Irish Arts Review

British Art in the 20th Century: The Modern MovementAuthor(s): Sanda MillerSource: Irish Arts Review (1984-1987), Vol. 4, No. 1 (Spring, 1987), p. 63Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20491957 .

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IRISH ARTS REVIEW

British Art in the 20th Century

The Modern Movement What do you do with an awkward term

like 'modernism' whose ambiguity is made even more apparent by its vague dictionary definition: '. . . modern usage, expression or trait; modern spirit or character', although the word 'modern', from which it is derived, is more clearly defined as 'characteristic of present or recent times'? Yet at closer scrutiny the implications seem paradoxical, to say the least. Thus if somebody applies the

word 'modern' to an object, be it a building, a teapot or a play, it will simply mean of that period, so that Socrates, St. Augustine, Pico della

Mirandola or Dr. Andrew Causey -head of the Selection Committee of the Exhibition under review - when describ ing something as 'modern', would mean of their own time. Granted, this word, whose etymology seems obscure, did not exist until recently and is believed to be a 'germanic neologism',1 but this

makes no difference to the argument. In that sense, 'modernism' keeps good company with other equally 'badly behaved' labels like 'classicism'.

In this particular instance, however the word seems to have a dual function: on the one hand it is used to circum scribe a specific historical period in the development of British art, from 1910 (the year when the critic, Roger Fry, organized his first Post-Impressionist exhibition in London) to the 'Concept ual Art' of the 1970's. This is all very well, especially since the present Exhi bition, which is showing from January 15th to April 5th at the Royal Academy of Art, London, and will be at the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart from May 8th to June 9th, is the first ever (incredible as this may sound) to bring together British art from the period mentioned. On the other hand, it seems also that the Exhibition aims to make a theoreti cal point by demonstrating the exist ence of a hitherto unsuspected unifying criterion, 'modernism' and this simply does not work! What we do have, for the inevitable reasons, is a heterogen eous anthology (the organizers have stressed most emphatically that theirs is no encyclopedic approach). And when the critic (never mind the even more bewildered visitor) is confronted by some three hundred paintings, draw ings, and sculptures, spanning more

Jacob Epstein, Doves, 1914-1915. Marble, 65 x 79 x 34cm. from

British Art in the Twentieth Century, The Modern Movement, at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.

than half a century of prolific activity from seventy artists, it is equally inevitable that, for any number of reasons, not least sheer unashamed pre judice, people will make subjective value judgements, loving some works, loathing others. . . perhaps even be to tally unaffected by the lot!

An unexpected feature emerges, though, which is interesting: no isms existed in British art to parallel their contemporary proliferation in Paris, un animously accepted as the birthplace of twentieth century modern art. The one exception was the Italian 'Futurist' - influenced 'Vorticism' energetically launched in 1914 by Percy Wyndham Lewis with his magazine Blast. Instead there were groups working together and sharing their ideas rather more inform ally: the 'Camden Town Painters'; the 'Omega Workshop', the 'Bloomsbury

Group' and later, the Surrealist-influ enced 'Unit One', then the 'Euston Road School'. Even the names selected were mostly geographic references rather than artistic statements.

Only after the Second World War did some labels emerge, whereby British art aligned itself internationally, such as the 'Pop Art' of the 1960's.

But with British art, more than any other instance, it was those individuals, refusing to belong, even if now and then they hovered around this or that group, who steal the show: Jacob

Epstein, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Henry Moore, Mark Gertler, Matthew Smith, Francis Bacon, David Bomberg are only some examples. Reluctantly individual istic, they preferred to follow the path of their own genius and the results are fortunately to be found in this vast ex hibition: Epstein's awe-inspiring monu mental alabaster sculpture, 'Jacob and the Angel', Henry Moore's superb shel ter drawings of the 1940's and his sculp tures of reclining women, Bomberg's pathetic last 'Self-Portrait' (1956/57) and Francis Bacon's hallucinatory studies of an ageing Isabel Rawsthorne (1967), whose exquisite beauty was so lovingly portrayed by Epstein forty years pre viously (not in the exhibition). Some food for thought about the transitori ness of life, love, beauty!

Perhaps if one tries hard enough and long enough to discover similarities between the artists, inevitably some will be found, just as one can find with equal success as many divergences.

Ultimately it matters little whether 'Modernism' works as a theoretical label; it certainly holds together as an historical one.

Sanda Miller

NOTE

1. Malcolm Bradbury and James McFarlane

(Eds.), Modernism, Penguin, 1976, p. 21.

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