Evening star., 1961-02-12
BY RICHARD HIRsCH

Tne junction OF history,
many believe. is to give order
to the events which man
creates without apparent
pattern.
With history, then, we may
expect the living fibre Of
mems times to be reduced to
categories and tags. This is
the process Of recording his
tory. It is convenient. 1t has
little to do with life.
Amedieval carver, patiently
chipping away at the blond
stone under a rough-hewn
shelter in a cathedraps rising
shadow, felt modern" not
Gothic. In the sunlight Of
Attica, the carver Of q grace
full Aphrodite felt his un-
translatable reverence for
this emerging beauty, felt It
pulsing In his veins. felt ex-
pectancy for what his people
and his priests might say Of
the patient work. Emphat-
ically, he did not feel archaic.
Tagged by History
But history has tagged
them both and not them only
but their descendants. Thus,
looking back at the ages of
man, it becomes easy to han
die cliches instead of the
roaring chaos of mans ever
onrushing life. This is a pity.
1t is also a habit. The tag
which states that Delacroix
was q romantic gives people
the dangerous illusion that
they know something about
Delacroix.
The accepted cliche of art
history makes Gauguin and
Van Gogh to be the out
standing neo-impressionists,
although one painted in large
smooth, flat areas Of color,
the other in heavy, narrow,
Swirling brushstrokes. In
common they were rejected
by the same public and they,
in turn, rejected, in common,
certain conventional ways Of
painting. This is really not
very much of a bond for two
men who came to blows after
working together only a few
weeks. But the historians
tag unites them both and will
stick, meaningful or not.
And the historian will con-
tinue. by habit, to invent new
tags while we, by habit, will
continue to accept them.
Worse yet. the critic, seek
ing to dignity himself with
the serious-looking trappings
Of the historians, will invent
new tags, new "isms."
PrecisiOnistS
A case in point Is an i'm
portant and, generally. excel
lent exhibition Of American
painters presently on view at
the the Whitney Museum of
American Art, in New York.
1t Is called THE Presision-
lists" The show was organ
lied by the Walker Art Cen
ter, in Minneapolis. 1t will
be seen, later, In Detroit, Los
Angeles and San Francisco.
1t brings together 16 Ameri-
can artists. most of them
living and active. Their paint
ings date anywhere from
1915 to the present. In COM
mon they have, merely, a dis
taste Off brushstrokes that
distract the eye. Some Of
them share a concern with
the cityscape and industrial
landscape of our time. Geor-
gia O'Keefe, exhibited with
this group enjoys, however,
the desert Of New Mexico
while Peter Blume uses the
smoothness Of his brush to
fight MusSolini.
Brought together, these
canvaSeS and watercolors
have interest. some charm
and a decided impact. But
what Of the tag, what Of the
"PreciSionism" which, we are
told, brings these varied
works under one roof?
1t is a good question.
A Later "ISm"
Martin Friedman Of the
Walker Art Center admits
that there was never a Pre-
cisionist manifesto, publica-
ton or program, either in
the 1920s, when much of this
work was being done by
many Of these artists pres
emily assembled, or later.
In other words, just as the
Gothic carver was not
Gothic" until tagged in the
18th century. so our Pre-
cisionists were never mem
bers Of an ism" until
some critics, striving to ap-
pear to be historians created
the tag. You can look forward
to finding college textbooks
Solemnly devoting a solemn
chapter to the "Precisionist
School" within the next five
years.