The second-and-a-half dimension

Richard Smith emerged as a formidable painter in the early Sixties, initially with colour field works.  In addition to purely abstract considerations, Smith then began to explore Pop culture interests, especially in terms of the packaging of consumer goods.  A big breakthrough came in 1963 when Smith started to use shaped canvases – combining two dimensional representations of box forms with actual physical projections from the flat surface; Gift Wrap is a great example – see:  http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/smith-gift-wrap-t02004

Like Allen Jones’s ‘shelf’ paintings and prints, Smith’s work in the early/mid Sixties occupied an intriguing ‘second-and-half dimension’. Smith himself maintained that these were paintings and his concern was with painting practice, not sculpture. However, the innovative ‘multiples’ Smith created and which Editions Alecto published in 1966 were free standing.  Called ‘Sphinx Series’, these five works are described in Tessa Sidey’s ‘Editions Alecto’ as follows:

Five three-dimensional screenprints, printed on paper applied to white fabricated metal; 

Each contained in black slip box, 454 x 288 mm; Edition: 50 with 10 artist’s proofs 

Editions Alecto’s pioneering energy with the multiples concept together with the quality of Smith’s vision and craft skills make this an enduringly pleasing exemplar of  mid-Sixties art scene innovation:

1063 I EA # 303:

1064 II EA # 304:

1065 III EA # 305:

1066 IV EA # 306:

1067 V EA # 307:

 

Wonderhouse Alecto – they even purveyed intercontinentally displaced knees!

At the centre of the 60s prints scene in London was Editions Alecto. Originating in Cambridge when Paul Cornwall Jones and Michael Deakin commissioned John Piper and Julian Trevelyan to create lithographs of the University’s colleges for sale to a ‘captive market’ of their alumni. In 1962 the operation relocated to Chiswick as a limited company. The following year an exhibiting facility was opened at the Print Centre, Holland Street, Kensington and in 1964 Editions Alecto’s address became 27 Kelso Place, Kensington. In 1966 it established a New York showroom and a gallery in Albemarle Street in Central London.

EA galvanised a growing number of artists to work in the print media and championed the concept of affordable art by means of editioning – including 3D objects, as produced by Richard Smith – as well as prints on paper.

Here is an ad run in Studio International in 1966:

Although EA was very ‘British-trendy’, in tune with the London music and fashion scenes, it had a truly international impact, attracting American artists like Claus Oldenburg (with his London Knees) and Jim Dine, with his Tool Box (1966) – two examples from that suite below:

A catalogue of the EA output is embodied in Tessa Sidey’s book, Editions Alecto – Lund Humphries – 2003 – ISBN 0 85331 877 8.  Also well worth consulting is Decade of Printmaking – edited by Charles Spencer – Academy Editions – 1973.