Page 60 - Studio Internatinal - October 1974

Hirshhorn Museum last truckload of sculpture arrived, collection as a whole at a later date.) Scotland
when the main section of a gigantic Inside the museum, the paintings
Exhibitions of modern art in
Calder stabile was being lowered on to are arranged chronologically so as to
Edinburgh in the last few months
the plaza from a crane. Most of the supply contrasts which, in the words of
formed two groupings, one of works
Last month, eight years after an paintings were now hung, and the the director, Abram Lerner, 'may ...
agreement was reached between Joseph installation of the sculpture garden was result in the discovery of unexpected dating mainly from the thirties, the
other of works of the past few years.
H. Hirshhorn and the Smithsonian nearing completion. Once again, I was similarities, differences and influences
Institution, and the necessary legislation enormously excited by the number of hitherto unnoticed'. There are indeed The exhibition 'Paul Klee: The Last
was passed by the United States outstanding works to be seen, and by some interesting groupings here, such Years' at the Scottish National Gallery
Congress, the Hirshhorn Museum and the prospect of what the presence of as a room of early work by Gorky, de of Modern Art at Inverleith House
Sculpture Garden was opened to the this new museum is likely to do for Kooning and Milton Avery. An early (later to be shown at Bristol and at the
public in Washington D.C. It is an event Washington. Smith sculpture is placed next to a Hayward) will be reviewed by another
of national and international The sculpture, as has been said Gonzalez; a Gottlieb pictograph (a hand. 'Art Then' at the Scottish Arts
importance. many times, is probably the strongest superb example, as are the 1945 Pollock Council Gallery in Charlotte Square
For some years, Washington has part of the collection. One's first sight and the early, Picassoid Motherwell) showed the work of eight English
Review 4
been regarded in this country as second of the garden is a breathtaking vista of can be seen across the room from a artists from 1924-40, Hepworth,
only to New York in its galaxy of art Rodin's Burghers of Calais juxtaposed Torres-Garcia. (What a boon for Moore, Paul Nash, Nicholson, Piper,
museums: the opening of this new against Matisse's four Nu de Dos ranged teaching this museum collection will Richards, Alfred Wallis and Christopher
Wood. The exhibition was well chosen
museum and modern art collection along a wall the other side of a be!) Other works of historic interest
makes it an even closer runner-up. rectangular pool, both groups of include a Moore Mother and Child of (one might quibble about a few works)
and catalogued by David Baxandall.
Certain comparisons with New York sculpture asymmetrically placed. This 1931, shown in his first exhibition and
seem inevitable: the doughnut-shaped sensitive landscaping continues bought by Jacob Epstein; a Nicholson Included was a memorable group of
Nicholson's, ranging from Painting
building, designed by Gordon Bunshaft, throughout the garden, with a Reg White Relief of 1938; a Diebenkorn
recalls the Guggenheim Museum Butler Girl set in front of a wide green interior of 1957 that I've admired for (trout) 1924 with its flat upright
(however, its two circular exhibition hedge, and a small square courtyard years in reproduction. The breaking up rectilinear forms in shallow space,
last seen in English art in works by
floors are more spacious and take longer with works by Caro, Calder, Smith and of the human face and figure by Bacon
to walk around than the ramps at the Moore in confrontation. Other and de Kooning are shown side by side Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell c. 1915,
Guggenheim, and one can step back sculptures in the garden include Moore's (and what a lesson about good painting to Au Chat Botte and several reliefs.
and compare paintings more easily); King and Queen, Rodin's Balzac and to see de Kooning next to Jack Levine.) In 'Art Then' the result of the impact
the scope of the inaugural exhibition, a Walking Man. (The smaller sculptures Hofmann arrives in the 1950s with a of Surrealism and Constructivism on
selection of some 800 works out of a on the inside circle of the museum blaze of colour, in two smaller green some of the more adventurous artists
collection of 6000, resembles that of building, alongside the painting and red paintings; and there is an of the period was shown clearly in an
the collection of the Museum of Modern galleries, were not yet installed. They extraordinary similarity to be found in exhibition of 75 works which gave the
Art. include quantities of sculpture by a later room, between a floral-type Louis viewer pleasure and understanding, an
I had my second tour of the Daumier, Degas, Matisse, and I hope to and a Rothko that is more washy than achievement unfortunately not all that
Hirshhorn Museum on the day that the write about them and the sculpture usual. (The same room contains an common.
'Aspects of Abstract Painting in
early Noland target, Beginning of 1958,
Britain 1910-60' at the Talbot Rice
that is superlative: freehand, awkward,
Art Centre showed works of nearly 40
angular, off-centre, ablaze with strong
reds and blacks.) artists including most of those in the
'Art Then' exhibition. Many of the
All these are on the first circular
exhibition floor: the second floor works dated from the 1930s and
helped to give a rounder view of the
comes, I'm afraid, as a let-down. All the
period. Abstract painting in England
contemporary 'names' of the 1960s are
then was much more common than in
there; one can see Martial Raysse
vis-a-vis Lichtenstein, and Hockney the years after the 1939-45 war, when
Pasmore, Frost, Hilton and a few
vis-a-vis Lindner — but few works hold
Scottish artists were ploughing their
one's attention for long. At the
lonely furrows.
beginning of this floor there are a very
'Aachen International 70-74' at
good black and white Kline and
the Royal Scottish Academy consisted
Gottlieb's Two Discs of 1963 which I
of a selection from the Ludwig
have regarded as one of his masterpieces
Collection, Aachen. Largeness of size
ever since seeing it in his retrospective
was the only unifying factor in a
six years ago; apart from these a smaller
hotchpotch assortment of super-realist
Olitski painting and a sculpture by Tim
and other works. A selection of the
Scott chime out like a bell. Both of
Academy's Summer Exhibition was
these say more than all the works
also on show and one could understand
around them; the Scott is a kind of
if visitors were baffled by the resulting
(Left) Henri Matisse La Serpentine difficult puzzle, not at all a straight-
1909 Bronze, 11½ x 7½ in. forward piece, in its odd proportions confusion.
Despite the closure of his gallery
(Above) Arshile Gorky Portrait of and placements.
Richard Demarco was able to put on a
Vartoosh c. 1932 Oil on canvas, 20 x I should mention also the catalogue
number of exhibitions, including one
15¼, in. of the inaugural exhibition, which is
of prisoners' art, in a variety of
(Below) Aerial view of the Hirshhorn something of a dictionary of modern
premises throughout Edinburgh, run a
Museum and Sculpture Garden art, with 290 colour plates and over
100 comments especially requested
Fruit Market Gallery, Edinburgh
from the artists themselves. This will be
'Eleven Dutch Artists' exhibition.
available in hardcover and in paperback.
Photo: R. Breen
Also the 141 storage walls on which the
paintings in the collection not on show
are hung, so that all are accessible for
study. Also the pleasant coincidence
that three days after this museum's
opening, a small loan show of
sculptures and drawings from its
collection will open at the Johnson
Library in Austin, Texas. It was thanks
to President and Mrs Johnson that
Mr Hirshhorn decided to give his
collection to Washington (rather than
to London, Zurich, Florence, or New
York State). But our chief thanks must
go to Mr and Mrs Hirshhorn who have
seen their own sculpture garden in
Connecticut dismantled in the past
few weeks, and who have now given to
Washington a museum collection that
enormously enriches the nation's
capital.
Andrew Hudson