NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS
works of the Renaissance the structure at least integrated the
various sections of the canvas sufficiently to hold the figures
steady.) The whole top half (the sky) is completely static,
whereas in the abstract painting the composition spreads all over
the picture-surface and is organized outward to cover every
section.
The recent works by Julio Gonzalez and Hans Hartung are
included not merely to show that the abstract artists of the Paris
School are forcefully continuing their work with whatever equip–
ment they can muster, but to demonstrate other aspects of the
movement than those we are analyzing in the article. The water–
color by Gonzalez (the Spanish sculptor who has exerted con–
siderable influence on Picasso among others) differs from the
other works presented because, although abstract in conception, it
still remotely indicates a human figure.
If
we look at this sugges–
tion of reality from the point of view from which we examined
the Inness landscape, we could hardly deny that Gonzalez has
done a pretty poor job of representation. It is astonishing how
many reputable critics persist in judging work of the Gonzalez–
type in just this way, as though it were intended merely to depict
an aspect of nature and failed through perversity or gross incom–
petence. For many observers such pictures resemble those puzzles
of our childhood, in which we were shown a busy barnyard scene
and were asked to find George Washington and three Revolution–
ary generals outlined among the branches and cobblestones. The
important paintings of the modern movement have nothing in
common with any kind of puzzles. Similarly, lovers of the occult,
who have expectations that abstract works may be concealing some
specific hidden messages, will be disappointed by my interpre–
tations.
What Gonzalez is showing us has an obvious relation to a
personage with a knife in one hand and a hook in the other.
If
he doesn't explain the personage further it is because that is all
that is essential to the emotion he wishes to project. For the rest
we must merely
look
at his picture as though it were a completely
abstract work. And we must not forget that Gonzalez is a sculp:
tor and thinks in terms of sculpture. Hence to him the filling of
the rectangle is unimportant; he concentrates upon organizing
the configuration as a unit against an open background. Notice
the beautiful placing of the fingers against the pages of the hook.
The Hartung stands even closer to complete abstraction, for
the human pattern is almost completely ignored; arms and a head
are merely suggested because of the position of certain shapes.
Much stronger is the esthetic appeal of the square containing the
oval, placed very sensitively between the two curved forms (that
can be looked upon as arms) which hold it firm like a pair of
parentheses.
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