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5..
"I don't know just how to begin to comment on your subject of light and I may best begin with the apprehensions or rather the one apprehension I might have and that is that light should not be carried by its literary or extraneous intent (though it must have such) but by its visual effect, i.e., that as always the means themselves cover the intent like a perfect overlay. I say that the ideas of light must have a thought intention of some kind and obviously you are not thinking of using light for scientific reasons (impressionists and post impressionists) but as means of giving expression to something.
So much for the "consideration". Beyond that, I believe that light is the material and artistic objective and method of all painting. Hell, nothing can be seen without it, and even Hans Hoffman's "color intervals" only exist because of the chromatic relationships." Holty difficult through intriguing tasks for himself, as he was convinced the modern artist was forging a new language, a new vision of reality, which would elevate the true spirit of mankind. He knew, however, this new vision would be without meaning unless it related to a historical past that had to be sustained by constant reevaluation.
In retrospect I can see that the 1950's were a crucial period not not only in Holty's development, but for American art in general. Certainly, Holty's technical and aesthetic preoccupations at that time, left to the elements which were definitive to his great mature work of the 1960's