L’Entité art-actuel (art principle) by Pic G. Adrian (review)

Books 167 sculpture is. And it is an object constituted of matter held by gravity in space and perceived in light. The handsome and efficient production of the book helps his exposition-the illustrations, for example, are placed where the reader needs them, close to the relevant text-except in one respect. once againI plead with publishers,especiallyrenowned art publishers, toincludeinallcaptions,mostespeciallythoseforillustrationsof sculpture, size and medium. It does not seem a lot to ask. A Decade o f Seulptu~ The New Media in the 1960’s. Julia M. Busch. The Art Alliance Press, Cranbury, N.J., 1974. 200 pp., illus. $25.00. El 1.50. Reviewed by Jan Zpeh* In her book, Busch analyzesan interestingproblem, that is, the delicate point of the comparative values of painting and sculpture. She pursues her research with much energy and erudition and deserves praise for the elegance with which she presents the material. I disagree with her premise that ‘today the boundaries of sculpture are not clearly drawn’ (p. 17). The boundaries are clearlydrawnin that paintingis2-dimensionaland sculptureis 3dimensional , regardless of the tools, materials and methods Eugene Massin speaks of his ‘three-dimensionalpaintings’.I havenot had the opportunityofseeinghisworks(describedon p. 25), but an image produced by paint on an acrylicsheetthrough which light is transmitted remains in the realm of painting. Qualitiesof both paintingand sculpturearelostby attempting to merge the two. The Op art picturesof, for example,Vasarely, Brigitte Riley and Josef Albers cannot be considered as sculpture.Thefantasticpossibility of paintingon a flatsurfaceto give an illusion of spacehas been known for a very longtime.In order to transfer his Op art ideas to sculpture,Vasarely had to use 3-dimensional objects [cf. W. Spies, Victor Vasarely (New York Abrams, 197111. In the case of Thomas Wilfred‘s and Frank J. Malina’s use of electric light, where pictures are produced on a translucent screen by reflection of light from polished surfaceswithin a volume, the final visualexperienceis still not that provided by sculpture. Busch has drawn attention to youngand gifted artists such as Bakaty, Frazier,Anne Arnold, Lila Katzen, Bruce Beasley and others,whichisanexcellentfeatureof her book,but biographical sketchesare lacking.Thisinformationwould havebeen valuable for students and libraries. The inclusion of Me1Bochner’s discussionof terminologyfor sculpture should dispel possible misunderstanding of the text The publisher has allowed a generous number of reproductions of the artists’ works; however, in today’s depressed economy in the U.S.A., $25.00is a rather high price for students, who would benefit the most from this well-ordered and thoroughly researched work. employed. (pp. 38-39). JurajW.Viera Luxova.Pallas,Bratislava, 1972. 171pp.. illus. KEs. 55,OO. Reviewed by Albert Garrett** The author presents Juraj Krkn’s impressive production of drawings, paintings, mosaics and tapestries in a logical and concisemanner. Krkn was a Slovakartist (1925-1969) who lived his short life through the period of World War I1 and the following political upheaval in Czechoslovakia.Formed as an artist in the mainstream of the European tradition, he counterpointed strife with richness and chaos with order. Asummaryof the text is provided in English,Russian,French and German. There are eight full page colour plates and 107 black and white illustrations, largely full page, which are arrangedto spanKrkn’sproduction.Thequalityof reproduction is very good and the fine half-tone plates are outstanding. It is refreshing not to haveto confrontlithographicsoot and smudge. *25113 Lamb Road, Elmira, OR 97437, U.S.A. **I0 SunningdaleAve., Eastcote, Ruislip HA4 9SR, England. An artist’sintegrationwithsocietywasimportantto Kren.His major achievement was a series of murals executed for interior and exterior architectural environments. He worked on an architecturalscale and used a stylethat responded to life. Some of his finest works are tapestries. He was a colourist of rare quality, with a colour palette as individual as Modigliani’s. I recommend highly this book to libraries concerned with European art. L’Entitb art-actuel (art priocipiel). In French. Pic G. Adrian. Arted, Paris, 1976. Pages not numbered. Illus. Paper. Reviewed by Etieme Souriau% This rather enigmaticbook resemblessometreatiseson alchemy that are composed only of figures without written text. Thirty lines of print at the beginninginform the reader that the book concerns ‘l’artprincipiel’andthat itisthe outcomeand extension of the author’s ‘thiorieessentialisre’.The...