Sound Sculpture ed. by John Grayson (review)

254 Books the artist’s work at a level represented by mysticism and poetry that characterizes the Catalan spirit. The author interprets the symbols employed by Tapies and considers their persistent recurrence and transformation during later stages of his work. Tapies has been influenced by the Catalan mystics, particularly Ramon Llul, who have found a kind of unity between gnostic and religious thought. He has employed magic symbolism identical to that found in old Catalan manuscripts. Recurrent motifs include footprints, the cross, graffiti and pseudo-palaeographic inscriptions. His recent canvases bear emblematic symbols that refer to the fate of Catalonia at this time. The Renaixenca of the 19thcentury had brought about the revival of the Catalan spirit. In this connection, the relationship between Tapies and the Catalan poets Foix and Brossa is significant. The biographical notes attest to the broad areas of Tapies’interests, includingZen and the philosophy of Heidegger. The aspiration for the freedom of Catalonia throughout its history has resulted in a kind of esoteric spirit of independence among its people. The author considers that Tapies’ recognition of that spirit is basic to his work. In fact, the title of the book is taken from ‘The Catalan Spirit’, one of his better known canvases. The illustrations showing selectedpaintings by Tapies have been arranged to support the arguments put forth by the author. All-American Girl: The Art of Coles Phillips. Michael Schau. Watson-Guptill, New York, 1975. 176 pp.. illus. $22.50. Reviewed by Frank Covino* The illustrative art of Coles Phillips ranked high alongside the works of Maxfield Parrish, Howard Chandler Christy, James Montgomery Flagg, J. C. Lyendecker and the young Norman Rockwellduring the Golden Age of Illustration that flourishedin the early part of this century in the U.S.A.As the art galleriesand critics of our iconoclastic age are quick to deprecate illustration as a lesser art form, we are fortunate to have books like AllAmerican Girl: The Art of Coles Phillips. Under one-third of the book is text; the remainder isdevoted to excellentreproductions. As a biographer, Michael Schau is brief but reasonably thorough. Phillips’ unique capabilities as a designer who managed to expresssurreptitiously that talent behind a prolificproduction of portraits of beautiful women can be detected in his earliest illustrations for The Reveille, a Kenyon College publication, between 1901 and 1904. Later, after attending art school and attempting briefly to run an advertising agency,he decided to try illustration as a free-lance artist. Remarkably, he sold his first sketch to Life magazine! Phillips’ work improved with each magazine cover. He originated a fade-away style of figure illustration that was imitated by many artists of hisera. The head, hands and feet were finished to the minutest detail, while the dress of the subject would blend with the background in either a dark or light value. Many of his early subjects were Gibson-girl influenced, but a personal styleeventually emerged and soon the Phiiiips girl gave Gibson competition. Few artists of his time can boast of having produced female images that can elicit a stimulating sexual response in this day of permissiveness,some 60 years later. Each magazine cover illustration is a new kind of compositional arrangement, sometimes disturbingly symmetrical , sometimes in harmony with the Golden Mean and almost always with a wild decorative pattern. The day of illustrators may be dormant temporarily. Twentieth-century recalcitrant iconoclasm has given strength to the many pseudo-artists who must defend their abortive works with esoteric semantics, declaring the decadence of any art form that is readilycommunicative. But, as Berensonhas claimed, and I agree, there is eventually a return to the classicalmean; and the classical idiom in painting is realistic, communicative and well designed. If it isby Vermeer,it iscalled ‘genre’.In a few thousand years, Phillips’ work may also be recognized finally as genre. Even at this time one will find that a careful look at his work will transport one to the early 1900s. This trip alone is worth the price of the book. Jan TschicholdTypographer.Ruari McLean. Lund Humphries, London. 1975. 160 pp.. illus. f7.50. Reviewed by Keith Murgatroyd** Jan Tschichold was paradoxically one of the most influentialand the least understood typographers...