Visual Delights In Writing

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31307, 1 March 1967, Page 12

Visual Delights In Writing

The Robert McDougall Art Gallery is showing 50 panels comprising a U.N.ES.C.O. collection touring New Zealand. Entitled “The Art of Writing,” the display, which will remain open until March 14, is a most comprehensive one, reaching from the eastern Mediterranean Syllabic styles to the present. From an educational standpoint, the collection is essential viewing, for as we move along the rows of panels we quickly become fascinated by the variety of marks and symbols devised by man for the transmission of his ideas. An example is the early Peruvian system of tying knots,- a way of committing important information to the memory, particularly that of a numerical nature. The differences between this type of primitive sign and, say, the alphabets of the Etruscans and Romans or the manuscripts of the Middle Ages are clearly illustrated. ’ In addition, the exhibition reminds us of the sophisticated role played by writing in contemporary life. Whereas primitive man had a simple, mainly utilitarian, use for his pictographs (although many of these were also aesthetically pleasing) today we are hard put to imagine any activity in which writing does not become “ a necessary means of conveying information, co-ordinating, controlling, recording or inter-

preting.” Available also at the gallery is a well-produced catalogue to the collection. It is a fund of information with an informative introduction, a historical essay and a good reproduction of almost every item in the exhibition. One may ask, however, to what extent a historical survey of letter forms is a legitimate display for an art gallery. None of the panels can in itself be considered a work of art. Little effective tension exists between the shapes and colours comprising them.

But if we were to pursue this somewhat academic point, insisting that by their very nature art galleries are committed to the showing of arts works only, most such institutions would have their “closed” signs up almost permanently; a situation everyone would surely regret. The sense of formal rightness or inevitability crucial to the work, of art can hardly exist in any profound degree in panels such as these, because each shape, as a part of the total panel image, has a strongly self-sufficient individuality and must also act on a level of meaning other than the purely aesthetic. But the purists need not despair. Those who devised each layout have obviously very much more than a mere nodding acqaintanceship with the principles of art, for the visitor to the exhibition is given a highly stimulating visual experience. I stress this point about general visual impact because here I think lies the real justification for accommodating this showing in the McDougall Gallery.

For that matter it could be argued that there is more art in this display than exists in most of the galleries* permanent collection. In any case the art enthusiast will find much to ponder. Note, for example, the

strictly classical form of the letter “0” in panel 37. Its styljstic opposite, the tachistelike gesture on panel 36, reminds us of the pure enjoyment of writing. Panel 20 hints at the reason why the early Chinese often placed the calligrapher in higher regard than the painter. No. 35 is a series of unrelated but superbly formed shapes, a case of the image truly har-

monising with the sense of what it signifies. Another interesting aspect of the collection is the variety of tools that man has employed for his writing. The chisel, the brush, the pen, the machine, and the surfaces he has made bis marks or scratches on, stone, paper, wood, each has had a decisive influence on the appearance of the mark; and the

mark in turn has emerged with its own standards of beauty. If U.N.E.S.C.O.’s hope is to free the world of illiteracy it is as noble an intention as it is difficult. In view of the long and developing tradition of the written word it is indeed disturbing to know that there are still so many who cannot yet comprehend fully the importance of the story it tells.—D.P.