ABSTRACT ART

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30125, 8 May 1963, Page 17

ABSTRACT ART

English Critic’s Defence The standards for abstract art were the same as for representational art there was only good painting and bad painting, the British poet, author, and critic, Sir Herbert Read, said in a public lecture in the hall of Canterbury University last night. One of the commonest criticisms levelled against abstract painting was that it failed to convey any meaning. said Sir Herbert Read. “Only a simple person would assert that the value of a painting is in the story it tells.” he said. Abstraction was a symbolic discourse, following form and colour rather than th j actual things seen. “It is a conventional view of little historical significance that art should only imitate—music might as well be limited to birdsong and thunder, or architecture to imitations of caves and mountains,” he said. Another explanation of abstraction was that it was a flight from reality which materialised in periods when, or climates where, the environment was against man This was a superficial explanation, but did not satisfactorily explain abstraction's , development and growth. It was positive, dynamic, and creative, said Sir Herbert Read. In the half-century since it made its appearance, abstract painting had weathered discouragements amounting to persecution, and was now a world phenomenon which would not easily disappear. Followers’ “Devotion” Many young artists now regarded it as a natural means of expression, and it inspired an almost religious devotion and passion in its followers. Abstract painting was by no means the following of novelty for novelty's sake. Sir Herbert Read said. “We live in a changing period, and the changes in art are only a reflection of the history of our society.” he said. The camera, moving pictures, the aircraft, and the microscope had given new meaning to space aiyl form, and it was absurd to make the accusation of novelty for novelty's sake in science. “Art has merely kept its place in a changing world, he said. It was said that abstract painting was directed towards finding a place on the museum wall, rather than expressing the feelings of the artist. This could as easily be said of Michelangelo. Titian, or Rubens. "No art could have deeper philosophical implications. It has basic and permanent human values,” said Sir Herbert Read.