"Re: studio

["Clive Murray-White" <clivemw@zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

Dear Peter,

Sometimes I wish we had many more questions like yours.

For many years I have hoped to hear that Art historians have started to look
more closely at the social and environmental conditions that effected the
20c artists.

Sculptors are, of course, the perfect group to study.

There are some quite frightening and unassailable facts, not popular with
University Art History Departments but most illuminating all the same.

Most of the people who have gone on to become the major names in sculpture
discovered almost unlimited quantities of cheap materials, junk, steel from
scrap yards, plastic offcuts, fabric, high quality timber from parks and
gardens, there are literally hundreds of examples.

I will never forget the experience of going to New York for the first time
in the early 70's and noticing that the SoHo area where most of the most
influential artists lived was a warehouse district, there were piles of
materials on the footpaths. The artist lived and worked on the upper floors
of these buildings, lifts were rare, so everything had to be carried up,
fire was a very major risk so no dangerous processes could occur, the stair
ways were narrow, so it was impossible to make any big, heavy permanent
sculptures........Seeing this I was not at all surprised that many sculptors
were making modular, light multi part non-permanent sculpture.

I visited Don Judd's studio of the time, his work could be said to a good
example of what we are talking about. Donald Judd by Byron Smith published
The National Gallery of Canada 1975 has good pictures of Judd's studios.

I haven't got time to write every story that I know so here are a few more
references.

Most books on Calder especially the less scholarly ones.
"    "    "    "       Picasso
David Smith

Jean Arp Sculpture 1957 1966 E Trier T&H
Jean Tinguely "Meta" Hulten T&H
Isamu Noguchi a sculptor's world T&H
PRIVATE VIEW the lively world of British Art Nelson (lots of pictures of
studios)
The sculpture of Henri Matisse. Albert Elsen. Abrams
Giacometti. Reinhold Hohl T&H

If I looked through every book on sculpture that I have I know I could find
many more.

The best things that I can remember are a series of 3 films called the
Masters of Modern Sculpture

Good luck very interesting topic.

Regards Clive
Web: www.cowwarr.com