Flushed ... but not with success

LOOKING AT MODERN ART: IN MEMORY OF DAVID SYLVESTER X

Tate Modern

DAVID SYLVESTER (1924-2001) was one of the most influential British critics and curators of the post-war era and is best known as the leading advocate of Francis Bacon. His originality did not lie, however, in his ability to spot new talent or in having a big new idea about art - indeed, he tended to back relatively well-known figures working in a wide variety of styles. His forte was vivid descriptions of individual artworks and of the processes through which they had been made. His ability to respond intuitively made him a fine interviewer and his conversations with Bacon are classics of their kind.

Despite being so closely involved with modern art, he was often disappointed by it and this explains the melancholy tone of so much of his writing. In 1957, he wrote that the period from 1890-1914 had been one of the greatest ever and that the post-1914 era was one of "aftermath", marked by pastiche and narrow specialisation.

His biggest disappointment was Magritte.

Having spent nearly a quarter of a century compiling a catalogue of all of his works, Sylvester said he had made a mistake and that the Belgian surrealist "was not my type".

The memorial exhibition at Tate Modern consists of works by 18 of the artists who meant the most to him, the earliest being Czanne, the most recent Jeff Koons. It is misconceived, and gives us no sense of Sylvester's strengths as a critic and curator. Disparate works are crammed into three small rooms right in the middle of the fifth- floor galleries, so the displays are barely distinguishable from any other in Tate Modern. What Sylvester thought of these artists is unclear, because there are no substantial captions or gallery guide.

All we get is a few garbled gobbets of his writing fixed to the walls outside the exhibition. Even worse, two films on Bacon and Giacometti are being shown in broomcupboardsized rooms and, due to the proximity of Tate Modern's plumbing, their soundtracks are periodically drowned out by the noise of flushing lavatories.

David Sylvester deserves better than this.

Until 24 March. Tel: 020 7887 8008.

Copyright 2002
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