The Art Service Industry, part 6

Seurat

But what of Herbert Reeds choice of objective artists. We find a few pages later he refers to Seurat as a genius and one who ‘gave precise expression to the idea of objectivity’

If we refer to the painting ‘an afternoon at La Grand Jatte’ a more stilted painting it would be hard to find, we find that the figures have no resemblance to the retinal image what so ever, the hands and feet are far too small, a tell tale sign of a lack of visual understanding. The sitting girl, centre holding a pose, shows no understanding of a head, again hands too small, no understanding of hair in visual terms, granted a very difficult area. The floating dog does not help the situation. The lack of visual understanding with regard to the trees or grass or any aspect of surface quality. The ladies hat, one of three sitting figures bottom left, the inability of the painter to produce the illusion of the flowers going around the hat indicates a very low grade ability and a fundamental lack of understanding of physics, even though Herbert Reed says that Seurat understands science. The hat, head, body and hands show a woeful lack of the understanding of the retinal image, anatomy, physics, proportion, drawing, modelling, surface quality, tone, the lost and found of the Impressionist, colour, the medium, structure, resolution, perspective, both linear and aerial and the inevitable psychological homunculus. This catalogue of short comings of this low grade artist is not aimed as a criticism of the artist but to describe the disparity between reality and what the art historian sees as objectivity.

The Art Service Industry, part 5

Vermeer

Maid with a milk jug

As we have seen from what has gone before it seems that there is a wide discrepancy between the none artists view and what the artists where aiming to achieve or in fact where achieving. Herbert Reed goes on to touch on Impressionism, a movement which could have be said to have had its waters muddied, by its title, suggested by a critics slur: That the paintings where merely impressions.
Herbert Reed speaks of Impressionism as a subjective movement. However, the truth is somewhat different the movement emerged parallel to the invention of photography. Painters had a big break through when they realised that a camera did not see objects as separate entities, as in a bottle on a table, two separate objects, but as patches of light. The bottle may be lost and found in the tones and colours of the table. A second and just as important aspect was that the grainy resolution was oblivious to distance, hence the trade make rain effect of Impressionism. Nether did the mindless machine pay any attention to the psychological precedence. Equal treatment was given to all areas whether a finger nail sized eye or a finger nail itself.

The Art Service Industry, part 4

Cezanne

Cezanne

Now as we move through the centuries although there are peaks and troughs the general direction of this graph is onward and upward. And we eventually arrive at the Impressionists and the next big step along this journey.

When I was a student in the sixties suggested reading was Herbert Reed a Concise History of Modern Painting. In the opening pages he refers to Cezanne and suggests that he was the first artist to be objective: ‘let us ask why in the long history of art it had never previously happened that an artist should wish to see the world objectively'. Firstly, I hope I have made it abundantly clear that the entire period of the Renaissance was devoted to the retinal image. But secondly, has this much respected and influential historian never heard of Vermeer or seen his ‘Maid with a milk jug’.

The Art Service Industry, part 3

Jeff Koons

Art is a western concept, where the visual representation moved away from the symbolic. The Renaissance began when the problem with symbolic representation had been recognised, this was the beginning of a journey.
Piero della Francesca broke objects down geometrically;
Alberti defined a form of perspective, the tracing of the subject on to a screen (window). Although it sounds like the definitive solution unfortunately this form of perspective does not acknowledge lateral perspective;
Anatomy and figures became a primary area of study, with the aim of overriding the psychological homunculus epitomised by the Byzantines all with the objective of establishing the retinal image. To be able to override the psychological homunculus and produce a human figure closely approximating the retinal image turned out to be so difficult it became the litmus test for visual literacy. So difficult is the psychological homunculus and there by the test of visual literacy, that ever since, art colleges have the study of the human figure at the centre of their curriculum.
The next step along this path is as important as the first and could be considered as modifying the meaning of art. This step is the acknowledgement of the medium. Rembrandt in his later works such as his Kenwood House Portrait and his National Gallery portrait and his painting of Jan Six . These are no longer the drawing and colouring in of the Renaissance they are interpretations in the medium of paint. To the uninitiated this may seem an arty distinction, but an analogy with music may dispel any idea that this is either woolly or arty language. At this point on the journey the mechanics of the Renaissance are no longer the major concern in the same way in which Hendrix’s no longer had to mechanically pick out the notes as a lesser guitarist may. This is where the word art takes on the meaning of something special, where a stroke of genius can be seen to shine out from a smudge of paint. I suspect that the epistemology could bare this out.
However, it is unlikely that Rembrandt would be bothered one iota whether he was called an artist or a painter, though I suspect it would not be academic to Jeff Koons whether or not the $2.16millon Hoover in the Perspex box was granted the label of art, in fact if I may be so bold I suspect the price would fall faster than a speeding bullet if it were suggested that it was not a valid work of art.

Let me say that I make no apologies for making it my aim to bring into question the validity of such claims. But excuse me I am getting ahead of myself. To return to the main theme and in particular the commentators depth of understanding or otherwise of the pre retinal image. An example of the commentators understanding can be seen in Gombrich’s comments referred to earlier in this writing.
Here we have a very clear picture of the commentators and their influence.

The Art Service Industry, part 2

Although vision is part of that perception, visually this symbol has very little resemblance to mummy. Gombrich in his book 'Art and Illusion' asks the question "a problem which has haunted the minds of art historians for many generations..........will the paintings we accept as true to life look as unconvincing to future generations as Egyptian paintings looked to us?" What Gombrich fails to understand here, and it seems fellow art historians, is that the Egyptians were illustrating perception.
This is not a progression, as Gombrich suggests where painting improves with time, this is pre disentangling vision from perception. I hope the minds of art historians are hence forth released from this haunting (I excluded those who were so much further up the artistic ladder than Gombrich that they were never so haunted) So the reader is left in no doubt of Sir Ernest Gombrich's status in the art world I list his honours and credits below:
Gombrich, Sir Ernest (Hans Josef) (1) Knighted 1972. (2) CBE 1966. (3)FBA 1960. (4) FSA 1961. (5) PhD (Vienna). (6) MA Oxon & Cantab. (7) Director of the Warburg Institute & Professor of the History of the Classic Tradition in the University of London 1959-76. (8) Research Asst. Warburg Inst., 1936-39. (9) Research Fellow, 1946-48. (10) Lectr, 1948-54. (11) Reader, 1954-56. (12) Special Lectr, 1956-59, Warburg Inst., Univ. of London. (13) Durning-Lawrence Prof. of the History of Art, London Univ. University Coll, 1956-59. (14) Slade Prof. of Fine Art in the University of Oxford, 1950-53. (15)Visiting Prof. of Fine Art, Harvard Univ. 1959. (16) Slade Prof. of Fine Art, Cambridge Univ. 1961-63. (17) Lethaby Prof. RCA. 1967-68. (18) Andrew D. White Prof-at-Large, Cornell, 1970-77. (19) A Trustee of the British Museum, 1974-79. (20) Mem., Museums and Galleries (formerly Standing Comm. on Museums & Galleries),1975-82. (21) Hon. Fellow, Jesus Coll., Cambridge, 1963. (22) FRSL. 1969. (23) Foreign Hon. Mem., American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1964. (24) for. Mem., Amer. Philosophical Soc., 1968 (25) Corresponding Member: Accademia della Scienze d Torino, 1962. (26) Royal Acad. of Arts and Sciences, Uppsala, 1970. (27) Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschapen, 1973. (28) Bayerische Akad. der Wissenschaften, 1979. (29) Royal Swedish Acad. of Sciences, 1981. (30) Hon. FRIBA, 1971. (31) Hon. Fellow: Royal Acad. of Arts, 1982. (32) Bezalel Acad. of Arts & Design, 1983. (33) Hon. DLitt: Belfast, 1963, London 1976. (34) Hon. LLD St Andrews, 1965. (35) Hon LittD: Leeds, 1965, Cambridge, 1970, Manchester, 1974. (36) Hon., DLitt: Oxford, 1969; Harvard, 1976. (37) Hon. Dr. Lit. Hum; Chicago, 1975; Pennsylvania, 1977; DU Essex, 1977. (38) Hon. DHL Brandeis. 1981. (39) Hon Dr RCA, 1984. (40) W.H.Smith Literary Award, 1964. (41) Erasmus Prize, 1975. (42) Hegel Prize, 1976. (43) Medal of New York Univ., for Distinguished \Visitors, 1970. (44) Ehrenkreuz fur Wissenschaft und Kunst, 1st cl., Austria, 1975. (45) Medal of College de France, 1977. (46) Orden Pour le Merite fur Wissenschaften und Kunste, 1977. (47) Ehrenzeichen fur Wissenschaft und Knust, Austria. 1984.

What we perceive can give us shorthand we know as symbols and introduces a value judgement: what is the most important aspect of this subject? When the subject is a person, this value judgement shifts up a gear, the physiological impact of the face of this subject takes precedence over feet or knees, the eyes on this face out rank any other feature. When these features are translated into 2D their precedence is ranked by size. In reality eyes are give or take, about the size of finger nails, yet if we look at the Byzantine example we can see that they are relatively enormous. This dysmorphia continues into the Proto Renaissance, tiny hands and big heads are all too apparent in works as late as Giotto. Medically speaking this type of image could be called a physiological homunculus. Why civilisations should react like a child is a mystery, but whether by a child or a civilisation this sort of work can not really be considered art. Even during the early period when the problem began to be addressed the proto Renaissance artists such as Cimabue 1240 - 1302, Duccio 1255 - 1318 and Giotto 1267 - 1337 I would have a great deal of difficulty calling this work 'art'. The Renaissance can really be considered the science of vision, it is interesting that civilisations which produced the symbolic representations prior to the science of vision, such as Japan with the Hokusai wave approach, don’t have a word for art.

The Art Service Industry, part 1

How we see the art world is very much influenced by the commentators:
The art historians, the art critics etc.
The term art historian carries with it an implied degree of knowledge about the quality of art. However, although they may have the best of intentions it is quite possible for an art historian to learn all the dates and movements etc, but be unable to acquire the necessary ability to access quality. Often the claims made about many art historians understanding of art or painting are not always justified. Commentators in other disciplines such as music, maths or tennis are usually exponents in that particular field. In fact it would be unthinkable to have a commentator in maths who was not a very considerable exponent. Reading between the lines it soon becomes evident that many art historians understanding of art is flawed. Before we deal with this in any depth, it is often expedient for artists to go along with the writings of commentators, in fact it would not be an exaggeration to say that artists careers are made by a certain symbiosis. Each giving the other what is required to drive the market, this is fine when both are in a reified atmosphere, the realms of genius. My concern is that the recent past has seen a rise in the less visually literate becoming involved in the arts. As often or not it seems more like the blind leading the blind, beginning with that transition period known as the Modernists. That period from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. The question is, is it now time for a review of this period? Hind sight is never a bad thing, is it now time to say that some of the information that we were fed was not always correct. I know from my own experience that some of the information from Art College was not factually correct. Coincidently I saw the same information repeated recently on a TV documentary on art i.e. that the some what strange sinewy images painted by Cimabue where done in this fashion out of choice. The art historian on the documentary made a point of saying that Cimabue could quite easily have painted a more representational image. This a fundamental flaw in the art historians understanding of the painter. The art historian continued with how wonderful the eyes were in the Byzantine paintings and he reasoned that they had been painted in this way to seem elemental and filled with awe. Art historians often have the idea that if someone is called an artist they are automatically granted a God given talent, that they can paint like Michael Angelo and that any divergence from this is through choice and certainly not through lack of ability, they seem to misconstrue sheer inability for design. Byzantine work can be considered analogous to a childs attempt at producing a picture. They both confuse symbols with vision. Nicely illustrated in Ernst Gombrich’s book Art and Illusion, where another art historian, this time a much celebrated art historian, suffers from a more dramatic example of this misunderstanding.


When a child draws mummy as a round head with eyes, nose and mouth and strands of hair, a triangle for a dress with two arms and two legs sticking out, this is a symbolic illustration of the child's perception, the child perceives the mummy and draws a symbol for that perception.

Channel 4 Life Class

Congratulations to Channel 4 for putting on the Life Class, a resurgence of interest in art is very welcome. It is therefore doubly sad that no one could have made a less worthy attempt than those selected. Although I was not credited, I had written to Channel 4 suggesting a life class programme, and although I was warned that television companies will pinch anything, surely they did not say ‘this is a good idea, but instead of some guy from the sticks we will use proper artists, such as RA’s etc’.
Well they have certainly proved what I was trying to illustrate. I could not have hoped for a better result, they have surpassed my wildest imaginings. Instead of berating them I should be offering my heart felt thanks.

The reason for suggesting a Life Class programme was to reveal exactly what the program did reveal, that it is not unusual for those who claim to be artists or visually literate to have their claims disproved when tested in this way. In fact even in this short programme one of the authors: Humphrey Ocean, claimed that his work was as close to a photograph as a painting could be. A claim which was to make his low grade attempt that much more poignant A life painting is the litmus test of artistic ability. It makes it very clear whether or not the author is visually literate.
My premise is that 99% of those claiming to be artists are not only patently unable to substantiate this when it comes to the time honoured test but are actually congenitally unable to be artists. That is they have not developed neural networks necessary for the task. This gives us an awfully large pool of people out there, often in institutions set up for the best of artists, making what many would consider, a considerable amount of money, by what would in any other circumstances be called conmanship. And no one either willing or more importantly able to questions this. Using someone who can paint figures as a baseline, I would be happy to offer myself as a baseline. Those who wish to question my ability can be the first inline for the challenge.
Is it now time to produce a proper investigative programme: to ask the questions which everyone knows need asking but are not being asked. Interestingly the producers who were given the Life Class programme which I suggested were connected to the ICA, recently slated by one of their own, (Chairman) Ivan Massow, who said the British art world is in “danger of disappearing up its own arse … led by cultural tsars such as the Tate’s Sir Nicholas Serota, who dominate the scene from their crystal Kremlins. “Most art I see now is pretentious, self-indulgent, craftless tat that I wouldn’t accept even as a gift. “I must confess that, for a number of years, I’ve had a nagging voice in my head telling me it’s all hype and frequently no substance”.

Maggie Hamblin (channel 4 Life Class)

The first programme had Maggie Hamblin referring to the neck as a column, this is one of the fundamental flaws of what might be termed the psychological homunculus i.e. the strange creature shaped by the psychological aspect of the perception of a human: big head , big eyes, little hands and little feet etc. Although the Greeks were obsessed with the naked body, our tradition of the life class, which became the centre of the Art Education Curriculum and the ultimate test of visual literacy could be said to have begun because of the badly drawn figures of the Byzantine, with all the flaws stated above, plus the familiar column like neck. A neck unless forced to do otherwise leans slightly forward travelling through the V or better still inverted W of the almost vertical sternomastoids. It is reprehensible to ignore something of such structural importance in a life study.

Humphrey Ocean (channel 4 Life Study)

In the second Life Class the artist was Humphrey Ocean, not alot to say about this other than it has not reached the level to be called art,but then again none of them reach a level which could be referred to as art.
Put simply Art has a definition, the O.E.D. states: it is the skilful execution as an object in its self. Implicit here is that Art is at the top end of the ability spectrum. A few would argue that it is comparable to a Concert Pianist or mathematical genius: a genius with a given medium and just as a Concert Pianist is not someone can just play chopsticks, an artist is not just someone who can scrawl a figure. Why should I be bothered, because it is a wrong which needs righting.
How has this come about? I took my annual pilgrimage around the R.A. recently, an institution set up by an artist for artists, and although I was not surprised, many were. It seems that networking is the only art form of any importance in the art world. There is also the sheer ignorance of selectors, with the R.A. there will be ignorance and editing out the better work of the public. Where as with the B.P. awards I suspect it is ignorance. The B.P. award was designed to promote and encourage painting. Yet all but a handful were copies of photographs, most will realise the huge gulf between copying and painting, certainly from the comments of those attending the exhibition, many thought it was completely unacceptable. This is not the fault of those submitting work, an exhibition is only the selectors exhibition, Rembrandt could have sent work in but this selection panel would not have included him. Please please please only use selectors who are visually literate.
What should be done? A life study is a very clear test of visual literacy and no one in the visual arts should be visually illiterate, commentators and judges in other disciplines are always exponents in that discipline. A challenge should be sent to individuals who are deemed visually illiterate. If they fail they should surrender their privileges, such as those conferred by the R.A. etc. If these people were occupying these positions under false pretences in any other area, the Police would be involved.

If anyone out there could download Channel 4's Life Classes before they are hurriedly removed (such an indictment will not stay there for long) and provide me with a link, I would be eternally grateful.