Total Art: Environments, Happenings and Performance by Adrian Henri (review)

Books 169 styleonehas learned to dread, and with none of theconventional scholarly niceties of accurate and intelligent research, of acknowledgment of ideas from other sources and of aids to further study in the forms of references and bibliography. T o t a lArt: Environments, Happenings and Performance. Adrian Henri. Praeger, New York, 1974.216pp.. illus.$10.00.Reviewed by Pad Heyer* and William Vazanfs It is good to see a book devoted to environmental-performance art finally appear in Praeger’s popular series. Henri makes a strongcasethat works ofthis kind areasimportantaspainting or sculpture to an understanding of art history. How many of us are aware of the pageants and celebrations designed by Leonard0 da Vinci and other Renaissance artists? Movements such as Futurism, Constructivism, Dada, Surrealism and Pop are assessed in terms of their contribution to the ‘total art’ tradition. Individual artists include Malevich, Duchamp, Emst, Warhol, Oldenburg, Kaprow, Kienholz, Klein and Beuys. Through their efforts, Henri contends, the visual arts have been pushed to wider experiential limits. After a brief discussion relating to what constitutes ‘total art’, the author elaborates on the notion of art as environment. Specific attention is given to Pop. Pieces by Smithson, Haacke and others are brought in; yet Conceptual art is not. We feel that there should have been a clearer differentiation here between those who deliberately produce artistic environments, as in Pop art, and those, like the conceptualists, who may take a given environment and use it as a medium. Next, happenings are given concise historical coverage. The link to other media, in particular, theater, iscarefully noted. The last chapter isdevoted to the artist as performer. The work of Klein and Beuys is cited with reference to the intense demands they have made on themselvesin merging visual works with physical performance. TotalArt iswelldocumented and amply illustrated. Henri does not limit his survey to the more notorious manifestations but brings to light a number of lesser known equally significant examples. Nevertheless, we also feel that there is some incongruity. Should works whose range represents phantasmagoria of absurd fantasies, the link between art and technology and the exploration of natural and/or cultural processes, be lumped in one tradition? Also, at times the artistic validity of some of the representations ought to be challenged. Perhaps we are being mediated by taste and should not let it color our evaluation of the author, who on the whole has done a very commendable job. The art he discusses, as is well known, contains something to offend everyone. Sculpture from Found Objects. Carl Reed and Burt Towne. Davis, Worcester, Mass., 1974,96 pp.. illus. $8.95. Reviewed by Lucia J5eier$ This book consists largely of illustrations of ‘art objects’ made from cast-off materials from a consumer society-for example, automobile mumers and camshafts; plastic, metal and glass containers; eggcartons, etc., etc., and occasionally from natural materials likesand and driftwood. Whilethis may be ecologically interesting and while there are some modest artistic possibilities in found objects, this book is insipid, due to the inanity of the final products shown. Although they were done mainly by secondary school students, the authors should have exercised some aesthetic judgment in making their selection. As it is, I wincedat each page, anticipating yet another horror likea folded rubber beach sandal replete with sixforks for legsto form a ‘flipflop monster’ or ‘a box, a berry basket, lace and parts of a doll made this sophisticated lady’. The text accompanying the gruesome objects is repetitive and irrelevant. Anyone contemplating teaching sculpture from found objects should avoid this book. 3105 St. Catherine St. East, Apt. 1, Montreal, Quebec HIV 2A5, Canada. **6245de Carignan St., Montreal, Quebec H 1M 2H9, Canada. $15 Borrowdale Rd., Lancaster LA1 3HF, England. A Primer of V i a l Literacy. Donis A. Dondis. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1973. 194 pp.. illus. E5.00, $9.95. Reviewed by J o b M. Kennedy5 This is a small but quite packed elementary text for a design course, which would be useful to students unable to appreciate the intellectual scopeand moral sensitivityof a Rudolf Arnheim. The survey of basic terms in visual media is systematic and concise, though naturally...