter
David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto

Whirl, Noland makes rich rhythmic use of the
varying edge qualities of his concentric circles.
In some 'chevron' paintings, eg, Blue
Green Confluence (1963) the various chevrons are
differentiated by changes in touch; as a result
they remain distinct without losing their unity
within the general thrust or flow of the elements.
That is, Noland is quite right to take pride in his
long-standing concern with paint quality.
In fact this interest has been increasing.15 For
instance, while Noland only occasionally used
differences in gloss in the 'targets', many of the
more recent paintings have subtle gloss changes.
The surface of the paintings is sometimes
buffed (with a floor polisher). Unusual
substances, such as pearl opalescent, may be
added to the paint. And certain tactile
differences are achieved by transparency.
On the other hand, in a number of pictures
Noland has intended the handling to be so
neutral that studio assistants could be allowed
to apply the paint. 16 This is not, of course,
objectionable in itself. What it serves to make
clearer is that in Noland's better pictures he
has more often than not worked first and
foremost with what might be called 'placement.'
That is, in most of Noland's paintings the eye
of the viewer makes part-to-part connections
of relatively discrete elements that may be
widely separated from one another; in
comparison with the more 'unified unity' of
Cezanne, Noland's paintings have what
Wölfflin would call 'multiple unity',17 and paint
handling is not a primary ordering device.
Not surprisingly then, in those later periods
in which Noland does use paint handling as a seem out of place. To my eye, the surface is quite different degrees of definition. For
unifying device, the results have tended to be too highly unified and the space too instance, Vétheuil, 1901 (one of the paintings
somewhat uncertain. The most obvious case in compressed to need so much sweeping passage borrowed last year from the Pushkin Museum),
point is the so-called 'plaids'. While on their as this facture and handling afford. That is, the has a rather typically modernist spatial
initial appearance the plaids seemed to mark various factors affording spatial definition inconsistency with more volume and spatial
an important new direction for Noland and were somehow cancel out, and as a result the plaids definition in its upper half. The hill at the top
rather highly acclaimed by Darby Bannard, tend to be lacking in surface tension. The rich of the picture has a roundness and fullness
they now seem to be transitional and in the integration of spatial qualities achieved in Day strikingly in contrast with the water surface
main not fully realized works.18 The basic does not usually occur. The plaids strike me, below, which appears as little more than an
problem of these pictures is that Noland's then, as being in a state of conflict between an evanescent plane extending laterally across the
space has become more shallow and somewhat art of 'placement' as practised by the earlier surface. The appeal of these V Vétheuil Monets,
more continuous so that figure-ground Noland and one of more closely wrought perhaps amongst his finest works, lies in the
distinctions are tentative — merely vestigial; spatial effects such as one would find in Monet. union they achieve of such richly contrasted
that is, the various parts of the picture tend to Monet, too, often worked with a clearly parts of the pictures, the one marked
run together too much. Therefore, the viewer bifurcated structure. A large number of Monets primarily by extension, the other by volume.
is unable to define or possess enough space are built around the horizontal divide which In Monet, this union of opposites would seem
to feel a sense of loss in those parts of the was a datum of the subjects he chose, in to have an unconscious sexual significance
pictures where none can be defined at all. particular hills and buildings reflected in water. far more profound than that consciously
Part of the problem is structural : the stripes In Monet, liaison20 from part to part is intended by almost any of the surrealists.
have a typically cubist under-and-over connect afforded by reflection and shadow, colour A great advantage of Monet's method was
which has, however, been deprived of rhyme, and subtly gradated changes in the that his initial concept or impression of a
ambiguity by the alignment of the stripes with direction and speed of his brush-strokes. particular painting could be continually altered
the literal edge. This is especially so with the A typically impressionist continuity of in the most subtle ways throughout his
smaller plaids, which lock into place too surface — a unifying armature or skin — follows realization of the work. An art like Noland's,
readily.19 In this context, the painterly elements from Monet's touch. Within this armature, relying more on 'placement' than Monet's
introduced at this time, washes and the like, Monet could integrate contrasting spaces of did, requires its own procedures for
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