ABSTRACT ART IN ENGLAND
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The development of purely abstract painting and sculpture in England has been intimately connected with that on the Continent with one major exception. As far back as 1840 Turner had given a hint of what was to come in the visual arts by painting in a way which was entirely revolutionary. In his last works Turner developed an aesthetic based on the illumination of space as opposed to that of substance, thereby giving to empty space a positive character which the traditional emphasis on the illumination of substance had denied it. This new vision of space, however, necessitated a new form of representation; for space cannot be outlined like substance. For the first time, therefore, the content was expressed 'equivalently' rather than illusionistically or symbolically, thus forcing the spectator to depend more than ever before on the plastic qualities of the painting itself. Although, from the point of view of perception, Turner remained attached to the classical framework of perspective, his researches in the science of light led to a method of representation which anticipated the divisionist technique of the French impressionists, whereby the effects of light were reconstructed 'equivalently' by breaking them up into their component spectral colours. In this way Turner was able to give 'substance' to space. But, by raising space to the same terms as substance, Turner anticipated not only the impressionists, but also the synthetic cubists. The 'equivalence' of Turner, like that of the impressionists, was limited to light; that of the expressionists to colour. But it was left to the cubists to carry these researches into the field of substance by analysing and breaking it up in a similar way. With the idea of equivalence of substance as well as of light and colour, the way was open to the development of pure painting in which the schism between subject and object, content and material were united. For the first time the visual arts could function in terms analogous to music.
That Turner's experiments were premature is evident from the fact that his greatest works were mistaken for senile decay. His death, therefore, marked for the time being the limits of English achievement in painting. The vacuum which followed forced the English artist to turn once more to the Continent. Nevertheless, in spite of its inability to make any further development, English painting maintained its individuality and essential understanding of the art. In so far as there has been a modern movement in England, therefore, it has in no sense of the word been an academic version of that on the Continent. On the contrary the principal artists have achieved a deeply personal contribution which is unique in the history of modern art.
As the means of representation of nature in painting gradually changed from optical illusion to conceptual signification, so painting and sculpture necessarily became increasingly abstract. The question of abstract figuration, however, is one of degree; that is to say, the degree in which a work of art signifies, rather than imitates, the objects and effects it seeks to represent. Today the dynamic and synthetic idea of reality, presented by modern physics and philosophy, has placed 'nature' outside the range of direct sensation. As in the Middle Ages, therefore, abstract representation is once more necessary.
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