Oil Painting: Traditional and New by Leonard Brooks, and: Controlled Painting: A Sound Approach to Realistic Painting in Oil and Acrylics by Frank Covino (review)

Book Reviews 55 obviously a matter of fine judgement ... Why did the Cubist painters react so strongly against the idea of painting as an illusion? .. the evidence of our eyes is that Cubist paintings give us a great deal less information about objects than conventional paintings do .... But painting is a visual medium, and even if a painter thinks he knows what lies behind what we see, he has to convince us visually." Lambert is obviously taking a narrow point of view from which to judge others, deciding 'right' and 'wrong'. Starting from her premise that a painting's purpose is to transmit information about visual appearance, it is difficult to see how anyone could understand the art of this century. It is no wonder Lambert states that the precise purpose of this experiment is unclear and that it gave "to all artists the freedom, and the insecurity, of painting without rules." If by "rules" she means the conventions of a style, then every style, including Cubism, has its own conventions. Ifshe refers to the basic principles of design, composition, color, etc., then these are as evident in modern painting as in that of the past. In either case, whatever rules exist are there to be used or not by the artist as he or she sees fit. Truly creative artists have changed the rules or created new ones to suit their purposes. Lambert's facts are not always reliable. Her statement that op art (a movement of the 1960s) "led to Kinetic Art, where the work had moveable parts which were set in motion either by air currents or machinery" is contradicted in her next paragraph about Calder who "from 1932onwards ... suspended his amoeba-like shapes so that they moved in a draught of air." There are a few factual or typographical errors in the "Notes on Artists": that Salvador Dali lived in America 1904-55 should read 1940-48. Marcel Duchamp's date of death should read 1968, not 1908, and Piet Mondrian died in 1944, not 1974. One expects more from the Cambridge University Press. Focus on Art. Werner Spies. Rizzoli, New York, 1982. 280 pp., illus. Paper, $14.95. ISBN: 0-8478-0404-6. Reviewed by John A. Walker* Focus on Art was first published in Germany. It isa collection of reviews, interviews, and articles that appeared in a Frankfurt newspaper between 1967 and 1981. Most of the sixty-four items are short. Because of the topical nature of art journalism, the subjects treated are diverse, or, to put it less politely, random: Cezanne, land art, Beckett, Aragon, Bacon, kitsch, Picasso, Pop Art, Art Deco, Diane Arbus, Duchamp, German romantic painting, etc. An unusually high quality of critical writing is needed to justify reprinting such pieces in book form. Unfortunately, Spies's writing does not meet this criterion, even though it isoften intelligent and perceptive. Although written by a German, the book contains little discussion of contemporary German art. It seems Spies spent most of his time in foreign capitals such as Paris and New York, visiting major exhibitions devoted to single artists. Consequently the book presents the 'great names' variety of art criticism in which exceptional individuals (and apart from Arbus they are all male) are viewed as the only begetters of art. Even the illustrations confirm this point: most of them are photographs of artists. One of the few genuinely critical items is an attack on the inflated reputation of Henry Moore. Because Spies plays safe and sticks to the beaten track little isoriginal or adventurous in this text. No hint isgiven of the radical developments in art during the 1960s and '70s that took place outside the museums (for example, the community arts movement). The overall impression one derives from the book is staleness. However, it will be of value in the future to historians researching the critical reception of modern art. History of Art: A Student's Handbook. Marcia Pointon. George Allen & Unwin, London. 104 pp., illus. Text ed. $14.95, ISBN: 0-04-701010-X. Paper $7.50, ISBN: 0-04-701011-8. Reviewed by Timothy Weston** This is a short book (65 pages of text plus 17pages of useful addresses, glossary...