Page 93 - Studio International - March April 1975

too fished in these muddy waters for his And why does the reproduction of David of cultural history in this country
aesthetic judgements, and then still Milne's The Empty House on the cover practically no mention is ever made of the
wondered about originality. As social have rounded corners ? Lord also finds WPA. This is especially true in the field
critic, Lord measures Canadian history this a significant painting, but neither he of fine arts. American culture of the '3os
in terms of its subjection to external nor Reid have much to say on the effect together with anything else lying outside
control. The categories of Canadian of TV on Canadian vision. the London/New York shuttle service has
culture have been determined by However, it is not that one faults Reid tended to be consigned to limbo.
successive forms of dominance : of trader on his adherence to the conventions, nor `The New Deal for Artists' and 'WPA,
and settler over the native people, of the Lord for flaunting them, but it would be Art for the Millions' are two excellently
Catholic Church over the Quebec good to have from Reid a fuller workout produced and well-written books that go
habitant, the French regime, the British of the theme which gives Canadian a long way in providing critical comment
regime, the subjection of French Canada history, and art, its tensions and and documentation on the period. The
to English, and the subjection of the uniqueness, but which only appears here former is a rational and reasoned history
whole country to US imperialism. as an undercurrent; and from Lord, less of the WPA and provides much
Lord is well-known for his commitment polemic. He deserves to be taken information on its structure and
and ability in all three roles, but in seriously, especially in the enclaves of administration.
combination their contradictions swing bourgeois liberalism, Canadian and It is particularly good in evaluating the
him from the sublime to the ridiculous. other.. role and personality of Holger Cahill who
He is optimistic about the future from Charlotte Townsend became Director of the Federal Arts
signs like Canadian Artists Representation Project in 1935. Cahill, a former Director
and various co-operatives. But aren't of Exhibitions at the Museum of Modern
such 'unions' finding that they have to Art in New York, possessed great driving
contend with, and be compromised by, Irradicatable force and vision. A friend of Mark Tobey,
just the same old forces ? It has yet to be William Groper and John Sloan, Cahill
proven that the current upsurge of Art for the Millions was undoubtedly instrumental in
nationalism is part of any radical change enlarging the scope of the FAP and in
in the control of the society's material Essays from the 1930's by Artists and raising its standards. The diversity of the
base, rather than just another phase of Administrators of the WPA Federal Art work of artists working under its auspices
maple leaf window-dressing. And what of Project. is evidence of the wide range of talent
Lord's polemical style ? It is very Edited by Francis V. O'Connor. 317 pp. used. They included Morris Graves,
readable, and so should be 'popular'. But $100 black and white illustrations. Jackson Pollock, Jack Levine and
as style it often obtrudes, an international New York Graphic Society Ltd., Rockwell Kent.
polemic. By his own criteria it can hardly Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.A. £i 1.00. `Art for the Millions' is an invaluable
be said to be distinctively Canadian. The New Deal for Artists work since it is essentially concerned with
This is a fascinating and infuriating By Richard D. Mckinzie. 203 pp. documentation. It is made up from some
book, and in that sense at least 189 black and white illustrations. sixty-five essays covering all aspects of the
representative of the Canadian dilemma. Princeton University Press U.S.A. $17.50. WPA. Most of the contributors are artists
Whether or not change is feasible, Lord and social workers who were directly
is not alone in seeing recognition of its Modern Mexican Painters concerned with WPA work. The
necessity as the spirit which has informed By Mackinley Hilm. 205 pp. 95 black and appendix contains extremely interesting
all real Canadian art. The rest is white illustrations. statistical information and a listing of all
obeisance to the opposition. That the Dover Publications Inc., New York, WPA projects.
discomfiture of the traditional concepts of U.S.A. Constable publishers. £2.80. One of the most remarkable features
Western art history when brought face to of the WPA lay in the dichotomy
face with Canadian art may be the fault of Within the next decade there will between a relative lack of ideology in
the concepts rather than the art is well almost certainly be a very radical terms of directives and the radicalism of
illustrated by Dennis Reid's book. Reid reappraisal of some of the most cherished some of the artists whose work it
wields the conventions of the Concise and enshrined ideas concerning Western sponsored. Stemming as it did from
History as well as he is able, given that his twentieth-century art. Casualties will improvisation those directing the initial
theme also is Canadian-ness and the result. Amongst the first will be the stages of the programme were motivated
search for it through art. This worked concept of avant gardism and that of more by philanthropy than by cultural
satisfactorily in his definitive book on the `international style'. or aesthetic considerations. Before Holger
Group of Seven. Here a rather pedestrian The concept of avant gardism, Cahill became Director of the Federal
book is rescued by its contradictions — authentically meaningful in the first two Arts Project in 1935 the criteria used to
between what a scholar cannot miss and decades of this century was a vital factor define the 'middle course' that American
a Canadian might like to, between doing of Modernism. It operated on the basis state sponsored art was supposed to take
the art-historically respectable, Canadian of artistic probes. When required its role tended to be simplistic and homespun.
art seen as inextricably mixed up in the was subversive. Modernism has collapsed There was opposition to 'ladies in cheese
international context, and making some and the avant garde, committed to a cloth', 'abstractionist tripe' and much
kind of a case for its autonomy. sterile and uninterrupted act of talk of how to curb works of social
Reid owes, and acknowledges, a debt provocation, fully institutionalized, is protest by stopping 'the Mexican
to Russell Harper's 'Painting in Canada' now mummified. Its 'subversive' role is invasion on the border'. Though the
which appeared in 1966 and remains the non-existent. The concept of an period lies outside the scope of both books
major authority. Indeed his book international style is equally redundant. the last slogan was to take on a far more
encapsulates most of the received Dependent on a doubtful nomenclature sinister ring in the early '5os when
opinions on the subject, which makes it and a speculative art market it is now McCarthyism began its systematic witch
valuable as a reference. For the rest, it is particularly vulnerable. hunting of American artists. What
the guide that it aims to be, not to Under the circumstances it is not clearly emerges from 'The New Deal for
Canadian painting, but to a way of surprising that attention is now being Artists' is the fact that although there was
looking at that painting, based on the drawn increasingly to alternative general agreement that the WPA should
belief that of all the arts it is painting that possibilities based on fairly recent history, be 'socially useful' no structure could
has best reflected the Canadian and especially those engendered by a exist within the American system which
experience. This is how, the dominance social and economic crisis that bears a would develop this well-intentioned idea
of Canadian generations, set up the striking resemblance to our current into a cultural philosophy and by so doing
categories instead of the 'isms', how the situation. The Works Programme incorporate it ideologically into
high points are selected, the personal Administration of the '30s, a product of progressive politics. The WPA led a
judgements occasionally permitted and Roosevelt's attempts to counter the precarious existence because in the long
the art/society link occasionally made. depression through the New Deal is an run it was economically dependent on the
But, incidentally, why are some of the obvious example. goodwill of Harry Hopkins or Eleanor
most important things said in footnotes ? It is characteristic that in the teaching Roosevelt. Thus when curbs and crisis
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