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Art World Page 7

Noguchi, Caro
Duff, Segal

By Joseph Anthony McDonnell

There is a plethora of good American sculpture abiding in the galleries of Manhattan this May. Many of the names we know quite well, and what used to be avant garde is now conservative.

Isamu Noguchi has two exhibitions, both extremely handsome and impeccably installed. The one at Pace (32-34 East 57th, to June 11), From the Past, features familiar pieces, originally in wood or stone, now cast into bronze and iron in small limited editions.

However, at Arnold Herstand and Company (24 W. 57th to June 18) there is a collection of thirteen new works cut out of bronze plate, along with a very early (1928), extremely poetic “Leda” in polished bronze, done while he was in Paris and involved with Brancusi. The new cut-out sculptures, well designed and flawlessly crafted, often tease for their identification. Where is the animal in “Squirrel” the bird in “Pigeon” what feeling is in “A Feeling”? These works are not easy, but require study. The silhouettes have to be played against one another. A rather cubist piece, “Richard”, leaves one aesthetically satisfied but still curious as to the title. However, one of the most sophisticated works, “Sky Above”, an elongated, vertical (not elliptical) circle, bent at the center to reflect overhead, is self explanatory, as is its soulmate. “Linga” two upright plates, one reflecting the other. “Korean Carrot… The Sadness of Being Somewhat Human”, is an ambiguous stable type work that looks a cross between various aquatic overtures and perhaps a vegetable, resting on its own shadow, which in turn has its own table legs.

Anthony Caro's seven pieces seem to be a bit of a throwback to earlier assemblages. One finds many of the same techniques, the window frame, the table top, the hanging fruit forms. However, there is a difference, a certain recapitulation of ideas developed during the recent bronze period. There is a softness and mellowness not found before. The catalog makes a strong argument that these pieces have definite strong parallels with classic works, notably the pediments at Olympia. While this makes interesting reading, I believe the essential aesthetic quality of these works lies in Mr. Caro's innate sense of design and general understanding of the development of art. One still hears the pipes of David Smith playing in the background. The two table pieces are monumental in concept, extending about twelve feet around corners but only a few feet in height. Rather than processions they seem more like landscapes. In the other window frame work there is less drawing and more massing. There seems to be a more baroque warm, intimate, painterly quality in these cold scrapes of rusted waxed steel (at Emmerich, 41 E. 57th to June 10).

John Duff's assorted wall pieces, at Blum Helman, (20 W. 57th to May 28) measuring six to eight feet, created in fiberglass and enamel, are interesting but should be more so. Some mediums seem to get tired, lacking the punch they once had, and this is true of fiberglass. In addition, the translucent shapes seem more like oversized cones than an aesthetic statement. The one work which I did particularly like, however, was “Helix Wedge,” with its oddly touching
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Tastemakers
Art World Photos

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Henry H. Reed, The Honorable Anne L. Armstrong, Arthur Ross, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Marietta Tree, Brendan Gill, Nicholas King, Brooke Astor, and John Dobkin.

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Bob Schweitzer, Audrey Calhoun, James McDaniel, Frank Garreston, David Easton, Patricia Kluge and Sarah Callander at the Classical America,, Arthur Ross Awards, on May 2nd.(Photos by Paul Manangan.) Kosta Alex and Eric Franck in New York, after Alex's opening at the Chicago Art Fair. 

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George V. Grune, Phillip and Llewellyn Kassebaum, Betsy Baker, Mel Edwards, Jayne Cortez, John Firestone, Ann Gund, Norman Hirschl and John Baldessari.

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Charlayne Hunter Gault, John Eastman, Jr., Richard Artschwager, Connie Reyes, David Salle, Mary Schmidt Campbell, Leon Golub, Bill Norwich, Mary Lou Whitney, Joanne Payson, and Alexander Milliken at the Skowhegan 42nd Anniversary Awards Dinner. (Photos: Jeanne Trudeau)

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Rusty Powell III, Emerson Woeffler, Clement Greenberg, Hilton Kramer, Diane Upwright, Michel Haas, Pierre Schneider, Julian Lethbridge, Julian Preto, Paula De Luccia and Lawrence Poons. 

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Francis Greeburger, Diane Waldman, Robert Motherwell, George Hofmann, Sir Anthony Caro, Andre Emmerich, Raymond Nasher, Darby and Maia Bannard, and Martin Puryear at the Greenburger Foundation Artists' Awards, Guggenheim Museum. (Photos by Myles Aronowitz)

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Ruth Henderson, Skitch Henderson, Laura Lee Blanton, Jack Blanton, Gayle Wilson, Ralph Davidson, Ann Reynolds, Elton Stephens, Amy Segal, Thomas Kirschbaum, and Alice Stephens at the American Council For the Arts "Phantom of the Opera" Benefit Dinner, February 24.  

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Myrna Smoot, Ellsworth Kelly, Mrs. Joseph Linhart, Gilbert H. Kinney, Mrs. Brooke Blake, Judith Rothschild, Mr. & Mrs. Paul Anbinder, Don Cox at the American Federation of the Arts Reception for Ellsworth Kelly's book (published by AFA in association with Hudson Hills Press) and exhibition of his prints at the Neuberger Museum, SUNY Purchase. (Photos by Star Black)