Page 94 - Studio International - July August 1975

cuts in Le Gac's narrative. His
cunning clumsiness with words is,
of course, a willed device - meant
to disclaim literary ambitions.
His viewpoint justifies this
reactionary gesture. Such
simplicities must be combined
with the additive elements of an
iconography to establish his claim
that his work is primarily an
oeuvre of vision - and not some
sort of poetry. In fact, the poetic
elements are so strong in his
panels that composition must
hold them in check - for without
this sort of control Le Gac's
messages would assume a
self-sufficient importance. It is,
therefore, not surprising that
Le Gac tends to exercise
restraint over both the meanings
of the word 'composition'.
Nevertheless, the process has its
own dangers. His messages
overspill far too easily into
sentimentalism. For instance, he Rob van Koningsbruggen. Untitled, 1974. Oil on canvas, 82 x 153 cm
refers to a young woman in these
terms: 'Je ne nie pas que cette length of time during which they against an utterly esoteric else - a challenge which Ryman,
élève all de bons parents et have been working in a background of white, grey and apparently, accepts in order to
peut-être même un petit-ami . . 'fundamental' manner. dark muted brown and olive make the painting reveal
There is a feminine squeamishness Consequently, the exhibition surfaces unrelieved by an inner 'something that was unknown
in speaking about a 'petit-ami' reflected an increase in the structure that might have guided before, even to himself'. Twenty
instead of using the word occurrence of certain pictorial the eye from the perception of the years ago, this process of
'amant' - both of which mean phenomena rather than the whole to the observation of 'creating a new country in order
'lover' in English; this pretentious emergence of a new group or details. These flat objects, often that one may become its
note is reinforced by the school. rendered unwieldy by size, three- discoverer' used to be described
prudishly intended 'peut-être' - Fourteen painters had been dimensional bulk, or the in terms of magical operations
which implies a falsely accentuated loosely grouped into four absence of a stretcher, offered no and cosmic drama. Naomi
hesitation on the writer's part. 'chapters' around the work of clue as to their use or Spector merely states that 'with
It has a gossipy quality about it. Robert Ryman, Brice Marden, significance; their details, in each painting there is more
But these lapses are infrequent Robert Mangold and Agnes many cases no more than chance discovered and shown us about
and it is possible to maintain that Martin respectively. The first variations in colour density, the qualities of different paints
they contribute towards the ('rough, textured surfaces') looked perfectly interchangeable. and surfaces.'
optical appeal of Le Gac's work- included Jaap Berghuis, Jake Under the circumstances, Despite such indications of
because, in the main, they help Berthot, Gerhard Richter, Kees Marden's two and three-colour sobering up, one may continue to
to undermine the independence of Smits, part of the work of pieces and Mangold's shaped wonder about the crucial role of
the texts. As they stand, the Tomas Rajlich, and two artists canvases appeared reassuringly The Unknown in art. It might be
panels present notes of nostalgia who paint by rubbing painted familiar. In fact, Mangold's argued for example, that the
in cacophonous terms which have surfaces against one another: inclusion in the exhibition may be tension between the familiar and
the force to pierce the defences of Rob van Koningsbruggen and questioned. Nearly all his the alien, the probable and the
contemporary perception. There Richard Jackson. The latter paintings shown in Amsterdam possible is at the heart of our
is a harsh and principled scheme executed some wall-paintings on elaborated the contrast between relationship to the environment,
to Le Gac's attitude and it the spot, leaving the canvases the picture as an unusually both in space and in time, and
employs every available means he had used as 'brushes' in their shaped, uniformly coloured that art offers opportunities of
of depersonalizing the evidence of final position, face to the wall, object and a configuration of experiencing this tension in the
his autobiographical art. The among the rainbows of paint straight or curved lines abstract, without the need for
picture content of it comes via the which marked their trajectories. inscribed on its surface. However immediate decisions. The
camera instead of the paint brush Around Marden were grouped 'fundamental', this theme set Stedelijk Museum, however,
and the legends of it are immersed Raimund Girke, Jerry Zeniuk, him clearly apart from the others takes a different line in defending
in second-hand sensations. Louis Cane and Alan Charlton and the presence of his work its right to force the work of the
('uniform surfaces'), although disrupted the unity of the artists included in Fundamental
R. C. Kenedy Cane and Charlton might also exhibition. Painting upon the public. As
have been associated with The exclusion of every possible already stated, their
Mangold and Stephen use or significance results in a 'reductionism' is interpreted as a
Rosenthal in the next division, kind of strangeness, an alien return to 'the basic principles of
Holland to the extent that all four are in quality which constitutes one of painting.' I want to discuss this
the main characteristics of these
some way concerned with the
argument because it reveals
shape of the support. Finally, paintings. Kandinsky noted this something of the motives which
Edda Renouf and Marthe Wéry quality in the raw material on his influence the assessment of new
The Fundamental Painting were grouped with Agnes Martin palette; it induced him to phenomena in the art world.
exhibition at the Stedelijk on account of a common interest attribute to the paint squeezed The phrase 'basic principles
Museum, Amsterdam, purported in lines, which in my opinion was out of his tubes 'a life of its own' of painting' implies, logically,
to present a number of artists a mistake. It is true that the and an inherent creative potential. that there is such a thing as
'who are involved first and uniform grids in Agnes Martin's Since then, this experience has Painting apart from individual
foremost with the basic paintings consist of lines, but been sought and described paintings or other signs of
principle(s) of painting. That is to their effect depends on again and again. The search led painterly activity. Painting in this
say, those who restrict themselves uniformity rather than to the painting's deliberate sense may be imagined as a
in the most self-critical manner to linearity, and in this respect estrangement, not only from system of possibilities awaiting
anti-illusionistic painting, in Rajlich is closer to her than traditional significances, but realization, some of them
which moreover all compositional Edda Renouf (at least where the even from the painter himself, incapable of reduction to
elements are absent,' as Rini latter uses only two or three who was kicked out of his own anything else and therefore to be
Dippel put it in her introduction lines, created by the removal of creation, so to speak, at the considered 'fundamental' to all
to the catalogue. The painters single threads from the fabric of moment of completion and others. Such a system may be
selected were scattered over a the canvas). found himself wondering what it conceived simply as a set of
large part of the world and Viewing the exhibition was a all meant like any 'ordinary' techniques for handling visual
varied greatly in age (dates of somewhat uncanny experience. viewer. Naomi Spector, writing of material. The next step would be
birth range from 1930 to 1948, I overheard a couple of guards Ryman, points to 'the difficult to include the intention of
but Agnes Martin - born 1912 discussing the financial problems challenge' of preventing the stimulating the human mind in
- was also included) and the of their approaching retirement paint from appearing as something certain ways through the

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