Insane arrogance
Sir: Mr Derrick Oxley's 'Insane arrogance' in your issue of December 18, scored a number of excellent points. It is very refreshing to have described the curious history of the Modernists who rose to power in the 'thirties as 'progressives' and who now, at this late date, hang on as ' conservationists,' environmentalists,' etc.
Only I feel that Mr Oxley could have looked beyond the borders of England. The striking fact about modern architecture is its worldwide acceptance by professional and critic attended by the same arrogance apparently found in England. No matter where you look, Moscow, Calcutta, Tel Aviv, Brasilia, Mexico City and Washington, it is all the same. So too are the architectural magazines in prose and illustrations.
For an age where nationalism rages on, nothing is stranger than to find modernism international. (In the 'thirties modern architecture was, indeed, called the International Style.) While I know nothing about The Times and the power of its architectural critic, I doubt if his influence crosses the water. The conspiracy theory does not work on the international level. The phenomenon awaits explanation.
The other aspect Mr Oxley does not bring out is that modernism is found in all the arts, not just in architecture.
You might be interested in learning that there are some of us in America who have taken up the words, Secession and Secessionism, to describe what passes for Modern Art, New Brutality, International Style, etc. First adopted, I believe, in Vienna in the 1890s, the words describe perfectly a style whose chief intellectual attribute is that it has seceded from the classical tradition. The words also have the virtue of giving some perspective to an art form which is hardly new or modern, seeing that its roots go back 150 years and its theses were codified over 100 years ago.
Your readers might be interested in learning that there has recently been founded, on this side of the Atlantic, a society called 'Classical America.' Its raison d'être is perfectly simple. Recognising that Secessionism is nihilistic and brought only ugliness to the American scene, the founders looked across their native land and saw the best that had been achieved in the arts was classical. Why not begin with the best? Henry Hope Reed 227 East 50th Street, New .York
Previous page
