Page 90 - Studio International - November December 1975

exhibitions during his period with the Nice Style Pose would prefer a private gallery to show an alternative,
Band. In fact he had resigned from the New Art show complementary exhibition rather than identical work.
declaring that he was not an artist, having just fulfilled One advantage of British sluggishness is that
his ambition to be 'King for a Day' (the Tate Gallery had corruption takes the form of mental prejudice rather than
given him a one-day retrospective under that title). The the more 'realistic' materialism of administrators in other
completely undefinable McLean produced a conservative countries.
exhibition of his early photographic work for the upper The exhibition of paintings by Duncan Grant, the
gallery. Marcel Broodthaers is a Belgian artist who has 90 year-old survivor of Bloomsbury, was organized
lived in London since 1972. He lived in Düsseldorf in the originally by David Brown for the Scottish National
late sixties but chose to leave because of the attitude that Gallery. It is Brown who organized exhibitions by Agnes
has brought about the downfall of Brandt. He is a man Martin, Richard Long and Sol LeWitt in Edinburgh before
with wide cultural references and a unique understanding he left to join the staff of the Tate. In the small gallery was
of social conditioning. Talking to Serota one can tell that an exhibition of a young English artist, Leslie Foxcroft,
working with Broodthaers has been one of his most who had only shown once before at the Fischer Gallery
important experiences at Oxford. A work by the artist was in Düsseldorf. Her work at Oxford was variations on a
purchased by the Tate Gallery during the exhibition. 9 x 9 grid formed from different qualities of white paper
When this occurs MOMA receives a percentage of the pinned to the white walls. Other young artists have been
sale. encouraged by exhibitions in the small gallery, including
The New Gallery at the ICA opened at the same time Bruce Robbins with a slide installation that analysed the
with an installation by Broodthaers to start the physical and social connotations of the space. And John
programme. The appointment of Barry Barker as Murphy, who had shown earlier work in Ibsen's
Director of the new gallery has reopened the ICA to programme, made an exhibition of his blank music
contemporary art. Serota and Barker have similar manuscript book and single line drawings.
attitudes but different responsibilities. They have The current exhibition in the small and middle galleries
worked together again on the Art and Language is a retrospective view of the Art and Language group. An
exhibitions. The co-operation of the two galleries and the exhibition which emphasizes the visual quality of
open dialogue between the two men is one of the most printed texts and leaves the serious reading to the issue of
important developments of recent years. England has the magazine published by MOMA. Art and Language
many important artists but few creative administrators. are appropriate to Oxford not only for their references to
The Tate Gallery is beginning to plan exhibitions of Oxford philosophy. Members of the group live in the area
artists in the 30 to 40 age group for the new extension. and one of the proposals for MOMA when Ibsen left was
Edinburgh has become particularly active in the past two made by Charles Harrison for a permanent Art and
years and there are encouraging signs of activity in Language Institute alongside temporary shows.
Newcastle and new developments in the programme of The Art and Language exhibition is sandwiched
the Arnolfini in Bristol. The outlook in Britain appears to between paintings and drawings by Stephen Buckley, a
be improving. Kasmin Gallery artist who is without a showing space
During the Broodthaers exhibition Barbara Reise gave a since his dealer withdrew from Bond Street and Covent
lecture using the museum tradition of guided tours to Garden. Buckley, as a previous artist-in-residence at
produce both a form and a content to describe the artist. King's College, Cambridge, was an appropriate choice at
Recently lectures and performances at MOMA have been a time when Oxford has just taken its first artist-in-
closely connected with the exhibitions. The earlier residence.
programme of varied events caused administrative When this article appears there will be an exhibition of
problems and suffered from the distance between paintings by Alan Charlton in the upper gallery. Charlton
London and Oxford. It is not without amusement that one is also an artist without a gallery in London. He showed
watches the 4.05 Paddington to Oxford train fill with art for a time with Nigel Greenwood but decided to withdraw
supporters on the Saturdays when exhibitions open. because he had developed a closer relationship with the
In June and July the two main galleries contained the Fischer Gallery in Düsseldorf. Fischer has a key
Poetry of Carl Andre (cf Studio International Sept/Oct reputation amongst British artists, being the first gallery
Review). This exhibition, like the Beuys show, was anywhere to show many British artists including
criticized for not including the artist's sculpture. It was Richard Long, Hamish Fulton, Gilbert and George and
neither the fault of the artist nor of the gallery, but a Bruce McLean. Charlton has become one of Europe's
problem which will increasingly occur with medium- major painters in the past couple of years, although
sized exhibitions of important artists whose work is ironically his work is hardly known in this country. His
virtually unknown in this country. formalist canvases are painted a single flat grey, which
Serota wished that he had more time to work with varies slightly in tone in different paintings. The
Andre on the exhibition. Although Andre was an artist he substantial canvases are constructed to show an area of
particularly wanted to show, he did not feel he could just the wall either as a slot or frame within the surface of the
ring New York. With artists of Andre's stature he has to canvas. His exhibition at Oxford will be followed by a one-
wait until he meets the artist or a gallery makes man exhibition at the Castelli Gallery in New York—the
arrangements for him to offer an exhibition. The Andre first time the gallery of Warhol, Johns, Rauschenberg
show was set in motion when Serota heard about an and Stella has ever shown an English artist. After
exhibition being organized in Berne. Andre arrived in Oxford the Charlton exhibition will travel to Eindhoven in
London a few weeks before the exhibition to prepare a Holland. There is nothing I can add to the story of the
piece for the Condition of Sculpture exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford to provide a more
Hayward. He returned to hang the exhibition. It was appropriate conclusion to this first instalment.
not easy under these conditions for the artist to fully
understand the role of the gallery and the knowledge
people have of his work.
One of the most difficult problems for Serota and for all U.K. REVIEWS
curators of public galleries is their relationship to
commercial galleries. His solution is to concentrate on
working directly with artists, which he anyhow prefers.
He admits that it does embarrass him when a Don Judd
commercial gallery, with whom he is obviously in
sympathy, organizes an exhibition to coincide with a Lisson Gallery
show in Oxford. Museum programmes are long-term September
and even the Arts Council has had to accept Waddington's
making exhibitions at the same time as major
retrospectives at the Hayward. It is human (or at least Reviewed by P. A. Rosenbloom
commercial) nature, and it is through the galleries that
curators usually come to know an artist's work. But he Don Judd exhibited two new plywood installations at
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