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Vie des arts

Texts in English

Number 68, Fall 1972

URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/58967ac

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Publisher(s) La Société La Vie des Arts

ISSN 0042-5435 (print) 1923-3183 (digital)

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Cite this article (1972). Texts in English. Vie des arts, (68), 89–100.

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This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ THE VANCOUVER ART GALLERY DANS LES GALERIES DE ... (suite) 1145, rue Georgia Ouest Jusqu'au 29 octobre : Enquête sur l'art canadien actuel; Jusqu'au 25 octobre: Venturl et Rauch; 29 octobre-5 novembre : Cinéma structuré; 15 novembre -17 décembre : REGINA Prix Théodoron; Directions 72 : Dean Ellis et Richard THE NORMAN MACKENZIE ART GALLERY Prince. University de Saskatchewan Jusqu'au 31 octobre : Sculptures d'extérieur; Jusqu'au 15 octobre: Legs Douglas Duncan; 27 octobre-26 novembre: NEW-YORK Diversité : Est canadien; 10-13 novembre : Sérigraphies WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART d'Alex Colville; Jusqu'au 15 décembre : Exposition de 945, avenue Madison jouets fabriqués par des artistes de la Saskatchewan. Jusqu'au 23 octobre : Executive Order 9066, Exposition photographique par Maisie et Richard Conrat; Jusqu'au 5 novembre: Albert Blerstadt (1830-1902): 16 octobre-26 SASKATOON novembra : Dessins de Joseph E. Yoakum; 19 octobre - 3 ART CENTRE. MENDEL ART GALLERY décembre: Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903); 18 no­ AND CIVIC CONSERVATORY vembre - 7 janvier : Rétrospective de Lucas Samaras; Jusqu'au 15 octobre : Notations en passant par Nathan 21 novembre -1 janvier : Gravures de Louis Lozowick : Lyons (1970); 1 au 31 octobre: Joe Plaskett & Don 12 décembre -14 janvier : Sam Francis. Paris; 15 octobre-15 novembre: Peintures de F.N. THE SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM Loveroff; Novembre : Gravures sur le Théâtre au 18e siècle; 1071, Cinquième Avenue 15 novembre-15 décembre: Enquête sur la Saskatchewan, préparée par le Centre d'Art de Saskatoon; 1 au 31 dé­ 6 octobre - 26 novembre : Exposition de jeunes artistes cembre : Sérigraphies d'Alex Colville. d'Amsterdam, de Paris et de DUsseldorf ; 27 octobre - 21 janvier : Joan Miro : Champs magnétiques; 8 décembre - 11 février : Eva Hesse. VANCOUVER MIDO GALLERY — 936, rue Principale PARIS 1-20 octobre : Sculptures de Vancouver; 22 octobre -10 MUSÉE DU LOUVRE novembre : Ruth Anne Booth; 12 novembre -1 décembre : Exposition de tapisseries d'artistes de Vancouver; 3-23 Jusqu'au 2 octobre : Le Dessin Français néoclassique; décembre : Exposition de Noël. 21 octobre-31 décembre: Dessins du Musée Teyler EQUINOX GALLERY — 1139A, rue Robson Harlem; 14 octobre - 22 janvier : Exposition de la Col­ Octobre, novembre et décembre : En permanence : Josef lection de François 1er. Albers, Herbert Bayer, Paul-V. Beaulieu, Edith Bouchard, MUSÉE NATIONAL D'ART MODERNE Marie-Cécile Bouchard, S.-Mary Bouchard, Jack Bush, A. J. 7 octobre • 4 décembre : AGAM. Casson, Patrick Caulfield, Jean Dallaire, J. C. de Vilallonga, ORANGERIE DES TUILERIES Wayne Eastcot, Lillian Freiman, Emlllo Greco, Gordon House, E. J. Hughes, Gary Lee-Nova, Jean-Paul Lemieux, 27 octobre - S Janvier : L'Art nègre dans les collections Norman McLaren, Michael Morris, Kasuo Nakamura, Alfred publiques françaises. Pellan, Helen Piddlngton, Jean-Paul Riopelle, David Roberts, GALERIES NATIONALES DU GRAND-PALAIS George Segal, Ernest Trova, Victor Vasarely, Ronald 11 octobre-11 décembre: Barnett Newman; 18 octobre - Woodall. 15 janvier: L'Ecole de Fontainebleau; 28 octobre-18 dé­ cembre : Photographies soviétiques.

substructure is directly bound to the techno­ ART IMPLIED IN THE BEAUTIFUL logical and scientific revolution, (and) this TEXTS IN AND THE USEFUL culture in full development creates its models in a new system of the arts: movies, comic By Andrée PARADIS strip, design, pop music, architecture (town planning), etc. Besides, it borrows its techni­ ques of thought and its knowledge from the To look at implied art is to analyse a form language of the sciences, modern mathematics, ENGLISH of spontaneous art which results from a com­ physics, biology and sciences of man."d) bination of circumstances most often non- The new culture offers many examples of premeditated. Thus, more and more, the implied art, this dimension which adds to beauty of machines, the severe style of the design, which is concerned especially with useful object, the astonishing variety of the form after having put function in question. graphic image create new and powerful im­ Etienne Souriau defines implied art by con­ pressions in the receiver or visual consumer trasting it with the old idea of applied art capable of appreciating beauty by the simple (that is, in industry): "This amount of art means of the imagination, without the abso­ which is found not superimposed or added to lute necessity of having recourse to the crite­ industrial work, as a correction or an addition ria of the past. The progressive awakening of more cr less refundant, but the amount of a collective awareness of the problem of industrial art, from the time when it is per­ physical and cultural environment coincides fected and achieves new forms accomplished with an implicit recognition of this art matter or admirable; a quantity of art which certainly ot course that we find in the prime object — can be discerned by an analysis of thought mainspring of the industrial age — and in the but which can be put aside only by thought many productions of the age of communi­ because it is an intimate part of this creative cation. work, in which it occurs inevitably and by What is happening is exactly the opposite its very nature."(2) At the side of great artistic of the predictions put forth by dogmatists experiments which are to be found at the level such as Durkheim and Wilbois, who at the of forms of thought and which exist by their beginning of the century denounced the taste only momentum, this other form of art of the in art and the concern for safeguarding aes­ beautiful in the useful manifests, it too, the thetic values as incompatible with the advent need which man feels to express his talents, of an industrial society. Art, at least colour, is his knowledge, to the world. taking possession of the public square, is (Translation by Mildred Grand) installing itself in the factory, and is invading the localities of public transport. It is evident NOTES that the technological revolution entails the (1) P.-H. Rivière et L. Danchin, Linguistique et cul­ collapse of the substructure of traditional cul­ ture nouvelle. Éditions Universitaires, 1971, p. 10. ture, but at the same time it gives birth to (2) Charles Lalo, Etienne Souriau, Raymond Bayer, Revue d'Esthétique, Presses Universitaires de "a new culture, not learned in school, whose France, Tome IV, 1951, p. 237. to the facts of assembly implicit in the defi­ nition of an industrial product. The importance of design in our industrial society depends on its ideological, economic and social implications. Thanks to the nume­ rous studies to which it gives rise, it is characterized by efforts tending to humanize modern techniques. On the other hand, its achievements give an aesthetic value to our civilization. Its power of attraction upon the eye, dynamic and constantly renewed, encour­ ages trade of the object on world markets and stimulates export. To raise the level of good taste and the conditions of life of all are among its objectives. Design can play a posi­ tive rôle in economic life. It is, however, necessary for it to define constantly reasonable policies which answer the needs of the society in which we live, capitalist or socialist, but firmly industrial. Another important function of design: to offer to the consumer the final opportunity to create his own environment, and to be able to make personal choices. That having been said, the design which attained professional height at the time of the Bauhaus, does not succeed nowadays in keeping alive the sense of research which had distinguished it at its birth; with this exception; if you wish, con­ cerning Italy, where activity in this area is FURNITURE IN QUEBEC intense and puts Italian design in the fore­ most places of the avant-garde, as the Bau­ haus was itself in the time of the neoplastic By Laurent LAMY forms of Mies van der Rohe. However, we continue to be impressed by the present Do you know that in 1970 the sales of achievements which are seen in official ex­ Quebec furniture reached 286 million dollars, positions, where three-quarters of the objects of which more than a third, 115 million, show affiliation with Jacobson, Eames, Mies represents the amount of sales in other van der Rohe, Breuer or Le Corbusier. Nothing provinces of Canada? Here is a real economic less is needed than a Joe Colombo, an Olivier potential. But in spite of these figures, the Mourgue or a Pierre Paulin to break the greater part of design remains poor in Quebec. routine and the established forms, although Although for about twenty years a few the true revolutionary formulas concern chiefly creators and a few institutions have sought to the treatment of new materials (this is seen give an impetus to design, the delay has been in the expansion of polyuréthane foam with considerable. In 1956 and 1957. the index Gaetano Pesce or again in the inflatable published by the National Council of Design structures of Quasar). If, for many years, a showed among the worth-while products, only seat of Le Corbusier, Breuer or Mies van der very few objects made in Quebec. After the Rohe has identified its author as clearly as a war, the consumers who wanted furniture canvas of Picasso, design today touches a conforming to the standards of good design THE BEAUTY OF DESIGN public much greater and is becoming more A COMMERCIAL ASSET? had no other recourse than to buy furniture and more the sign of an emancipation achiev­ imported from Scandinavia or the United ed under the sponsorship of progressive States. For thirty years Knoll and Herman By Patrick DANAN manufacturers. Miller therefore placed on the international Through ruptures which engender mutations, market the creations of pioneers of design Design tends to use the form of the object Pierre Francastel has written, human societies which have become classics: Breuer's chair, in a precise aim toward sales; a good presen­ have as their chief function the creation of Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona, Bertoia's tation sometimes compensates for the poor things. More than any other, without doubt, plasticized wire-mesh armchair. quality of the product. For instance, a well- forward-moving industrial society has its place Here, experiments were for a long time designed perfume bottle and its wrapping under the sign of the object. Expression of a rudimentary. In 1951, a garden chaise longue often attract the eye of the customer at the civilization, it is today at the heart of a by Julien Hébert was brought out. A collec­ expense of the product itself. Said in a dif­ culture. It livens the economy, which bases tion of furniture, Opus, a few lines of Jacques ferent way, the beauty of the form, in this its prosperity on its systematic development Guillon went beyond small production with case, is a good incentive to sales. and its universal suitability. The conjunction difficulty. It is clear that, in the present economy, of a technique and an aesthetic which has The sixties brought about a certain freeing this attitude corresponds effectively to the been brought to bear on the most extraordina­ of attitude, and Expo '67 proved to Quebecers demand for a market for the object and very rily rapid objects and the general transforma­ that one could have confidence in design, that often leads to neglecting the ways of using tion of all the materials in the environment of contemporary can be synonymous with sti­ the product only to stop at the form. To-day, the activities of man, are disrupting utilitarian mulating, with warm. For once, and for the everything which speaks of design thinks of forms and domestic decor. first time, at Expo, an innovation (except for luxury products, which goes against the ex­ In each big city there is a market for these a few very rare foreign pavilions) was placed pressed goals of designers. Functionalism is things. We have one in Montreal, which dis­ within reach of the public which knew how responsible for this, having neglected the tributes the creations of our designers as well to appreciate it. demands of the psychosociological field. as those of foreign ones, and I am pleased With this impetus, manufacturers called Design is nonetheless involved in monopoliz­ to offer a few of these objects, not necessarily more and more on designers, among whom ing the large totality of industrial production; functional, but cultural and sharing in the were graduates of L'Ecole du Meuble, which it is becoming a method, a style, a state of standardization which eliminates differences. had become l'Institut des Arts Appliqués and mind and above all a new relationship between Identical objects, while being logical and since then the department of Interior Furnish­ man and object. The search for an aesthetic aesthetic, are to be found in some of our ing and Design of the CEGEP of Old Montreal. is not its sole aim, it is equally engaged in shops: Focus; Pour l'Instant; Deux fois Trois. The University of Montreal and the University a complex effort of creation with due regard (Translation by Mildred GRAND) of Quebec have just initiated courses in

90 design. With regard to furniture, Quebec is A. Object created trying to harmonize with international produc­ — intended to be beautiful (creator); tion, and matters are in the process of — seen without concern for beauty changing, but still timidly. (user); In collaboration with the Association of L'AMERIQUE DU B. Object created Manufacturers of Quebec, the provincial gov­ — intended to be beautiful; ernment is presenting, in 1972, a collection — seen as beautiful; of new furniture which raises general produc­ C. Object created tion on the whole, but some of these crea­ — intended to be beautiful; tions just make the grade, and only a few — seen as not beautiful; reveal a real potential of creativity. D. Object created Finally, we realize that profit and aesthetics — made without concern for beauty; can be closely allied. The Tukelik salt-and- — observed without concern for beauty; pepper set designed by Marcel Girard and E. Object created J. P. Lacoste and sold everywhere in the — made without concern for beauty; United States and Canada, is proof of this; — seen as beautiful; as is the series Century II, designed by F. Object created André Jarry, Girard, Bruce et Associés and — made without concern for beauty; produced by the Simmons Company of Mont­ — seen as not beautiful. real, whose success as much in the United Examples: States as In Canada Is so great that delays Gothic art — in its own era: case B of delivery spread over several months. An in the 17th century: case C evolution is taking place which deserves to be in modern times: case B intensified. Kitch art — cases A, B, C and E all possible, Some mistakes could be corrected. We at the same time, in different know that it is only through being forced classes of society; and all pos­ by the difficulties of the industry that the sible diachronically in the same Quebec government has becc/ne interested in person. Quebec furniture. Prejudices still exist. Would In schools, it is sometimes the relationship it be otherwise today for the furnishing of between the object created and its creator Quebec House in Paris, which was entrusted which prevails (conceptual art), sometimes a few years ago to a Parisian interior decorat­ the relationship between the object created ing firm of the rue Saint-Honoré, which made and the user. For my part, I prefer to regard sure to use so-called Chippendale and Louis as a true objet d'art only that which can be XVI furniture in the 20th century version? COMPAGNIE DE NAVIGATION classified in case B. (M. Pompidou entrusts the interior decoration SUD-ATLANTIOUE As to the word "graphic" used very often of l'Elysée to the designer Pierre Paulin!) with "graphism" to denote many different Very often, the equipping and the furnishing things, I must suppose that it names a qua­ of Quebec government buildings are planned GRAPHIC ARTS AND POSTERS — lity common to all these things. To identify this quality more accurately, we can try to by architects, while the government finances TWO FUNCTIONS: distinguish what is not graphic. A dead tree institutes of learning to train designers who TO SIGNIFY AND TO BRING DREAMS then remain unemployed. cannot be graphic art, but its photograph can. What shall we say of the policy of the A water-colour, on the other hand, can be federal government which, recently, at the By S.-Alain LABOZ graphic art. Line seems therefore to define exposition in Hickory, North Carolina, financed "graphic". At the sight of bare trees, I am an exhibition mostly of period furniture at a Rather than limit the historical development obliged to admit that, even if I feel a graphic time when, incidentally, it was subsidising of graphic art and posters to a dating of their effect, I cannot say that art is involved. quality design at great cost and paying for works, we shall offer a continuum of graphic The art of design, if one limits oneself to research, plans, designs, prototypes carried on works, although operations developed at dif­ etymology, is an art of writing, or rather an by industries and their designers' offices. The ferent times can exist at the same time. art whose goal is the whole of the visual sym­ incoherence of this attitude maintains confu­ First let us define the expression "graphic bols of language. It is the art of the concep­ sion among the manufacturers, the vendors art" and perhaps at the same time its two tion and the lay-out of these signs. It Is and the consumers at the same time. components. obvious that this lay-out depends at the same Design is not a miracle solution. It is one First, art. time on will and on technique, or even on of the most difficult concepts to define, since We cannot classify in the category "objet technology. The Sumerian clay tablet and the it encompasses aesthetics, industrial produc­ d'art" (meaning an object in the larger sense trademark written in the sky by an airplane tion and marketing, presupposes a method of as opposed to a subject) all that we find are by the same token products of the art of working and techniques, but also a philoso­ beautiful. A stone or a tree are objet d'art writing. phy of life, an approach to space. Like every­ only to he extent that they have been created From the moment when one introduces into thing human, it evolves. When one accuses or modified by the human will. Art is a con­ art the idea of intention, one is forced to design of not going beyond frigidity it would scious creation, idealogically undertaken. One introduce the motivation of this purpose. In be better to ask oneself if the design has does not create art as Monsieur Jourdain the case of graphic art, the object is already been successful I wrote prose. Whatever may be one's idea a system of signs. The intention therefore Today, design takes in the total of indus­ of beauty, an object of art is only a thing affects the meaning of the sign as well as the trial production. Whether we agree or not, in relation to a subject which creates it or sign itself, in its composition. every thing has to do with design, good or which regards it as a work of art, otherwise One does not write "Woolworth" or "Vie bad I It is not an abstraction, even if the ele­ it is only a thing. It is in this way that "kitch" des Arts" for nothing. One writes them to ment of conception is one of its essential works are works of art, being intended to be name them visually, to distinguish them, and components. The United States, France, Italy beautiful by their creators and seen as beau­ if one wishes to beautify the sign, it is and some small countries, like Finland, Den­ tiful by their users. It is possible that the idea precisely in order to make of that sign a mark and Sweden, present good design. Their of beauty which was present at the birth of an brand, a means of characterization, of dis­ products are not reduced to a common deno­ object of art and the idea of beauty which is tinction. minator in spite of the international quality present at its rebirth as object of art for the "Bread" or "bakery" are not enough to which appears at first sight. In design, Italy user (here we understand "user" in the larger show the difference between the shop of a appears as the boldest and the most imagina­ sense which also means spectator) may not baker and that of a cleaner, unless for those tive; Finland the most refined; Denmark the be the same, which makes of art a state not who have learned to decipher the coded lan­ most reassuring: Germany the most severe. of nature, but of culture, a world of the mind guage of this message. Imagine a street where Tastes and styles differ, and also materials. and as if at a different time. all the stores, completely similar, had for Quebec must find its identity, in and From the point of view of structure, there their only entrance a door with an inscription through design, as in other fields. can be among the three terms: creator, object in Arabic or in Chinese to indicate their (Translation by Mildred Grand) created and user, all the following connections: specialties, thus would arise the necessity of

91 adding to the words another means of infor­ poster and the sign. The advertising poster mation: the image. The significance of the is only a historic form of the sign; the poster image may be immediate or secondary; in in itself is proof enough that the poster can this case, the image becomes a symbol. For exist alone, for its sole function as a myth. instance, a cow, in its secondary meaning, It is only because conviction prefers to take could be a symbol for milk, meat or hide, on unawakened people that advertising uses whereas in its primary significance, it would the mythical function of the poster. It is easier be simply a cow. A tiger, for example, may to sell a dream of purity than a soap powder. become the meaningful symbol of a brand of Fluttering wash, misty as the veils of an gasoline after having been a sign suggestive Ophelia in clear lustrous water, held in this of excitability, of efficiency. And so it soon same floating like symbols of grace, this wash becomes necessary to add to the elements sells a dream and not a product which tries which inform, elements which suggest in to join, to associate itself and substitute itself order to influence the purpose of the con­ for a dream, to identify itself with the same sumer toward a predetermined direction, to dream. make him buy, to make him choose, to make (Translation by Mildred Grand) him judge, to create an opinion in him, even to awaken him to a new awareness. For this purpose, it is necessary to make the sign more attractive, more beautiful, to colour it, to deco­ rate it, to make it correspond to the idea which the consumer has of the meaning of the sign, if necessary to agree to destroy the meaning of the sign if this destruction creates a new meaning in accordance with the idea of the meaning, which occurred or was caused in the mind of the user of the sign. In our type of society, it is necessary to identify several sub-groups of users. Creators, /%x who make use of the characters created by others in new creations of signs; the innova- WM ters of creation, clients of the maker, who if have the sign made according to the idea which the maker or the innovater has of the final meaning — that is, the meaning which the sign will have for the consumer, the third sub-group of user. The success of a sign depends on its f effectiveness, on the degree to which it trans­ mits its message and this adequacy is inde­ pendent of any preestablished rule of aesthe­ tics; however, the clarity and the immediate comprehension of the sign are an assurance of success to the extent to which the visual « # effect produced by this sign succeeds in crossing the threshold of our indifference. Since the demands for our attention become more numerous and more varied every day, the impact of the sign must be stronger and r j (St* stronger. It is the art of graphic creators to work not with forms but with meanings, al­ *É though the result is a visual form. If the function of graphic art is to com­ municate, the function of the poster, although THE AESTHETICS OF THE COMIC STRIP, it uses similar graphic techniques, is very OR different. Just as the bas-reliefs created an­ THE CONFESSIONS OF A cient myths, frescoes and stained-glass win­ BUBBLE EATER... dows, Roman or Gothic myths, the poster records for us contemporary life in an every­ day fashion not real but mythical. From the By Georges RABY dancers of the Moulin-Rouge and the first song-writers, posters tell us no longer sacred A product of our civilization of the picture, myths but secular ones. Paradise has changed. the comic strip appeals by the same standard Great voyages have replaced the great voyage. as the movies to people of all ages, of all Cassandra used to make legends of ocean walks of life. These stories in pictures now liners and trains; today Milton Glaser makes enchant almost everyone, and those who, a myth of the trip (take a trip to lotus land). twenty or thirty years ago, tried to prohibit Today's poster, like that of yesterday, fulfills them or to censure them, even partially, giv­ its task of mythifying, which is to create an ing as excuse the harm which they caused to escape while allowing us to see the realiza­ children, are dead along with their futile at­ tion of a dream. It induces the escape of sleep tempt. On the contrary, their attempts at des­ in order better to subdue us. The comfort of a truction gave to the comic strip an increase dream, the freshness of a dream, the fragran­ of publicity, raised the number of their de­ ce of a dream, and even the amazingly new fenders and brought about new studies of the poster, the happy tomorrows of the necessary matter; these attempts definitely contributed bad dream — it all happens in another world, to placing the comic strip in the rank of 9th parallel to reality. art. We have often emphasized either the in­ These stories often recount the joys and formative character of the poster or its debas­ the sorrows of people who are a little inge­ ing trait, often by confusing the advertising nuous, who resemble us much more than we

Q2 believe at first. Some comic strips are sagas, rounded the cape of the illustration to make art of the poster of Toulouse-Lautrec, in par­ adventures, odysseys through time and space. a real comic strip. However, everyone agrees ticular, and the painting of several masters. Science-fiction has found in the strip its most that the first artist in this field, without doubt (Actually. Hogarth often drew inspiration from skilful medium. It is the art par excellence the master of it, is none other than Dirks with Michaelangelo.) He used the centring in all for translating a dream and for speaking the his "Héritiers du Capitaine (Toto et Titi or its angles and he was not afraid to have a language of the imagination. No trickery is Pirn, Pam, Poum, etc.). Today we can still dance of pictures on his boards, in a sort of necessary; futuristic settings, magic places, follow these adventures in the week-end edi­ unstable balance, presenting a plan of the everything is possible; monsters, mad scien­ tion of "La Presse". They are now drawn by whole with the large scheme of persons and tists or people from other galaxies appear in his son. These first strips set forth the drol­ also objects. He also transposed into his the pictures of comic strips with a disarming leries, the broad lively gags, the beatings, the drawings the language of the camera: travel­ naturalness. The comic strip is first the me­ upsets, all the tricks of the commedia dell' ling, panning, high or low angle shooting. He dium of the amazingl arte and also all the clownish tricks of the used all possible means to express forcefully This popular art touches and sensitizes, circus. Dirks separated himself from the ima­ the psychology of his character and the con­ almost in spite of themselves, hundreds of gery of Epinal and from its passive charac­ flicts through which he was passing. The pre­ millions of readers of newspapers, to the ters. The line of the drawing became light and sentation of Tarzan became expressionist. techniques of drawing, to dynamic outline, to followed the devilish movement of these Burne Hogarth drew "Tarzan" after Harold different styles of picturing scenery, towns, young enfants terribles who ridiculed all Foster, who began it in 1931, from 1937 to animals and men. This instruction of the art authority with a fierce pleasure. 1945 and from 1947 to 1950. When he was of drawing goes on daily. On the week-end, With these kids and their somewhat sadis­ hired as artist of "Tarzan" after a competi­ these pictures are in colour. It is the museum tic humour, sometimes absurd and naive, often tion, he had to imitate Foster for a few of the masses, who very seldom go to very much in the nature of caricature, the months. But Tarzan soon stopped being a museums I real comic strip came out of a life which semi-god, sure of himself and too calm in the One wonders if the readers realize the continues to give birth to new characters. The most dangerous fights, to become a man aesthetic quality of these pictures, of their picture takes on more and more this way of threatened by death, like all men. His mind dreamy message, of their undoubted value as expression. The stroke of the pencil expresses and his body fought for his life. He streaked witness or mirror of the events of our century. in a few lines the most subtle emotions: it across furious seas, fled from erupting vol­ Perhaps . . . But, it matters little after all I On becomes alive, rapid, effective; it tells the canoes or earthquakes with a princess in his ageing, works of importance acquire, like a essential. The cluttered setting evaporates to arms, struggled against a thousand dangers, good wine, their true dimension in the eyes disappear entirely and to leave a growing without knowing how he would come out of of people long after their fulfilment. And they importance for characters. This style has been it safe and sound. even give a taste for them to those who did perfected today in the daily comic strips From king of the jungle, as he was in the not have it a few years before. "Peanuts", "B.C.", or the parodies of "Copie". drawings of Foster, Tarzan became a high- We know that the comic strip is taught in At the end of the nineteenth century. Bubbles strung, existential man, always on the alert: the universities; among others, at the Univer­ made their appearance and language became a mind and a body strained to face dangerl sity of Quebec in Montreal and at the Sor- a word sounded with the visual portrayal of The style of drawing also changed radically bonne. Many movie-makers are influenced by shouts, onomatopoeia, noises of all kinds, and with Burne Hogarth. "Tarzan" became dra­ it: Fellini, Resnais, . . . Writers and sociolo­ even the most secret thoughts of men and matic to the greatest possible extent. The gists carry on studies in depth of this art: sometimes animals. written part of the picture became forceful Raymond Queneau, Edgar Morin, Evelyne Sul- Among the best-known of these strips, let through the use of the language of the movies. lerot. And those who know the works of us mention the "Adventures of Bécassine", Further, the hero was presented in situations Burne Hogarth, of Alex Raymond, of Jack still close to the imagery of Christophe, but of muscular tension or relaxation; ready to KIrby, of André Franquin, of Guido Crepax more sensible; the corrosive anarchy of the spring, hidden in a tree, swinging by a rope and of André Montpetit are no longer in doubt "Pieds-Nickelés", drawn at their beginning by of vines toward an enemy to be cut down or as to the genuineness of this new art. They Forton, who took pleasure in caricaturising his a friend to be saved. He was always moving try instead to collect the works of the masters people to an extreme extent, even to making or about to move with Hogarth . . . Tarzan was of story in pictures. them ugly; the good-natured pranks of "Mutt drawn from the back, in profile, front-face, In its present form, the comic strip has and Jeff"; the absurd and sometimes awk­ in the thousand positions of a man whose existed since the last decade of the nineteenth ward humour of "Krazy Kat" and the some­ unceasing movement reveals a human anxiety century. Before that time, pictures were cer­ what sad and poetic humour of "Felix the never extinguished. The reader could identify tainly used to tell stories, but as illustrations Cat", in a light style of drawing; "Zig and his secret conflicts with no trouble. Tarzan of literary texts: news, tales, fables, etc. Puce"; "Mickey", and the other heroes of was the man of all anxieties. These pictures added pleasure to the reading Walt Disney. The latter introduced a great To express this anguish of man, Hogarth in a way and made it easier. They were sub­ deal of moving-picture technique in the hu­ developed an aggressive technique, carried on ject to the demands of the written work and mourous drawing of comic strips. Let us not research on the anatomy of man and of ani­ played a minor role. Sometimes, the drawings forget the dreams of Little Nemo, the family mals in the fashion of his master Michaelan­ of a Gustave Doré seem related to the comic and social difficulties of poor Jiggs, the butt gelo, and on his drawing-board subjugated the strip. In reality, they are nearer to the tech­ of his wife Maggie's reproaches, the madly strength of the setting to the force of the nique of portrayal of tapestries or cathedral epic fights of the spinach-eater Popeye, Henri, drama. Trees, sky, sea, rocks, all tended to windows. Philomène, Pogo . . . strengthen the attitudes of the hero. It is The stories of Wilhelm Busch, particularly After a period when the dramatic comic enough to look at one picture of Tarzan to those of "Max and Moritz" published in 1865, strip held the highest place in the colour understand the harmony between man and later inspired several comic strip authors pages of newspapers, a balance was estab­ setting in the drawings of Hogarth. among whom was the very famous Dirks. But lished between the two types, and the humour­ Also, the authors of epic comic strips often the father of the 9th art, according to the ous mood continued in an increased way with worked from nature. Foster, after his "Tar­ French, was Christophe, creator of several co­ the Schtroumpfs, Tintin, Astérix, Gaston La- zan", created "Prince Valiant." The magnifi­ mic strips: of which the best-known, even gaffe, Lucky Luke, Iznogoud etc. cent forests of his pictures were drawn from today are "La Famille Fenouillard" 1889-1893; Each of these authors has his own stroke sketches which he came to draw in the "Le Sapeur Camembert" 1890-1896; "Le Sa­ of the pencil, an original wit, and offers a Canadian north. Alex Raymond, the author of vant Cosinus" 1893-1899; "Les Malices de new idea which renews itself continually as "Flash Gordon", used to give to his heroes Plick et Plock" 1893-1904, etc. Already, with much in the story as in the drawing; other­ expressions which he drew from reality. And Christophe, the text of the comic strip became wise, the reader would lose interest in his what can one say of the monstrous animals language and no longer only a few lines which strip. The humour expressed by the drawing of the planet Mongo, of giant trees which hide repeated what the picture showed, inciden­ and the situation of the characters produces whole cities in their foliage! tally with a great deal of irony and many a feeling of pleasure and frivolity, contrary to There are several ways of reading a comic visual gags. that given by the violent beauty of the works strip. It is interesting, for instance, to follow For their part, the Americans judge that the of Burne Hogarth, of Dreuillet, of Jack Kirby, the evolution of the characters during the artist R. L. Outcault who published in 1896 etc. course of years. One notices, then, that dur­ in newspapers of large circulation the adven­ It is chiefly Hogarth who introduced the ing wars, heroes become chauvinistic or racist. tures of his "Yellow Kid", a sort of very techniques of the movies into comic strips. At The morals of these characters evolve with aggressive and rebellious scamp, and later in the beginning, the comic strip influenced the those of society or often go ahead of them. 1902, "Buster Brown", is the first to have movies, as it was itself influenced by the In several comic strips, we see that the role

93 of woman has changed greatly. At the begin­ The evidence of the phenomenon of urbaniza­ ning, she was a thoughtless companion who tion could no longer be in doubt. We were often attracted the enemy and fell into a entering urban society. thousand traps. The hero rescued her and The first material of a city is man; and received the usual kisses after having saved when there take place on the ground tremen­ her. With the movement toward the liberation dous changes which substitute, for a familiar of women, the heroines abandoned their pas­ environment an urban area which is most sive role of sensual woman to share in deci­ often an area which is depressed or aggres­ sions. And instead of still being victims, they sive, repressive or depreciated, or even ab­ became helpers. More, forceful heroines today surd as R. Auzelle (2) writes, it becomes are very popular in a certain kind of erotic difficult for man to find for himself a place comic strip, such as "Barbarella", "Scarlet where his heart can survive. A whole literature Dream", "Pravda", "Valentina", etc, which thus describes to us the miserable life of often picture the man in the role that was modern man in cities which no longer have formerly theirs, but with a touch of humour, meaning for him. However, among the big since it is still men who draw and invent cities which have endured with success the these female characters. first assaults of urbanization, it is not unusual There is no need to read stories of comic to see authorities cite Montreal as a model strips to feel their influence today. Advertising urban area. They mention with enthusiasm the has taken possession of these characters to downtown area, the underground network for advertise a current product with the offhand- pedestrians, the mountain park, Man and His edness of a television comedian. Stories in World and the subway. Doubtless, their stran­ pictures are also used in the advertising pages gers' view cannot perceive the effects of rapid of newspapers. A friend, on opening a box demolition on our old quarters. They have containing a beauty product, found a folder only a picture of our city similiar to that illustrated like a comic strip which explained which tourists form in the course of an itine­ the instructions in detail. Even in the subway rary chosen for them. the comic strip is shown to the passengers in The image of a city is not only a cliché a certain tunnel whose wall is painted in to be filed or a memory of a vacation. It spaced pictures. The speed of the subway expresses also, for the users of this city, the brings them to life. But in that case we are collective place which shelters them, protects involved with the comic strip and with ani­ them, helps them to understand each other mated cartoons. better, frees them; an area of everyday life In Quebec, it is well known, the comic with its landmarks, its crossroads, its big strips created by our artists find little place axes, its special regions, its limits and its in our newspapers. We prefer imports to center. K. Lynch (3) in a study on Boston, originals. And yet, we have prestigous names: states that the image of a city, as perceived Marc-Antoine Nadeau, Michel Fortier, André by its inhabitants, has a direct influence on Montpetit, Noël Cormier, Raymond Dupuis, their faculty of orientation, their need of André Philibert, Tibo, Nimus, Bernèche, all security and their psychological balance. A those who work for magazines of irregular City can no longer be thought of as an area circulation: "B.D.", "Made in Québec", "L'Hy­ where man moves, lives, works and amuses drocéphale", . . . Many of these authors are himself, as the charter of Athens proclaimed. painters, engravers, illustrators who express The urban area should contain as many themselves in the comic strip with the same functions as are necessary to human life. enthusiasm and the same talent as in their Thus, even if the natural setting of Montreal canvases. is opposed to the indications which come out Sometimes the magazine "Perspectives" of its ultra-modern centre, which gives us the publishes the works of Montpetit. They should impression of a quiet continuity in spite of be preserved. His drawing is as vibrant as the extraordinary rate of growth of the city, a flame, his peoples are caricaturized with a we cannot be satisfied only to look. We must strong touch of sadism and his stories, often also live in the new areas which we are written by Claude Haeffely, seem to be a producing. delirium of the imagination. In fact, urban environment is becoming Why does one prefer to tell stories rather more than sensed space; it is also judgement than paint pictures in this environment? After of the value of the area by those who live in all, some say that the comic strip is a minor it. I remember a graffito often repeated by art in relationship to painting. Why? Actually, discontented French groups in May '68. The only what is badly done is minor. Others slogan: "Subway-job-bed" was a short lite­ think that to create or to read comic strips rary form more effective than long speeches all one's life betrays a juvenile mind. Why of philosophers on daily life. Indeed, it is no not? Perhaps the readers of these stories in longer necessary to show today that the pictures have caught the virus of retardation THE CITY AND THE SUBWAY aspect of essential activity of present-day man — the refusal to assume the responsibility of is not only work, but also access to that the hardened adult characters of the race in work. The time that the individual must de­ order to develop only juvenile characters. In By Georges ADAMCZYK vote to reach his work is forced time. He must this case, it would be a good trait to read take it from his free time, work being con­ comic strips, and not a defect. It would be Until the middle of this century, we were sidered compulsory time and this leads him the first quality, even, of our civilization of not much concerned with the cities of Quebec, to a special behaviour during this period. It pictures and leisure. particularly Montreal. Thus the remark of is, for instance, more important for the qua­ It was a character in "Paulette", a strip Guy Dubreuil (1), the old Capital, a city lity of his environment than when he is at his of Wolinski and Pichard, who said ironically reassuring in its agricultural atmosphere of­ work, although the latter occupies him the when looking at demonstraters: "The young fered to French-Canadians the impression of whole day. The area of this activity is the city are becoming older and older, this year." And being at home and of controlling their des­ and more especially the systems of commu­ the other policeman answered in the same tiny. The urban shock came with the quiet nication which assure exchanges. mood: "In my opinion, anybody who does not revolution. While the nationalization of elec­ The interest shown in the Montreal subway have the legion of honour is young. I wallop tricity and the reform of education brought is explained by the fact that this aspect of them." about a decisive trend for all of Quebec everyday life was taken into account during There it is — the young are ageing without society, the undertaking of important works in the course of the study of it. In autumn 1966, becoming old, thanks to the comic strip. Montreal foretold spectacular changes which two lines were put into operation and, in (Translation by Mildred Grand) would occur in the daily life of Montrealers. 1967, on the eve of the official opening of

94 the World Exposition, a third line was visual vibrations which express the active express themselves with authority. It was not inaugurated. character of the spaces. These are circular easy, for example, to avoid advertising in the At the beginning, they devoted themselves tiles chosen in tones of gray. They have a corridors of the station. However, convinced 3 only to emphasizing the technological charac­ diameter of /s inch on the walls, of four of the harm which that could cause in the teristics of this transport system: first subway inches on the floor of the mezzanine and conception of the whole, the designers suc­ in America where the cars travel on rubber of six inches on that of the lower level. ceeded in imposing this idea. "To convince tires, modern comfort, trips occomplished A subway station cannot be considered as others, it is necessary to be convinced one­ rapidly and safely, efficient links with surface if it were a building. One cannot perceive the self, continues Mousseau, and I believe that a transports, etc., but very quickly, they realized whole of it in one glance. It is an architecture large interior unity is necessary to those who that the success of the venture depended where we have to walk, going along according have the task of building our everyday envi­ most of all on the remarkable quality of the to directions ordered by a rhythm of sequences ronment. We must come out of this block­ aesthetics of the stations; further, each of where fast and slow tempos can appear. The house architecture and re-invent our collective them presented a specific appearance which capacity which must be planned is limited areas. The artist must have the right to speak contributed to its identity. They found that the by the requirements of the material; however, in situations where form, colour and light are subway was not only a technologial wonder. the order of the ideas fluctuates, since the involved. After all, it is his special field." The genius of man had imagined and fulfilled subway rider maintains the attitude of a citi­ For Mousseau, all is an affair of conscience. a succession of pleasing areas under the zen, using this interior space as if it were The perception of the environment is in the surface of the city. A true third dimension of outdoors. The subway train, the platforms, end the only true project of contemporary art. the urban fabric, the subway initiated the the escalators, the stairways, the mezzanine, The artist can work on form or on appearance, transformation of Montreal as a city of the the corridors are so many places where the he can colour matches, throw stones at pos­ future. plan of the whole is special. And yet all ters, build public places, all these projects Ten of the twenty-six stations were designed must feel a rapid understanding of the total can only aim at reconciling man and his by the architecture division of the municipality space in order to facilitate orientation and environment. while the sixteen others were entrusted to archi­ avoid a feeling of insecurity in the subway The area of the Peel station is productive tects in private practice.This sharing of creation rider. in certain ways. It demonstrates that art, was certainly a determining factor in the The essential factors put into play by the without taking the place of life, can be seen possibilities of the invention of new urban architects of the Peel station were the com­ as a normal manifestation of it. It illustrates forms. It permitted the multiplication and bining of the materials and an absolute forcibly the possibilities of architecture, with diversification of talents, the going beyond a mastery in the organizing of the architectural regard to that new knowledge of the problems strictly functional order, and, why not, the masses. Directional lights bring out the open­ posed to humanity by a technical universe inclusion of children's smiles in the calcula­ ings and the movements of the volumes, thus built for a long time in carelessness or in tions of efficiency. Several stations are dis­ making the architecture and the functions enthusiasm. The creators have proved that tinguished by their high level of artistic re­ very easy to see. research in art can be carried on with research search in expressing apsects of technical and On the platforms, luminous panels in strong in efficiency while never confusing the two cultural experiments of our age. They consti­ colours have been placed which make for the ideas. We find the same control in the prog­ tute the rough draft of the possibilities which artistic integration of advertising posters. At ress of other remarkable projects which they are open to architecture in its influence on certain places in the station and in all the have undertaken in Montreal, such as the man's activity. They also contribute to the corridors, decorations adorn the walls; these girls' residence at the University of Montreal reconciliation of the work of art with an are circular patterns of from six to twelve and the Quebec pavilion at Man and His operational field on the same level as reality. feet in diameter, whose surfaces are covered World. In spite of its modest capacity, the Peel with rectangular tiles. These ceramics present "We no longer question life in the labora­ station has attracted experts from the whole coloured movements. Great care has been tory", states François Jacob (4). And yet, a world by the excellence of its conception and taken in their location. Attention was paid scientific attitude too much emphasized risks of its achievement. It combines with a very to the progress of the subway rider and of his compromising the quality of spaces planned special strength, all the new links created movement toward, or in the central part, of by town-planning specialists. This contributes by the architecture of the subway. Situated in the station. most often to depriving the architect of his the east-west axis, on line No. 1, near the We realize that these motifs make use with space to the benefit of the arrangement. This most important intersection in Montreal, this accuracy of form, colour and texture to break reconquest of space by architecture is, doubt­ station receives a great number of crowds. with their background. They impose a new less, one of the roads which will lead to the The nearness of department stores and hotels architecture on the corridors, which are gene­ harmony lost between man and his environ­ makes of it an urban and cosmopolitan place rally dreary and restricting passages. Through ment. There is great evidence from those above all. this reconstruction of space, they contrived to who have remembered the necessary functions A great number of stations were dug into make the limited dimensions of the corridors of architecture. Thus, H. Sivadon writes that rock while the others were built in open expand and to bring about in this way the "mental health can find no surer ground and trenches. The latter is the case of the Peel difficult integration of these tentacles into the no better material support than the structure station whose capacity was, however, limited whole of the architectural volume. of its architectural environment." (5) G. Mes- chiefly on account of the lack of height For Jean-Paul Mousseau, who collaborated min remarks that the architect is also an between the level of the rails and that of in the planning of the Peel station, the work educator: "The humanization of our civiliza­ the street. As well, the many buildings which goes beyond the frame of the project. Certain­ tion developes through the relationship be­ border Maisonneuve Boulevard allowed the ly, it can here be a matter of a success, but tween child, architecture and space." (6) clearing of only a very narrow width. Limited what is important, according to him, is to look The many purposes in which built-up space by these conditions, architects Louis-J. Papi­ elsewhere and get back to work immediately. shares go beyond the scope of this article. neau, Guy Gérin-Lajoie and Michel Le Blanc "Many architects", he says, "still build for However, it is sometimes well to remember adopted a solution tending to treating the flies or for mice. Their buildings are like their that the possession of space is also part of interior architectural volume in such a way souls, dried-out or desolate. It is true that it happiness. That is why cities, as Michel Ré­ as to create in succession a sense of height is not easy to build today. The craft influenced gnier notes in the series "Urbanose" which and of overwhelming by a play of contrasts by technique, economy, law, allows a narrower he created for the NFB are the major problem on the ceiling. narrower place for aesthetic considerations. of our civilization. Daily life in Montreal also The mezzanine, placed in the axis of the Still, architecture, good or bad, communicates. takes in run-down areas, dilapidated dwellings, rails, directly above the track, is supported by It betrays the degree of social preoccupation inaccessible shores, difficult social conflicts a series of beams and columns. These columns of an architect. Calm or aggressive spaces .... and what meaning can we give to dwel­ on joints are designed and calculated so as will act upon the man who must inhabit them. ling today? The subway has made us foresee to absorb an important part of the maximum Nowadays, the sight of cities is only nothing­ what the city of the twentieth century can be. moment of the beams of the mezzanine. This ness or visual pollution. The humanization of The exhibition, "Montreal, plus or minus", permits reducing the depth of the latter to a public places remains a vain objective if the presented in June at the Montreal Museum bare minimum. These columns are attached builder takes upon himself from the begin­ of Fine Arts, reminds us that this does not laterally to the modular coffers of the roof ning the right to all departures from con­ exist yet and that it will be necessary to build on cushions. All the structural concrete is science to fulfil his order." Of Peel, Mousseau it with the men who will inhabit it. We shall exposed. The covering of the interior walls wishes to keep only the experiment of a work not find a model for it anywhere. It is here and the floors was planned with concern for in which the human qualities of the people that it will have to be invented. great traffic, and the materials used produce who participated in it have been able to (Translation by Mildred Grand)

9$ wished. From this there resulted such a light in colour and the smaller ones bright; modification in the architectural scale that the the walls exposed to the sun are of cold latter lost its identity and only the painted colours and the opposite walls are of warm work remains. We are far from a merging of colours to avoid a depressing and badly lit the arts. At the interior, however, the integra­ atmosphere, therefore badly balanced; the high tion seems more real. The participation of the surfaces are treated horizontally and the lower artist is less evident. Geometric forms cover ones vertically, always with proportion in the outside surface, invade the interior little view; one no longer disguises, one no longer by little, but break up and leave some walls wishes to hide: the columns and the structure free. The artist loses his predominance when are not painted gray to suggest their absence, the architecture takes the upper hand. We but, on the contrary, they are placed in plain THE FACTORY are, in fact, in the presence of a conflict be­ sight and stand out from the background in tween two arts rather than in that of a cohe­ strong colour. On the other hand, the func­ By Didier GILLON rent work. On the other hand, the effects on tional aspect is apparent to all. All the mobile the employees are partial and occasional, parts, for example, such as rolling bridges, The factory, a place of work shut and closed since they are felt principally upon their arrival suspension winches, lever handles, are yellow in upon itself, offers a real challenge to the and their departure. and orange; when striped with black, it signi­ creators of the environment where the worker But art in a factory ought to be really fies danger. Each machine of a different type spends the greater part of his time and, often, integrated; that is, implicit in all levels, is painted in one of the primary colours as of his existence. In the factory, especially, rather than being applied in a random manner are the parts and equipment which are related we find ourselves torn from our fundamental here or there. It would perhaps be well to to it. Everything is in colour, down to the most feeling of existence which is that of a womb, recall part of the program of the Bauhaus at minute details: work benches, racks, bannis­ an unforgettable place where we have been Weimar. The ultimate aim of all visual arts ters, shelves, fixed and flexible pipes. The use conceived. Bachelard reminds us in this con­ is the achievement of a building in its entirety. of colour as code and message makes for an nection that this feeling is rooted in the home, To beautify buildings was formerly the very easy, rapid classification as well as a more a space chosen by us, around us, closed noble function of fine arts. They were the efficient functioning. enough so that conscience finds itself there, indispensible components of architecture in Thus the factory becomes a permanent open enough within and without, in order that the highest sense of the term. To day, the arts show emphasized by the fact that there is it may be. in action, consciousness of the are isolated and this situation can be correct­ little noise and little rapid movement there. world. He thus expresses a vital and viable ed only by conscious effort and the coopera­ The bridges, the machinery and the doors are need which the creators of environment must tion of all craftsmen. Architects, painters and of such great size that their movements sug­ answer, not only in dwellings, but in all sculptors must learn again to grasp the gest a continual change of what one can areas. Whether one is a town-planner, an composite character of a building and to see already call a work of art. We feel that we architect, an engineer, a designer, a psycho­ it at the same time as an entity and under the are in the interior of an immense kinetic and logist or an artist, the challenge of the factory, aspect of its different component parts. It is inclusive structure where at last painting, particularly, is located in all levels, because only then that their work will be permeated by sculpture and architecture have formed a sin­ the bases of the problem are existential, cer­ this architectonic spirit. Few achievements of gle whole. They are no longer limited and tainly, but also social, economic, idealogical our time can boast of having fulfilled this ideal unmoving but live thanks to each other, and and cultural, bases in movement and often formulated by Walter Gropius in 1919. And are polyvalent. Furthermore, we change our­ incoherent. yet, it is in a factory at Varennes, fifteen selves into dynamic participants. The spectator However, some attempts have been initiated, miles from Montreal, that we have best felt becomes a mobile centre transforming his less to attack the causes of the problem than this artistic unity which embraces architec­ terms of reference according to his move­ to improve the results. This contradictory step ture, painting and sculpture. ments. The image he registers is the product has nonetheless in special circumstances, turn­ The new ASEA factory employs 275 of the movement of the eye and of his own ed certain manufacturers toward an attempt to people, of whom the majority are specialized movement in the factory. As man explores the humanize the place of work. To this purpose, workers and technicians. It produces trans­ factory as he would explore a sculpture and what is more enticing than to introduce art, formers which could weigh 660 metric tons as he changes position, new images occur the humanist product par excellence? and could produce 1,500,000 volts and re­ and what he sees at a given moment has It was in about 1960 that a first attempt actances destined for high tension transmis­ been conditioned by previous experiences and attracted attention to the Peter Stuyvesant sion lines. It is therefore a factory for heavy by what he expects to see next. He finds him­ organization in the Netherlands. Thirteen large industry with coils, motors, generators, rolling self animated by the space which the sur­ pictures were ordered and then exhibited in bridges, cranes, cables, pipes, mains of all rounding technology reveals and he shares in the factory above the machines. To integrate kinds, material for handling heavy parts pro­ the sensations of space of the twentieth cen­ art into industrial environment, to make known tected by air cushions, machines which breathe tury. More, he no longer has the feeling of the most famous contemporary artists, to eli­ in and eliminate dust, etc. How can such being dominated by the machine: the scale is minate the monotony of the factory, to stimu­ diverse elements produce so great an impres­ human and the environment inclusive. The late the workers to overcome the atrophy of sion of plastic unity, all the more since sculp­ biochemical human whole is stimulated, more their sensitivity, to help them discover an tors and architects were excluded from its harmonious and more balanced. inner life, to react harmoniously with their conception? More than a solution to the many challenges colleagues and with their environment and The building, planned by engineers, is strict­ which the factory and its workers offer, the not as cogs in a machine . . . such were the ly functional and the placing according to plan aesthetic and functional results shown in the relatively new concerned and paternal pur­ of the machines and the assembling chains factory at Varennes still offer an effective poses set forth by the president of the com­ determined the surroundings. It fulfilled its remedy of the problem. But, above all, they pany and whose praises were read every­ function of exterior. On the inside, however, allow us to foresee, in a clear and concrete where. To-day we know how much the word without being as good as Mies van der Rohe's way, a form of the work of art of tomorrow. "to integrate" is loaded with contradiction. work, the steel structure is conspicuous and Indeed, it is defined more and more as an We also know that to eliminate monotony in marked and we take notice of architectural omnipresence of artistic stimuli involved in the factory it would be necessary to re-think influence. On the other hand, the forms, volu­ the environment which will become necessary it completely within the framework of our mes and spaces created by the machinery to the daily well-being of all. society, and that the process of intellectual constitute an impressive sculptural work. It is, however, fitting to emphasize that the and effective stimulation is infinitely more Painting, however, has here a prominent combination which this form of the total work complex than has been believed. role. It creates a link between architecture offers us does not have the meaning usually Another attempt caused artist and architect and sculpture and truly gives them life. With­ attributed to it. It presupposes the systematic to intervene at the level of the concept of the out it, there would be only disparate elements integration of several sciences and arts which undertaking. In Quebec, for instance, Alfred in a dreary and monotonous environment. We operates according to an internal rather than Pellan and Jacques Vincent, combining their must mention that it was Mrs. Elma Loden, an external process, during the conception of art, worked on the setting up of the offices a Swedish artist and designer, who produced the work. The education of architects and and warehouses of Vermont Construction, con­ colour in the factory. The rules of the plan that of the friends of fine arts must be changed tractors. Here, the artist received the whole were strict and precise, psychological and in this direction. This new venture should be of the interior and exterior of the building as functional. In order not to tire the eye and thrilling. background for his work and shaped it as he for more calmness, the large surfaces are (Translation by Mildred Grand)

96 walls were replaced by transparent partitions. The station at New York, in 1869, the Galerie des Machines in Paris, in 1889, and several other buildings were built in the same fashion. In 1932, Buckminster Fuller used the same techniques of assembly that J. Paxton had used; geodesic domes were inspired by re­ search carried on beehives. In fact, the cells of beehives are made up of honeycomb cells forming hexagons much more perfect than all those that man can make with his hands. Bees, perhaps unconsciously, know that this mathematical structure is the one which offers the most resistance to external pressure, (fig. D We could also speak of the studies made by Frei Otto on bubbles and, more precisely, on soap bubbles. His research has assisted in the comprehension and the achievement of pneumatic structures. He determined that by grouping a large quantity of bubbles of equal volume and by grouping them all to­ RONALD BLOORE gether, they assumed the form of a hexagon. Buffon observed the same prenomenon, but By Jean-Loup BOURGET in another way: "Fill a vessel with peas, or rather with some other cylindrical seed and close it well after having poured in as much Ronald Bloore is a well-known but solitary water as the spaces which remain between painter, whose output is sparing. His exem­ the seeds can hold: boil the mixture; all these plary and stubborn approach isolates him even cylinders will become columns with six faces. more, throwing into relief not only his origi­ In this we see the reason which is purely nality, but his rejection of the outrageously mechanical. Each seed whose shape is cylin­ modern. Last spring, two exhibitions served drical tends in swelling to occupy the greatest to illustrate this approach as the Jerrold Mor­ possible space within a given space, they ris Gallery presented twenty or so paintings necessarily, therefore, all become hexagonal of relatively small dimensions, while the Hart through mutual compression . . . "ID House Gallery showed at the same time a I have observed the silks of Chaetoceros, retrospective of Bloore's works from 1959 to which are marine planktons or phytoplanktons, 1972. Bloore himself professed to be more belonging to the class of diatoms. The Chae­ interested in the exhibition at the Jerrold toceros have cells which carry, at each end, Morris Gallery. He regrets the title 'retrospec­ a pair of long fibers joined to those of the tive' given to a show in which several periods neighbouring cells to form chains of different of his evolution were not represented; due to lengths(2). The internal structure of these lack of funds, it was not possible to transport fibers is similar to the "Airmat" structure certain paintings from Vancouver and Ottawa. However, as we do not aim at exhaustiveness, NATURE AND DESIGN put on the market by the Goodyear Company. It is composed of two walls, joined by rope we shall lay more emphasis on the works spun during the weaving and maintained by shown at Hart House, which constitute a good By André VILDER a constant internal air pressure. The ropes, introduction to the painter. sometimes very close together (from 30 to To start off with, we propose to examine Nature has developed systems and struc­ 60 to the square inch), are of synthetic or the paintings naively — as it were — to give tures which are incomparably more advanced natural fiber, (fig. 5) an outline of their chronology, and then to and more complex than what human beings The advantage of this new process is that lend an ear to the echoes which the works have been able to conceive or construct. it permits the manufacture of structures which produce. The first work is dated 1959, and its Creative imagination has a great importance are very light while being at the same time presence is important, as it could appear to in design, and nature, in certain cases, cons­ very strong. The applications of this principle be representative of a number of later paint­ titutes a source of inspiration. If the designer are varied: Inflatable airplanes, bridges, radar, ings, and in fact warns us from the outset to studied relationships, systems and structures and others, (fig. 5 and 6) distrust the chronology which we pretend to of living beings, new horizons would open, We can note that by sometimes microscopic respect. (This is confirmed by the way Bloore yet without sinking into analogies between degrees we find natural structures which have works, painting a picture, forgetting it, and forms solely, as in Art Nouveau which ap­ been developed and used by designers, with­ finding and taking it up again months later.) proaches new technologies, in particular that out the latter even being aware of their This first picture is three-dimensional. Its of iron, with new forms imitating nature. We existence. The research carried on in the composition shows a tendency towards a sim­ have seen floral stems arising, as evidenced different faculties of the universities is too ple geometry, with a play of diagonals which still today by the fascinating entrances of the often restricted to its own special compart­ are intersected by horizontal lines. This ele­ subway achieved by Hector Guimard. ment and certain work in biology having to mentary structure is contradicted or rather do with forms and the structures of different complicated by the fairly thick relief of the New Principle of Structure Based on Nature natural arrangements ought to be published in texture, which plays an important role. Lastly, Let us take the example of Joseph Paxton, art magazines. the work is entirely monochromatic, although a landscape gardener who, in 1825, observed We build mathematical forms based on more cream than white. The principal dif­ and closely studied the leaf: Victoria regia. He laws or equations, but which law regulates ference between it and more recent works is states that the latter was composed of a com­ this harmony of forms and volumes which we the thickness and the informal character of plex frame, made up of nerves, whose upper find in nature? the relief. part was covered with a thin membrane, Upon replacing our eyes with instruments, The following work is also from 1959 and (fig- 2) we cause new beauties unsuspected in nature related to the first, as it is based on a system Having later become an engineer, he de­ to be perceptible to our senses. They begin of vertical strips and has recourse to a clear signed the Crystal Palace of London in 1850, with the most general architecture of the relief. But it plays more obviously on the taking inspiration from the Victoria regia leaf, universe and end in the infinite minuteness of shape of its frame, a square placed on its (fig. 2) This building, built of metallic and internuclear particles. tip, and on color — thick layers of cream glass structures in standardized measurements, This short study demonstrates that natural color on a gray and black background. The marked a turning point in architecture and was structures are clearly becoming close to design. painting reminds one of Bissière. What is the origin of prefabricated units. The outside (Translation by Mildred GRAND) interesting is that the density of the cream

97 color increases noticeably towards the center the sea-urchin: the rectangular bars of the The two following pictures, from 1971, of the lozenge. This concept of a center is cross, the circle surrounding the cross. We mark both a climax of the preceding re­ capital and we shall speak of it later. It have then here a formal leit-motif. It is in fact searches and a new point of departure. The should be noted here that it is a white center a Celtic cross fragmented, certainly also a first combines the horizontal lines and the rather than colored, an absent center. solar wheel, whilst the term spoked wheel 'thistle' or star motif. Its composition (in the The two following pictures are dated 1961 seems appropriate too. This wheel bursts be­ lower part of the work the horizontal lines and belong, in our opinion, to one of Bloore's cause it is subject to opposite tensions, it break off and are organised in two columns) most interesting series. A critic has described flames without consuming itself, it more re­ was directly inspired by an Eskimo sculpture the motif as representing two spoked wheels. sembles a burning bush than a wheel turning representing a human figure. The second pic­ Bloore himself jokes about this and states in a definite direction. ture is a field of thistles and once again, that they are breasts. (Similarly, at the Jer­ We enter another world with the next two these 'thistles' outline an absent center, for rold Morris Gallery, two triangular paintings paintings (1965-72), which constitute a most they are centripetal, composed as they are with the sun motif are placed with the tip remarkable whole. Two triangles face each by the tips, the wedges which give the im­ pointing upwards, which calls baroque 'glo­ other like two wedges. It is the first work pression of suns spinning around like a Ca­ ries' to mind, but their subject is completely shown in the retrospective in which Bloore therine wheel turned in on itself. This con­ sexual according to Bloore, and the tip of the uses spray enamel to glaze the oil painting. vergence of comets, all asymétrie, give the triangles should be turned downwards.) To our A method which he has systematically em­ work a kinetic look of revolving suns. More­ mind, the image which the motif immediately ployed in his recent pictures was then used to over, a circumference has been traced around evokes is not that of a wheel — although the retouch a painting long forgotten. It is also many 'thistles', reinforcing their resemblance radirnt element is undeniable — but two sea- the whole in which the play on different to the 'sea-urchin'. urchin fossils. They stand out on the white shades of white, gray, bluish gray and cream The last paintings of the exhibition should background thanks both to their cream color ... is most marked. Five different shades of be related to the large mural which Ronald and to the slight relief. By implication the white are easily distinguishable which the Bloore is preparing for York University. They shape is spheric and brings into play centrally- hurried viewer would take for 'white'. It is all date from 1972. The first two form a whole projected rays and the concentric lines which known that in his mural for Dorval Airport, and are decorated by a frieze of little squares contradict the direction of these rays. An Bloore used no fewer than twenty different in slight relief or simply by the outline of additional dimension of the picture, if one shades of white; as he worked in the eve­ the latter. The others are in groups of three, looks at it from an angle, is provided by the nings, in the light of projectors, he could not three vertically placed boards, the middle one, two halves of a 'hemisphere' which appear distinguish between them with the naked eye which is shorter, being uniformly white (but a bathed in light, the other two halves being and had to follow an extremely detailed chart. white obtained by a multitude of layers, by full of shadow. Naturally, the play of reflec­ For him the whites he uses constitute a sanding and glazing), whilst the others have tions will be inverted if one looks at the gamut which includes blues as well as yellows white lines, either continuous or broken. The painting from the opposite angle. Thanks then (bluish gray, cream). The relief of the two mural ensemble will be based on a system to the succession of different views of the triangular paintings includes in particular a of two long horizontal boards, all white, and two 'sea-urchins', we have here a kinetic ele­ network of rods making up stars, triangles, of a series of boards of various length at a ment which makes them spin. Seen from close polygons (pentagons, hexagons, etc.). Inas­ slight angle to the vertical, and whose linear up, these highly geometric sea-urchins have much as these rods form the points of a star, reliefs will themselves all be vertical. an organic quality which is heightened by the they call to mind the sea-urchin motif, and, In descriptions of Bloore's work the words puffiness of the relief. In the fourth painting even more important, they are arranged around 'hieroglyphics', 'Chinese ideograms' have of­ (Collection Mr. and Mrs. Percy Waxer), a a circular center which is nevertheless hollow, ten been used. Oriental mysticism has been single large 'sea-urchin' stands out against a empty. Their 'bacteria' appearance on the mentioned, in particular Zen meditation. (3) dark emerald green background encircled by other hand reminds us of the ambiguity of All this is true, up to a point, and is backed the cream frame. The composition is such that Bloore's motifs, geometric and organic at the up by indisputable facts, especially Bloore's the sea-urchin is not exactly in the center, it same time. Finally, this painting also recalls trip to Greece and Egypt. He is passionately is closer to the left margin. In the same way, the details of certain decorations (those of fond of Byzantine art, Muslim architecture, its center, from which the straight lines ra­ Mackintosh for example), a comparison to Chinese painting. His interest in Eskimo art is diate, is shifted towards the left: hence, an which we shall return. well-known. 'The artists whom I like are main­ impression of movement which makes itself We come then to a painting of 1968 where ly anonymous', he says. Moreover, it is clear felt after a little while. the white relief on white has become very that the density and the economy of his Our title of 'sea-urchins' for this series did subtle: like the lines traced by a seismograph, painting invite meditation and contemplation. not displease Bloore, who told us that in it is a relief which is very slightly brought out, Will Bloore be commissioned some day to December 1971, while on a holiday in Bar­ and this type of painting has called forth decorate a place of worship? Nevertheless, it bados, he had been much intrigued by the well-known commentaries on its similarity to seems to us that it is legitimate to refer to sea-urchins he saw, white and not, as is various forms of oriental art, especially Egyp­ certain precedents in the Western tradition. usual, black, and which inspired a series of tian reliefs, Tibetan bronzes, etc. (2) Of the We should like to speak of Charles Rennie drawings combining the sea-urchin motif with same type are paintings No. 10 (1968), which Mackintosh, and, above all, of certain aspects that, previously used, of the meshes of fishing reminds one of a stretched skin. No. 11 (hori­ of the neo-classic movement at the end of the nets. Some day these sketches may serve as zontal lines), where the technique of enamel- 18th century. a basis for full-sized pictures. glazing definitely emerges as well as the phe­ Mackintosh, the representative architect of Less convincing in our opinion is the fifth nomenon of the frame within the painting, the Art Nouveau period, systematically set out picture, from 1960-61, a large rectangle. which has the function, among others, of pre­ to use white in his decorative schemes, as a Black, green and yellow particles on a semi venting the purely 'decorative' painting, Bloo­ formalistic reaction to the darkness and stuf­ white background give the impression of a re's pet hate. No. 12 (1969): horizontal lines. finess of Victorian interiors. Both Mackintosh microscopic view or description of the struc­ It is in such paintings that the direction of and his wife Margaret Macdonald executed ture of a composite rock such as granite. With Bloore's researches expresses itself most mural friezes in relief (white on white) which No. 6 on the other hand, we have one of the clearly, an examination of the interplay of hauntingly resemble those by Bloore. Certain other summits of Bloore's art: the famous shadow and light, an essential pursuit which motifs used by Mackintosh may also come to painting formerly entitled Byzantium (1961, forces him to reduce to white, to the 'tabula mind, motifs which have generally mystified collection Mr. and Mrs. Michael Taylor). rasa' of which we shall speak later. (2) the historians: for example, the geometric 'Formerly' since this is the title given it in, Indeed, the slight relief traps the light on its decorations under the ionic capitals of the for example, Jerrold Morris's little book On ridge and projects its shadow onto the back­ Board Room in the Glasgow School of Art. the Enjoyment of Modern Art (I), but today ground at the same time. The natural light Thomas Howarth emphasizes the fact that it Bloore has decided to suppress this title — playing on such paintings is as it were the is difficult to determine their origin, and he which was moreover not given by Bloore him­ reward of the patience which the work de­ compares them to musical notation. (4) To self. Byzantium is the last work of Bloore's manded and even, as Bloore admits, of the our mind, we have here more than a for­ to include color, and color which is sump­ monotony involved. Ideally, says Bloore, the tuitous similarity: to increase our understand­ tuous indeed. A cross, ochre (like the pre­ painting should find its place in the open air ing of such an encounter, we shall use the ceding paintings), stands out against an — and pass unnoticed. The composition of concept of 'neo-classicism' in one revolution­ orange-tinted background which is subtly dot­ No. 13 is similar in inspiration: horizontal ary sense, that which Robert Rosenblum in ted with green. In a sense, this cross is strips of 'hieroglyphics', 'icicles' or 'roman particular has brought to light. (5) This is a composed of elements comparable to those of numerals; (1970). reaction to the involved rococo style, it is

98 the return to geometry, to monochromatism, (despite those who would put down mere to the line, even to the temptation of the "good draughtsmanship", such a commodity 'tabula rasa', to the a-historical look; a reac­ is not all that common), witty pictorial ideas, tion which seems to characterize Bloore's the chance to look at a work at some leisure paintings as it characterizes Boullée's and and be rewarded, and the nice, complex Ledoux's architecture, Flaxman's drawings, interplay that comes off when an artist really etc. knows about color and form and has good Seen in this way, the relationship of the ideas all at the same time. Pop culture is fun organic and the mechanical is of great signifi­ and often stimulating, but there really is a cance in Bloore's work. Paradoxically, his visual reward to be had from inspiration geometric tendency, his abstraction evoke wedded to a sense of the classical formal images of growth: crystals, sea-urchins, bac­ values — in other words, there still can be teria . . . One drawing in particular, composed great art in the textbook, art historical sense of indented triangles, also constitutes an of the phrase. entanglement of thorns. Certainly, they are Of course, one of the important ideas in elementary shapes, but they are vital ones and the evolution of modern art is the influence they correspond very well to the concept of kinetic arts have had on the conventional art a tabula rasa. It is in no way 'pure' geometric forms. The relationship is not always an easy abstraction or Mondrian's Calvinism, but an one to fathom and often defies straightforward intimation of growth, of a germination and art historical research. We now know, for efflorescence. The balance here is of course a instance, that Laszlo Moholy-Nagy's Light- delicate one, because for Bloor, Art Nouveau, Space Modulator was not begun as early as for example, is, with the exception of Mac­ 1922 but probably only a short time before kintosh, far too organic, not sufficiently its initial exhibition in 1930; this, however, abstract. Flowers of hoar-frost: the way in begs the question of its place in a complex which Bloore slowly paints his pictures layer matrix of image and reality. Even when ope­ after layer, giving them the final subtle ena­ rating at full efficiency (Moholy was less an mel glaze, is a crystallization. The motif of engineer than an artist, and the work does not congelations can be taken very literally run very long at a time without some expert (Ledoux, the Royal Salt-mines of Arc-et-Se- technical assistance), its movement does not nans). which points forward to Bloore's 'ici­ add appreciably to its impact as a work of cles' (1970-71). Or again, if one examines art. One can assume that Moholy was influ­ the technique of Bloore's drawings (going enced in some ways by the cinema — parti­ across the page from one side to the other, cularly the abstract cinema — in his concep­ he repeated a similar motif, but gradually tual and actual development of this work, and lightened the color of the ink by adding a it is interesting that it probably only fully drop of water), one becomes aware of the approached his ideas when he in turn was very precise resemblance to Flaxman, who able to make the famous film of the Modulator rejects Baroque lllusionism almost totally in in action: in shadow, in silhouette, half seen, his drawings, any effect of perspective which upside down. In the film it is intriguing if is not created by the nearly imperceptible frustrating, since one never sees the whole varying thickness of line. Neo-classicism is object; now it sits like a work of art on dis­ furthermore a movement for which Bloore play, not as the artist intended but a beautiful shows great enthusiasm and which he deems object, nevertheless. unjustly decried. He has always dreamed of Kurt Kranz, the subject of a retrospective working in marble, was greatly interested by exhibition which will be seen at several mu­ the neo-classical architecture which he saw seums in Canada and the United States, not in Scandinavia, end has a lively admiration coincidentally evolved from much the same for Boullée and Flaxman. One of his long­ milieu that produced such early experiments standing projects — which we hope to see in kineticism as the Light-Space Modulator. realized — would be to transform a Flaxman although his fundamental approach could not drawing into a Bloore painting. In the mean­ be more different than Moholy's. Kranz, now while, he showed us a work in purely linear a professor at the Hochschule fur bildende relief which is a deliberate attempt to imi­ Kiinste, Hamburg, enrolled at the Bauhaus tate Flaxman's technique. Dessau in 1930 at age 20. A number of the Bloore, whom J. Russell Harper has called original members of Walter Gropius' superb a 'reactionary', (3) is indeed that, but he is faculty had already left, including Gropius a reactionary in the same precise way that himself, but Kranz's teachers included Paul Mackintosh was, or certain neo-classicists of Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Josef Albers, Walter the end of the 18th c, 'reacting' against Peterhans and Joost Schmidt — needless to what they considered to be decadence, and say, an impressive roster of tutors. It is pos­ returning to motif and concepts which are sible to discern in his art suggestions of what classical, even 'primitive'. After all, Bloore's he might have learned from each — including, favorite non-anonymous painter is Nicolas as hinted at in the first paragraph above, a Poussin. strong sense of Bauhaus craftsmanship — but (Translation by Eithne Bourget) it is noteworthy that the direction his art was to take throughout his career can be seen in a work of 1927. This work, Weiss wird Schwarz (White Becomes Black), is the design for an abs­ NOTES tract animated film, similar in style perhaps (1) Jerrold Morris: On the Enjoyment of Modern Art. Toronto and Montreal. McClelland and KURT KRANZ to the work of Hans Richter and Oskar Stewart, 1965. Fischinger, two of the pioneers of this medium. (2) Barry Lord: 'White Light —A visit to Ronald In this sense, the 40 panels are somewhat Bloore and his new paintings', in Artscanada By John David FARMER No. 140/141, February 1970. derivative in style and vocabulary, utilizing (3) J. Russell Harper; Painting in Canada — A His­ the familiar streamlined forms of the 1920's, tory. University of Toronto Press, 1965. Cinema may perhaps be the art form of although this is clearly a work by a preco­ (4) Thomas Howarth: Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Modern Movement. London, Routledge this century, as asserted in some quarters, cious young man. As the title suggests, the and Kegan Paul, 1952. but it does not seem in any way to have positive forms shift from black to white and (5) Robert Rosenblum: Transformations in Late Eight­ relegated older art forms to obsolescence. back several times, just as the forms them­ eenth Century Art. Princeton University Press, 1970. Many of us still appreciate good drawing selves are first at one time circular and then

99 angular. There is considerable spatial illusion Kranz. Following the war, most of which somewhat surreal quality because of the or implied space (are the forms increasing in Kranz spent in Norway and Finland, he began heightened realism of the technique combined size, for instance, or moving forward in spa­ the slow and probably painful process of with the oddly abstract and organic material ce?)— familiar but clever devices, and yet reestablishing himself in Germany. He has constructions. it is a pleasure to study these panels at some been in Hamburg since 1950, and a series of Kranz's recent drawings in this manner, length. In the film on the Light-Space Modu­ exhibitions of his work has reintroduced his Auslage for instance, work in several ways. lator or a Fischinger animation there are times work to a new generation of the German First, one sees the drawing as a single image, when one yearns for the chance to select one's public, now somewhat more tolerant of abs­ depicting rows and layers of folded and viewpoint or meditate a moment on an image. traction and surrealism. crumpled paper. The impression is perhaps Weiss wird Schwarz was never made into His development since the war represents even a bit academic because of the facility a film, although we are told Kandinsky liked a reaffirmation of his Bauhaus training, parti­ of technique, except that it becomes obvious the idea very much, but the conception of cularly in a mature and thoughtful response to on further study that there is a progression in serial form runs like a Leitmotif through much the art of Paul Klee, clearly one of the major the foldings and tearings of the individual of Kranz's art for the next 45 years. While influences on Kranz. In fact, it is possible to pieces of paper within each of the seven Kranz's art is complex and impossible to state that the latter is one of Klee's few rows from left to right. In Rondo II the forms characterize in one statement, it is one of his authentic disciples, although patently not a are more obviously based on the classical achievements to have translated the values disciple through mere imitation but by com­ Surrealist vocabulary, especially in the isolated of movement and serialism into a form which prehension of the relationship between form pairs of eyes which become ultimately mere can be mentally held and explored at the and idea, motif and style, content and techni­ patterns on the paper. The artist comments viewer's tempo. que— a subtle series of essential relation­ about this work: "form sequences where the Needless to say, this development was not ships that make Klee's art easy to appreciate end becomes beginning," but in between the a straight line from A to B, and some of the and impossible to imitate. two more or less whole pieces of paper at the side excursions are extremely interesting in Klee was not a polemicist, although he had beginning and the end of the series there is themselves. At the Bauhaus, which had formed quite clear ideas about the nature of art, many a whole range of combinations of "real", sur­ a photography workshop only in 1929 under of which are articulated intelligently and com- real and abstract forms, so that, again, the Peterhans, Kranz experimented in this medium. pellingly in his writings. He seems to have work can be read on several levels. The Bauhaus was many things to many peo­ taken little part in the numerous controversies In a number of mixed media works Kranz ple, and even at this late date in its relatively which raged within the Bauhaus from its be­ carries the ideas inherent in the drawings to brief existence there was room for more than ginning to its demise — controversies mostly the next logical step of utilizing actual objects, technological studies and industrial design. about the nature of art and technology: were découpages or constructions fastened onto the There are some very interesting Herbert Bayer they compatible, co-equal, mutually exclusive? canvas or board. Auf und Ab (On and Off) is photographs from this time, for instance, His answer in 1921 was: "on the whole there closest to the pencil drawings in that the which utilize a totally surrealist vocabulary is nothing wrong and nothing right, it simply sequences are arranged in rows, reading from in sharp contrast to his version of "the new lives and materializes through the interplay of left to right. As the objects change form, they typography" — all sans serif, with rules and the forces." For Klee, the picture's content also shift back and forth from three to two bullets organizing the design like a de Stijl suggests its form in the most obvious way, dimensions with occasional changes in interior painting. Kranz's photomontage Marionette is perhaps through medium or choice of techni­ color. Again, there is a confrontation between no more surreal than some of Moholy's from que, and this choice in turn becomes essential obviously organic and abstract forms. Other this period, and the latter is rarely called a to the final realization of the subject itself. works in this series are even more complicat­ surrealist. His works are never entirely non-representa­ ed compositionally; Von Aussen nach Innen Einigkeit (Agreement) is a photo-collage tional, since subject is a necessary component (From Out to In) is structured on a series from the same time and suggests the dark of the creative process, but then most mem­ of radiating square — thus adding to the mix side of the Bauhaus sensibility, an often caus­ bers of Klee's generation found it difficult to a sense of constructivism, an overlay of sur­ tic wit which surfaces in the work of a abandon some level of representation. realism on top of Josef Albers. The objects number of artists active at this institution Kranz's more recent work departs from either radiate out from the center or, as the although rarely in their best known works. Klee's in that frequently the last vestiges of title suggests, read from the exterior square Kranz also continued to experiment with ani­ representation are excised, although the sense into the center one. Stern-totem (Star Totem) mated film, as in his 1931 production of that ideas become form, often utilizing what is eccentrically composed and by far the The Heroic Arrow, to which he affixes the appear to be naive technical means, remains most complex of this group of works, since comment: "An heroic, persevering arrow to a cornerstone in his art. In Verwerfung (Dis­ it does not move in a regular sequence. The overcome any obstacle and opponent. Although location) I and II, for instance, the forms center form, from which all the arms pro­ split in half, cut up, and minimized, the inner suggest the visual image of a vibrating object, gress, is a linear construction made up of a arrow will enter the sphere of timelessness." a simple and seemingly obvious visualization, square, triangles and a circle — the sort of More provocative for the development of except that one does not know whether the form which derives ultimately from Italian his later works, perhaps, is a witty photo- idea or the formal means had precedence in Renaissance humanism. Here, however, the collage entitled Gekrummte Wand (Curved the evolution of the work. Moreover, these shapes do not organize a figurai composition Wall) depicting battleships as seen through watercolors are lifted above the obvious, as but progress wittily into a number of varia­ a series of windows. The play of illusion in the work of Klee, by a sensitivity and tions, for the most part increasingly organic clearly works on more than one level here, thorough understanding of classic color har­ toward the end of each sequence. and a sequential format has been deemphasiz- mony and interaction of form. A further innovation of Kranz within his ed in favor of a more random pattern of In Verwerfung the vocabulary itself is still conceptual framework has been to involve variable form. In this work, as in later works, close to that of Klee, but in most of Kranz's the viewer as a participant through his folding various options of direction are left to the recent works it is primarily the underlying graphics and paintings. Even a small number viewer rather than preselected by the artists. sense of Klee's visual perception and metho­ of folding panels allows an enormous number Uncertain, perhaps, is the role of subject dology that is present. Kranz's debt to Sur­ of combinations and permits the viewer to in these works. Despite the political and realism is often quite apparent, and his con­ change radically the appearance of the work social overtones implicit in the subject matter temporary works move back and forth from of art —although it should be noted that, of some of the early works, there is little the more-or-less non-objective (as in Verwer­ unlike much contemporary participatory art, sense of polemic — rather, the somewhat fung) to the superrealism of such pencil draw­ the artist is in full comrrund of the range of ironic detachment of Dada-Surrealism. Cer­ ings as Rondo II, Auslage (layout) and choice at all times. In Nocturne the character tainly, the vocabulary of form in such works Kommt-Geht (Arrive-Depart). In these one of the work can change from almost geometric as Einigkeit and Marionette indicates a sty­ recognizes immediately a new approach to to curvilinear and organic with the turn of listic origin from this direction. serial art. Knowing Kranz's background, how­ just two panels, yet there is never the chance Following the dissolution of the Bauhaus ever, one also thinks of the marvelous textural of accidental images. The same is true of in 1933, Kranz became the head of Bayer's studies which were mandatory for all Bauhaus Steingarten (Rock Garden) with its amusing studio in Berlin. Much of his work from this students in the famous Preliminary Course plays on the ambiguity between vegetable and period is commercial: covers for the magazine developed by that institution. The students rock forms. Sequential images are presented Neue Linie, advertising art and exhibition were to reproduce as faithfully as possible in one at a time at the discretion of the viewer design. There is humor in the works coming a pencil rendering the texture of a material but always within the craftsmanlike guidelines from Bayer's shop in those days, and un­ construction; curiously enough, even these laid down by the artist — who has, after all, doubtedly much of it can be attributed to seemingly straightforward studies also have a been exploiting this idea for at least 45 years.