untitled
Print
10/02/1967 (made)
10/02/1967 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Dom Sylvester Houédard was a Benedictine monk and eminent theologian, but also a pioneer, in Britain, of concrete poetry, a poetic form in which the arrangement of words and letters in a pattern on the page relates to the meaning or emotional impact of the poem. Using concrete poetry as a kind of springboard Houédard developed a way of making more purely abstract or pictorial images with the typewriter keys. He wrote that "During 1945 I realised the typewriter's control of verticals and horizontals, balancing its mechanism for release from its own imposed grid, (and) offered possibilities that suggested (I was in India at the time) the grading of Islamic calligraphy from cursive (naskhi) writing through cufic to the abstract formal arabesque, that 'wise modulation between being and not being'”.
This is one of a number of so called typestracts by Houédard in the museum’s collection. Some contain a legible arrangement of words, others are abstract, often resembling the drawings of the Russian Constructivists.
This is one of a number of so called typestracts by Houédard in the museum’s collection. Some contain a legible arrangement of words, others are abstract, often resembling the drawings of the Russian Constructivists.
Object details
Category | |
Object type | |
Title | untitled (generic title) |
Materials and techniques | Typescript on paper |
Brief description | Dom Sylvester Houédard: Typewriter 'drawing' 1967 |
Physical description | Image is an almost square rectangle set at an angle to the sheet. Within this rectangle: against a ground of red is a circular shape with a segment of the circle removed from the upper left quadrant. The circular shape is patterned in a blue and white chequer pattern. The blue comprised of 'w's. The rest of the image comprised of overlapping 'o's. |
Dimensions |
|
Marks and inscriptions | dsh 100267 (date and artist's initials typed in red in vertical format to the upper right of the image and just outside it.) |
Credit line | Acquired from John Furnival in 1970. |
Production | Attribution note: All Houédard's typewriter 'drawings' from 1950-1970 were made using an Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter. |
Subject depicted | |
Summary | Dom Sylvester Houédard was a Benedictine monk and eminent theologian, but also a pioneer, in Britain, of concrete poetry, a poetic form in which the arrangement of words and letters in a pattern on the page relates to the meaning or emotional impact of the poem. Using concrete poetry as a kind of springboard Houédard developed a way of making more purely abstract or pictorial images with the typewriter keys. He wrote that "During 1945 I realised the typewriter's control of verticals and horizontals, balancing its mechanism for release from its own imposed grid, (and) offered possibilities that suggested (I was in India at the time) the grading of Islamic calligraphy from cursive (naskhi) writing through cufic to the abstract formal arabesque, that 'wise modulation between being and not being'”. This is one of a number of so called typestracts by Houédard in the museum’s collection. Some contain a legible arrangement of words, others are abstract, often resembling the drawings of the Russian Constructivists. |
Bibliographic reference | Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1970 |
Collection | |
Accession number | CIRC.444-1970 |
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Record created | September 12, 2008 |
Record URL |
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