Clements, Neil (2017) The Ivory Tower and the Control Tower: Formalist Aesthetics and Cultural Affiliations in British Abstract Art, 1956-1968. PhD thesis. http://radar.gsa.ac.uk/5606 Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given RADAR http://radar.gsa.ac.uk/ [email protected] The Ivory Tower and the Control Tower: Formalist Aesthetics and Cultural Affiliations in British Abstract Art, 1956-1968. Neil Clements Submitted for the degree of PhD The Glasgow School of Art School of Fine Art November 2017 © Neil Clements, 2017 Abstract This thesis addresses British art of the late 1950s and 1960s, and specifically traces how formalist aesthetics and broader cultural factors influenced abstract art being made at this time. As such it is concerned with defining how particular artworks, while not depicting the environment in which they were produced, can still be demonstrated to embody it through other means. Opposing a binary separation of pop figuration and formalist abstraction prevalent in other scholarship dealing with the period, this text instead outlines a scenario where formalist strategies of art-making were themselves ideologically predicated on a number of other societal factors. These factors include the semantic economy underpinning the field of branded advertisement, the increasingly afunctional appearance of industrially styled commodities, and an image of ‘classless’ professionalism cultivated to combat an existing political Establishment. Additionally, this study includes an examination of the influence exerted on British abstraction by American sources, and revisits the critic Norbert Lynton’s observation regarding the ‘Mid-Atlantic’ position many practitioners found themselves occupying stylistically. At the heart of such an enquiry is an attempt to account in concrete terms for characteristics differentiating British artwork from that being produced elsewhere. It is structured as three chapters, looking at the work of Richard Smith at a time during which he was resident in both London and New York, that of a number of sculptors who participated in the Whitechapel Art Gallery exhibition New Generation 1965, and the development of Jeremy Moon’s painting practice. Brought together these three case studies combine to suggest an autonomous and vital sensibility, one quite distinct from developments being made either in Continental Europe or the United States. 2 Acknowledgements To my supervisors Professor Roger Wilson, Professor Alistair Payne and Dr Joy Sleeman I owe a considerable debt for their advice and encouragement in helping produce this thesis. Along the way fellow AHRC students Emma, Leigh, Kirsteen and James have provided a much required social grounding. My thanks go also to the Laura and Nicky in the Research Office, as well as all of my colleagues in the Forum for Critical Inquiry. Throughout the course of my research I have relied heavily on assistance from a number of resources. In particular though I would like to extend my appreciation to Duncan Chappell, Nancy Young and Phoebe Amis at the GSA Library for so consistently fielding my pedantic and often arcane requests. Additionally, I have drawn from a host of other individuals whose salient observations, technical support and generally sympathetic attitude has meant a great deal to me. These include, but are certainly not limited to Dominic Paterson, Kate Davis, Merlin James, Carol Rhodes, Charlie Hammond, Lotte Gertz, Mick Peter, Scott Rodgers, Nick Carlin, Roger Cook, Elena Crippa, Sam Cornish, Clive Hodgson, Dan Sturgis, Richard Kirwan, Donald Smith, Alex Dordoy, Roma Clemie, Stacy Boldrick, Harry Weeks and Julie-Ann Delaney. My research into Jeremy Moon’s paintings coincided with an opportunity to publicly showcase several aspects of his practice. In agreeing to accommodate Moon’s not insignificant collection of archival material, so as to facilitate its in depth appraisal, I am heavily indebted to Ingrid Swenson and Andrew Wilson, but also to Charlotte Schepke for helping to realise what was the first exhibition devoted to his drawings alone. The supportiveness of the artist’s estate has played a crucial role, especially that of Robert Moon, without whose extensive knowledge of his father’s work my task would have been all the more difficult. Finally, my utmost gratitude is reserved for Rachel, whose patience throughout this entire process has remained undepleted and too rarely acknowledged. 3 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. 3 List of Illustrations ............................................................................................... 5 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 9 Thesis ....................................................................................................................... 15 Structure ................................................................................................................... 25 Methodology ............................................................................................................. 31 Hollow Signs: Richard Smith, 1957-65 ............................................................... 40 Ark: Getting the Measure of Popular Culture ............................................................. 42 Getting into the Act: British Action Painting ............................................................. 50 Apocalyptic Wallpaper: Place and its Sources ............................................................. 57 Midtown Pop: New York, 1959-1961 ........................................................................ 64 Consumer Dreamworlds: Photographic Mediation .................................................... 72 The Corrugated Field: London, 1962-63 ................................................................... 80 Packaged Paintings: Shaped Canvases between London and New York ...................... 86 Part of the Passing Show: The Sphinxes, 1964-65 ....................................................... 95 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 101 The Sculpture System: New Generation Sculpture and its Sources, 1961-1966. 104 Nomenclature: ‘New Generation Sculpture’ ............................................................. 106 Learning and Teaching: The Sculpture Department at St. Martin’s ......................... 109 The Language of Sculpture: Syntax and Relational Assembly ................................... 116 Semantics: Primary Structures 1966. ........................................................................ 124 Synthetic Skins: Coloured Sculpture and Modernist Criticism ................................. 130 Gestures of Control: Fibreglass and Closed Form Sculpture ..................................... 142 Anti-Material: The Influence of Brancusi ................................................................ 148 Rhetoric: Un-public Sculpture ................................................................................. 158 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 170 Starting Hares: Jeremy Moon, 1962-1968 ......................................................... 172 Prologue: Abstract Professionalism .......................................................................... 175 Amateurs in Art: Situation and the Establishment .................................................... 183 White Heat/White Fire: Hard Edge and Field Painting ........................................... 187 Prodigal Images: Paintings, 1964-1965 .................................................................... 194 Cottage Industries: Moon’s Studios, 1963-1967 ....................................................... 198 The Leisure Class: Workmanship and Dual Titling ................................................. 206 Serious Play: Drawings ............................................................................................ 214 Cheerful Schizophrenia: Grid Paintings, 1968 ......................................................... 219 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 225 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 232 Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 239 Appendix One: Chronology: 1956-1968 ........................................................... 256 4 List of Illustrations 1. Cover Image of Ark, No.36 (1964). 2. Knighton Hosking, Tupperware Secret (1966). Oil and Aluminium Paint on Canvas. 3. Captioned illustration from Richard Smith’s