Page 57 - Studio International - November 1974

view of art in general — see Schoenberg's a new world. Something of the experiences of 1973 (no price given).
Harmonielehre, for example. The friendship both artists is captured in a paperback edition Zero by Otto Piene and Heinz Mack. xxv,
began in 1911 and lasted until the 1920s when of a book first published in 1958, Die Tunisreise 331 pp, illustrated. Cambridge (Mass.),
the composer (one touch of paranoia makes the — the journey to Tunis — and an essay by Macke, MIT Press, 1973. $15
whole world king), suspecting Kandinsky and extracts from Klee's diary of the expedition and More Sky by Otto Piene. xiii, 237 pp,
the Bauhaus of anti-semitism, broke it off: 'I two memoirs by Günter Busch and Walter illustrated, some in colour. Cambridge (Mass.),
have seen that someone with whom I thought Holzhausen are supplemented by a selection of MIT Press, 1973. $9.95.
myself on a level preferred to seek the drawings, watercolours and photographs which Nous ne sommes pas des cybernautes: livre de
Macke made at the time. The colour illustrations lecture by Jacques- Louis Nyst. 111 pp,
community of the lump; I have heard that even
are poorly reproduced, but you can expect this illustrated, some in colour. Brussels, André
a Kandinsky sees only evil in the actions of
in a book of this kind. In any case the interest de Rache, 1973 (no price given).
Jews and in their evil actions only the
is provided by Macke's observations on 'The 10 April 1932 by Wall Batterton. 126 pp,
Jewishness, and at this point I give up the hope
of reaching any understanding. It was a dream. Forms of Art and Life' (`To hear the sound of illustrated. Los Angeles, W. Batterton, 816
We are two kinds of people. Definitely!' thunder is to feel its secret') and by Klee's North Oxford Ave, 1972. $5
This letter of 1923 appears in Erwin Stein's diary, rich in anecdote and observation: 'Tunis.
impressively edited and presented selection of Louis (Moilliet) goes shopping for a present for I think that most fields of human knowledge,
the composer's letters, now issued in paperback. his wife. I remember that something similar is including the domain of art, are now
The largest part of the correspondence is, of also required by me. We stroll through the characterized by an exponential growth of
course, concerned with music and musicianly beautiful Souks. Louis also buys something documentation and this quantitative expansion
matters, but that does not mean that it is of no else: blue photographs which you get from is accompanied by a greater degree of detail
interest to the historian of painting. A small Italians. He smiles happily about his new in research (usually described as the shift from
number of letters chart the course of the possessions ... ' macro to micro thought). We are accustomed to
friendship with Kandinsky or deal with There is no knowing how either Macke or the fact that critics, historians, librarians,
Schoenberg's view of himself as a painter. Marc might have developed had they outlived museum curators and commercial galleries
Especially revealing is a letter of c. 1913 about the war. There is no knowing, either, at least document the activities of artists and we are
Die Glückliche Hand and how it should be for the time being, precisely what Kandinsky also aware that artists keep journals, write
performed. Schoenberg obviously entertained was up to in Russia during those years after he manifestoes or publish magazines, but what is
ideas close to the notion of the Gesamtkunstwerk left Germany and before he returned, with a still relatively unfamiliar is the current
at this time. The sets for the performance were new style, to the Bauhaus. Oh for a book about preoccupation with self-documentation among
of the utmost importance, as were the coloured Kandinsky's Russian escapades based on original artists (especially American), self-documentation
lights that were to be projected on to them. documents! At least there is no lack of which is presented as art in galleries or in the
Schoenberg even planned a film of Die information about the Bauhaus and Marcel form of books. These tendencies are all borne
Glückliche Hand: 'What I have in mind is Franciscono's relatively new study is a highly out by the books under review.
therefore the following: A painter (say: I, detailed and solidly researched examination of Consider, for example, the Guggenheim
Kokoschka, or II, Kandinsky, or III, Roller) the development of those ideas which publication on Dubuffet: it is a conventional
will design all the main scenes. Then the sets culminated Gropius's transformation of the enough catalogue of his retrospective exhibition
will be made according to these designs, and Weimar School of Arts and Crafts into the most held in New York and Paris in 1973 except that,
the play rehearsed. Then, when the scenes are influential art teaching institution of our time. unlike the hand-lists and slim pamphlets of the
all rehearsed to the exact tempo of the music, In spite of studies like these, however, and the past, it is 300 pages long and one of 8,000
the whole thing will be filmed, after which the helpful translations of the more important copies printed. Even so this 'book of the
film shall be coloured by the painter (or possibly Bauhausbücher, one of the major figures exhibition' is not as bulky or comprehensive
only under his supervision) according to my connected with the school still remains (it lacks a bibliography) as many catalogues.
stage directions'. relatively hard done by: Moholy-Nagy. With In her introductory essay Margit Rowell
In spite of Schoenberg, Jawlensky and Macke, his mistrust of metaphysics, his mechanistic provides an excellent survey of Dubuffet's
Der Blaue Reiter only ever really consisted of conception of art and his imaginative activities development and quotes liberally from his
Kandinsky and Marc, the editors of the almanac. in almost every medium, Moholy has begun to writings — two volumes of which were
Many of the painters they invited to exhibit emerge as the initiator of several of the most published in Paris in 1967 — but she is somewhat
with them were a motley crew and more important late-modernist ideas. Let us welcome, evasive about the ironical contrast between
substantial figures, like Klee, remained on the then, the paperback publication of the Dubuffet's anti-cultural posture and the
fringes. Macke, Marc's friend from the collection of essays and criticism by and about welcome his 'radical' work receives in such
Rhineland, could never completely convince Moholy, edited by Richard Kostelanetz, and establishments as the Guggenheim Museum.
himself that Kandinsky's art was anything more first published in hard covers in 1971. Its President Nixon's aides and Claes
than inflated mumbo-jumbo and was as illustrations clearly demonstrate the artist's Oldenburg have at least one thing in common:
sceptical about Schoenberg's music as he was strengths as photographer, graphic designer, a passion for devising scenarios. 'Raw Notes'
rude about his painting. Macke was in any case photomonteur, painter and sculptor. Its texts contains documents and scripts relating to four
much more involved with developments in reveal his impressive intellectual abilities. Happenings or Performances: 'Stars' 1963,
France and admired Delaunay's work especially. Moholy did not just use the telephone. He `Moviehouse' 1965, 'Massage' 1966, and
He was on the point of reaching maturity as a could also write. `The typewriter' 1968. The book has been
painter when the Great War broke out and he Frank Whitford produced exactly to Oldenburg's specifications
was killed in the trenches. by the enterprising Press of the Nova Scotia
The turning point came when Macke made a Self-centred College of Art (why don't English art colleges
trip to North Africa with Klee and another Jean Dubuffet: a retrospective. 305 pp, 296 have publishing programmes?). Oldenburg
friend, the now forgotten Moilliet. The light of illustrations, 21 in colour. New York, Solomon constructs his large scale performances by
Tunisia had a dramatic effect on the styles of R. Guggenheim Museum, 1973. £4 appropriating found material and even the
both Macke and Klee and their letters and Raw notes by Claes Oldenburg. xviii, 227 audience counts in this respect; his notes
diaries resound with descriptions of liquid, leaves, 63 plates, illustrated. Halifax, Press of exemplify the assemblage technique that is the
saturated colours and the sounds and smells of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, basis of the Happening aesthetic: the notes
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