Five Issues of Studio International
26 February to 3 May 2015
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Studio International, Vol. 180, No. 924, July/August
1970, p. 15
Courtesy the artist and Galleria Continua
As editor of Studio International magazine from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, Peter Townsend oversaw its transformation from a mainstream Britain-centric publication into a vanguard journal chronicling some of the most radical artistic endeavours in the UK and internationally.
The selection of five issues from Townsend’s editorship – April 1966, May 1968, September 1969, July/August 1970 and July/August 1972 – focuses on the role of sculpture, which over this period was a vector for profound change in art: from post-constructivism and kineticism, through the abstract formalism at St Martin's School of Art, to post-minimalism and conceptualism.
As a socialist, Townsend saw in sculpture a privileged medium to effect social change. The exhibition will revisit the role of sculpture in the definition of public space in a period when it became the flashpoint for political and social contestation. In this context, the pages of Studio International themselves played a role in shaping the debates about the limits and visibility of contemporary art.
Included in Five Issues of Studio International are works by Keith Arnatt, Charles Biederman, Daniel Buren, Robyn Denny, Jan Dibbets, John Ernest, Garth Evans, Barry Flanagan, Naum Gabo, Anthony Hill, John Latham, Richard Long, Kenneth Martin, Mary Martin, Adrian Piper, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Emilio Prini, Gerry Schum, Willoughby Sharp, William Tucker, William Turnbull, Nicolas Schöffer, Bernard Schottlander, Lawrence Weiner and Gillian Wise.
The exhibition is curated by Jo Melvin, a London-based writer, educator and curator.
Events
Studio International
July/August 1970
Special Issue, guest edited by Seth Siegelaub who made the magazine his 'Summer Exhibition'
Hard cover copies were published concurrently of Seigelaub’s exhibition without the additional magazine contents
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view showing in
foreground: Keith Arnatt, Rejected Proposal for the Peter Stuyvesant 'City Sculpture Project' (For Cardiff City), 1972. Photograph and text on paper. Tate, transferred from Tate Archive 2010; and, background: Daniel Buren, 1 Peintre en 10 (No.3), 1974. Canvas. Collection Charles Asprey.
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
John Latham
Four Phases of the Sun, 1963
Books, wires, plaster, paint on canvas on hardboard
Courtesy The Estate of John Latham and Lisson Gallery
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Foreground:
Barry Flanagan
heap 3 '67/68, 1967
Hessian sacking and sand
The Estate of Barry Flanagan
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view showing in
foreground: William Tucker, Karnak, 1966. Fibreglass copy number 2, from an edition of 4 plus artist's proofs. Waddington Custot Galleries, London. Courtesy the artist and Pangolin London; and background, left to right: Charles Biederman, Structurist Relief, Red Wing No. 20, 1954-65. Oil on aluminium. Tate, purchased 1966; Robyn Denny, Colour Box V, 1969. Screenprint, printed in orange and scarlet. Boxed in Perspex with aluminium frame and backing. Collection Dominic Denny; and, Robyn Denny, Colour Box IV, 1969. Screenprint, printed in lime green and orange. Boxed in Perspex with aluminium frame and backing. Collection Dominic Denny
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view showing
Left: Lawrence Weiner, … AND THEN RELEGATED TO ANOTHER GENDER, 1972. LANGUAGE + THE MATERIALS REFERRED TO. Collection Eric Fabre
Right: John Ernest, Vertical Constructions, 1955. Perspex, steel rods. Catherine and Franck Petitgas Collection
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Studio International
September 1969
Left to right:
'The climate of Biederman' by Anthony Hill
'The centrality of Charles Biederman' by Stephen Bann
Courtesy Jo Melvin, Clive Phillpot and Catherine Townsend
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view showing in
foreground: William Tucker, Karnak, 1966. Fibreglass copy number 2, from an edition of 4 plus artist's proofs. Waddington Custot Galleries, London. Courtesy the artist and Pangolin London; and, background, right: Lawrence Weiner, … AND THEN RELEGATED TO ANOTHER GENDER, 1972. LANGUAGE + THE MATERIALS REFERRED TO. Collection Eric Fabre
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
From the papers of Peter Townsend: An exhibition titled ‘Groups’, organised by Lucy Lippard, published as a 'magazine exhibition' in Studio International, March 1970. Tate Archive
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
From the papers of Barbara Reise, contributing editor of Studio International, 1969-73:
Postcard (c.1971) to Reise from Jan Dibbets; Postcard (August 1969) to Reise from Jan Dibbets; Photographs of an installation by Daniel Buren at Galerie MTL, Brussels, June 1970. Tate Archive
From the papers of Peter Townsend: Proposal by Jan Dibbets for layout of his photographs in an article by Reise for Studio International, May 1973
Studio International
July/August 1972
Peter Stuyvesant Foundation City Sculpture Project, artists’ pages
Courtesy Amy Budd, Jo Melvin, Clive Phillpot and Catherine Townsend
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Kenneth Martin
Variable Screw, 1967
Brass
UEA Collection of Abstract and Constructivist Art
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view showing in foreground:
William Turnbull
Angle, 1967/68
Galvanised painted steel, 1 of 5
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
William Turnbull
Angle, 1967/68
Galvanised painted steel, 1 of 5
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view showing in foreground:
Naum Gabo, Bronze Cast of the Alabaster in ‘Construction with Alabaster Carving', 1966. Bronze and Perspex, edition 6 of 6. Courtesy Annely Juda Fine Art, London
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view showing in foreground:
Naum Gabo, Bronze Cast of the Alabaster in ‘Construction with Alabaster Carving', 1966. Bronze and Perspex, edition 6 of 6. Courtesy Annely Juda Fine Art, London; and background: Charles Biederman, No. 3 (3), 1959-67. Painted metal. Denny Family Collection
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Nicolas Schöffer
Chronos 10, 1962
Mirror polished stainless steel, projectors, electromechanic system and programme
Collection Eléonore de Lavandeyra Schöffer
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Nicolas Schöffer
Chronos 10, 1962
Mirror polished stainless steel, projectors, electromechanic system and programme
Collection Eléonore de Lavandeyra Schöffer
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Nicolas Schöffer
Chronos 10, 1962
Mirror polished stainless steel, projectors, electromechanic system and programme
Collection Eléonore de Lavandeyra Schöffer
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Nicolas Schöffer
Chronos 10, 1962
Mirror polished stainless steel, projectors, electromechanic system and programme
Collection Eléonore de Lavandeyra Schöffer
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Barry Flanagan
one ton corner piece, 1967
One ton of builder’s sand
The Estate of Barry Flanagan
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view showing in backgrond: Lawrence Weiner, ABRIDGED, 1970. LANGUAGE + THE MATERIALS REFERRED TO. Courtesy of the artist; and, foreground: display boards for a proposed exhibition Barry Flanagan made in discussion with Peter Townsend, including visual material from Studio International for Fishbach Gallery and Lucy Lippard's loft, New York, 1969. Tate Archive
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view showing in foreground:
Naum Gabo
Model for a Construction at the Bijenkorf Building, Rotterdam, 1955
Plastic
Tate: Presented by the artist 1977
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
Exhibition view showing in foreground:
Naum Gabo
Model for a Construction at the Bijenkorf Building, Rotterdam, 1955
Plastic
Tate: Presented by the artist 1977
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
From the papers of Peter Townsend, photographs and a postcard sent to Charles Harrison, Studio International assistant editor, in 1969
Left to right: From Richard Long while collaborating with filmmaker Gerry Schum in Dartmoor, UK; from Jan Dibbets with Gerry Schum in Scheveningen, Netherlands; and from Bruce McLean, reading verso 'We never did have that beer'
Tate Archive
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith
John Ernest
Relief Construction, 1955-64
Perspex, stainless steel and birch ply
Collection Dr Paul Ernest
Photograph by Marcus J. Leith