Page 52 - Studio International - March 1974

impossible for the outsider to guess at difference between the curvilinear
their genesis or evaluate the nature of and diagonal motifs achieved by the
their evolution, they seem the end- two systems. The recent work was
product of a lengthy and arduous intended to demonstrate 'the
exploration of energy situations, and maximum range of aesthetic
some clue to the kind of possibilities of diagonal symmetry',
preoccupations which give Hall's and in fact Steele's handling (or
work its vibrancy can be derived from drawing ?) of straight connecting
the charcoal drawings and lithographs lines results in a more thrusting and
which implemented the exhibition. painterly symphony of clashing
The juxtaposition of barely rhythms than was possible for him
perceptible contrasts in the with the curves. Likewise the 'thin-
sculpture — a dark rod, hugging the line' drawings shown at the Lucy
wall, and in such close juxtaposition Milton Gallery contained odd
to an unpainted one that you hardly fragments resembling T-bars, bent
notice it, and the unexpected Y's, floating dashes and hatched
intrusion of terminals into space, segments. As a series the drawings
suggest how much is demanded of revealed a cinematic development of
the spectator, and emphasize the way form ; the 'negative' white bands
in which his perceptive abilities are broadened, changed direction and
kept strained to a very fine point. disappeared. Despite their arbitrary
Sometimes too, in the more complex origins one could have easily
pieces, the sense of linear geometry Max 811/Striving forces of a Sphere 1966-67. Pink baveno granite, 35½ x 23½ x 23½ in. preferred, say, Sg 115 to Sg 119.
is reinforced by the interpenetration In retrospect the orderly but
of spatial planes, a phenomenon Max Bill at Marlborough Fine Art unadorned paintings and sculptures humanistic approach of Systems art
which Hall himself underlines by the Ltd, London, 16 February-17 March such as eight fields of equal surface seems very different from the more
use of titles such as Weaves for works Francois Morellet at the Lucy and the half sphere on three axles mechanistic approach of the French
Milton Gallery, London, 8-29 January when produced in quantity become kineticists with whom Francois
Jeffrey Steele at the Lucy Milton bland and pedestrian. The primary Morellet associated. In a well-known
Gallery 6-26 February colours translated to silk-screen ink edition of silk-screen prints (1961),
Three artists recently shown in turn soddenly absorbent, whereas the
London, Max Bill, François Morellet marble multiples register categorically
and Jeffrey Steele, have all written as objects to be handled. The viewer
considerably about their work, and it might receive the message that he
is hard to debate their basic is seeing 'Modern Art' without ever
philosophies. They have in common a sensing the concentration and risk
desire to make their art accessible to that goes into the creative process.
the layman, and in doing so they tend At the time of the Systems group
to spread a verbal net with scientific exhibition in 1972 Jeffrey Steele was
parallels not entirely manifest or also prepared to make statements
palpable in the art object. Max Bill is about the nature of art, that is, the
the most qualified for interdisciplinary options open within the generative
thinking by way of his practical activity. He allowed that 'the range
experience in mass-production and of possibilities for action is
his numerous civic connections (such astronomical, the ethical responsibility
as member of the Swiss Parliament for the social results of these actions Jeffrey Steele Syntagm I 8 1972
20x 20 in.
and the Swiss Association of Artists, daunting, in the light of the evidence
Craftsmen and Industrialists). that the art of the last hundred years, he manufactured a design by filling
A twentieth-century Atticist, Max has, in fact, affected the dress, music, in a grid of 40,000 squares according
Bill's own three-dimensional work life-style and social attitudes of a to telephone numbers, odd or even,
Installation shot at Annely Juda Gallery spells out refinement and intelligence. significant minority of young people.' drawn randomly from the directory.
Work by Anthea Alley
Typically the geometric forms twist From this conscientious position He limited variations in the series to
in which parallel lines mark out paths and converge like equations; each he expressed the need for rational and the number of colour combinations he
which pass through each other's piece wrapped in an elegant armour radical propositions in art, and his wished to realize. In my opinion the
orbit. as precious as his nickel-plated allegiance to a syntactic art which results looked haphazard and the
At Annely Jude's, Anthea Alley's aluminium or black diorite. demanded the formulation of venture irrelevant, especially in
pieces suggested diffusion rather than Nevertheless the best work, such as rigorous starting points, that became comparison to a similar use of chance
tension, and seemed keyed to a nucleus by doubling II (1968-69), evident in the final product. by Ellsworth Kelly.
decorative, and even domestic, retains an electric and refreshing His painting at this time contained Kelly, who was acquainted with
function. All floor-based, they perfection. both straight parallel lines and a Morellet in the early 1950s, placed
hovered between the slightly On occasion, however, Max Bill projection of cycles which led to his piece Seine (1951) on an
whimsical and the overtly emotional. has expressed wider aspirations. In irregular bands falling in troughs and elongated landscape grid 16½ x 45½
A tangle of soft, black, bolster-like conversation with his biographer, crests. These schematic waves in. Numbers were drawn from a hat
segments was adorned (the verb Margit Staber, he said in the travelled rapidly across the surface, to determine which vertical squares
suggests the effect and implies the catalogue introduction, 'works of art sucking in space. In his latest Syntagm would be blackened and the number
intention) with what looked like an enable certain problems to be solved series there are enough variables of squares filled was increased each
electric necklace, producing the without compromise, in a world which (network, format, operation, mapping, time until the solid centre strip and
impression of a dissected odalisque is full of compromises and failed etc.) to preclude coming to the end of then the operation reversed to the
tarted up for the delectation of some speculations'. With the noble intention the possible permutations within right-hand edge. The work's
tubular Vizier. The idea of the column of bringing art to a wider public, Max human limits. The result so far of inspiration came to Kelly from
or tube, dissected and transformed Bill endorsed the production of this written problem has been sketches he had drawn of the shadows
in various ways, was the underlying graphics and multiples, 'which ought several 'thick-line' paintings, and reflections on the river. His final
theme of the exhibition, and though to be made specifically for wide unusually rich in diagonal activity and version has a suggestive quality and a
this might have had some potential distribution, a print produced in this the interaction of secondary colours focus curiously absent in Morellet's
had it been carried out with vigour way must be understood as the (like flat turquoise and purple-brown). prints.
and austerity, its effect was almost product of long experience, and as The broad slices zigzag abruptly, None the less the six Morellet
invariably marred by the introduction having a conceptual and aesthetic while the major lines, which are edged paintings from 1953-57 recently
of irrelevant chains which value in no way inferior to that of a in white, thrust outwards against an exhibited were more historically
gratuitously minimized the scale and one-off production. 'Sadly, in this very overlaid frame of slightly askew adventurous, particularly in the
trivialized the significance. area of multiple reproduction, Max Bill horizontals and verticals. context of the larger retrospective
Bernard Den vir seems trapped by his own style ; his Visually there is considerable which the Lucy Milton Gallery has