Page 72 - Studio International - January February 1975

artists residing or passing through A narrow, oblong-shaped exhibitions and the sale prices
London can buy the first four paperback describing the fantastic their works obtained during the
Feedback numbers for 12p, and subscribe to projects, conceits, images and period Jan 1971 to June 1973. It
a further eight issues for only 50p. structures produced by such also contains details of 112 art
The newspaper carries tenuously architectural groups as galleries and 39 auction houses.
Writing about the newspaper photographs and layouts, collages Ant Farm, Archigram, The text is enlivened by over a
Art-Rite in the September 1974 etc. by artists, as well as Eventstructure Research, 9999. thousand small black-and-white
`Feedback' made me wonder yet information and reports. UFO . and by such individual illustrations.
again whether an artist- The first number of Exchange, designers as Max Peinter, Cedric
orientated art newspaper could a double-sided printed sheet Price, Ettore Sottsass and Hans Wassily Kandinsky: 'Regards
not flourish in London. I fancy dated October 1974, states that it Hollein. A comprehensive sur le passe' et autre textes 1912-
that although most of the content `is setting out to establish a classified bibliography is provided 1922; edited by Jean Paul
of the New York Art-Rite may communication network between for those who wish to read Bouillon. 328 pp, 8 plates; 7
not exactly turn a Londoner on, artists throughout Britain'. 'We further. illustrations. Bibliography. Paris:
something not too dissimilar but expect that the communication Hermann, 1974. (unpriced)
dealing instead with the London will come in many different forms, The First World War in posters A paperback containing a series
scene could well do so. While it but we will try to accommodate as from the Imperial War Museum, of important texts by Kandinsky.
would be preferable to cover a much as possible. Therefore the London; edited by Joseph `Regards ...' deals with the birth
wider region, even the whole of character of Exchange will be Darracott . xxiii, 72 plates; 75 of abstraction between 1913 and
the UK, it seems inevitable that variable. Sometimes it might illustrations (48 in colour). 1918 and the other writings date
London's art community would materialize as a paper, other Bibliography. New York: Dover; from the Blaue Reiter and Der
provide the central focus. The times as a book, a film, a London: Constable, 1974. Sturm period (1912-13). There
economics of such a publication performance or even simply a £2.80 paperback. is also an appendix which
may not be simple, but a meeting.' The first issue was Artists seeking a model for an art contains poems, letters and an
fortnightly newspaper with a distributed free, via the art which serves a political function interview.
commitment to the diversity of schools, but for subsequent issues need look no further than this John A. Walker
art now, and without any funds are necessary and a charge collection of nationalistic,
pretensions about becoming a will be made. If you would like a jingoistic posters produced by the
glossy, could provide a real focus copy write to Exchange, 11 various combatants involved in Vision
for polemic, criticism, debate and Redcliffe Place, London SW10, the first world war. It is ironic that
discontent. and enclose a stamp for return. the same crude images of
The only English precedent, Art Write too if you can help or are exhortation and the same
News and Review, did for a certain interested in helping. international art styles were used Independent Film on TV
period seem to be close to the The other newcomer is London for propaganda purposes by Dzi ga Vertov said `Film drama
concerns of its time, though this Art Student, also a double-sided artists on opposing sides. is the opium of the masses'. 1 feel
coincided with the commitment of folded sheet, but one which Examples by Steinlen, Nash, sure he would agree that it should
a few individuals. However, in its combines information regarding Nevinson, Brangwyn, Whitehead now read `tv is the opium ...'. It is
first issues in 1949 and 1950 it was lectures, exhibitions, clubs, films, and Pennell are included; the fairly plain to see just how much
already calling upon such discos etc. in art colleges and selection is introduced by a staff British tv is given over to
contributors as Alloway, related institutions in London, in member of the Imperial War programmes which in a literary
Robertson, Melville, Sylvester, one place. Further information Museum. equivalent would be no better
Hodin, Heron, Sutton, Banham, from London Art Student, c/o than the poorest romantic or
Blunt, Berger and Pevsner, and by Slade School of Fine Art, Will Bradley: his graphic art; detective comic strip. Even
the time it had reached its zenith University College London, edited by Clarence P. Hornung. documentary, information and
in the late fifties, when Alloway Gower Street, London, WC1. xxxvii, 97 pp; 97 illustrations news programmes do little more
had really found his voice, other Art newspapers are flourishing (27 in colour). New York: Dover; than provide a cathartic
contributors included Lynton, in other countries too, and a London: Constable, 1974. £2.24. spectacle. BBC 2 has never fulfilled
Bowness, Reichardt and Roger couple more from a different Posters, illustrations, typographic even Radio 3's function of
Coleman, together with artists region offer further contrasts. The design and decoration by the covering independent, minority
such as Richard Smith, Harold American West Coast Artweek American artist Will Bradley or controversial views, and since
Cohen, Rumney, Hill and Kitaj. costs 35c. a week from P.O. Box (1868-1962). Bradley was a it has become nation-wide it has
Perhaps the time is ripe for 2496, Castro Valley, CA 94546, member of the American Arts and increasingly duplicated the style
another such enterprise, but done and includes reviews, Crafts movement and a great and range of the two more
better and to a somewhat correspondence, exhibition lists exponent of the Art Nouveau `popular' channels. The social role
different formula. and small ads. Its somewhat style. All the examples reproduced of tv creates for it a normative
During 1973 and 1974 The staid format resembles the old in this collection date from the tendency. The nightly tv vigil of
Mewspaper emanated from the Art News and Review. But there period 1893 to 1915. The the majority of the population
Royal College of Art and lasted is also Mail Order Art (or at introduction incorporates provides the main basis for a
for 25 issues; it began as a college least there was a year or so back), Bradley's `Notes towards an unified 'national' consciousness.
newspaper but gradually, available from 687 Fairmont autobiography'. The boat may not be rocked too
apparently due to the apathy of Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611 in much, nor too much thought
its potential readership, began to the same state. This gives each The art of the Japanese kite by provoked. Though in the
reflect wider issues and to artist or group of artists a page Tal Streeter. 183 pp; 130 conditions of broadcasting there
communicate outside the college. in which they can describe what illustrations (many in colour). is clear, explicit, political and
However, since its demise at least they have available for sale by Bibliography. New York & moral censorship, more
three other newspapers have mail order, at least that's what it Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1974. $20. important and more difficult to
appeared in London, suggesting appears to be doing, for while one combat is the implicit censorship,
that there is a need for extra can buy artist-designed T-shirts, Some Japanese are kite freaks. filtering and manipulation created
channels of communication. postcards and stickers, all one They fly kites which vary in size by the structure itself. Television's
Art Meeting Place News has at learns from one artist, in a caption from inches to three hundred feet; organizational structure, social
the time of writing produced the below a close-up picture of one giant kite requires a team of function, the limit on broadcast
most issues, six, over a five-month Donald Duck glomping, is that: fifty men to control it! For once time, duplication between
period. Obviously the information 'In my first life I lived to be the title does not exaggerate — channels, 'good' taste and even
carried by this newspaper on a seventy-two/in my second life I judging from the stunning the liberal concept of 'balance'
single densely packed folded sheet was a grasshopper and a bird ate examples illustrated here — make it almost impossible to show
focusses on the Art Meeting me before I was a week old/thank Japanese kite making is a major risky or minority-interest
Place, which is a 'collective you'. And thank you. Clive Phillpot artform. The American author is material.
managed by its users' which seeks a sculptor and creator of giant At the same time there is a
`to maintain its meeting area, kites; he includes a chapter on production paradox. With 16mm
gallery, and information centre how to make kites. film, the facilities for independent
free from commercial pressures', Books film production are increasingly
and which, while having its roots Bolaffi international catalogue of good. Television does nothing to
in a locality, is open to all. 'At modern art, No. 2. viii, 248 pp; present this work, whilst its effect
present there is no inflated Architettura `radicale' by Paolo 1444 illustrations. Turin: Giulio limits cinema audiences.
institutional sub. for AMP News', Navone & Bruno Orlandoni. 200 Bolaffi, 1974. 30,000 lire. Consequently a lot of independent
so institutions as well as pp; over 130 illustrations. A reference tool of interest to films are being made only to
individuals wishing to inform Bibliography. G. Milani — dealers and collectors which receive very limited presentation,
themselves or others of the Documenti di Casabella, 1974. provides brief biographies of 250 mostly through university film
activities and facilities open to (unpriced) contemporary artists. It lists their societies. There is a growing
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