asdasdasAlcopley Drawings Structures

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1/16

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Drawings as Structures and Non-StructuresAuthor(s): L. AlcopleySource: Leonardo, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Jan., 1968), pp. 3-16Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1571900.

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2/16

Leonardo,

ol.

1, pp.

3-16.

Pergamon

ress1968. Printedn GreatBritain

DR WINGS S STRUCTURES

A N D

NONSTRUCTURE

L.

Alcopley*

Abstract-A

drawing

is

defined

as

an

image

in which the

composition of

lines

predominates

over considerations

of

color.

Drawings

are conceived

by

the

author as structures

and

non-structures,

although any drawing

is bound to be

structural. In the

drawings

as

non-structures,

the elements

of

the

unexpected,

accidental,

and automatic

play

a

dominantrole. In a

drawing

as a

structure,

any

line

must be

deeplyfelt,

and drawn on a

surface

with the conviction

that

it is

necessary

where

it is

placed. By surface

is meant the entire

picture surface

whichcannotbe dividedor

separated

o show

merely any

portion

covered

by

lines.

These

drawings

are considered as

structures,

because

in them there

is

the

arrangement

of

all

the

parts

to the

whole.

The

structure

drawings

are

discussed

underthe

ollowing

seven

groupings:

structuresof

things

(including andscapes),

structures of

space,

structures of the

spoken,

structures of

signs,

structures

drawn to

poems,

dimension of time structures

and

structures

drawn

to music.

The

significance of

size

and

of proportions

in

drawings

as structures and

non-structures s

stressed,

and

special

consideration s

given

to the

largeness

inherent in certain small-sized

and even

tiny-sized

works

of

art. The

author's

minimum

drawings

are discussed both as

single

pictures

and

as

assemblages.

Three-dimensionality

s

shown not

merely

in

superimposed drawings,

but

also in the author's

vertical

sky-scraper pictures

and his horizontal

promenade

pictures,

in

which the

dimension

of

time

enters in

the

viewing

of

the

picture

by

the beholder.

The author

emphasizes

that his

pictures,

both

drawings

and

paintings,

differ

fundamentally rom

the

pictures by

artists

of

ancient China

and

Japan,

because

of

the

entirely

different

conceptions

of space.

An attempt is made to correlate today's world view of science as a product

of

Western

thought

and

the

author's letterless

writing.

The

latter is not

any

form of

calligraphy

either

practiced

in

the

orient

or

in

abstractions

by

modern

artists-of

the West

and East-who still

suggest

some

definite

meaning

of

letters,

ideograms,

or

hieroglyphs.

I. INTRODUCTION

My drawings

may

be classified

as structures

and non-

structures.

The former are conceived

as

compo-

sitions

or

arrangements

of

lines,

while

for the latter

I make no such attempts.

In the

non-structure

drawing,

the

element

of

the

unexpected

and

of

the accidental

plays

a

dominating

role. As in

life,

the accidental

seems to come

from

nowhere,

but has the

peculiar

strength

in

pointing

to

a

new direction

or

forcing

itself

upon

one.

The

automatic,

which

is

not

identical

with

the

accidental,

is done-as

the

term

implies-without

conscious

thought,

and seems

to

be

essential

in

many

non-structure

drawings.

The elements

of the

unexpected,

the

accidental

and

the automatic enter

to some

extent,

into

the

process

of

drawing

structures,

but

these elements

*Artist

living

at 50 Central

Park

West,

New

York,

N.Y.

10023,

U.S.A.

(Received

0

September

967).

do

not

appear

to dominate them.

I

cannot

attempt

to make

an

analysis

of these

forces

in

my

work,

since,

in

general,

little

is

known about the

so-called

'creative

process'

in the arts or

other

human ac-

tivities.

In my work as an artist I have no preferencefor

the

activities

of

painting

or of

drawing, although

painting

can

provide

a

greaterchallenge.

In

paint-

ing,

the values of

color

and their

composition

rule

the

picture.

I

view with sheer

joy

the

paintings

of

painters

whose work

I

love. The

richness

inherent

in

the

play

of colors cannot be

conveyed

in

drawings,

which does not

mean

that

drawings

are bound to

be

without

joy.

I am

giving

an account

of

my

drawings

because,

I

think,

it

may

assist

those

who ask about the

meaning

of

my pictures,

both

paintings

and draw-

ings,

or

what

they

are all

about.

My

account

is

not

meant to give explanations, but to serve as a guide

into the world of

a

contemporary

which

he

attempts

to form in his

pictures.

It is

the same world we

all

3

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3/16

L.

Alcopley

live

in,

a

world

characterized

by

changes

which are

simultaneously steady,

explosive,

destructive and

constructive on all levels

of human

endeavor.

To

my way

of

seeing,

our

contemporary

world

is

not unlike life as a

biological

entity,

which as

far

as

may

be known

about,

appears

to be

possibly

'somewhat'

less

chaotic

and

certainly

less distur-

bing, except if disease threatens one's life.

To those

readers

who

do

not know about

my

double

identity,

let me

say

at the

outset

of this

account that besides

being

a

practicing

artist,

I

am-under a different

name-also a

practicing

scientist

in the

biological

and

medical

sciences.

As an

experimental

physiologist

I am

preoccupied

with

the

processes

of life and

its disorders

which

may

ensue in death.

I

say 'yes'

to our

contemporary

world

in

spite

of

the

numerous alienations thrust

upon

us contem-

poraries,

as social

and

biological beings.

We

live

in

a

world

of

developments

for which

we

are neither

prepared for sufficiently nor have adequate con-

trols,

or

about which we are

utterly

ignorant

and

helpless.

My saying

'yes'

to this indivisible world

permeates,

I

trust,

my

work

as

an artist. It

is this

deep feeling

of the oneness

of our world

that

is

the

motivation for

my pictorial

visions.

A

drawing

is an

image

in which the

composition

of lines

predominates

over considerations

of color.

This definition

separates

drawings

from

painting

in which

the

composition

of colors

plays

the

pri-

mary

role

in the formation of the

image.

II.

TECHNIQUES

Some of

my contemporary

artist

colleagues

like to

exclude the

skill in the use

of

the

hand

and

rely

on

certain

mechanical devices to

convey

their visions.

To

me,

the direction

and the skill in

the use

of the

hand-this marvelous instrument

given

to

our

human

species-is

the

prerequisite

for

my

per-

forming

the

act

of

drawing.

About

my

techniques

there is little to

say

that is

not

known as a

general

practice.

As I do not

employ

motorised

or other mechani-

cal

devices,

the

tools

I use are

pens,

brushes,

styli,

needles,

knives,

crayons,

chisels,

among

other

line-

producing objects. I employ mainly the pen and

the brush. It is in the amount of

pressure

which

I

apply

in

holding

the brush or the

pen

on the sur-

face that

I

regulate

and

vary

with

my

hand

the

quality

of the drawn

line.

This

use of

the hand can

be limited

mainly

to the

thumb

and

index

finger,

which hold

the

pen, crayon, pencil

or fine

brush,

but it

may

involve more than the

finger

tips,

if

large

surfaces are used

for

the

drawing.

Then,

the

entire

arm or even the

whole

body may

become

involved in the act

of

drawing,

as if I

with

my

whole

being

would throw

myself

into

the

picture,

extri-

cating

that

part

of

my being

which

may

remain alive

in the picture in living its own life to the

beholder.

The skill

to draw can

be

acquired

possibly by

almost

everyone,

as

it

is

the result

of

practice

and

knowledge.

Thus,

the

perfection

of

execution

is

readily

visible as the

draughtsmanship

or work-

manship.

However,

for

any

artist,

skill

is

required

beforehand as a

necessary

condition,

and

in no

way

suffices to

produce

a

work of art. This

is

equally

true

for the

practice

in all

the

arts, and,

obviously,

is not limited to

drawing.

I have used Chinese and Japanese brushes in

many

drawings

for a

number of

years,

but

I never

felt

them to

be

the tools

for

expressing adequately

the ideas and

thoughts

in

pictorial composition

which

I

wanted to

convey. My

use

of these

brushes

tended

to evolve a

style

which

approaches

the

style

of the

Chinese

and

Japanese

artists

of the

past,

whose work I admire

greatly.

But

I

do not intend

to follow

their

style

or

ways,

as

they

are alien to

my

conceptions

of our

contemporary

world,

which

is

entirely

a

development

of Western

civilization

and

thought.

As materials for

the

picture

surface,

I

have used

paper, plastics, silk, ceramics(including porcelain),

cement

walls,

wood, metal,

bark, stones,

linen,

cotton,

parchment,

and

glass.

These

materials

from all kinds

of

origin

can

vary

widely

in color

and in texture from

very

smooth

to

different

degrees

of

roughness.

The material

I

prefer

to draw

on is

paper,

and the 'color' I like most is white in

any

of

its numerous

shades.

The

paper

can

have

different

extures,

and

may

contain various

amounts

of

glue,

which alters the

gloss.

If

non-sized,

the

paper

will

permit

spreading

of lines

applied

with

inks,

and can be utilized to

permit

a

more

'fuzzy'

character

of

the

line,

if it is desired.

Usually

I

employ simple papers, but I have used precious or

even rare

papers. Actually,

I

am

very

fond

of

paper

of

a

very high

quality,

although

I

am no

expert.

With

rare

and

very

fine

papers,

I feel that

their surfaces should

not

be

disturbed

by anything

drawn on them. A

Japanese

scientist friend

of

mine,

who is also a

great

scholar of Chinese

and

Japanese papers,

made

me several

gifts

of

rare

papers

from

China

and

Japan,

but

after

years

of

having

these

precious papers

in

my possession,

I

still hesitate to use

them.

I

employed only

in some of

my

drawings

non-

linear

tones as washes

and,

in

general,

I

use

lines

without textures. I admire the mastery in the use

of washes

by

Rembrandt

or

of texture

by

Seurat,

Klee and

other masters.

In

the

history

of

drawings

one can detect

the

artists'

preferences

which

differ

markedly.

In

the

Orient almost all

drawing

was done with

brushes,

and

in the

Far

East,

writing,

which

was

practiced

as

calligraphy,

and

drawing merged

into

painting.

The

latter was

accomplished by

varying

the

degree

of

dilution

of

inks,

and

using

black

inks

of

a

large

variety

of

'color',

that

is,

of

hues and shades.

In

the

West,

drawing

was

practiced

much

less

with the use

of

the

brush,

and at different

periods,

individual artists used varying techniques, many

of which

are

still

employed today.

I

should

like

to

amplify

briefly

and at random some

of

these

techniques

by

giving

a

few

examples.

Pieter

Brueg-

4



4/16


5/16

L.

Alcopley

few

lines,

each line is drawn often after

long

re-

flection and is meant to

give, together

with

the

other

lines,

a likeness of

what

is

represented.

It is

not

rare

that

the

beholder could

then

actually

recognise

the

particular landscape,

architectural

edifice,

the

person

portrayed,

etc.

(Fig. 1).

In the structures of

things,

I

attempt

to make

visible what, to my feeling and way of seeing, is

essential for the

pictorial

representation.

I

would

see,

as

anyone

else

would,

many

lines in

whatever

is

in front

of

me.

It

then

becomes

as

essential for

the

representation

to consider which of the observed

lines

to delete

and

which

of them to retain.

Thus,

the areas

of

the surface

uncovered

by

the lines of

three decades

I

have been an

experimental biologist

and therefore

have

lived

in

a

world

of

the smallest

natural

phenomena.

At the same

time,

I

have

tried,

by

the continuous

practice

of

drawing,

to catch

some

of

their aesthetic and

expressive

values until

finally

the

setting

of lines

crystallised

into new

signs.

They correspond

to

certain

thoughts

which

I

can

only express in the movement of these lines' [1]

(Fig.

2).

3. Structures

of space

The

drawings

as

structures

of space

can be

de-

fined as

expressing

certain movements which

are

made

usually

by

a brush

or

several brushes and

*

A.

.,-ri_

_

^t$-

-

i

l

1.

L'^-,-

s

--...

t __

*.

-_

-L1

'

,_

?Cy

_ _

^^

4 /,

I-RJC_fr;r_ ,_,

Fig.

1.

Drawing

as a

structure

f things:

ReykjavikHarbor,Iceland, 12.3

x

17.8

cm,

1950.

the

drawing

are as

significant

for

the

image

as

those

covered

by

them. In this

sense,

the structures

of

things, although representational,

do not differ

from the

non-representational

structures.

I

like to draw from nature not

merely

because it

affords

an

exercise

in

craftsmanship,

but also

it

gives

me

an

occasion

to enter into

a

relationship

with the

world

around

me

in

my

task

of

portraying

or

representing

a

selected

part

of it

in

the form of

the

unity

of a

drawing.

2.

Structures

of

signs

The

structures

of signs

are

assemblies of lines.

The word

'sign'

is

used here

loosely.

I

proposed

the structures

of

signs

to have

a

specific meaning,

about which I

wrote

in

1962:

'They

spring

from

my

personal experience

of

nature,

and

the

special phenomena

with which

I

am concerned

in

my

scientific work.

For more

than

give

an

image

of

lines

in

space.

Some of these

drawings

are done in continuous

motions,

which can

be

followed

in

one

or the other direction. Thus

they

do

not

appear

to have a

beginning

or an end.

In

contrast to these

drawings,

there are

those

in

which the

motions

of

the brush are arrested

(Fig.

3).

4.

Structures

of

the

spoken

The

structures

of

the

spoken

came

into

being

when I

participated

in a

colloquy

on

'Art and

Thinking'

held

at the

University

of

Freiburg

im

Breisgau

in

1958

[1].

This

colloquy

developed

into

a

dialogue

between

the

philosopher

Martin Hei-

degger

and

the

Zen Master Hoseki Shin'ichi

Hisamatsu. These structures

originated

while

I

was listening to these two thinkers. I wrote about

these structures as follows:

'These

drawings

appear

to record the sense of

their

6



6/16

Drawings

as Structuresand Non-Structures

thoughts

rather than the movement of

the words

as

they

were

spoken,

as

they

produced

in

me

an

echo which

I could transform

and

express

in

another

medium

and

project

onto

paper

to be contained

within

the

given

space

of a

page'

[1].

5.

Structures

drawn

to

poems

Structuresdrawntopoems are drawingswhich are

not

illustrations,

but

follow

a

procedure

which

is

perhaps

best described

by

what

I

wrote

in

1959

[2]

to

the German

poet Siegfried

Broese:

sion of time

in

viewing

them. The ancient

Chinese

and

Japanese

artists

have

used this

approach

in

their

horizontal,

story-telling

scroll

pictures.

As it was

customary

for the reader of

a

manuscript

to unroll

one

part

of the scroll with one

hand,

and

rolling

the

read

part

with the other

hand,

such

scroll

pictures might

have been viewed

usually

in

this

way

of unrolling and rolling the scroll.

In

my

dimension of

time

structures,

the

picture

needs

to

be

viewed

always

in its

entirely

stretched-

out

position.

If the

picture

is a vertical

one,

the

Fig.

2.

Drawing

s

a

structure

f

signs,

22-8

x

15'1

cm,

1967.

'With

your poems

I followed the

procedure

of

reading

the

poem,

reading

it

again

and

again

to

comprehend

it

deeply.

Then,

your thoughts

or

your

mood,

so-to-speak

took over

my

hand and

guided

it.

Naturally,

I

was not

merely

a medium

as Klee

speaks

about

himself and his

work,

but I

composed

consciously

within the limitation of

the

sheet

of

paper

which

I

had in front

of

me'

(Fig.

4).

6.

Dimension

of

time structures

Those of

my

pictures,

which cannot be seen as a

whole

at one

sight,

are

grouped

under dimension

of

time

structures. The beholder

needs the

dimen-

beholderwill need to move his

eyes

and

head

up

and

down. He could

begin

at

any

part

of the

picture,

but he

will

have to do it either in the

upward

or

downward direction in order to

comprehend

the

image.

For

the

horizontal

dimension of time

structure,

he will have no choice

other

than,

wherever

he

chooses

his

departure,

to move to the

left or

to

the

right,

in

taking

a

walk

along

the entire

length

of the

picture.

It

differs

markedly

from

viewing

a

long

horizontal scroll or

from a

sequence

of

pic-

tures in

any

film,

motion

picture

or in

many

mani-

festations of kinetic art.

In

the

latter

instances,

the

viewer is

obliged

to see the

sequence

of

pictures

in

7



7/16

L.

Alcopley

one

direction.

He

cannot

go

backward or forward

at will or at random.

However,

in

front of

a di-

mension of time

structure,

he can do as he

pleases,

and he is free

to

decelerate or accelerate

his

pace

of

viewing.

The

dimension of time

structures,

which

I

executed

as

drawings

or

paintings, vary

appreciably

in size.

For the horizontal kind [3,4], the so-calledprome-

nade

pictures, they

were

up

to

25 m in

width

and

sion

of

time

structure

of about 8 m

in

height

and

60 cm in

width. It

was

placed

on

a

wall

of

the

museum's entrance

hall,

which

it

covered

over

its

entire

height. Upon entering

the

museum,

the

beholder could see it with minimum movements of

his head.

However,

the closer he came to the

pic-

ture,

the more he had to move

his

head

upward

in order to viewthe entirepicture. Thus, the vertical

dimension of time structures of

great height

in-

iirj

F/>

Lj

-

W

Fig.

3.

Drawing

s a structure

f

space,

30-4

x

22-8

cm,

1967.

from

1

cm

up

to

3 m in

height.

For the vertical

kind

[5,6]-the

so-called

skyscraper

pictures-

they

were

up

to

10 m in

height

and from

1

cm to

up

to 70 cm in width. It became

necessary

to

lower

the

height

of these vertical

pictures

in

accordance

with

a narrower width.

Otherwise,

the viewer

would

not be able to discern the lines in the entire

drawing

regardless

of whether

any

of its

portions

was less or more removed from him.

At an

exhibition

in

1959,

held

at the Musee de

l'Art

Moderne de la Ville de

Paris,

I

showed a dimen-

volve more

viewing

time the closer

the beholder's

position

is

to

the

picture.

On the

other

hand,

the

horizontal dimension of

time structures

depend

much more

on

the time of

viewing

than the

vertical

ones.

7. Structures

drawn to music

Since

1945,

I

have

made

drawings

as

structures

as well as non-structureswhile listening to music.

The structures

drawn to music

(Fig.

5)

were com-

posed

in

a

way

similar o the

structures

of the

spoken.

8



8/16

Drawings

as Structures

and Non-Structures

Some

reflection

even of

very

brief duration

was

needed

after

my listening

to certain

sounds

of the

musical

composition

to translate

them

into

lines

and

compose

these lines

on the

paper

to form

a

structure.

These

drawings

to music

as

structures

differ

markedly

from

those as

non-structures,

kinds of structures

have in common

the translation

of

a

composition

from the

art forms

of

music and

poetry

into the

entirely

different

one of

drawing.

Of

interest here

is the

reverse,

that

is,

the

'trans-

lation'

from

my

drawings

as

structures

into

musical

compositions.

This was done

recently

by

the

com-

do

m

0

LL

9 e

9

1

Fig.

4.

Structure

drawn to

poem

by

Robert

Lowell,

Prometheus Bound

derivedfrom

Aeschylus.

'Prometheus:

Now

that I am

chained

here,

I

suppose

I am almost

free

at

last'

[7]

18-7

x

25-2

cm,

14th

July

1967.

because the latter

are

placed

on

paper

with

instan-

taneous

rapidity,

as

if the lines drawn

chase con-

tinuously

after

the

sounds,

and

just

about

manage

to catch

up

with

them.

The structures drawn to

music,

although pro-

duced

similarly

to

the

structures

of

the

spoken,

are more akin

to those

drawn to

poems.

Both

poser

Otto

Gmelin

in

sonatas

or

structures

for

organ

and

piano

[8].

IV.

DRAWINGS

AS

NON-STRUCTURES

In our Western ways of seeing it goes without

saying

that

all

drawings

are

structural,

even

though

they

are

not

conceived

as structures.

9



9/16

L.

Alcopley

t-e~~~

,.-,

~~~-

-4?

-W---r

~~~71,4i

O~

/4

P

Fig.

5.

Drawing

as

a

structure to

music

by

Claudio Monteverdi

(1567-1643),

Il Ballo delle

Ingrate

(The

Dance

of

the

Heartless

Ladies).

Town

Hall,

New

York,

10-2

x

15-2

cm,

24

January

1967.

c/

I

.1~~~~~~~

Fig.

6.

Drawing

as a

non-structure

o

music

by Edgard

Varese

(1883-1965),

Poeme

Electronique.

Columbia

University,

New

York,

at a

Service

in

Memory of

Le

Corbusier,

9-4

x

12-5

cm,

18

October,

1965.

Drawings

as

non-structures

I

have

practiced,

for

instance,

in

drawn

recordings

of sounds

while

listening

to music. As soon as

I

perceived

the

sounds

they

were

translated

instantaneously

and

projected

onto

the

paper.

In these

recordings

there

is little, if any, time to reflect about the position

and

qualities

of

the

lines

(Fig.

6).

The

produced

recording

has

hardly

a

composition,

and,

if

it

has one

at

all,

it is rather

vague.

Yet these non-

structure

drawings

may

have

a certain

interest

to

the

viewer.

As

drawings they

can

be

quite

incomplete

and

to some extent

non-formed.

They may

simulate

sounds in a musical composition without simulating

their

organized

form.

They

may

be the drawn echoes

of the

sounds,

which

they

follow

immediately by

10

?,I



10/16

Drawings


the

movement

of the

pen,

and the

hand

holding

and

leading

it. The main characteristics of these cu-

rious

transcriptions may

be the

spontaneity

and

unexpectedness

of

the

direction,

thrust,

and

move-

ments of

lines which can be

quite

inventive.

The

drawings

as

non-structures while

listening

to music are unlike the structures of the

spoken.

These structures, although drawn 'on the spur of

the

moment',

have been drawn

quickly only

after

.. X 7 - 0 - > -

:~~:l[_i

I

would not know how to

gauge

any

degrees

of

'formlessness'. Since in the

arts,

both their

origi-

nators,

the

artists

themselves,

and

the

beholders

view the

appearance

of a work of art

with

their

naked

eyes,

findings

of

submacroscopic

viewing,

which would reveal all kinds of

structures,

would

be

utterly

meaningless.

In the Western world, the so-called 'formless'

in

the visual

arts has

never

been

appreciated

as in

the

Fig.

7.

Enlarged

minimum

rawing,

949,[10].

I

had sufficient time to reflect about the sense of

the

thoughts

in

the

spoken

words, and,

therefore,

do not

'record' the movements

of the sounds of

spoken

words.

I

could

probably

make

drawings

as

non-structures of the

spoken

word while

listening

to words of

languages

which

I

do

not

know.

I have

practiced drawings

as non-structures

in

many

other

ways, including

those

which were meant

to be

representations,

and I

employed

different

techniques.

I am not

quite

clear whether

any

of

my

non-

structure

drawings

can

be

entirely

'formless',

and

Far East. In Zen

art,

according

to

the

Zen master

Hoseki

Shin'ichi

Hisamatsu

[9],

'the

highest

form of

beauty

is

present

where no form

and

no

structure are

left'.

V. ON SIZE

AND PROPORTIONS

It is

always

the entire

area

of

a

page

which serves

as the surface for a

drawing

as

a

structure,

regard-

less whether it is tiny, small, large or immense.

Therefore,

the

presentation

of

the

pictures,

when

drawn

as

structures,

would

not

permit

any

kind of

11



11/16

L.

Alcopley

limitation

by passe-partout

or

any

other

covering

of the

edges

of the surface. This also

holds

true

for

any

reproduction, regardless

how small an area of

the

drawing

as

a

structure

might

contain the lines.

Any

reduction or

enlargement

in size must

account

for the entire surface. The

proportions

of

each

drawing

as a structure

becomes

thus

all-important.

There is a general belief that the actual size of a

work

of

art testifies

to

its

significance,

and that

small-sized or

tiny-sized

works of art could

never

__no

an

dtowoo...,P6fi

_

_ S

W

F S>'1j

# 1o

original

size

by

a

photographic process.

After

he

had the

enlarged drawing

on the wall of his studio

for

many

months,

he and another artist friend

wrote

in 1951 an article about

my

enlarged

tiny drawings

and

on

my

other

drawings.

The article contained

also several

enlargements

of

the

tiny drawings,

some of which

covered an entire

page

of the

maga-

zine [10] (Fig. 7).

My

drawings employing tiny

sizes

originated

in

1946.

Many

of

these

drawings,

which

were much

t

lb

WV

'.

0'

.

.

lbI

; r>w

A-.-

oopw^-l

-W

-

R

-

?~

iBrll9IIIi~~I~I

IDIl

?--~.- .

~'

-

,O

-


12/16

Drawings


showed them

publicly.

I

pinned

on a

board,

about

90

x

60

cm

in

size,

forty-eight

of

these

drawings,

each

mounted

on

a

differently

uni-colored

card-

paper,

of

approximately

8 x6

cm,

in

eight

rows,

each of

six

pictures.

I

took

care that this

assemblage

was

adequately

arranged

to

make

it

appear

as

one

single picture

of

the

size

of

the

board.

Each

drawing,

varying from 0-5 cm to 2-5 cm in height or width,

was fastened to the

board

by

a

pin.

From

forty-eight

to

fifty-four

minimum

drawings

were

also drawn on

paper

in

form

of

an

assemblage

[11]. They

were,

alongside

and below each

other,

on

single

sheets

of about

12

x

9

cm.

This

kind of

assemblage (Fig.

8)

differed from

the

presentation

at the Riverside

Museum

exhibition,

where not

only

each

drawing

was mounted

on

differently

colored

paper,

but also

because each

was further

apart

from its

neighbor.

In the

assemblages

on

single

white sheets of

paper,

the

drawings

are,

therefore,

close

together.

It

is

not

rare that

both

size and

proportions of the minimum drawingson each row

of these

assemblages

differ

markedly.

Some

of

them can

be

found

to be

1-2

mm in

height

and 9

cm or more in width.

Reproductions

of

some of

these

assemblages

are contained

in the book of

my

drawings,

conceived

by

the

Amsterdam

painter

and

typographic

artist

Dick

Elffers,

who made the

maquette.

Numerous

minimum

drawings

cover the

pages

of

many

unpublished

tiny

books

of about

3-3

x

2-4

cm

in size.

They

were

drawn

directly

on

the

pages

of

these miniature

books,

which

I found

in

toy

shops

in

Japan

in 1960.

My Japanese

friends

were quite amazed at seeing me drawing on the

pages

of

these books

which, hitherto,

they

had

considered

as

toys

for

small

children.

Since

1950,

I made

drawings

on translucent

silicone sheets.

These

sheets

of

about

6

x

10

cm

in

size,

clipped together

or

bound,

are

employed

for the

cleaning

of

microscope

lenses.

I

found

them

a

fascinating

material

to

draw

on,

because the

transparency

of

each

sheet,

containing

the

drawing,

permitted varying

numbers

of

the

drawings

in the

book to

be viewed

together

as one

single

drawing.

It was the intention

to

superimpose

as

many

sheets

as

possible

simultaneously

to

arrive

still

at one

single picture. This viewing becomes even more

effective,

when

the sheets

are held

up against

day-

light

or

artificial

light.

The viewer

can

vary

the

number

of

sheets,

and

then secure

not

merely

different

pictures,

but,

to

some

extent,

a three-di-

mensional

space.

The

principle

of

superimposing

different

drawings

I

applied

later

in another form

of

three-dimensional

drawing.

This was

realised

in

small

rectangular,

rather narrow

boxes,

constructed

of translucent

sheets

of

plastics,

which were not

covered

with

lines.

The

box

contained

the

drawings

on translucent

plastic

sheets

of different

shapes

and

curvatures,

placed and anchored inside at different angles to

the vertical

planes

of

the

box.

The idea

of

using

different

proportions

was first

applied

by

me

in

1945,

to

paintings

in

a

vertical

position.

I

called

them,

as

mentioned

above,

skyscraper pictures,

which

I

showed

first

in

1948

in New York

at the annual

exhibition

of

the Ameri-

can

Abstract

Artists

group.

When

I

exhibited the

highest

in

Paris,

beginning

in

1953

at

the

Salon

des

Realites

Nouvelles,

they

became known

as

peintures

gratte-ciel [5].

As

drawings,

the

elongated

formats

were first used in 1948 in composite pictures, con-

taining

many drawings

of

different

sizes

on

a

given

surface.

Later,

I

used these

formats in

single

draw-

ings

both in the vertical

and horizontal

position.

(More

is

said about these

elongated

pictures

under

Dimension

of

Time

Structures.)

My original

thought

was

to have the vertical

pictures along

the

height

of

skyscrapers

or

very

tall

buildings,

and

the

horizontal

pictures

along

the width

of

large

buildings

or

any

of its

sections,

as a

single

band.

The

application

to architecture

was first

demon-

strated in 1955

with

a

skyscraper

painting,

6 m

in

height

and 32 cm

in

width,

mounted

within

an

elongatediron frame,in an exhibition of the Groupe

Espace,

held

in the

Park

National

de

Saint-Cloud,

at

the Premiere

Exposition

Internationale

de

Materiaux et

Equipements

du Batiment

et des

Travaux Publics

[6].

A

promenade

painting,

15

m

in

width

and

3 m in

height

was realised

in 1958 at

the

University

of

Freiburg

im

Breisgau

as a

mural,

commissioned

by

the State of

Baden-Wuerttemberg

[3].

A

modification

of

the

idea of a dimension

of

time

picture

is

its

application

to

sky-writing.

Instead

of

using

words

advertising

some

product,

I

thought

to

have

the

sky-writers

making,

with

the smoke or

fumes emanating from their planes, huge drawings

as non-structures

in

the

sky.

These

sky-drawings

might

be

alternated

with

aphorisms,

words of

wisdom or with

poems.

These

are

fleeting

and

perishable

kinds of

drawings,

akin to those

familiar

ones,

such

as are made

in sand on

a beach or

in

butter.

For the

reproduction

of

drawings

as structures

it is

necessary

to

show,

if

possible,

the entire

struc-

ture,

whether

largely

decreased or

increased

in

size,

in its actual

proportions.

This, however,

is

not

possible

on

a

page

of

a

book

or

on

a

conventionally

sized

print

of a

picture,

for

instance,

with

a

drawing

as dimension of time structure. In this case, a

portion

of

the

drawing

can be

reproduced

as a

fragment,

and identified

as such.

In the

book

of

my drawings

Voies

et

Traces,

the architect

Rolf

Jaehrling,

who

designed

the

maquette,

made

the

reproductions

of each

drawing

in its actual

size

on sheets

which were

not

bound

[12].

In

another

book

of

my

drawings,

to which

I

gave

the title You

Don't

Say,

the

reproductions

of the

drawings

on card

paper

were

also

made

in their

actual size

[13].

In this

book,

designed

and

pro-

duced

by

the

typographic

artist

Diter

Rot,

one side

of each card, measuring 20x 3 cm, carries the

drawing

in

black on

white,

while

the

other

side

has

the same

drawing

in white

on

black.

These elon-

gated

cards

are

pierced

near

one

end and

attached

13



13/16

L.

Alcopley

to a

metal screw which holds

them

together.

This

mode

of

binding

is

(with

the

exception

of

the

screw)

similar to a method of

binding

of

manuscripts,

practiced

in ancient India. The book of

drawings

is

viewed

in

moving

each

page

around

the

axis

of the

screw. The

drawings,

bound

by

the

screw,

are

kept

in

a

box similar to those

employed

for scrolls in

China and Japan.

VI.

TODAY'S WORLD

VIEW

OF

SCIENCE

AND

ON

LElTERLESS

WRITING

The

conception

of

space

in

my pictures

has

been

erroneously

identified

with

the

conception

of

space

in

the

pictures by

artists of ancient China

and

Japan.

At

a

first

glimpse,

the Eastern

concep-

tion

of

space

and

my conception

of

it seem to

be

very

close,

but

they

are

altogether

different. The de-

cisive distinction is that the

feeling

for

space

in

my

pictures

is

that of Western

man,

experiencing

and

practicing Western thought. For us, reared in

Western

civilization,

space,

as

we

feel

it,

contains

all

entitities

or

objects.

For the Asian

artist,

ex-

periencing

and

practicing

Far

Eastern

thought,

space

is

the void which cannot be

seen,

but

permeates

everything

as an active

agent

[14,

15].

In

my pictures,

the basic

vision

is

related

to

modern science and

the

world view

derived

from

it.

As I am

actively engaged

in fundamental

research

pertaining

to the

study

of

processes

of

life,

I

am

constantly

aware of a

world,

where

everything

is

in

motion. The visualisation of the

world

view

of

modern science

in

my

formed

images

is

possibly

the most original aspect in my artistic endeavours.

I

do

not set out to

represent

the ultrastructure

of

a

minimal

part

of

a

cell,

of

an

organism

or of an

inanimate

particle,

as seen in the electron micro-

scope

or

by any

other

optical

means. Such

attempts

to

give

a

representation

or a

naturalistic

picture

of

parts

of

nature,

only

accessible to us

by

the use of

microscopes

and other fine

instruments,

is of

no

interest

to

me.

I

do

not

deny

that

forms which

I

have seen with

the

aid

of

instruments,

employed

in

the

sciences,

which

I

practice,

may,

in

some abstracted

way,

become

elements

in

my drawings.

However,

I

have

no intention of abstractingfrom these visual record-

ings

or

any

others,

which are

known to

everyone,

because of their wide

popularisation

by

the

various

media

of mass

communication.

What

then is the basic

vision

in

my

work

as re-

lated to science?

It is the flow or motion

of

elemen-

tary spatial processes

which

I

experience

in

my

scientific

activities. For

instance,

there are

giant

molecules which

occur

in

the

living

matter of

plants,

animals,

and

men,

as well as in certain

synthetic

materials.

(No

one

nowadays

is unaware of

the

ubiquitous

use

of

plastics,

which

are

composed

of

synthetic

giant molecules, and the artist depends upon

many

of these materials as

paints,

sheets,

blocks,

brushes,

glues,

etc.)

Our world view

of

science

originated

with several

pre-Socratic

Greek

philosophers

who lived about

500 B.C.

[16].

Democritus had the

inspiration

to

propose

that

matter

is

made

up

of

tiny

particles

which

he called atoms and which he

thought

to

be

constantly

in

motion.

There was Heraclitus who

said,

'It is not

possible

to

step

twice into

the same

river',

and

who is better known for the

saying

Trdvr

pel

'Everything flows'.

It took more

than two

thousand

years

for the

contemporary

scientist to catch

up

with the

power-

ful

insights

which

originated

with these

giants

of Western

thought.

As we cannot see an

atom,

its

unseeable

structure

was visualised

in recent

times as clouds of

electrons,

moving

constantly

around dense

cores.

This

was done

by

scientists

with brilliant

reasoning

and

deductions,

both

by

the use

of

physical apparatus

and of mathe-

matics.

As

is

generally

known,

atoms

band

to-

gether

with other atoms

of

their own

kind

or

with

other elements and form

molecules

of

different size, structure, and properties. The giant

molecules

or

polymers (from

the

Greek,

meaning

many

parts),

with

which

I

am

preoccupied

in

some of

my

scientific

work,

stimulate

my

pictorial

vision.

The

holding

together

or so-called

bonding

of

atoms of

carbon can

lead

to

chains

of

giant

molecules. The

shape

of these chains

is due to

the

assemblage

or

arrangement

of

non-branched

or

branched,

sometimes

cross-linked,

flexible or

inflexible,

aligned

or

non-aligned polymer

chains.

In

these

molecular

arrangements,

the distribution

of

space

plays

a

significant

role in

their struc-

tures.

The

properties

of the

assemblages

or

arrange-

ments

of

giant

molecules can

be measured

by

the

methods of the science of

rheology

which

is the

science

of flow

and

deformation of

matter.

This

modern

physical

science

has been traced

to

the

insight

of the

pre-Platonic

thinker

Heraclitus

[17].

It is

this science

with which

I

have been

particularly

associated

during

the

past

thirty-five years,

and

which

I,

as a

physiologist, applied

to

biological

systems,

especially

to

the flow of blood

and to

its

relation to the

blood vessel wall.

It

seems to me

that

perhaps

the

knowledge

of

my

particularbackground as a scientist may be of aid

to the

beholder,

when

viewing

my

pictures.

Not

that I

think that

such

knowledge

is

a

prerequisite

for an

understanding

of

my

work.

It

may

help

the

reader to

comprehend

more

fully

what

I mean

above

by

the

world view of modern

science,

as

based

on

Western

thought,

and

by

its

new

feeling

of

space,

as

I

attempt

to

show

in

my drawings

and

paintings (Fig.

9).

The

conception

of

space

in

my pictures

is

filled

with

elementary

processes,

similar

to those

of

inanimate

origins.

The

pictures

are

not

represen-

tative of

any

particles

or

organisms

or their

parts,

which we see with our eyes, aided or non-

aided.

My pictures

were

designated by

the

philosopher

Heinrich Bluecheras 'a kind of a letterless

writing'

14



14/16

ii

'9.

elm^^^

-44..

4L

uw-

C

----

:;??

-r

-

Fig.

9.

A

Letterless

Writing,

26 5

x

203

cm,

1967.

[facing

p.

14]

__-- _

-

_

.^^^w^^^^^^B^^^^---P^^^^F

- - 0 -lag

3?rr'

r?

l-X~~~~

r-

I

wwwAa

mo-

~~s~~~WArW



15/16

Drawings

as Structures

and Non-Structures

(14).

It

is

as

though

the universe

reveals itself here.

Many persons

have mistaken

my

letterless

writing

for

calligraphy.

This

misunderstanding

probably

came about because

calligraphy

is used

in

pictures by many

modern

artists,

beginning

with

the work of

Kandinsky,

Klee,

Torres-Garcia,

Miro,

among

others.

A

definite

meaning

of letters or

hieroglyphs appears to be still suggested in these

writings

of modern

artists.

Writing

in

the

conventional

usage

is the

action of

fashioning

letters, numbers, words,

or

characters,

and

committing

them to

manuscript

with

a

pen

or,

as was

common

practice

in

both

the Near

and

Far

East,

with a brush.

Calligraphy

in the West is

elegant

penmanship,

often

highly styled,

and is

practiced

as

a craft.

Calligraphy

n

the

Far

East

is the

writing

of charac-

ters

or

ideograms

specially arranged

and brushed

usually

on white

paper

with

inks

of

different

shades

of black.

Calligraphy

has been

developed

and

mastered as a Fine Art

by

the

great

painters

of the

Orient.

In both

the

East and

West,

calligraphy

has thus

been

always

associated with

letters,

words,

or

sentences. In

my

work,

letterless

writing

or

writing

withoutword

becomes

drawing,

in

which

the

impart-

ing

of motion

has

as its

actuating

force the

experience

of the

unsayable.

It is as

if a breath would form the

world

in which all is

moving

and

alive.

VII.

CONCLUSIONS

The

numerous alterations

of the

line,

its

position,

direction,

and

thrust

in

space

have

to

be sensed

in the process of composing or designing the

drawing.

By design

in a

drawing

as a structure

or

as a non-structure

I

do

not

mean

the

customary

usage

of

the word

close to

its

etymology

'to mark

out'

(from

the

Latin

designare),

but

the

composition

of

interrelating

lines with

the

intention

to

produce

the

image.

Design

is thus identical

with

the

origi-

nating

process,

and is

practiced

as

freely

as

my

sensibilities

and

capabilities

would

permit.

In a

poem-picture

drawn

for

a

lithograph

[18],

which

I made in

1964,

I

tried to

translate

into words

what

may

be found

in

my drawings:

Line and line

Drawn

into

being

Thoughts

run after

Line

through

line

The word

is born

And other

thoughts

From

Line to

Line.

REFERENCES

1.

L.Alcopley,

Alcopley-Listening

to

Heidegger

andHisamatsu.

Reproductions

of

structures

by Alcopley.

Texts

in

German,Japanese

and

English. Maquette

by

Shiryu

Morita.

(Kyoto:

Bokubi

Press,

1968,

n

press).

2.

L.

Alcopley,

'Einsichten'

Drawings by

Alcopley

to Poems

by

S. E.

Broese

(Freiburg

im

Breisgau: Eberhard Albert, 1959).

3. Will

Grohmann,

Kunst

an

den

Freiburger

Universitaetsbauten-Alcopley

Quadrum

,

28

(1960).

4.

L.

Alcopley,

Little

Promenades

With

My

Friend

Will,

Fourteen

lithographs

(New

York:

UNA

Editions,

1967).

5.

EduardTrier,

Kalligraphien

und

Wolkenkratzerbilder, Frankf.

Allg.

Zt.

No.

200,30 (Aug.

1957).

6.

Anon.,

Exhibition

of the

Group

'Escape',

General

view,

painting

on

linen

by Alcopley,

Arts

&

Architecture,

p.

13

(October

1955).

7.

Robert

Lowell,

Prometheus

Bound

Derived

from

Aeschylus,

New York

Review

of

Books

17-24

(13

July

1967).

8. Otto

Gmelin, Alcopley-Structuresfor

Organ

andPiano.

Record and text.

Reproductions.

of

drawings y Alcopley.

(6914

Hohenweiler:

Otto

Gmelin,

o be

published,

pring

1968).

9. Hoseki

Shin'ichi

Hisamatsu,

Alcopley-Listening

to

Heidegger

and Hisamatsu

(Kyoto:

Bokubi

Press,

1968,

in

press).

10. Willem de

Kooning

and Franz

Kline,

On Works

of

Mr.

Alcopley (Kyoto:

Bokubi-Beauty

of

Black

and

White, July

1952)

No.

16

p.

11.

11.

Michael

Seuphor,

Ecritures-Dessins

d'

Alcopley

(Paris:

Editions Les

Nourritures

Terrestres, 954;

Dutch

edition,

Amsterdam:

Meijer-Wormerveer

954).

12. Will

Grohmann,

Alcopley-Voies

et Traces

(Wuppertal:

R.

Jaehrling

Galerie

Parnass,

1961).

13.

L.

Alcopley,

'You Don't

Say'

(Reykjavik:

Florag ed., 1962).

14.

Heinrich

Bluecher, Alcopley.

Drawings (New

York:

Byron

Gallery,

1964)

Publication

No.

2.

15.

Karl

Jaspers,

The

Great

Philosophers,

Vol.

II,

The

Original

Thinkers,

Hannah

Arendt,

Ed.

Hao-Tzu.

(New

York:

Harcourt,

Brace,

1966)

p.

388.

16.

K.

Freeman,

Ancilla

to

the

Pre-Socratic

Philosophers.

A

complete

translation

of

the

Fragments

in

Diels, Fragmente

der

Vorsokrafiker

Cambridge:

Harvard

University Press,

1956).

17. A. L. Copley, Onthe Validity of Classical Fluid Mechanics in Biorheology, in: Symposium

on

Biorheology,

A.

L.

Copley,

Ed.

(New

York: John

Wiley

and

Interscience,

1965).

18.

L.

Alcopley,

Structures

of

Travels,

Seven

lithographs

including

a

poem-picture,

Edizioni

del

Grattacielo,

Milano, Stamperia

d'Arte

'I1

Torchio', (1962).

15



16/16

L.

Alcopley

Dessins en

tante

que

Structures et

Non-Structures

Resum--Un

dessin se definit

comme une

image

dans

laquelle

la

disposition

de

lignes

l'emporte

sur les

considerations de couleur. Les

dessins ont ete

con,us

par

l'auteur

en tant

que

structures et

non-structures,

bien

que

tout dessin soit

obligatoirement

structure. Pour ce

qui

est

des dessins

consideres

comme

non-structures,

es

elements

tels que l'inattendu, l'accidentel et l'automatisme jouent un role essentiel. Dans un

dessin

considere' omme

structure

chaque ligne

doit avoir ete

profondement

sentie et

dessinee sur

une surface

avec

la

conviction

qu'elle

doit

s'y

trouver

necessairement

ou elle est

placee.

On entend

par

surface

la

totalite du tableau

qui

ne saurait

etre

divisee ou

separee

du

reste,

afin de ne

montrer

qu'une

portion

de 1'ensemble ecouverte

de

lignes.

Ces dessins

sont dits

en

tant

que

structures

parce

qu'en

ce

qui

les

concerne

il

y

a

correlation entre

toutes

ses

parties

et l'ensemble. Les dessins en tant

que

structures

ont ete classes

dans les

sept

groupes ci-apres:

structures

d'objets (y compris

les

pay-

sages),

structures de

l'espace,

structures de la

parole,

structures de

signes,

structures

dessinees

d'apres

des

poemes,

dimension

dessinees

d'apres

structure

temporelle,

et

structures

de la

musique.

La

signification

de

la

dimension et des

proportions

des dessins consideres en tant

que

structures

et

non-structuresest

soulignee

mise en evidence tandis

qu'une

consideration

particuliere

est

accordee a

l'espace

inherent

a

certaines

oeuvresd'art de petites ou tres

petites

dimensions. Les

minimum

dessins

de

l'auteur

sont consideres aussi bien en tant

qu'oeuvres

isolees

que

comme des

ensembles.

La

tri-dimensionalite est

visible

non

seulement dans les dessins

superposes

mais

aussi

bien dans

les

tableaux

gratte-ciels,

verticales

de l'auteur

que

ses

tableaux

panoramiques

horizontales

dans

lesquels

la

dimension

temporelle

entre dans la vision

de l'oeuvre

par

le

spectateur.

L'auteur

insiste

sur

le

fait

que

ses

oeuvres,

a la fois des

dessins

que

ses

peintures,

sont

essentiellement

diff6rents

de celles

realisees

par

les ar-

tistes de

l'ancienne Chine et du

Japon,

en

raison de leur

conception

entierement

diff6rentede

l'espace.

II

a tente de

faire un

rapprochement

entre

la

conception

universelle,

moderne

de la

science

comme

un

produit

de la

pensee

occidentale

et l'ecriture

sans

lettres de l'auteur.

Cette

ecriture

n'est

pas

une

forme

quelconque

de la

calligraphie

pratiquee

en Orient

ou des

abstractions

realisees

par

les

artistes

modernes-en Occident ou

en

Orient-

qui suggerent

encore

une

signification

definie des

lettres,

des

ideogrammes

ou

des

hieroglyphes.

16

Documents

asdasdasAlcopley Drawings Structures