DOCSLIB.ORG

The Art Criticism of David Sylvester James Finch Word Count

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

The Art Criticism of David Sylvester James Finch Word Count: 99,908 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of the University of Kent for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of the History and Philosophy of Art, the University of Kent, Canterbury September 2016 2 © Copyright James Finch, 2016. All rights reserved. 3 Abstract The English art critic and curator David Sylvester (1924-2001) played a significant role in the formation of taste in Britain during the second half of the twentieth century. Through his writing, curating and other work Sylvester did much to shape the reputations of, and discourse around, important twentieth century artists including Francis Bacon, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore and René Magritte. At the same time his career is of significant sociohistorical interest. On a personal level it shows how a schoolboy expelled at the age of fifteen with no qualifications went on to become a CBE, a Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the first critic to receive a Leone d’Oro at the Venice Biennale, assembling a personal collection of artworks worth millions of pounds in the process. In terms of the history of post-war art more broadly, meanwhile, Sylvester’s criticism provides a way of understanding developments in British art and its relation to those in Paris and New York during the 1950s and 1960s. This thesis provides the first survey of Sylvester’s entire output as an art critic across different media and genres, and makes a case for him as a commentator of comparable significance to Roger Fry, Herbert Read, and other British critics who have already received significant scholarly attention. I take a twofold approach, analysing both the quality of Sylvester’s writing and criticism, and its function as a catalyst for furthering the careers of artists and instigating significant exhibitions. Common to all of these strands is Sylvester’s distinctive critical sensibility, which placed an emphasis on his own aesthetic experiences and how they could be articulated through criticism. 4 Contents List of Illustrations 7 Acknowledgements 8 Introduction David Sylvester, Criticism and Art History 9 Thesis Structure 17 The Sylvester Archive 21 Chapter 1: ‘By Indirections Find Directions Out’ Introduction 24 1.1 Religion 25 1.2 Experience 28 1.3 Literature 36 1.4 Bohemia 40 Chapter 2: The Critic Introduction 56 2.1 Publications 57 2.2 New Realism 70 2.3 Art and the Public 77 2.4 Film and Photography 83 2.5 Abstract Expressionism 89 2.6 Pop and Minimalism 100 Chapter 3: Broadcasting Introduction 109 3.1 Radio Talks 110 3.2 ‘The Critics’ 116 5 3.3 Film and Television 124 Chapter 4: Interviews Introduction 137 4.1 Reasons for Interviewing 138 4.2 Sylvester as an Interviewer 147 4.3 The Editing Process 156 4.4 The Interview’s Influence 169 Chapter 5: The Monographs Introduction 177 5.1 Henry Moore 178 5.2 Alberto Giacometti 193 5.3 René Magritte 206 5.4 Francis Bacon 223 Chapter 6: On Showing Art Introduction 240 6.1 ‘An Old-Fashioned Modernist’ 242 6.2 Experience and Interpretation: Curating since the 1970s 255 Chapter 7: Looking Back Introduction 270 7.1 ‘In the Shadow of Thanatos’ 270 7.2 Living with Art 277 7.3 About Modern Art 287 Conclusion 295 6 Illustrations 304 Bibliography Works not by David Sylvester 311 Works by David Sylvester, with an Introductory Note 329 7 List of Illustrations 1. Installation shot, Exhibition of Islamic carpets from the Joseph V. McMullan collection, Hayward Gallery, 1972. Tate Photographic Archive. 2. Installation shot of Magritte exhibition, Tate Gallery, 1969. Tate Photographic Archive. 3. Installation shot of Magritte exhibition, Hayward Gallery, 1992; Ent’racte (1927) centre. Tate Archive TGA 200816/10/2/2/12. 4. Installation shot of Magritte exhibition, Hayward Gallery, 1992 showing The Eternally Obvious [L’Évidence éternelle, 1930]. Tate Archive TGA 200816/10/2/2/12. 5. Installation shot, ‘Trapping Appearance: Portraits by Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti from the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection’, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, 1996. SCVA. 6. Installation shot, ‘Trapping Appearance: Portraits by Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti from the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection’, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, 1996. SCVA. 7. Installation shot, Howard Hodgkin exhibition, Hayward Gallery, 1996. Hayward Gallery. 8. Installation shot, Howard Hodgkin exhibition, Hayward Gallery, 1996. Hayward Gallery. 9. Installation shot, ‘Francis Bacon: The Human Body’, Hayward Gallery, 1998. Marcus J. Leith. 10.Installation shot, ‘Francis Bacon: The Human Body’, Hayward Gallery, 1998. Marcus J. Leith. 11.Installation shot, ‘Francis Bacon: The Human Body’, Hayward Gallery, 1998. Marcus J. Leith. 12.Installation shot, Robert Morris exhibition, Tate Gallery, 1971. Tate Photographic Archive. 13.Installation shot, ‘Dada and Surrealism Reviewed’, Hayward Gallery, 1978, module two (291, The Ridgefield Gazook, The Blind Man, Rongwrong, TNT, New York Dada). Tate Photographic Archive. 8 Acknowledgements This thesis has benefitted greatly from the willingness of a number of people to write or talk to me about David Sylvester and his work after I contacted them, mostly out of the blue. Any of the following could easily have ignored my requests and I’m very grateful they didn’t: Dawn Ades, Frank Auerbach, Bruce Beresford, Mary Rose Beaumont, Sir Alan Bowness, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Andrew Brighton, Cecily Brown, Jonathan Burnham, Martin Caiger- Smith, Adrian Clark, Bernard Cohen, Harold Cohen, Lynne Cooke, Richard Cork, Elizabeth Cowling, Michael Craig-Martin, Hugh Davies, Peter Davies, Andrew Dempsey, Vanessa Denison, Patrick Elliott, William Feaver, David Freeman, Philip French, Yvonne Gilan, David Gothard, Grey Gowrie, Patrick Hughes, James Hyman, Jasper Johns, Max Kozloff, Catherine Lampert, Shena Mackay, Lisa Milroy, Malcolm Morley, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julia Peyton-Jones, Irving Sandler, Sir Nicholas Serota, John-Paul Stonard, Naomi Sylvester, Xanthe Sylvester, Jenny Uglow, Victoria Walsh, Sarah Whitfield. I have received valuable help from many museum, gallery and library staff. For assistance with specific requests I would particularly like to thank Clare Colvin (Serpentine Gallery), Kathleen Dickson (BFI National Archive), Jessica Ficken (Harvard Art Museums), Jessica Hogg (BBC Written Archives Centre), Sonia Hope (Hayward Gallery), Victoria Jenkins (Tate), Michèle Kieffer and Thierry Plautot (Fondation Annette et Alberto Giacometti), and Katherine Mauger (Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts). Everyone at the Tate Library and Archive has been extremely helpful and tolerant with me throughout this project and I’m indebted to John Langdon and Lucy Parker for helping me to negotiate the Sylvester archive. I’ve asked Angela Whiffen at the School of Arts, University of Kent, more questions than is probably reasonable over the last three years; she answered all of them without once telling me to figure things out for myself. In return for their friendship during the writing of this thesis I paid Kate Aspinall and Rachel Smith the dubious compliment of asking them to read it; their comments reminded me why I think so highly of them, and I hope I can repay the favour someday. Grant Pooke, my second supervisor at the University of Kent, and Jennifer Mundy, my supervisor at Tate, have contributed valuable suggestions and advice. Above all I want to thank my supervisor at the University of Kent, Martin Hammer, who’s helped me so much on and off the page. Finally, thanks to everyone in the Slipper and Finch families for putting up with me over the last three years. This thesis is dedicated to my grandparents Bill and Gladys Canning. 9 Introduction David Sylvester, Criticism and Art History David Sylvester (1924-2001) was one of a number of significant British critics born during the interwar years. His contemporaries included John Russell (1919-2008), Andrew Forge (1923-2002), Lawrence Alloway (1926- 1990) and John Berger (b.1926), along with the painter Patrick Heron (1920- 99), who was also a gifted critic. Coming of age during World War II, all of the above brought distinctive perspectives to bear in responding to and shaping the visual arts landscape of postwar Britain. While British art criticism at this time was still dominated by white male critics, the traditional bourgeois background of the critic was diversifying. Of the above only Russell followed the traditional path of public school education followed by study at the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge.1 Like the other critics listed, Sylvester eschewed university, preferring to educate himself by reading widely and discussing his various interests with his contemporaries.2 Early in life Sylvester developed a wide range of interests. He was many things: a collector, a curator, a committee member and éminence grise, a writer on sports and film, and a literary critic and musician manqué.3 All of these aspects of Sylvester’s life will be mentioned in the course of this thesis, but only insofar as they relate directly to his writings on art. It will be for other 1 Those who followed this path included Clive Bell, Roger Fry and critics whose careers overlapped with Sylvester’s such as Alan Clutton-Brock, Raymond Mortimer and Denys Sutton. Notable exceptions were Herbert Read (who studied at Leeds University) and Robert Melville, who didn’t go to university. 2 The curator Bryan Robertson (1925-2002) also began working straight after leaving school (as junior sub-editor at The Studio). 3 The writer Peter Vansittart, who knew him as a teenager, wrote ‘I dazed myself by calculating David Sylvester’s possibilities: a novelist, perhaps […] a literary critic […] he could have been a music critic […] a Cocteau […] a profound philosopher […] a theologian […].’ Peter Vansittart, In the Fifties (London: Murray, 1995), p.89. 10 scholars to give these other facets of Sylvester’s career the attention they deserve.
Recommended publications
  • Work in Progress (1999.03.07)

    Work in Progress (1999.03.07)

    _________________________________________________________________ WORK IN PROGRESS by Cliff Holden ______________________________ Hazelridge School of Painting Pl. 92 Langas 31193 Sweden www.cliffholden.co.uk copyright © CLIFF HOLDEN 2011 2 for Lisa 3 4 Contents Foreword 7 1 My Need to Paint 9 2 The Borough Group 13 3 The Stockholm Exhibition 28 4 Marstrand Designers 40 5 Serigraphy and Design 47 6 Relating to Clients 57 7 Cultural Exchange 70 8 Bomberg's Legacy 85 9 My Approach to Painting 97 10 Teaching and Practice 109 Joseph's Questions 132 5 6 Foreword “This is the commencement of a recording made by Cliff Holden on December 12, 1992. It is my birthday and I am 73 years old. ” It is now seven years since I made the first of the recordings which have been transcribed and edited to make the text of this book. I was persuaded to make these recordings by my friend, the art historian, Joseph Darracott. We had been friends for over forty years and finally I accepted that the project which he was proposing might be feasible and would be worth attempting. And so, in talking about my life as a painter, I applied myself to the discipline of working from a list of questions which had been prepared by Joseph. During our initial discussions about the book Joseph misunderstood my idea, which was to engage in a live dialogue with the cut and thrust of question and answer. The task of responding to questions which had been typed up in advance became much more difficult to deal with because an exercise such as this lacked the kind of stimulus which a live dialogue would have given to it.
  • Bideford Bay (1946) David Bomberg

    Bideford Bay (1946) David Bomberg

    Chapter 5: Compositional Effects of Color Color (hue, chroma and value) effect the perception of space… …both 2D… (shapes can be made to seem larger or smaller by altering color) …and 3D (advancing and receding). The size of colored regions also effects the perceived color (larger areas seem brighter). Aerial Perspective or Atmospheric Perspective • (both phrases refer to the same phenomena – they are interchangeable terms) • Several color effects can be described in terms of Aerial perspective. • — Colors tend to be lighter and lower in chroma in the distance. (color moves closer to sky color) • — Contrast in value diminishes in the distance. (value range diminishes in distance) • — Sharp contrasting edge tends to bring (at least) one surface forward. (sharp detail or edges advance forms; blurred forms recede) The Space Between • The physical cause of atmospheric perspective in nature is dust and moisture in the air. • These scattered particles diffuse light, thereby softening the appearance of distant objects and causing their color to move closer to the prevailing sky color. • The Moisture-filled Space Between • Fog is an atmosphere densely filled with moisture – atmospheric perspective can be apparent at a very short distance. • Albert Bierstadt’s 19th c. paintings of the American West were composed to express the vast space open to expansion. • Aerial Perspective • Lighter values, reduced contrast, lower chroma all tend to establish a sense receding (distant) space. • Limited structure and detail are present — there are David Bomberg no linear perspective clues to structure, location, size or distance. Yet there is a definite sense of space— near regions and far regions.
  • Inserting Hans Bellmer's the Doll Into the History of Pornography

    Inserting Hans Bellmer's the Doll Into the History of Pornography

    Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont Scripps Senior Theses Scripps Student Scholarship 2020 Softcore Surrealism: Inserting Hans Bellmer's The Doll into the History of Pornography Alexandra M. Varga Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses Recommended Citation Varga, Alexandra M., "Softcore Surrealism: Inserting Hans Bellmer's The Doll into the History of Pornography" (2020). Scripps Senior Theses. 1566. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1566 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Scripps Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scripps Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 SOFTCORE SURREALISM: INSERTING HANS BELLMER’S THE DOLL INTO THE HISTORY OF PORNOGRAPHY, 2020 By ALEXANDRA M. VARGA SUBMITTED TO SCRIPPS COLLEGE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR ARTS FIRST READER: PROFESSOR MACNAUGHTON, SCRIPPS COLLEGE SECOND READER: PROFESSOR NAKAUE, SCRIPPS COLLEGE MAY 4TH 2020 2 Contents Acknowledgments. 3 Introduction: Finding The Doll. 4 Critical Reception: Who Has Explored The Doll?. 10 Chapter 1: Construction of the Doll and Creation of the Book. 22 Chapter 2: Publication in Germany and France. 37 Conclusion: Too Real For Comfort. 51 Bibliography. 53 Figures: Die Puppe Sequence, 1934. 56 Figures: La Poupée Sequence, 1936. 64 Figures: 19th and 20th Century Pornography. 71 3 Acknowledgments This thesis could not have been written without the support of my thesis readers, Professors Mary MacNaughton and Melanie Nakaue. I would like to thank them for their unwavering support. Their guidance gave me the confidence to pursue such an eccentric topic.
  • Pierre Klossowski: Works in English and Translations Compiled by Rainer J

    Pierre Klossowski: Works in English and Translations Compiled by Rainer J

    Bibliography Pierre Klossowski: Works in English and Translations compiled by Rainer J. Hanshe FICTION Roberte Ce Soir – and – The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, tr. by Austryn Wainhouse (New York: Dalkey Archive Press, 2002 [1950 and 1959]). The Baphomet, tr. by Stephen Sartarelli, Sophie Hawkes (New York: Marsilio Publishers, 1998 [1965]). Introduction by Michel Foucault. Diana at Her Bath; The Women of Rome, tr. by Stephen Sartarelli, Sophie Hawkes (New York: Marsilio Publishers, 1998 [1956 and 1968]). L’ adolescent immortel (Paris: Gallimard, 2001).* Agonist 78 Pierre Klossowski Biblography Pierre Klossowski Bibliography Le Mage du Nord (Montpellier: Fata Morgana, 1988).* Les derniers travaux de Gulliver (Paris: Fata Morgana, 1987).* Pierre Klossowski Biblography La Ressemblance (Marseille: André Dimanche, 1984).* La Monnaie vivante (Paris: Éric Losfield, 1970).* Pierre Klossowski Biblography Le Souffleur ou le théâtre de société (Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1960).* Pierre Klossowski Biblography La Vocation suspendue (Paris: Gallimard, 1950).* PHILOSOPHY & CRITICISM Such a Deathly Desire, tr. by Russell Ford (New York: SUNY Press, 2007). Écrits d’un monomane: Essais 1933-1939 (Paris: Gallimard, 2001).* Tableaux vivants: Essais critiques 1936-1983 (Paris: Gallimard, 2001).* “Tragedy” and “The Marquis de Sade and the Revolution” in Denis Hollier, ed., The College of Sociology (1937-39), tr. by Betsy Wing (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998). Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle, tr. by Daniel W. Smith (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997). “Sade, or the philosopher-villain” in David B. Allison, Mark S. Roberts, Allen S. Weiss, Sade and the Narrative of Transgression (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995): 33-61. Sade My Neighbor, tr.
  • Auckland City Art Gallery

    Auckland City Art Gallery

    Frances Hodgkins 14 auckland city art gallery modern european paintings in new Zealand This exhibition brings some of the modern European paintings in New Zealand together for the first time. The exhibition is small largely because many galleries could not spare more paintings from their walls and also the conditions of certain bequests do not permit loans. Nevertheless, the standard is reasonably high. Chronologically the first modern movement represented is Impressionism and the latest is Abstract Expressionism, while the principal countries concerned are Britain and France. Two artists born in New Zealand are represented — Frances Hodgkins and Raymond Mclntyre — the former well known, the latter not so well as he should be — for both arrived in Europe before 1914 when the foundations of twentieth century painting were being laid and the earlier paintings here provide some indication of the milieu in which they moved. It is hoped that this exhibition may help to persuade the public that New Zealand is not devoid of paintings representing the serious art of this century produced in Europe. Finally we must express our sincere thanks to private owners and public galleries for their generous response to requests for loans. P.A.T. June - July nineteen sixty the catalogue NOTE: In this catalogue the dimensions of the paintings are given in inches, height before width JANKEL ADLER (1895-1949) 1 SEATED FIGURE Gouache 24} x 201 Signed ADLER '47 Bishop Suter Art Gallery, Nelson Purchased by the Trustees, 1956 KAREL APPEL (born 1921) Dutch 2 TWO HEADS (1958) Gouache 243 x 19i Signed K APPEL '58 Auckland City Art Gallery Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1959 JOHN BRATBY (born 1928) British 3 WINDOWS (1957) Oil on canvas 48x144 Signed BRATBY JULY 1957 Auckland City Art Gallery Presented by Auckland Gallery Associates, 1958 ANDRE DERAIN (1880-1954) French 4 LANDSCAPE Oil on canvas 21x41 J Signed A.
  • Modern British & Irish

    Modern British & Irish

    Modern British & Irish Art Tuesday 4 June 2013 at 1pm Knightsbridge, London Modern British & Irish Art Tuesday 4 June 2013 at 1pm Knightsbridge Bonhams Enquiries Please see page 2 for bidder Montpelier Street Emma Corke information including after-sale Knightsbridge +44 (0) 20 7393 3949 collection and shipment London SW7 1HH [email protected] www.bonhams.com Please see back of catalogue Shayn Speed for important notice to bidders Viewing +44 (0) 20 7393 3909 Sunday 2 June 11am to 3pm [email protected] Illustration Monday 3 June 9am to 4.30pm Front cover: Lot 167 Tuesday 4 June 9am to 11am Customer Services Back cover: Lot 19 Monday to Friday 8.30am to 6pm Inside front: Lot 76 Bids +44 (0) 20 7447 7447 Inside back: Lot 179 +44 (0) 20 7447 7448 +44 (0) 20 7447 7401 fax Sale Number: 20777 To bid via the internet please visit www.bonhams.com Catalogue: £12 Please note that bids should be submitted no later than 24 hours before the sale. New bidders must also provide proof of identity when submitting bids. Failure to do this may result in your bids not being processed. Bidding by telephone will only be accepted on a lot with a lower estimate in excess of £400. Live online bidding is available for this sale Please email [email protected] with “Live bidding” in the subject line 48 hours before the auction to register for this service. Bonhams 1793 Limited Bonhams 1793 Ltd Directors Bonhams UK Ltd Directors Registered No. 4326560 Robert Brooks Chairman, Colin Sheaf Deputy Chairman, Colin Sheaf Chairman, Jonathan Baddeley, Antony Bennett, Iain Rushbrook, John Sandon, Tim Schofield, Registered Office: Montpelier Galleries Malcolm Barber Group Managing Director, Matthew Bradbury, Harvey Cammell, Simon Cottle, Veronique Scorer, James Stratton, Roger Tappin, Matthew Girling CEO UK and Europe, Andrew Currie, David Dallas, Paul Davidson, Jean Ghika, Shahin Virani, David Williams, Michael Wynell-Mayow.
  • Alberto Giacometti: a Biography Sylvie Felber

    Alberto Giacometti: a Biography Sylvie Felber

    Alberto Giacometti: A Biography Sylvie Felber Alberto Giacometti is born on October 10, 1901, in the village of Borgonovo near Stampa, in the valley of Bregaglia, Switzerland. He is the eldest of four children in a family with an artistic background. His mother, Annetta Stampa, comes from a local landed family, and his father, Giovanni Giacometti, is one of the leading exponents of Swiss Post-Impressionist painting. The well-known Swiss painter Cuno Amiet becomes his godfather. In this milieu, Giacometti’s interest in art is nurtured from an early age: in 1915 he completes his first oil painting, in his father’s studio, and just a year later he models portrait busts of his brothers.1 Giacometti soon realizes that he wants to become an artist. In 1919 he leaves his Protestant boarding school in Schiers, near Chur, and moves to Geneva to study fine art. In 1922 he goes to Paris, then the center of the art world, where he studies life drawing, as well as sculpture under Antoine Bourdelle, at the renowned Académie de la Grande Chaumière. He also pays frequent visits to the Louvre to sketch. In 1925 Giacometti has his first exhibition, at the Salon des Tuileries, with two works: a torso and a head of his brother Diego. In the same year, Diego follows his elder brother to Paris. He will model for Alberto for the rest of his life, and from 1929 on also acts as his assistant. In December 1926, Giacometti moves into a new studio at 46, rue Hippolyte-Maindron. The studio is cramped and humble, but he will work there to the last.
  • Studio International Magazine: Tales from Peter Townsend’S Editorial Papers 1965-1975

    Studio International Magazine: Tales from Peter Townsend’S Editorial Papers 1965-1975

    Studio International magazine: Tales from Peter Townsend’s editorial papers 1965-1975 Joanna Melvin 49015858 2013 Declaration of authorship I, Joanna Melvin certify that the worK presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this is indicated in the thesis. i Tales from Studio International Magazine: Peter Townsend’s editorial papers, 1965-1975 When Peter Townsend was appointed editor of Studio International in November 1965 it was the longest running British art magazine, founded 1893 as The Studio by Charles Holme with editor Gleeson White. Townsend’s predecessor, GS Whittet adopted the additional International in 1964, devised to stimulate advertising. The change facilitated Townsend’s reinvention of the radical policies of its founder as a magazine for artists with an international outlooK. His decision to appoint an International Advisory Committee as well as a London based Advisory Board show this commitment. Townsend’s editorial in January 1966 declares the magazine’s aim, ‘not to ape’ its ancestor, but ‘rediscover its liveliness.’ He emphasised magazine’s geographical position, poised between Europe and the US, susceptible to the influences of both and wholly committed to neither, it would be alert to what the artists themselves wanted. Townsend’s policy pioneered the magazine’s presentation of new experimental practices and art-for-the-page as well as the magazine as an alternative exhibition site and specially designed artist’s covers. The thesis gives centre stage to a British perspective on international and transatlantic dialogues from 1965-1975, presenting case studies to show the importance of the magazine’s influence achieved through Townsend’s policy of devolving responsibility to artists and Key assistant editors, Charles Harrison, John McEwen, and contributing editor Barbara Reise.
  • Flemish Art 1880–1930

    Flemish Art 1880–1930

    COMING FLEMISH ART 1880–1930 EDITOR KATHARINA VAN CAUTEREN HOME WITH ESSAYS BY ANNE ADRIAENS-PANNIER PATRICK BERNAUW PIET BOYENS KLAAS COULEMBIER JOHAN DE SMET MARK EYSKENS DAVID GARIFF LEEN HUET FERNAND HUTS PAUL HUVENNE PETER PAUWELS CONSTANTIJN PETRIDIS NIELS SCHALLEY HERWIG TODTS KATHARINA VAN CAUTEREN LUC VAN CAUTEREN SVEN VAN DORST CATHÉRINE VERLEYSEN Hubert Malfait Home from the Fields, 1923-1924 Oil on canvas, 120 × 100 cm COURTESY OF FRANCIS MAERE FINE ARTS CONTENTS 7 PREFACE 211 JAMES ENSOR’S KATHARINA VAN CAUTEREN WHIMSICAL QUEST FOR BLISS HERWIG TODTS 9 PREFACE FERNAND HUTS 229 WOUTERS WRITINGS 13 THE ROOTS OF FLANDERS HERWIG TODTS KATHARINA VAN CAUTEREN 253 EDGARD TYTGAT. 65 AUTHENTIC, SOUND AND BEAUTIFUL. ‘PEINTRE-IMAGIER’ THE RECEPTION OF LUC VAN CAUTEREN FLEMISH EXPRESSIONISM PAUL HUVENNE 279 CONSTANT PERMEKE. THE ETERNAL IN THE EVERYDAY 79 THE MOST FLEMISH FLEMINGS PAUL HUVENNE WRITE IN FRENCH PATRICK BERNAUW 301 GUST. DE SMET. PAINTER OF CONTENTMENT 99 A GLANCE AT FLEMISH MUSIC NIELS SCHALLEY BETWEEN 1890 AND 1930 KLAAS COULEMBIER 319 FRITS VAN DEN BERGHE. SURVEYOR OF THE DARK SOUL 117 FLEMISH BOHÈME PETER PAUWELS LEEN HUET 339 ‘PRIMITIVISM’ IN BELGIUM? 129 THE BELGIAN LUMINISTS IN AFRICAN ART AND THE CIRCLE OF EMILE CLAUS FLEMISH EXPRESSIONISM JOHAN DE SMET CONSTANTIJN PETRIDIS 149 BENEATH THE SURFACE. 353 LÉON SPILLIAERT. THE ART OF THE ART OF THE INDEFINABLE GUSTAVE VAN DE WOESTYNE ANNE ADRIAENS-PANNIER SVEN VAN DORST 377 THE EXPRESSIONIST IMPULSE 175 VALERIUS DE SAEDELEER. IN MODERN ART THE SOUL OF THE LANDSCAPE DAVID GARIFF PIET BOYENS 395 DOES PAINTING HAVE BORDERS? 195 THE SCULPTURE OF MARK EYSKENS GEORGE MINNE CATHÉRINE VERLEYSEN 6 PREFACE Dear Reader, 7 Just so you know, this book is not the Bible.
  • Eduardo Paolozzi's Psychological Atlas*

    Eduardo Paolozzi's Psychological Atlas*

    Eduardo Paolozzi’s Psychological Atlas* JOHN-PAUL STONARD Eduardo Paolozzi compiled his collage book Psychological Atlas while living in Paris in 1949 and discovering, as he put it, the “relics of the prewar Dada and Surrealist movement.” Preserved as an archival item, Psychological Atlas is rarely seen; in a poor physical condition, it is kept together by yellowing scotch tape and desiccated glue. Its appearance approximates Paolozzi’s own definition of the modern relic as something “fortuitous and ephemeral, somewhat dusty, pathetic, and absurd, like the votive crutches and other macabre objects that the beneficia - ries of miraculous cures have left in a shrine like that of Lourdes.” 1 Psychological Atlas is clearly a homage to the remnants of Surrealism, made as Paolozzi was meeting such figures as Tristan Tzara and Alberto Giacometti, with the knowledge that the movement was drawing its last collective breath. 2 The psychology Paolozzi surveys in his collage book is that of popular imagery: robots, animals, landscapes, bodybuilders, politicians, ethnographic images, industrial architecture, film stars, and the whole assortment of sensa - tional or exotic material to be found in illustrated newspapers, from the Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung to Life magazine. A number of montages evoke Surrealist ethnographic assemblages, but the tone is modified by the inclusion of a collaged television set on the opening page and a color image of an American city a few pages further on. Scenarios created by cut-out figures past - ed onto strange settings evoke scenes of contemporary life, using familiar methods of Surrealist disjunction. Other tableaux are more bewildering, show - * This essay is derived from a paper given at the Contemporary Art Workshop at the University of Chicago, February 2010.
  • The Joan and Lester Avnet Collection in the Museum of Modern Art : Exhibited, Apr

    The Joan and Lester Avnet Collection in the Museum of Modern Art : Exhibited, Apr

    A Treasury of modern drawing : the Joan and Lester Avnet Collection in the Museum of Modern Art : exhibited, Apr. 27-July 4, 1978 William S. Lieberman Date 1978 Publisher The Museum of Modern Art ISBN 08707060980 Exhibition URL www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2355 The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history—from our founding in 1929 to the present—is available online. It includes exhibition catalogues, primary documents, installation views, and an index of participating artists. MoMA © 2017 The Museum of Modern Art A TREASURY OF MODERN I DRAWING THE JOANAND LESTER AVNET COLLECTION Archive MoMA 1210 ft TREASURY OF MODERN DRAWING A TREASURY OF MODERN DRAWING THE JOANAND LESTER AVNET COLLECTION IN THE MUSEUMOF MODERNART WILLIAMS.LIEBERMAN THE MUSEUM OFMODERN ART, NEW YORK 4«-CH'«C lAOrf/) 12-10 MUSEUM OF MODERNART LIBRARY Copyright © 1978 by The Museum of Modern Art All rights reserved The Museum of Modern Art 11 West 53 Street New York, N.Y. 10019 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 78-50658 ISBN: 0-87070-609-8 Designed by Steven Schoenfelder Printed by Meriden Gravure Co., Meriden, Conn. Bound by Sendor Bindery, Inc., New York, N.Y. Printed in the United States of America cover Matisse: The Necklace. 1950. Brush and ink, ioVz x i6Vi" frontispiece Feininger: The Town ofLegefeld. 1916. Pen and ink, charcoal, 9 Vi x 12V2" INTRODUCTION 7 ILLUSTRATIONS 35 CA TALOG OF THE COLLECTION 108 Lester Avnet was a devoted son, brother, husband, and father. His life was dedicated to his family; indeed he thought more often of them, always with pride, than he did of himself.
  • Art on the Page

    Art on the Page

    Art on the page Toward a modern illustrated book When Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard issued his first publication, Parallèlement, in 1900, a collection of poems by Paul Verlaine illustrated with lithographs by Impressionist painter Pierre Bonnard, he ushered in a new form of illustrated book to mark the new century. In the following decades, he and other entrepreneurial art publishers such as Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler and Albert Skira would take advantage of a widening pool of book collectors interested in modern art by producing deluxe books that featured original prints by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault, André Derain and others. These books are generally referred to as livres des artistes and, unlike the fine press publications produced by the Kelmscott Press, the Doves Press or Ashendene Press, the earliest examples were distinguished by their modernity. Breon Mitchell, in his introduction to Beyond illustration, argues that the livre d’artiste can be differentiated from the traditional book in several respects: The illustrations are, in each case, original works of art (woodcuts, lithographs, etchings, engravings) executed by the artist himself and printed under his supervision. The book thus contains original graphics of the kind which find their place on museum walls … The livre d’artiste is also defined by the stature of the artist. Virtually every major painter and sculptor of the twentieth century—Picasso, Braque, Ernst, Matisse, Kokoschka, Barlach, Miró, to name a few—has collaborated in the creation of one or more such works. In many cases, book illustration has occupied such an important place in the total oeuvre of the artist that no student of art history can safely ignore it.