Page 60 - Studio International - March 1974

juxtaposition — but why, one wonders, are the Private views
precisionists not related to this context if Davis Modern English Painters: Wood to Hockney
is. And what are the AAA group doing here by John Rothenstein. 262 pp, 34 illustrations.
under the title of 'American Scenes and Macdonald. London. £3.50.
Symbols' ?
The two chapters on Abstract Expressionism Perched on a pedestal and surrounded by the
are just as bad. This is the shame of the book. shrouded forms of out-of-favour works
There is a great deal of writing in it, and banished to the Tate basement was the way
Mr Hunter has presumably intended to present Sir John Rothenstein appeared in 'Private View'
a 'fair' picture of events within his conception in 1965. In some ways it was an apt symbolic
of the avant garde. The result, however, is a image of him. In a period when artists have
mass of inherited judgements, standard come increasingly to concern themselves with
interpretations, or often sheer nonsense. Would formal problems he has often shown himself
anyone guess who the following is about ? more interested in the relatively few who have
`His paintings had begun in a fierce mood of embodied a consistent and original philosophy
nihilism; one has to go back to the late Soutine of life, some of whom he deals with in this book.
They do not hunt in packs and by nature they
The Penrose to find work as raw, direct and careless of the are often solitary.
traditional integrity of medium . . . He later also
Annual1974 established his connection with Dada's mood of In responding to their work Rothenstein
inconoclasm and disgust with society, first by must have seemed to many, especially during
Volume 67
Edited by Bryan Smith his violent imagery, and then by his handling the 5os when there were signs of an abstract
Consultant Editor Herbert Spencer of tarry blacks, his non-aesthetic industrial elitism in this country, to have some odd
The Penrose Annual — or to give it its textures, and by his embedding cigarette ends, enthusiasms. It was no accident, for instance,
full title, The Penrose Graphic Arts International
Annual — covers technical and non-technical broken glass, and bits of string in his pigment. that a painting by Houthuesen was acquired by
aspects in a broad range of interests: process In the end he subordinated his rancours and Leeds City Art Gallery when he was director
work, printing and printing equipment, paper romantic individualism to a mood of impersonal and that soon after he left in 1933 it was
and printing materials, design and typography,
printing history and evolving technology. idealism, creating finally a new abstract art of demoted to the reserve collection. This early
Contributors include leading writers in the transcendent beauty.' sympathy for painters off the beaten track, and
industry, with articles by some of the world's He is writing about Pollock! his personal involvement with them, makes
outstanding practitioners and observers of the
graphic arts scene. Mr Hunter can't be blamed for the colour essays like those on Burra, Houthuesen and
illustrations. The colour itself is not that bad. Cecil Collins in the present volume interesting
The 1974 edition (ready May-June) includes
The Penrose Survey; Open University print by A little too technicolour in effect, perhaps, but and valuable — though the best of all is about
Douglas Clark; AG I graphics by Colin Forbes; we know it is not the real thing, only an Robert Colquhoun whom Rothenstein only met
Exhibition graphics (British Museum) by
Alan Bartram ; The changing face of the approximation. It is how the plates are when the artist was sober once.
Royal Mail by Geoffrey Bensusan ; The presented which is disgraceful. An Olitski There has been a long time lag since the
Illustrated London News by R H Smith and disappears into the centre crease of the book, its appearance of the book's two predecessors.
James Bishop; Victor Pasmore and the printer;
Legibility research by Herbert Spencer; right-hand-side edge invisible, while its open Sickert to Smith was published in 1952 and
The Manuscript Book by F Baudin field is ruined by show-through from the page Lewis to Moore in 1956. During that time the
276 pages A4 in colour and monochrome. beneath. Even worse, a fine T-shaped Kelly whole idea of painting as a privileged medium, a
ISBN 7198 2509 1 Fully bound in Reluskin from 1971 actually cuts across the crease, technique for projecting reality, has become
£5-95
ISBN 7198 2519 9 Limp binding £3.95 dipping down and then up, making utter increasingly questionable. To that extent even
nonsense of the painting. Paintings by Poons, the blanket title for the three parts, 'Modern
Printing in the 20th Century Pollock and Wyeth, among others, suffer this English Painters,' has become somewhat quaint,
(A Penrose Anthology)
Edited by James Moran same fate, while other illustrations are cropped like talking about 'the moderns' unless you
short by the edge of the page. The Duchamp mean Augustus John's generation. On the
Since 1895 The Penrose Annual has been
acknowledged as the leading international glass is photographed with background visible other hand you have Hockney saying : 'There
commentator and recorder of developments in through the glass, but cropped away outside are some people who think painting old hat.
printing technology and changes in taste and
fashion in the graphic arts. The pages of its of it. None of this shows the slightest sympathy But I think it is still some use myself', and one of
66 volumes published through 1973 contain with the art, and could have easily been avoided. the delights of Rothenstein's view is that, even
over 2,500 contributions from leading writers But that it wasn't is maybe rather illuminating
on the subjects from Europe, Great Britain and allowing for the last largely soft-centred bout of
the U.S. The selections chosen for this too. enthusiasm for Blake and Palmer in the 4os, he
anthology provide a coherent narrative of the Quite who this book is intended for is is far less distrustful than almost any
printing history of nearly 80 years. To this difficult to tell. There is no preface or
selection the editor has added his own running contemporary critic of the perennial literary
narrative which provides a factual and introduction to help us know. Given the price, streak. Those who regard it as the besetting sin
astringent account of the most exciting epoch perhaps it is hoped that students will be able to of British painting, rather than a recurrent
in the history of printing. A complete index to all
Penrose articles is also included. afford it. But, then, the same publishers are strength, can hardly expect to share this view.
continuing to sell Barbara Rose's vastly This said, the book is full of insights — not so
Ready May-June 1974. 352 pages
184 x 248 mm includes 240 monochrome superior — and cheaper — book, American Art much of the kind that chip away at source
facsimile pages from The Penrose Annual Since 190o. Let us hope they stay with that. material trying to identify references, but into
1895-1973 and 16 pages in full colour.
ISBN 7198 2529 6 Fully bound £7.50 On the other hand, it might be a good idea if idiosyncrasies of thinking and approach. A
students of art and modern art history had a good biographical basis to art criticism is always
From Your usual bookseller or direct from
look at Mr Hunter's book. For the art enthralling, and often good journalism, but it
Northwood Publications Ltd
historians, a good warning of what to avoid; for does run the risk of providing a riveting
the artists something similar: a modern display of personality hang-ups without
trade and technical publishing division of
The Thomson Organisation Ltd morality book (this is what passes as avant garde, relating them sufficiently to the work.
Northwood House, 93-99 Goswell Road, avoid it like the plague). q Rothenstein is not a professional explainer, and
London EC1V 7QA
JOHN ELDERFIELD the kind of artists he deals with here for the
146