Visual Perception by Nicholas J. Wade, Michael Swanston (review)

Sandino (d. 1934), Carlos Fonseca (d. 1976), and Rigoberto Lopez Perez (d. 1956)-by the artist Alejandro Canales: Whatis impressive, then, about the usageof these portraits in the Telcor mural isnot so much what these leitmotifshavegenerallycome to signify because of the billboard paintings ... but rather howCanaleshas formallyintegrated these portraits into the murals. Placed on a diagonal and decentering line that points to other interrelated themes, these figures havebecome part of a dynamicinterchange of various elements in a Cubistgrid. Hence, these elements are at odds with the static character of most large-scale portraits ... whichbycentering the workstrongly often undermine the sense of process. Here, the evocationof a sense of transformation isa distinctivefeature of the superb use of flat graphic design that pervades the composition asa whole. Craven continues to develop his interpretive prose, at one point citing the work of the late French critic Roland Barthes, whose discussion ofwriterly and readerly texts seems to have some correlation with the openendedness by which muralists, such as Canales and Garcia, and oil painters, such as Maria Gallo, approach their art. In either case there is the open interpretation within a given ideological construct. Craven also discusses the brilliant collage artist Raul Quintanilla , who works in a manner not unrelated to the Dada artistJohn Heartfield or the more recent conceptualist Hans Haacke. One cannot leave this book unconvinced of the originality and timeliness of the Sandinista experiment in the arts and its transformative cultural aspirations. It is an important statement about the growing need for a more democratized point ofview in art that really connects with people on an everyday level, on a necessary level. It is a statement that has been thwarted by the economic disaster of war and national defense, at least for the time being. Its effect has yet to be known. THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF IRISH WATERCOLOURS AND DRAWINGS by Patricia Butler. Weidenfeld and Nicolson , London, U.K., 1990. 224 pp., illus. Trade, £30. ISBN: 0-297-83055-4. Reoieued bySeanO'Iniscoll, Castle Matrix, Rathkeale, CauntyLimerick, Ireland. Irish literature and poetry have long been world renowned, and in the twentieth century Irish oil paintings gained theirjustified recognition. However, watercolours and drawings remained fairly dormant with little notice , despite the fact that the Irish have played a significant role in these more spontaneous creations. Like the famous Norfolk watercolour school in England, the Irish have a climate particularly ideal for the watercolour technique; thus the Irish tradition for this medium. There are, of course, obvious reasons for the lack of information and documentation in this field. Unlike the more elaborate worked and reworked oil paintings, this category is often executed on fragile paper with colours that rapidly fade under normal light conditions. Worse still, works of art on the post-1830 pulpbased papers are disintegrating at a rapid pace: sunlight and humidity can destroy these works over a relatively short span of time. Hence, such masterpieces must be stored under special environmental conditions in order to survive. It is not surprising, then, that this category of creative art, not readily accessible, has remained relatively unexplored until now. Patricia Butler has devoted most of her adult life to the research and study of Irish art. A resident of Ireland , working in Oxford, she is currently a member of the National Gallery of Ireland's Fellowship Committee , as well as personal assistant to the administrator of the renowned Bodleian Library, University ofOxford. With 70 colour and 175 black-andwhite illustrations, this pioneering work is an invaluable reference source. Concise biographies of over 200 Irish artists are included. The three centuries covered (1660-1960) encompass miniatures, topographical views, classical landscapes, marine painting, portraits, botanical studies and caricatures. The author's years of effort on this elusive subject have resulted in a definitive work. VISUAL PERCEPTION by NicholasJ. Wade and Michael Swanston. Routledge, London,U.K., 1991. 212 pp., illus. Paper, £9.99. ISBN: 0-415-01043-8. &viewed byJohn Cooper, Pergamon Press, HeadingtonHill Hal~ OxfordOX3 OBW; U,K )>---<« » We all know these two lines are the same length, yet why, no matter how hard we look, do we perceive one shorter, the other longer? All the tricks ofvisual perception are in this book, both those that the world plays on us and those that we play on ourselves --usually involuntarily as an aid to 'seeing'. Why, for what purpose, do we perceive things that are not there? Does this aid or hinder our interpretation of the world and of ourselves? The authors, both psychologists, present a refreshingly novel view ofvisual perception in answer to such questions , starting with the basics ofform and function: the form of the visual apparatus--the eye and brain-and the functions of this apparatus in a three-dimensional world. INTERPRETING CONTEMPORARY ART Stephen Bann and Willian Allen, eds. Reaktion Books Ltd., London, U.K., 1991. 248 pp., illus. Trade, £23.00; Paper, £9.95. ISBN: 0-948462-15-9; ISBN: 0-948462-14-0. Reoieuied byJohn Cooper, Pergamon Press, HeadingtonHill Hall, OxfordOX3 OBW; U,K This is not a treatise on how, generally , to interpret contemporary art but rather a collection of essays by certain critics confronting certain works. Yet, it succeeds in gently pointing the way towards a general theory of interpretation by the subtlety with which the editors have arranged their material and by the range ofworks discussed . The range of contributors, too, is impressive. My only quibble is that the illustrations could have been better reproduced. That apart, this is an informative and at times exciting Current Literature 631 ...