successful cube tranceplant in honor of chairman mao
Print
1969 (designed), 1970 (produced)
1969 (designed), 1970 (produced)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Dom Sylvester Houedard 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 Houedard 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 particular image was first conceived as a 'typestract' using the typewriter to create visual patterns on the page, but was later transferred to a more conventional print medium and thus has a different kind of visual impact from the works Houedard made directly as sheets of typed-on paper.
This particular image was first conceived as a 'typestract' using the typewriter to create visual patterns on the page, but was later transferred to a more conventional print medium and thus has a different kind of visual impact from the works Houedard made directly as sheets of typed-on paper.
Object details
Category | |
Object type | |
Title | successful cube tranceplant in honor of chairman mao (assigned by artist) |
Materials and techniques | Colour lithograph |
Brief description | By Dom Sylvester Houédard: 'successful cube tranceplant in honor of chairman mao', colour lithograph (silkscreen print?), 1969 |
Physical description | The words 'successful cube tranceplant / in honour/of / chairman mao' at the top of the sheet. The rest of the image is a cube shape made up of interlocking planes. At the six visible corners of the cube are 'tassles' made up of overtyped red to form red disks and falling '|' marks. The overall shape suggesta a Chinese box kite. |
Dimensions |
|
Copy number | 5/75 |
Marks and inscriptions | dsh 040369
dSh 70 5/75
75/13 (The artists initials and date [of the original 'typewritten' image] in vertical format at lower left of image. The artist's monogram with the date[of the lithograph] and the edition number.) |
Credit line | Acquired from John Furnival Esq in 1971. |
Production | The double signature indicates that this is a lithograph made in 1970 from an original. 'typestract' made in 1969 |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | Dom Sylvester Houedard 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 Houedard 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 particular image was first conceived as a 'typestract' using the typewriter to create visual patterns on the page, but was later transferred to a more conventional print medium and thus has a different kind of visual impact from the works Houedard made directly as sheets of typed-on paper. |
Bibliographic reference | Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1971 |
Collection | |
Accession number | CIRC.49-1971 |
About this object record
Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
Record created | October 17, 2008 |
Record URL |
Download as: JSON