Dada Spectrum: The Dialectics of Revolt ed. by Stephen Foster and Rudolph Kuenzli (review)

244 Books 10, 144, 1977). A metallurgical scientist, who has published numerous articles on the science of metals and the history of technology, especially in relation to art, he contends that it is the decorative arts that provided the first use of most industrially important materials and techniques. Discovery of techniques is ‘usually a product of curiosity, not purpose’. Innovations in technology are more than merely ‘applied science’. The subsequent analysis, elaboration and application of an idea or process is a rational process but discovery itself is not. Smith claimsthat this is true of a new art style as it is for a new type of material or even a new theory in physics. In science and technology the methodology is in the validation, elaboration and communication of the discovery. Smith’s brief chapter lists articles which may be pursued for further discussion by him of the relationship between technology and art. In conclusion, this book is undoubtedly a worthwhile volume for a reference library or individual scholar, but it is not likely to be purchased by an artist or art teacher who would be concerned with comparatively few of the chapters. The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler. Andrew McLaren Young, Margaret MacDonald, Robin Spencer and Hamish Miles. Yale Univ. Press, London, 1980. 598 pp., illus. €80.00. ISBN: 0-300-02384-7. Reviewed by Edward R. Pope* James McNeill Whistler, in his public outspokenness and his writings, including The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1 890) and TheBaronet and the Butterfly (1899).provided durable witnesses to explain himself as an artist and to interpret his work. In 1960 a comprehensive exhibition of Whistler’s work was held in London and New York, marking an important reconsideration of the artist. Other historical, personal and critical references to Whistler abound, including the substantial biography Whistler by Stanley Weintraub, published in 1974. Perhaps the greatest remaining gap in Whistleriana has been a catdogueraisonnk of the artist’s paintings. That deficiency now has been filled both admirably and refreshingly by the publication of The Paintings ofJames McNeill Whistler. Admirable is the design and organization of the two volumes comprising this book. Volume I begins with an almost annual chronology of Whistler’s life, followed by an exhaustively documented text keyed to the appropriate reproductions. It is concisely developed, stating the genesis and history of the paintings up to 1905 (after which only ownership is noted), and recording the literature essential to the history and description of the works, followed in most cases by a terse commentary limited to chiefly technical notes rather than presenting stylistic or critical interpretations. All of the more than 400 reproductions are arranged chronologically in volume 11, a design which greatly facilitates study of the corresponding text and paintings. The plates are generally large and clear, with over 100 in color, which gives the reader a broad view of Whistler’s compositional concerns, spatial arrangements, employment of color, and sensibility to tonal modulation. Refreshing is the text, which is essentially literal and descriptive with regard to the history and literature of each of the artist’s known paintings. With so much of art writing dealing with inference and judgment, this text provides a buffer to the over-refined issue of an artifact by clearly setting out the raw materials. It is a ‘natural history’ (of Whistler’s paintings) in the same sense as is Peterson’sField Guide to the Birds of North America. Besides the multitude of detail which is obviously important to the identity of Whistler’s paintings, the reader who assimilates this material will be afforded definite insight into the artist’s motivations and methods for paintings and his evaluations of the pictures as art objects. It is clear that Whistler maintained the attitude of ort pour l’art in the sense of subordinating subject matter to the refinement of formal relationships. In these volumes the reader will find much evidence to support the interpretation that Whistler’s significance lies in this sensibility to formal elements and his advocacy of aestheticism in painting. And the facts suggest that Whistler would have been proud of such interpretation. This is undoubtedly a specialist’s book, of interest chiefly to...