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Lot Essay
THE PRESENT PAINTING BELONGS TO A SERIES OF TEN LARGE-SCALE WORKS EXECUTED BY TWOMBLY IN 1964 FOR AN EXHIBITION IN MUNICH ENTITLED THE ARTIST IN THE NORTHERN CLIMATE. AS IS OFTEN HIS CUSTOM, HE THEN CONTINUED TO WORK ON THREE OF THE CANVASES IN ROME IN 1972, EXTENDING THE ACTION AND DRAMA OF THE COMPOSITION AND EMPHASISING BOTH THE SIGNATURE AND DOUBLE-DATE SO THAT THEY NOW BECAME A DOMINANT FOCUS OF THE CANVAS. IN THIS WAY, TWOMBLY MEANT TO IMPOSE HIS MORE MATURE EXPERIENCES AND PERSONALITY ON HIS EARLIER PAINTINGS AND CLEARLY DEMONSTRATE THE CHANGES IN TIME, PLACE AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT THAT HAD SO INFLUENCED HIM OVER THE PREVIOUS DECADE.
UNTITLED 1964-72 IS BASICALLY A LANDSCAPE OF THE MIND, A CLASSICAL PANORAMA INFUSED WITH THE ESSENCE OF THE ITALIAN COUNTRYSIDE AND ITS ANCIENT HISTORY, WHERE EVERY THOUGHT, MEMORY, EMOTION AND EXPERIENCE OF THE ARTIST IS REGISTERED WITH SEISMOGRAPHIC ACCURACY BY MEANS OF PERSONAL SYMBOL AND SPONTANEOUS GESTURAL MARK. LIKE KANDINSKY'S IMPROVISATIONS (SEE FIG.1.), TWOMBLY SUGGESTS A VIOLENT BATTLEFIELD, WHERE CEREBRAL SPARCENESS CLASHES WITH SENSUAL INDULGENCE, APOLLONIAN LOGIC WITH DIONYSIAC PASSION. A KIND OF VISUAL POETRY IS EVOKED THROUGH THIS EPIC NARRATIVE OF COUNTERPOINT AND JUXTAPOSITION. AS KIRK VARNEDOE WRITES: "THE PENCILWORK INTRODUCED A FAMILY OF "RATIONALISED", DIAGRAMMATIC ELEMENTS: RULED RECTANGLES, SINGLY OR IN SERIES; SEQUENCES OF NUMBERS; CIRCLES AND REPEATED SEMI-CIRCLES; AND CLUSTERS OF FORMS THAT SUGGEST OVERHEAD, PLAN VIEWS OF UNKNOWN ARRANGEMENTS. IN CONTRAST TO SUCH COMPULSIVE, ANALYTIC SCHEMES, THE PAINT WAS USED IN A SEMINAL, NEWLY SENSUAL WAY." (EXH. CAT. MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK, CY TWOMBLY: A RETROSPECTIVE, 1994, P. 31).
TWOMBLY'S USE OF PAINT IN THE PRESENT PAINTING IS CERTAINLY CORPOREAL AND ALMOST SCATOLOGICAL. HEINER BASTIAN STATES: "HE SMEARS COLOUR ON WITH HIS FINGERS OR APPLIES IT DIRECTLY FROM THE TUBE ONTO THE CANVAS AS A PHYSICAL ACT: COLOUR BECOMES RAW CONDITION OR "MATERIA NUDA", HUMAN PRESENCE OF GODS AND HEROES LIKE FLESH AND BLOOD IN PINK AND RED." (CY TWOMBLY: BILDER/PAINTINGS 1952-1976, ZURICH 1978, VOL. I, P. 43) SUZANNE DELEHANTY CALLS TWOMBLY'S USE OF OIL "AT ONCE SEDUCTIVE AND REPULSIVE; COLOUR IS SMEARED INTO MOTION WITH AN INTENSITY EQUAL TO MYTHICAL LOVE-HATE ATTRACTIONS." (EXH. CAT. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA MUSEUM, CY TWOMBLY, 1975, P.18).
THIS REFERENCE TO PHYSICAL LOVE AND BASE SEXUALITY IS FURTHER PROMOTED IN THE PRESENT PAINTING THROUGH THE USE OF MALE AND FEMALE SEXUAL SYMBOLS, SUCH AS WINGED PHALLASES AND HEART-SHAPED FORMS WHICH CAN BE READ SIMULTANEOUSLY AS BREASTS, VAGINAS AND BUTTOCKS. TWOMBLY WAS INSPIRED IN PART BY EROTIC IMAGERY FOUND IN ANCIENT ROMAN MOSAICS AND WALL PAINTINGS (SEE FIG. 2), BUT HIS OBSESSIVE USE OF THESE SHORT-HAND SYMBOLS MIRRORS JOAN MIRó'S OWN PERSONAL VOCABULARY OF GYNAECOLOGICAL SIGNS (SEE FIG. 3). WHILE THEY SHOULD NOT BE READ TOO LITERALLY, AND ARE MORE THERE TO PROMPT THE UNCONSCIOUS IMAGINATION OF THE VIEWER, TWOMBLY HAS KINDLY SUPPLIED A LEXICON TO HIS SIGN LANGUAGE IN AN UNTITLED DRAWING OF 1969 (SEE FIG. 4).
TWOMBLY'S PAINTINGS SHOULD BE READ AS EPIC POEMS. THE EYE OF THE SPECTATOR SCANS ACROSS THE CANVAS, PROPELLED ON BY THE WHIRLING "SCRIBBLES", ALIGHTING ONLY TO MEDITATE UPON A SPECIFIC SIGN OR PHRASE. "EVERY LINE IS THUS THE ACTUAL EXPERIENCE WITH ITS OWN UNIQUE STORY," STATED TWOMBLY. "IT DOES NOT ILLUSTRATE; IT IS THE PERCEPTION OF ITS OWN REALIZATION". (TWOMBLY CITED IN: K. SCHMIDT, CY TWOMBLY, HOUSTON 1990, P. 11).
LIKE MIRO'S POEM PAINTINGS, TWOMBLY USES WORDS IN HIS PICTORIAL SYSTEM BOTH TO EMPHASIZE THE FLATNESS OF THE CANVAS SURFACE, TO SUGGEST TIME AND PLACE, AND ALSO AS A WAY OF FURTHER PROMPTING LITERAL ASSOCIATIONS IN THE MIND OF THE SPECTATOR. "TWOMBLY'S USE OF DETACHED WORDS, LIKE HIS GENERAL APPROACH TO THE HETERODOX DISCONTINUITIES IN MANY OF HIS WORKS, MAY OWE AT LEAST TO THE TRADITION OF COLLAGE HE KNEW THROUGH SCHWITTERS. IT IS THE COGNITIVE ACT OF NAMING, THOUGH - THE DIRECT CITATION OF THE CONCEPT IN THE PICTURE - THAT IS AS IMPORTANT AS THE FORMAL NATURE OF THE WORDS OR WRITING IN GENERAL. TWOMBLY'S ADDITION OF "ROMA" OR "OLYMPIA" IN STIFF SCRIPT SETS UP A DIALOGUE BETWEEN GIVEN ASSOCIATIONS OF THE IDEA AND THE CHARACTER OF THE INSCRIPTIONS, IN SCALE, IN SPEED, AND IN EMPHASIS - AN INTERWEAVING OF COMPLEX MENTAL RESONANCE AND IMMEDIATE PHYSICAL PRESENCE THAT CHANGES BOTH THE IDEA AND THE PICTURE, AS A FAMILIAR TUNE IS ALTERED BY ITS RENDERING IN AN ALTERED RHYTHM ON A NEW INSTRUMENT." (K. VARNEDOE, OP.CIT., P. 28-29)
IN UNTITLED 1964-72, IT IS THE ARTIST'S SIGNATURE AND THE DATE OF THE PICTURE - ENLARGED AND STRESSED IN BROWN - THAT FUNCTION IN THIS ASSOCIATION-PREGNANT WAY. THE ARTIST HAS FORCEFULLY ASSERTED HIMSELF BOTH AS THE CREATOR OF THE PAINTING AND AS ITS SUBJECT. IF THIS IS INDEED AN AUTOBIOGRAPHIC PICTOGRAPH, TWOMBLY WANTS US TO KNOW THAT HE VIEWS THE DOUBLE-DATE AS BEING INTRINSIC TO THE SUCCESS OF THE WORK AND AS BEING PART OF ITS NARRATIVE.
UNTITLED 1964-72 IS BASICALLY A LANDSCAPE OF THE MIND, A CLASSICAL PANORAMA INFUSED WITH THE ESSENCE OF THE ITALIAN COUNTRYSIDE AND ITS ANCIENT HISTORY, WHERE EVERY THOUGHT, MEMORY, EMOTION AND EXPERIENCE OF THE ARTIST IS REGISTERED WITH SEISMOGRAPHIC ACCURACY BY MEANS OF PERSONAL SYMBOL AND SPONTANEOUS GESTURAL MARK. LIKE KANDINSKY'S IMPROVISATIONS (SEE FIG.1.), TWOMBLY SUGGESTS A VIOLENT BATTLEFIELD, WHERE CEREBRAL SPARCENESS CLASHES WITH SENSUAL INDULGENCE, APOLLONIAN LOGIC WITH DIONYSIAC PASSION. A KIND OF VISUAL POETRY IS EVOKED THROUGH THIS EPIC NARRATIVE OF COUNTERPOINT AND JUXTAPOSITION. AS KIRK VARNEDOE WRITES: "THE PENCILWORK INTRODUCED A FAMILY OF "RATIONALISED", DIAGRAMMATIC ELEMENTS: RULED RECTANGLES, SINGLY OR IN SERIES; SEQUENCES OF NUMBERS; CIRCLES AND REPEATED SEMI-CIRCLES; AND CLUSTERS OF FORMS THAT SUGGEST OVERHEAD, PLAN VIEWS OF UNKNOWN ARRANGEMENTS. IN CONTRAST TO SUCH COMPULSIVE, ANALYTIC SCHEMES, THE PAINT WAS USED IN A SEMINAL, NEWLY SENSUAL WAY." (EXH. CAT. MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK, CY TWOMBLY: A RETROSPECTIVE, 1994, P. 31).
TWOMBLY'S USE OF PAINT IN THE PRESENT PAINTING IS CERTAINLY CORPOREAL AND ALMOST SCATOLOGICAL. HEINER BASTIAN STATES: "HE SMEARS COLOUR ON WITH HIS FINGERS OR APPLIES IT DIRECTLY FROM THE TUBE ONTO THE CANVAS AS A PHYSICAL ACT: COLOUR BECOMES RAW CONDITION OR "MATERIA NUDA", HUMAN PRESENCE OF GODS AND HEROES LIKE FLESH AND BLOOD IN PINK AND RED." (CY TWOMBLY: BILDER/PAINTINGS 1952-1976, ZURICH 1978, VOL. I, P. 43) SUZANNE DELEHANTY CALLS TWOMBLY'S USE OF OIL "AT ONCE SEDUCTIVE AND REPULSIVE; COLOUR IS SMEARED INTO MOTION WITH AN INTENSITY EQUAL TO MYTHICAL LOVE-HATE ATTRACTIONS." (EXH. CAT. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA MUSEUM, CY TWOMBLY, 1975, P.18).
THIS REFERENCE TO PHYSICAL LOVE AND BASE SEXUALITY IS FURTHER PROMOTED IN THE PRESENT PAINTING THROUGH THE USE OF MALE AND FEMALE SEXUAL SYMBOLS, SUCH AS WINGED PHALLASES AND HEART-SHAPED FORMS WHICH CAN BE READ SIMULTANEOUSLY AS BREASTS, VAGINAS AND BUTTOCKS. TWOMBLY WAS INSPIRED IN PART BY EROTIC IMAGERY FOUND IN ANCIENT ROMAN MOSAICS AND WALL PAINTINGS (SEE FIG. 2), BUT HIS OBSESSIVE USE OF THESE SHORT-HAND SYMBOLS MIRRORS JOAN MIRó'S OWN PERSONAL VOCABULARY OF GYNAECOLOGICAL SIGNS (SEE FIG. 3). WHILE THEY SHOULD NOT BE READ TOO LITERALLY, AND ARE MORE THERE TO PROMPT THE UNCONSCIOUS IMAGINATION OF THE VIEWER, TWOMBLY HAS KINDLY SUPPLIED A LEXICON TO HIS SIGN LANGUAGE IN AN UNTITLED DRAWING OF 1969 (SEE FIG. 4).
TWOMBLY'S PAINTINGS SHOULD BE READ AS EPIC POEMS. THE EYE OF THE SPECTATOR SCANS ACROSS THE CANVAS, PROPELLED ON BY THE WHIRLING "SCRIBBLES", ALIGHTING ONLY TO MEDITATE UPON A SPECIFIC SIGN OR PHRASE. "EVERY LINE IS THUS THE ACTUAL EXPERIENCE WITH ITS OWN UNIQUE STORY," STATED TWOMBLY. "IT DOES NOT ILLUSTRATE; IT IS THE PERCEPTION OF ITS OWN REALIZATION". (TWOMBLY CITED IN: K. SCHMIDT, CY TWOMBLY, HOUSTON 1990, P. 11).
LIKE MIRO'S POEM PAINTINGS, TWOMBLY USES WORDS IN HIS PICTORIAL SYSTEM BOTH TO EMPHASIZE THE FLATNESS OF THE CANVAS SURFACE, TO SUGGEST TIME AND PLACE, AND ALSO AS A WAY OF FURTHER PROMPTING LITERAL ASSOCIATIONS IN THE MIND OF THE SPECTATOR. "TWOMBLY'S USE OF DETACHED WORDS, LIKE HIS GENERAL APPROACH TO THE HETERODOX DISCONTINUITIES IN MANY OF HIS WORKS, MAY OWE AT LEAST TO THE TRADITION OF COLLAGE HE KNEW THROUGH SCHWITTERS. IT IS THE COGNITIVE ACT OF NAMING, THOUGH - THE DIRECT CITATION OF THE CONCEPT IN THE PICTURE - THAT IS AS IMPORTANT AS THE FORMAL NATURE OF THE WORDS OR WRITING IN GENERAL. TWOMBLY'S ADDITION OF "ROMA" OR "OLYMPIA" IN STIFF SCRIPT SETS UP A DIALOGUE BETWEEN GIVEN ASSOCIATIONS OF THE IDEA AND THE CHARACTER OF THE INSCRIPTIONS, IN SCALE, IN SPEED, AND IN EMPHASIS - AN INTERWEAVING OF COMPLEX MENTAL RESONANCE AND IMMEDIATE PHYSICAL PRESENCE THAT CHANGES BOTH THE IDEA AND THE PICTURE, AS A FAMILIAR TUNE IS ALTERED BY ITS RENDERING IN AN ALTERED RHYTHM ON A NEW INSTRUMENT." (K. VARNEDOE, OP.CIT., P. 28-29)
IN UNTITLED 1964-72, IT IS THE ARTIST'S SIGNATURE AND THE DATE OF THE PICTURE - ENLARGED AND STRESSED IN BROWN - THAT FUNCTION IN THIS ASSOCIATION-PREGNANT WAY. THE ARTIST HAS FORCEFULLY ASSERTED HIMSELF BOTH AS THE CREATOR OF THE PAINTING AND AS ITS SUBJECT. IF THIS IS INDEED AN AUTOBIOGRAPHIC PICTOGRAPH, TWOMBLY WANTS US TO KNOW THAT HE VIEWS THE DOUBLE-DATE AS BEING INTRINSIC TO THE SUCCESS OF THE WORK AND AS BEING PART OF ITS NARRATIVE.