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拍品专文
'Because it functions freely and objectively in terms of its own palpable form, an abstract work ultimately demands, for its full realization the whole gamut of physical dimension. Furthermore, in so far as the process of human perception operates as a three-dimensional experience, it will demand from a work of visual art a similar condition of physical form. This means that the purely abstract artist will be frustrated in his urge for complete development so long as he confines himself to the surface bound medium of painting alone' (Victor Pasmore)
Painted in 1960, Linear Motif in Black and White oscillates somewhere between the traditionally separate disciplines of painting, sculpture and architecture. Unlike the early 1930s white abstracts of Ben Nicholson, that are reductive in conception and beautiful in their purity, Pasmore compels the viewer to become conscious of the work’s material through the physical process of gravure to the smooth white formica and the obvious layering of this modern composite material. As a consequence we perceive it, not as a pure picture but as a pure object.
This objectification of the work of art, moving it away from the illusionary and into a physical space has its roots in the writings of the American artist Charles Biederman. He believed that the space that the work of art inhabited was integral to piece itself and in 1951 Pasmore began to explore this idea through his relief constructions, combining perspex, glass and painted wood to create objects that changed in appearance through the external influences of light and habitat.
These constructed reliefs and his enlightened approach to teaching, first at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London and then King’s College, Durham University, brought him to the attention of A.V. Williams, the General Manager of Peterlee New Town. In 1955 Pasmore was appointed head of the landscape design team on this radical project for the South West Area. Talking at a symposium on Peterlee, Pasmore commented, 'I imagine that I am walking or driving along the roads drawn out on my cartoon. It’s a kinetic process. As you walk there, turn here, through a little passage here, out into an open space here; meet a tall building there, a gable-end here, a group of houses there and so fourth. This process means designing from the inside' (from A Symposium on Peterlee, BBC Radio, 22 January 1967).
Indeed as Pasmore further explored the idea that an abstract work of art existed within the three-dimensional world, he increasing believed in a synergy between painting, sculpture and architecture. Between objects existing in space and the individual’s interaction with these objects, 'I regard the relationship between painting, sculpture and architecture, considered as a synthesis, as being of two kinds. That of free forms functioning as complementary and activating forces. That of complete integration whereby all three factors abandon their particular identity and unite as a single operation' (V. Pasmore, Connections Between Painting Sculpture and Architecture, Zodiac No. 1, Brussels, 1957).
Linear Motif in Black and White combines the earlier abstract constructions of the 1950s with Pasmore's environmental projects, distilling formalised geometric structures with sweeping elegant dissections. Harmony is achieved through the balance of positive and negative spaces in two and three dimensions. The subtle gravure counterbalances the stronger black acrylic lines. The large formica square and thin vertical strut are finely counterpoised, all restrained within the integrated internal elements of the frame making the work a completely homogenous object. Indeed for Pasmore, experiencing Linear Motif in Black and White was no different to experiencing the space and architecture of Peterlee New Town.
Painted in 1960, Linear Motif in Black and White oscillates somewhere between the traditionally separate disciplines of painting, sculpture and architecture. Unlike the early 1930s white abstracts of Ben Nicholson, that are reductive in conception and beautiful in their purity, Pasmore compels the viewer to become conscious of the work’s material through the physical process of gravure to the smooth white formica and the obvious layering of this modern composite material. As a consequence we perceive it, not as a pure picture but as a pure object.
This objectification of the work of art, moving it away from the illusionary and into a physical space has its roots in the writings of the American artist Charles Biederman. He believed that the space that the work of art inhabited was integral to piece itself and in 1951 Pasmore began to explore this idea through his relief constructions, combining perspex, glass and painted wood to create objects that changed in appearance through the external influences of light and habitat.
These constructed reliefs and his enlightened approach to teaching, first at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London and then King’s College, Durham University, brought him to the attention of A.V. Williams, the General Manager of Peterlee New Town. In 1955 Pasmore was appointed head of the landscape design team on this radical project for the South West Area. Talking at a symposium on Peterlee, Pasmore commented, 'I imagine that I am walking or driving along the roads drawn out on my cartoon. It’s a kinetic process. As you walk there, turn here, through a little passage here, out into an open space here; meet a tall building there, a gable-end here, a group of houses there and so fourth. This process means designing from the inside' (from A Symposium on Peterlee, BBC Radio, 22 January 1967).
Indeed as Pasmore further explored the idea that an abstract work of art existed within the three-dimensional world, he increasing believed in a synergy between painting, sculpture and architecture. Between objects existing in space and the individual’s interaction with these objects, 'I regard the relationship between painting, sculpture and architecture, considered as a synthesis, as being of two kinds. That of free forms functioning as complementary and activating forces. That of complete integration whereby all three factors abandon their particular identity and unite as a single operation' (V. Pasmore, Connections Between Painting Sculpture and Architecture, Zodiac No. 1, Brussels, 1957).
Linear Motif in Black and White combines the earlier abstract constructions of the 1950s with Pasmore's environmental projects, distilling formalised geometric structures with sweeping elegant dissections. Harmony is achieved through the balance of positive and negative spaces in two and three dimensions. The subtle gravure counterbalances the stronger black acrylic lines. The large formica square and thin vertical strut are finely counterpoised, all restrained within the integrated internal elements of the frame making the work a completely homogenous object. Indeed for Pasmore, experiencing Linear Motif in Black and White was no different to experiencing the space and architecture of Peterlee New Town.