(2017) The Ivory Tower and the Control Tower: Formalist Aesthetics and Cultural Affiliations in ...

268 Pages·2017·1.42 MB·English

Clements, Neil (2017) The Ivory Tower and the Control Tower: Formalist
Aesthetics and Cultural Affiliations in British Abstract Art, 1956-1968.
PhD thesis.

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The Ivory Tower and the Control Tower:
Formalist Aesthetics and Cultural Affiliations in
British Abstract Art, 1956-1968.

Neil Clements

Submitted for the degree of PhD

The Glasgow School of Art

School of Fine Art

November 2017

© Neil Clements, 2017
Abstract

This thesis addresses British art of the late 1950s and 1960s, and specifically
traces how formalist aesthetics and broader cultural factors influenced abstract art
being made at this time. As such it is concerned with defining how particular artworks,
while not depicting the environment in which they were produced, can still be
demonstrated to embody it through other means. Opposing a binary separation of pop
figuration and formalist abstraction prevalent in other scholarship dealing with the
period, this text instead outlines a scenario where formalist strategies of art-making
were themselves ideologically predicated on a number of other societal factors. These
factors include the semantic economy underpinning the field of branded advertisement,
the increasingly afunctional appearance of industrially styled commodities, and an
image of ‘classless’ professionalism cultivated to combat an existing political
Establishment.

Additionally, this study includes an examination of the influence exerted on
British abstraction by American sources, and revisits the critic Norbert Lynton’s
observation regarding the ‘Mid-Atlantic’ position many practitioners found
themselves occupying stylistically. At the heart of such an enquiry is an attempt to
account in concrete terms for characteristics differentiating British artwork from that
being produced elsewhere. It is structured as three chapters, looking at the work of
Richard Smith at a time during which he was resident in both London and New York,
that of a number of sculptors who participated in the Whitechapel Art Gallery
exhibition New Generation 1965, and the development of Jeremy Moon’s painting
practice. Brought together these three case studies combine to suggest an autonomous
and vital sensibility, one quite distinct from developments being made either in
Continental Europe or the United States.

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Acknowledgements

To my supervisors Professor Roger Wilson, Professor Alistair Payne and Dr Joy Sleeman
I owe a considerable debt for their advice and encouragement in helping produce this
thesis. Along the way fellow AHRC students Emma, Leigh, Kirsteen and James have
provided a much required social grounding. My thanks go also to the Laura and Nicky
in the Research Office, as well as all of my colleagues in the Forum for Critical Inquiry.

Throughout the course of my research I have relied heavily on assistance from a number
of resources. In particular though I would like to extend my appreciation to Duncan
Chappell, Nancy Young and Phoebe Amis at the GSA Library for so consistently fielding
my pedantic and often arcane requests.

Additionally, I have drawn from a host of other individuals whose salient observations,
technical support and generally sympathetic attitude has meant a great deal to me. These
include, but are certainly not limited to Dominic Paterson, Kate Davis, Merlin James,
Carol Rhodes, Charlie Hammond, Lotte Gertz, Mick Peter, Scott Rodgers, Nick Carlin,
Roger Cook, Elena Crippa, Sam Cornish, Clive Hodgson, Dan Sturgis, Richard Kirwan,
Donald Smith, Alex Dordoy, Roma Clemie, Stacy Boldrick, Harry Weeks and Julie-Ann
Delaney.

My research into Jeremy Moon’s paintings coincided with an opportunity to publicly
showcase several aspects of his practice. In agreeing to accommodate Moon’s not
insignificant collection of archival material, so as to facilitate its in depth appraisal, I am
heavily indebted to Ingrid Swenson and Andrew Wilson, but also to Charlotte Schepke
for helping to realise what was the first exhibition devoted to his drawings alone. The
supportiveness of the artist’s estate has played a crucial role, especially that of Robert
Moon, without whose extensive knowledge of his father’s work my task would have been
all the more difficult.

Finally, my utmost gratitude is reserved for Rachel, whose patience throughout this entire
process has remained undepleted and too rarely acknowledged.

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Table of Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................... 2
Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. 3
List of Illustrations ............................................................................................... 5
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 9
Thesis ....................................................................................................................... 15
Structure ................................................................................................................... 25
Methodology ............................................................................................................. 31
Hollow Signs: Richard Smith, 1957-65 ............................................................... 40
Ark: Getting the Measure of Popular Culture ............................................................. 42
Getting into the Act: British Action Painting ............................................................. 50
Apocalyptic Wallpaper: Place and its Sources ............................................................. 57
Midtown Pop: New York, 1959-1961 ........................................................................ 64
Consumer Dreamworlds: Photographic Mediation .................................................... 72
The Corrugated Field: London, 1962-63 ................................................................... 80
Packaged Paintings: Shaped Canvases between London and New York ...................... 86
Part of the Passing Show: The Sphinxes, 1964-65 ....................................................... 95
Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 101
The Sculpture System: New Generation Sculpture and its Sources, 1961-1966. . 104
Nomenclature: ‘New Generation Sculpture’ ............................................................. 106
Learning and Teaching: The Sculpture Department at St. Martin’s ......................... 109
The Language of Sculpture: Syntax and Relational Assembly ................................... 116
Semantics: Primary Structures 1966. ........................................................................ 124
Synthetic Skins: Coloured Sculpture and Modernist Criticism ................................. 130
Gestures of Control: Fibreglass and Closed Form Sculpture ..................................... 142
Anti-Material: The Influence of Brancusi ................................................................ 148
Rhetoric: Un-public Sculpture ................................................................................. 158
Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 170
Starting Hares: Jeremy Moon, 1962-1968 ......................................................... 172
Prologue: Abstract Professionalism .......................................................................... 175
Amateurs in Art: Situation and the Establishment .................................................... 183
White Heat/White Fire: Hard Edge and Field Painting ........................................... 187
Prodigal Images: Paintings, 1964-1965 .................................................................... 194
Cottage Industries: Moon’s Studios, 1963-1967 ....................................................... 198
The Leisure Class: Workmanship and Dual Titling ................................................. 206
Serious Play: Drawings ............................................................................................ 214
Cheerful Schizophrenia: Grid Paintings, 1968 ......................................................... 219
Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 225
Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 232
Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 239
Appendix One: Chronology: 1956-1968 ........................................................... 256

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List of Illustrations

1. Cover Image of Ark, No.36 (1964).
2. Knighton Hosking, Tupperware Secret (1966). Oil and Aluminium Paint on
Canvas.
3. Captioned illustration from Richard Smith’s article ‘Film Backgrounds Two:
At Home, Sitting in the Middle of Today,’ Ark, No.19 (1957).
4. Installation photograph of paintings exhibited by Robyn Denny, Ralph
Rumney and Richard Smith in Place, ICA, London (1959).
5. Detail of Robyn Denny and Richard Smith ‘Ev’ry Which Way,’ Ark, No.24
(1959)
6. Richard Smith, Formal Giant (1960). Oil on Canvas.
7. Advertisement for After Six Eveningwear, designer unknown (ca. 1960).
8. Richard Smith, Billboard (1961). Oil on Canvas.
9. Derek Boshier, First Airmail Painting (1961). Oil on Canvas.
10. Richard Smith, Chase Manhattan (1961). Oil on Canvas.
11. Tom Geismar, Chase Manhattan Bank Trademark (1960).
12. Richard Smith, Salem (1958). Oil on Canvas.
13. Advertisement for Salem Cigarettes, designer unknown (ca. 1958).
14. Cover Image of Paris Match, February (1958).
15. Richard Smith, MM (1959). Oil on Canvas.
16. Installation photograph of an exhibition by Claes Oldenburg’s at The Green
Gallery, New York 1962. To the right is Floor Cake (1962).
17. Richard Smith, Kent (1962). Oil on Canvas.
18. Advertisement for Stuyvesant Cigarettes, designer unknown (ca. 1959).
19. Richard Smith, Nassau (1962). Oil on Canvas.
20. Richard Smith, Trailer 1 (1963). Oil on Canvas.
21. Installation photograph of Richard Smith: New Paintings at the Kasmin
Gallery, London 1963.
22. Richard Smith, Piano (1963). Oil on Canvas.

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23. Richard Smith, Re-Place (1963). Oil on Canvas.
24. Installation photograph of Richard Smith’s third exhibition at The Green
Gallery, New York 1965.
25. Richard Smith, Red Carpet (1965). Acrylic on Canvas.
26. Photograph of Smith’s studio showing Ripe (1964) prior to completion.
27. Robert Morris, Column (1961). Painted Plywood.
28. Installation photograph of New Generation 1965, Whitechapel Art Gallery,
London 1965.
29. Installation photograph of Anthony Caro: Sculpture 1960-63, Whitechapel
Art Gallery, London 1963.
30. Anthony Caro, Early One Morning (1962). Painted Steel and Aluminium.
31. Michael Bolus, Sculpture Two (1962). Painted Steel.
32. Carl Andre, Field (1966). Ceramic Magnets.
33. Installation photograph of Primary Structures: Recent American and British
Sculpture, Jewish Museum, New York 1966. On the far right is William
Tucker’s sculpture Meru (1964).
34. Bruce McLean, Found Steel Girder and Scrap Metal Sculpture (1968).
Photograph.
35. Anthony Caro, Month of May (1963). Painted Steel and Aluminium.
36. David Annesley, Circle (1966). Painted Aluminium.
37. Installation photograph of Kenneth Noland: Paintings 1959-62 at the Kasmin
Gallery, London 1963.
38. David Smith, Circle I (1962). Painted Steel.
39. Phillip King, Rosebud (1962). Painted Fibreglass.
40. Constantin Brancusi, Newborn (1925). Wood, Brass and Marble.
41. Phillip King, Barbarian Fruit (1964). Wood and Aluminium.
42. Constantin Brancusi, Timidity (1928). Marble.
43. Tim Scott, Umber (1961). Painted Wood and Fibreglass.
44. William Tucker, Anabasis I (1964). Painted Fibreglass and Perspex.
45. Phillip King, Slant (1966). Painted Fibreglass.
46. Michael Bolus, Bowbend (1964). Painted Aluminium.
47. Isaac Witkin, Nagas (1964). Painted Fibreglass.

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48. Photograph taken by Jeremy Moon whilst on National Service in Japan,
ca.1954.
49. Jeremy Moon, Construction with Three Cubes (1962). Oil on Wood with
Aluminium Base.
50. Beth Moon with Jeremy Moon’s Untitled (1964), outside their flat on King’s
Henry Road, London.
51. Advertisement for Rowney Cryla Paint, designer unknown (ca. 1964).
52. Catalogue cover for West Coast Hard-Edge: Four Abstract Classicists, ICA,
London 1960.
53. Installation photograph of London: The New Scene at the Walker Art Gallery,
Minneapolis 1965. The four paintings by Jeremy Moon to the right of the
stairwell are from left to right: Ariadne (5/64, 1964), Eclipse (1962),
Mandarin (7/64, 1964) and Oriole (1962).
54. Jeremy Moon, Orange Queen (20/64, 1964). Acrylic on Canvas.
55. Jeremy Moon, Concord (19/64, 1964). Acrylic on Five Canvas Panels.
56. Jeremy Moon, Hoop La (7/65, 1965). Acrylic on Canvas.
57. Jeremy Moon, Testament (13/64, 1964). Acrylic on Four Canvas Panels.
58. Jeremy Moon, Night Time (1966). Acrylic on Canvas.
59. Moon’s studio at Latchmere Road, Kingston Upon Thames. Taken by the
author, October 2014.
60. The interior of Moon’s studio at Latchmere Road. Photographer: John
Webb (1968).
61. Jeremy Moon, Origami (5/67, 1967). Acrylic on Canvas.
62. Jeremy Moon, Blue Rose (12/67, 1967). Acrylic on Canvas.
63. Jeremy Moon, Signals (19/67, 1967). Acrylic on Canvas.
64. Jeremy Moon, Untitled Drawing (ca. 1964). Drawn on Rowan Gallery
Correspondence.
65. Sheet No.4 from Moon’s hand drawn catalogue of completed paintings
(1964).
66. Jeremy Moon, Untitled Drawing (ca. 1964). Drawn on Isaac Witkin
Invitation Card
67. Jeremy Moon, Trellis (1962). Oil on Canvas.

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68. Jeremy Moon, Crusader (6/68, 1968). Acrylic on Canvas.
69. Jeremy Moon, 10/68 (1968). Acrylic on Canvas.
70. Jeremy Moon, Caravan II (15/68, 1968). Acrylic on Canvas.
71. Jeremy Moon, 11/68 (15/68, 1968). Acrylic on Canvas.

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Introduction

Reminiscing about the London art scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s
Bridget Riley recalled Richard Smith, a fellow painter, returning from an extended
trip to New York with a pair of basketball sneakers. The stir she noted that this now
ubiquitous item of footwear caused was considerable. Representing an informality
alien to the comparatively staid image of the British art student, her anecdote gives a
sense of the mystique that the US must have held over the imagination. Smith’s studio
she remembered similarly reflected his experiences abroad, becoming ‘airy’ and filled
with large, abstract canvases.1 For younger artists, operating in what they considered
to be conditions mired by the hangover of a pre-war, class-bound conservatism,
American products suggested nothing less than a paradigmatic shift in attitudes
towards both practice and life. Smith’s early identification with various aspects of this
remote culture signified a new kind of discernment and modernity, one that would go
on to exert an increasing influence on British art in the coming decade. Some years
later the symbolic power of the basketball sneaker would be utilised once more, in a
photograph that appeared on the cover of the Royal College of Art (RCA) student
journal Ark in the summer of 1964 [Fig.1].

What Riley’s recollections also highlight is how closely bound two different
aspects of American culture were from a British perspective: Smith’s embrace of a
more casual form of apparel was perceived to be matched by his decision to redress
aspects of his painting practice. Extending beyond the importation of consumer goods,
cinema and music, New York’s growing importance as an artistic centre was broadcast
in London through a series of exhibitions of abstract art. Jackson Pollock’s first British
solo exhibition took place at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1958, while a one man
showcase of Mark Rothko’s work opened there in 1961. Following on from a general

1 Although Riley attributes this memory to a time when they were both students at the RCA in the
mid 1950s, Riley finishing her studies there in 1955 and Smith in 1957, it is more likely to have
taken place after Smith visited America for the first time in 1959. See Bridget Riley, The Eye’s Mind:
Bridget Riley: Collected Writing 1965-1999, ed. Robert Kudielka (London: Thames and Hudson,
1999), 23.

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