Leonardo

Abstraction and Artifice in Twentieth-Century ArtAuthor(s): Harold OsborneSource: Leonardo, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Autumn, 1981), p. 351Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1574669 .

Accessed: 12/06/2014 13:48

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

The MIT Press and Leonardo are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toLeonardo.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.81 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 13:48:55 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

referential relationship between things is not enough for one to be a symbol of the other'.

Now usage of such terms as refer and symbolize are too inconstant to decide any such claim. A philosopher must make choices for the scope of his discourse. I have chosen to use the terms so that when x refers to y, x is a symbol for y. Sharer or anyone else is quite free to make a different choice. However, while I gather that he wants to use symbolize more narrowly than refer, he gives no clear indication of where to draw the line. The confusions of use and of mention in his passage 'Ican refer to me, but it does not symbolize me; the term horse can refer to mammal, but horse does not symbolize mammal; and a painting of a tree can refer to a tree, but it does not symbolize a tree' do not provide one with any evident principle of distinction between reference and symbolization.

Nelson Goodman Dept. of Philosophy

Emerson Hall Harvard University

Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.

'Let There Be Neon'

I am sorry that Cork Marcheschi, in listing neon workshops in his review of my book [Leonardo 14, 256 (1981)], neglected to mention the classes offered by my gallery and workshop Let There Be Neon. These were, to my knowledge, in 1972 the first to be provided in the U.S.A. and were continued through 1980, both for professional and amateur artists.

As regards his comments on the chapter The New Uses of Neon, I believe any survey would indicate that similarity of artworks to advertising signs is not in preponderant evidence, even though the same neon technology is used.

In establishing my gallery and workshop (not 'gift shop' of Marcheschi's designation) I decided to make neon technology available also to those who are intimidated by the academic and museum worlds. In addition to carrying out environmental projects for private and public uses, we apply good neon craftsmanship to art objects in the form of rainbows, hearts, names, etc. and of functional objects. The neon medium has been introduced in the gallery to a wide public, including, for example, architects, interior designers, photographers and children, and in the workshop advertising signs also are repaired.

referential relationship between things is not enough for one to be a symbol of the other'.

Now usage of such terms as refer and symbolize are too inconstant to decide any such claim. A philosopher must make choices for the scope of his discourse. I have chosen to use the terms so that when x refers to y, x is a symbol for y. Sharer or anyone else is quite free to make a different choice. However, while I gather that he wants to use symbolize more narrowly than refer, he gives no clear indication of where to draw the line. The confusions of use and of mention in his passage 'Ican refer to me, but it does not symbolize me; the term horse can refer to mammal, but horse does not symbolize mammal; and a painting of a tree can refer to a tree, but it does not symbolize a tree' do not provide one with any evident principle of distinction between reference and symbolization.

Nelson Goodman Dept. of Philosophy

Emerson Hall Harvard University

Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.

'Let There Be Neon'

I am sorry that Cork Marcheschi, in listing neon workshops in his review of my book [Leonardo 14, 256 (1981)], neglected to mention the classes offered by my gallery and workshop Let There Be Neon. These were, to my knowledge, in 1972 the first to be provided in the U.S.A. and were continued through 1980, both for professional and amateur artists.

As regards his comments on the chapter The New Uses of Neon, I believe any survey would indicate that similarity of artworks to advertising signs is not in preponderant evidence, even though the same neon technology is used.

In establishing my gallery and workshop (not 'gift shop' of Marcheschi's designation) I decided to make neon technology available also to those who are intimidated by the academic and museum worlds. In addition to carrying out environmental projects for private and public uses, we apply good neon craftsmanship to art objects in the form of rainbows, hearts, names, etc. and of functional objects. The neon medium has been introduced in the gallery to a wide public, including, for example, architects, interior designers, photographers and children, and in the workshop advertising signs also are repaired.

referential relationship between things is not enough for one to be a symbol of the other'.

Now usage of such terms as refer and symbolize are too inconstant to decide any such claim. A philosopher must make choices for the scope of his discourse. I have chosen to use the terms so that when x refers to y, x is a symbol for y. Sharer or anyone else is quite free to make a different choice. However, while I gather that he wants to use symbolize more narrowly than refer, he gives no clear indication of where to draw the line. The confusions of use and of mention in his passage 'Ican refer to me, but it does not symbolize me; the term horse can refer to mammal, but horse does not symbolize mammal; and a painting of a tree can refer to a tree, but it does not symbolize a tree' do not provide one with any evident principle of distinction between reference and symbolization.

Nelson Goodman Dept. of Philosophy

Emerson Hall Harvard University

Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.

'Let There Be Neon'

I am sorry that Cork Marcheschi, in listing neon workshops in his review of my book [Leonardo 14, 256 (1981)], neglected to mention the classes offered by my gallery and workshop Let There Be Neon. These were, to my knowledge, in 1972 the first to be provided in the U.S.A. and were continued through 1980, both for professional and amateur artists.

As regards his comments on the chapter The New Uses of Neon, I believe any survey would indicate that similarity of artworks to advertising signs is not in preponderant evidence, even though the same neon technology is used.

In establishing my gallery and workshop (not 'gift shop' of Marcheschi's designation) I decided to make neon technology available also to those who are intimidated by the academic and museum worlds. In addition to carrying out environmental projects for private and public uses, we apply good neon craftsmanship to art objects in the form of rainbows, hearts, names, etc. and of functional objects. The neon medium has been introduced in the gallery to a wide public, including, for example, architects, interior designers, photographers and children, and in the workshop advertising signs also are repaired.

referential relationship between things is not enough for one to be a symbol of the other'.

Now usage of such terms as refer and symbolize are too inconstant to decide any such claim. A philosopher must make choices for the scope of his discourse. I have chosen to use the terms so that when x refers to y, x is a symbol for y. Sharer or anyone else is quite free to make a different choice. However, while I gather that he wants to use symbolize more narrowly than refer, he gives no clear indication of where to draw the line. The confusions of use and of mention in his passage 'Ican refer to me, but it does not symbolize me; the term horse can refer to mammal, but horse does not symbolize mammal; and a painting of a tree can refer to a tree, but it does not symbolize a tree' do not provide one with any evident principle of distinction between reference and symbolization.

Nelson Goodman Dept. of Philosophy

Emerson Hall Harvard University

Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.

'Let There Be Neon'

I am sorry that Cork Marcheschi, in listing neon workshops in his review of my book [Leonardo 14, 256 (1981)], neglected to mention the classes offered by my gallery and workshop Let There Be Neon. These were, to my knowledge, in 1972 the first to be provided in the U.S.A. and were continued through 1980, both for professional and amateur artists.

As regards his comments on the chapter The New Uses of Neon, I believe any survey would indicate that similarity of artworks to advertising signs is not in preponderant evidence, even though the same neon technology is used.

In establishing my gallery and workshop (not 'gift shop' of Marcheschi's designation) I decided to make neon technology available also to those who are intimidated by the academic and museum worlds. In addition to carrying out environmental projects for private and public uses, we apply good neon craftsmanship to art objects in the form of rainbows, hearts, names, etc. and of functional objects. The neon medium has been introduced in the gallery to a wide public, including, for example, architects, interior designers, photographers and children, and in the workshop advertising signs also are repaired.

finding valuable resources that can assist educational and artistic development among many communities, in our case the American Indian.

Dave Warren Research and Cultural Studies Development Section

Bureau of Indian Affairs U.S. Department of the Interior

Cerrillos Road Santa Fe, NM 87501, U.S.A.

ON BOOK REVIEWS

'Abstraction and Artifice in Twentieth-Century Art'

I am one of those people who, having laboriously written a book, cannot bear to read yet again what I have written and rapidly forget what was in it. If I ever needed to be reminded of what I said and thought in this particular book, I could not hope for a better summary than that by Ralph A. Smith inLeonardo 14, 210 (1981). If I may be allowed to add just one point: By artifice I meant those virtual qualities such as picture-image and picture- space (I seem to be looking out over hills and lakes when in fact I am looking at flat paint on canvas) that make a picture a picture, those qualities in virtue of which a work of sculpture is differentiated from a waxwork. The 'abandonment of artifice' is the repudiation of such qualities and the demand that a painting or a sculpture shall be looked at in exactly the same manner as any other material artefact that happens to be lying around in the room. It began in Russia with the 'Corner Reliefs' of Rodchenko and the 'Hanging Constructions' of Tatlin, and it culminated in the U.S.A. with the Concrete Art of the 1960s. Those kinds of Kinetic Art in which artists introduce an element of real movement instead of only virtual movement, as in the pictures of the futurists and their predecessors, are to this extent an example of the 'abandonment of artifice'.

Harold Osborne Kreuzstr. 12

8640 Rapperswill SG Switzerland

'Ways of Worldmaking'

finding valuable resources that can assist educational and artistic development among many communities, in our case the American Indian.

Dave Warren Research and Cultural Studies Development Section

Bureau of Indian Affairs U.S. Department of the Interior

Cerrillos Road Santa Fe, NM 87501, U.S.A.

ON BOOK REVIEWS

'Abstraction and Artifice in Twentieth-Century Art'

I am one of those people who, having laboriously written a book, cannot bear to read yet again what I have written and rapidly forget what was in it. If I ever needed to be reminded of what I said and thought in this particular book, I could not hope for a better summary than that by Ralph A. Smith inLeonardo 14, 210 (1981). If I may be allowed to add just one point: By artifice I meant those virtual qualities such as picture-image and picture- space (I seem to be looking out over hills and lakes when in fact I am looking at flat paint on canvas) that make a picture a picture, those qualities in virtue of which a work of sculpture is differentiated from a waxwork. The 'abandonment of artifice' is the repudiation of such qualities and the demand that a painting or a sculpture shall be looked at in exactly the same manner as any other material artefact that happens to be lying around in the room. It began in Russia with the 'Corner Reliefs' of Rodchenko and the 'Hanging Constructions' of Tatlin, and it culminated in the U.S.A. with the Concrete Art of the 1960s. Those kinds of Kinetic Art in which artists introduce an element of real movement instead of only virtual movement, as in the pictures of the futurists and their predecessors, are to this extent an example of the 'abandonment of artifice'.

Harold Osborne Kreuzstr. 12

8640 Rapperswill SG Switzerland

'Ways of Worldmaking'

finding valuable resources that can assist educational and artistic development among many communities, in our case the American Indian.

Dave Warren Research and Cultural Studies Development Section

Bureau of Indian Affairs U.S. Department of the Interior

Cerrillos Road Santa Fe, NM 87501, U.S.A.

ON BOOK REVIEWS

'Abstraction and Artifice in Twentieth-Century Art'

I am one of those people who, having laboriously written a book, cannot bear to read yet again what I have written and rapidly forget what was in it. If I ever needed to be reminded of what I said and thought in this particular book, I could not hope for a better summary than that by Ralph A. Smith inLeonardo 14, 210 (1981). If I may be allowed to add just one point: By artifice I meant those virtual qualities such as picture-image and picture- space (I seem to be looking out over hills and lakes when in fact I am looking at flat paint on canvas) that make a picture a picture, those qualities in virtue of which a work of sculpture is differentiated from a waxwork. The 'abandonment of artifice' is the repudiation of such qualities and the demand that a painting or a sculpture shall be looked at in exactly the same manner as any other material artefact that happens to be lying around in the room. It began in Russia with the 'Corner Reliefs' of Rodchenko and the 'Hanging Constructions' of Tatlin, and it culminated in the U.S.A. with the Concrete Art of the 1960s. Those kinds of Kinetic Art in which artists introduce an element of real movement instead of only virtual movement, as in the pictures of the futurists and their predecessors, are to this extent an example of the 'abandonment of artifice'.

Harold Osborne Kreuzstr. 12

8640 Rapperswill SG Switzerland

'Ways of Worldmaking'

finding valuable resources that can assist educational and artistic development among many communities, in our case the American Indian.

Dave Warren Research and Cultural Studies Development Section

Bureau of Indian Affairs U.S. Department of the Interior

Cerrillos Road Santa Fe, NM 87501, U.S.A.

ON BOOK REVIEWS

'Abstraction and Artifice in Twentieth-Century Art'

I am one of those people who, having laboriously written a book, cannot bear to read yet again what I have written and rapidly forget what was in it. If I ever needed to be reminded of what I said and thought in this particular book, I could not hope for a better summary than that by Ralph A. Smith inLeonardo 14, 210 (1981). If I may be allowed to add just one point: By artifice I meant those virtual qualities such as picture-image and picture- space (I seem to be looking out over hills and lakes when in fact I am looking at flat paint on canvas) that make a picture a picture, those qualities in virtue of which a work of sculpture is differentiated from a waxwork. The 'abandonment of artifice' is the repudiation of such qualities and the demand that a painting or a sculpture shall be looked at in exactly the same manner as any other material artefact that happens to be lying around in the room. It began in Russia with the 'Corner Reliefs' of Rodchenko and the 'Hanging Constructions' of Tatlin, and it culminated in the U.S.A. with the Concrete Art of the 1960s. Those kinds of Kinetic Art in which artists introduce an element of real movement instead of only virtual movement, as in the pictures of the futurists and their predecessors, are to this extent an example of the 'abandonment of artifice'.

Harold Osborne Kreuzstr. 12

8640 Rapperswill SG Switzerland

'Ways of Worldmaking'

In Jon W. Sharer's generally good review of my book in Leonardo 14, 247 (1981), he charges me with 'lack of clarity in the use of the term symbol'. I take him to mean 'in the use of the term "symbol"'. He argues that I err in not recognizing 'that a

In Jon W. Sharer's generally good review of my book in Leonardo 14, 247 (1981), he charges me with 'lack of clarity in the use of the term symbol'. I take him to mean 'in the use of the term "symbol"'. He argues that I err in not recognizing 'that a

In Jon W. Sharer's generally good review of my book in Leonardo 14, 247 (1981), he charges me with 'lack of clarity in the use of the term symbol'. I take him to mean 'in the use of the term "symbol"'. He argues that I err in not recognizing 'that a

In Jon W. Sharer's generally good review of my book in Leonardo 14, 247 (1981), he charges me with 'lack of clarity in the use of the term symbol'. I take him to mean 'in the use of the term "symbol"'. He argues that I err in not recognizing 'that a

Rudi Stern Let There Be Neon

451 West Broadway New York, NY 10012, U.S.A.

Rudi Stern Let There Be Neon

451 West Broadway New York, NY 10012, U.S.A.

Rudi Stern Let There Be Neon

451 West Broadway New York, NY 10012, U.S.A.

Rudi Stern Let There Be Neon

451 West Broadway New York, NY 10012, U.S.A.

Letters Letters Letters Letters 351 351 351 351

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.81 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 13:48:55 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions