Page 47 - Studio International - May June 1975

celebratory exterior at Whitechapel. Fortunately we can see this idea already
There were very few others. taking root at Milton Keynes New Town.
The modern movement, however, Most of the galleries we illustrate here
produced an art and some fragments of have a less rigid form than many of the
built architecture which had these new buildings designed in the late fifties
common roots. Identity was established and illustrated by Mr. Brawne. Although
and spatial ideas were commonly one of the largest, The National Gallery
understood. For a brief period at Berlin is strongly formal (fig it),
Constructivism, Neoplasticism and there appears to be an increasing
Purism were spelt out in manifestos, art tendency for smaller galleries to be more
and building. Lissitzky and Tatlin, Van intimate. This is especially highlighted by
Doesberg and Rietvelt (Duiker was a the sensitive work of Philip Johnson. His
man apart), Ozenfant, Le Corbusier and elegant formal galleries at Lincoln,
Léger were all making `L'Esprit Nebraska (1963) and Utica, New York
Nouveau' a reality. R. H. Wilenski (196o), have now given way to a different
writes 'Le Corbusier, who had been but equally serene form of great subtlety,
trained as an architect painted purist as at Corpus Christi, Texas (1974) (p io).
pictures while he worked with The main problems for architects
Ozenfant, and then went back to in designing a gallery are not only to
architecture, broom in hand, sweeping provide properly lit volumes with
away the flummeries of "ye olde" this and stands or surfaces on which exhibits are
that, rejoicing in the new materials placed but equally important to arrange a
available, designing in terms of concrete, flow of rooms through which people
glass and chromium plating for the needs come and go, seeing and talking in
and possibilities of contemporary living, comfort (but probably not of
creating a new fuctional architecture in Michelangelo), with enough space to
Ozenfant's purist-cubist aesthetic. view the exhibits with ease and with
From 1924 onwards purist-functionalism information provided either by written
became the guiding force in architecture, notes or localized audio equipment.
interior equipment, women's dress, and Michael Compton in his article
so forth; it created the characteristic discusses various arrangements of rooms
style of the first two post-war decades.' 8 from the point of view of a curator, he
(fig 4 and 5). Although not a gallery the refers to the usual sequences of gallery
Hague office building', De Volharding, spaces arranged 'en suite'. However
1928, by Buus and Liirsen seems to when the sequence is encountered
communicate in terms of form, light through several floors the effect is of a
and graphics as well as any (fig 6) in the helical form through which the visitor
art of the Modern Movement. usually moves downwards after taking a
T. Lowinsky's little known fashion lift to the top. The most obvious
plates (fig 7 and 8), accompanied by example of this is the Guggenheim
Raymond Mortimer's early but Museum in New York. In some galleries
perceptive essay'° underline this the helix is left open to a central space,
felicitous but heroic moment of a new as in the Guggenheim, and the Van
understanding between architecture and Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, where
design. The formation in 1933 of 'Unit cross views are given from one side of
One' by various English artists and the gallery to another. This form often
architects, chronicled by Herbert Read,11 results in the pictures exhibited, when
led to a rare felicitous experience in our viewed across the void, being dominated
country. This was given impetus by the by the scale of the building and losing
European emigres who together formed their own identity. There is a further
`Circle'.' Their manifesto of the same technical difficulty with this form in an
name was edited by an architect, an air-conditioned building, as it is
artist and a sculptor. expensive to arrange a satisfactory system
The last time in this country such a of air distribution through spaces of this
moment was touched was when the last kind of complexity. The more successful
remnants of the Euston Road Group galleries with a helical sequence of spaces
decided to mount the 'This is Tomorrow' are those in which these are self-
Exhibition in 1956 — the exhibition was contained such as the Walker Art Centre,
finally put together with a younger Minneapolis (see page oo). A further
group whose activities were mostly problem of this type of gallery is that
centered in the ICA. The Whitechapel there may be little opportunity for
shimmered then with hope, excitement flexibility of space and one is left with a
and expectation (fig 9 and to), and series of fixed volumes. In this plan form
everyone wore fluorescent socks. there should be preferably a range of
Ten years have now elapsed since spaces compatible in scale with the
Michael Brawne's exemplary survey of varying dimensions of pictures desired to
new museums and galleries was be hung. The other obvious alternative
published.' 3 Very much of what Mr. plan form is one where there is an
Brawne forecast has happened and the inherent flexibility in which dividing
last ten years has seen the expected screens can be placed at will to form the
large programme of gallery building. spaces most suitable for the hanging
The one distinct tendency in more arrangement required. Where this is
recent years has been for galleries and done skilfully the prospects are
museums to widen their scope of promising of seeing successful
activity and become 'centres' for the exhibitions arranged in a variety of ways.
various arts. The term 'centres', to me at The new extension to the Tate Gallery
any rate, smacks somewhat of and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, both
commercial emporia. For my part I at present being built, have large
would prefer a 'club' idea, and hope uninterrupted spaces with this facility of
that this could be more in evidence. subdivision. Whereas this form of
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