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time will make the perspective come true, generous English collection appears. fourth side which is somewhere out beyond
knowledge can meanwhile be advanced by I should add that the texts are not stuffed with Tony Wedgwood Benn but not as far out as
assembling and ordering all relevant material. revelations or startling insights. Matisse the International Socialists. Within these
Publication of Matisse's views on art has himself emphasized repeatedly that 'a boundaries, he delivers his argument in three
been overdue. Jack D. Flam begins his book painter's best spokesman is his work'. His many main sections : three chapters of critique of
with the words, 'The purpose of this book is to direct and indirect statements present much modern 'Hard' technology, three chapters on
present the collected writings on art of the same basic attitude, reiterated in much the `soft' Utopian and Intermediate technology,
Henri Matisse', and he goes on to point out same words (it is striking that Matisse, who and a summing-up chapter entitled 'Myths and
that only a very slight anthology of them has frequently reasserted that his art was intended Responsibilities' in which he returns to his
so far appeared, and only in German. It is no to refresh rather than disturb, abandoned the opening position that only basic political
fault of his that while his volume was at the much-quoted armchair analogy after his first changes can bring the fundamental changes in
printers a French paperback appeared devoted use of it). There is in fact little sense of technological practice he deems necessary. This
to the same purpose: Henri Matisse, écris et development from the 1908 Notes of a Painter is a defensible (if contentious) position, and he
propos sur l'art, edited by Dominique to his last texts of the early 195os - but then in sustains it convincingly—though his style seems
Fourcade, Paris 1972. But it is his fault, or his 1908 he was already 39 years old. to quench that fire in the belly that makes
publisher's, that, in comparison with This attitude of his is, if you like, a many of his authorities, like Chomsky or
Fourcade's, Flam's is much less complete, conservative one: art is expression and Mumford, such stirring and infuriating reading.
incomparably less fully or conveniently justifies its existence by truthfulness. Matters of Unfortunately, this political structure is made
annotated, far less usefully indexed, and content or function are at best secondary to the to shoulder a load of technological bits and
altogether less stylishly and simply presented. coolly correct display of one man's warm pieces that don't grow out of it organically, nor
Index: material of this sort is by nature responses to life. There is no hint of concern reinforce it polemically. His three middle
shapeless and discursive. The titles given to the for others (unless it be for young painters); chapters, like all writing on Alternative and
various texts (sometimes original, sometimes no awareness that economic and social forces Intermediate technologies, are just a round-up
editorial) give little guidance to the matter in are changing the world (Matisse's only of devices, gadgets, brainwaves and handy hints
them. A thematic index is therefore essential, noticeable reaction to modern technology was - which they must be because that is the nature
but Flam indexes only proper names and a notion that it would be marvellous to fly of the subject matter. Not for nothing is the
Matisse's works. right round the globe). Matisse had no doubt only comprehensive work on the subject called
Notes : Fourcade annotates on the page, and at all of art's continuing validity. Like Klee The Whole Earth Catalogue, because the Soft
in his notes provides a wealth of additional he saw art as an activity natural to man, and man Technology approach is a simple plurality of
material by and about Matisse. Flam makes the as part of nature. one-at-a-time alternatives to established
mistake of relegating to the back of the book Or, if you prefer, Matisse's basic attitude technological procedures, and the argument is
everything but his own comments on each expresses the quintessentiality of artistic still in the condition before 'technologies
text; even basic bibliographical data has to creation, unmitigated by thoughts of a become Technology' to quote Henryk
be fumbled for. particular time or place. He may turn out to Skolimowski (a surprising omission from the
Completeness : when interviews, have been the last (and only ?) totally bibliography). Nor does the blanket concept of
journalistic accounts and recollected convincing romantic artist.q `Utopian technology' mend this confusion;
conversations are to be included - as both NORBERT LYNTON Robin Clarke's 'Utopian characteristics of soft
editors include them - then it is unlikely that technology' quoted in extenso, again simply
`the collected writings' will ever be achieved. asserts one-for-one contraries of the supposed
There is too much material in diverse places. Received opinion deficiencies of hard technology. Like most
Nevertheless, Flam omits too much and gives Television: technology and cultural form by Utopias, it hopefully reverses the polarities of
no explanation to his preferences. It seems a Raymond Williams. 160 pp. the status quo; like most Utopias it is, as
pity, for instance, to exclude Dorothy Dudley's Alternative technology and the politics of Francois Choay (among others) has pointed out,
interview with Matisse on the subject of the technical change by David Dickson. 224 pp. a finite, one-shot proposal, conceptually similar
Barnes Dance mural; it was published in 1934 Fontana/Collins. Technosphere series, edited by to the 'neat engineering solutions' of established
and in English and could thus well have been Jonathan Benthall. Paperback. 45p and sop. hard technology.
rescued from inaccessibility in a US magazine Ultimately, Dickson fails to demonstrate any
called Horn and Hound. Neither of these books is as flashy nor as necessary connection between his politics and
Among the virtues of Ham's book are that portentous as their cover-art suggests. Both the multifarious aims and ideologies of the
his commentary and introductory essay are in fact are compendia of received opinion - Alternative and Intermediate technologists. He
sensible and useful, and that in translating he received progressive opinion, but not radical. has simply documented the present state of the
has chosen to stick closely to the French. On Their exact intellectual standing is neatly art in a respectable Open University text that
occasion even too close: 'The decorative for a certificated by the fact that one is already an might have been assembled by any of a number
work of art is an extremely precious thing' is a Open University text, and the other can hardly of socially responsible scientists.
quaint and almost meaningless sentence. The avoid becoming one soon. Nothing of the sort can be said of Raymond
only complaint I would press on this front is To begin with the one that flies the Open Williams on Television; in so far as there is
that the French ton should not be translated as University symbol on its cover like a Good received progressive opinion on that subject,
`tone' when 'colour' or, more strictly, 'hue' is Housekeeping Seal or Design Centre swing-tag, Williams has created it almost single-handed, so
meant. The distinction between tone and hue, David Dickson's Alternative Technology will that anything he publishes is slightly ahead of
just beginning to be understood outside the hold few surprises for those who have kept the progressive concensus. Sometimes he seems
studios, is worth a great deal and needs moderately abreast of the Ecologist and the New even to be slightly ahead of himself - as I read
reinforcing. I'll admit that Flam here follows Scientist, read the quality Sunday papers and the text of this newest offering, its proper
a familiar habit. For those who want Matisse's maintain a paperback acquaintance with Levi- subtitle should not be Technology and
words in English and are glad of relevant Strauss and Roland Barthes. That list by no Cultural Form, but something more like
black-and-white illustrations close at hand, this means exhausts Dickson's reading, but it Culture forms Technology. Almost without
is, then, a useful if disappointing book; it will roughly indicates the intellectual 'envelope' trying (or noticing, it seems) he demonstrates
presumably be quite some years before a more within which he operates - provided you add a in the first chapter that TV is not the product

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