Preface

In these texts I do not cover my own background as a member of the British Constructivists from the late 50’s to the end of the 60’s - except to say it was formed well before I joined and pre-dated the US version of Modernism becoming the mainstream in the UK. It was pro the Modern Movement and hence internationally oriented with no sense of a central control. A position to be challenged by a concept of Anglo-Saxon managed cultural leadership (in short order and for non-cultural ends) - using available local talent. I don’t need to spend time on the names and various off-shoots, warehouses of books were produced on these figures on both sides of the Atlantic - you will not find any on the huge policy change. Resistors were largely “embedded” in silent moves, allowing them hope that better attitudes would prevail and thus they co-existed but really withered on the vine.

The structure of the book takes a fairly fluid approach in that the texts were selected from a much wider range. Although the sequence aims to hold together an emerging and elusive narrative, there was an argument for other combinations.

The frieze-collages are rhythmed in a parallel life of their own and some elements can be referenced in the front index as individual images.

The chart is a personal aid and does not claim to be in any way definitive and the frieze of related images is just to give a taste for those who come fairly new to the subject. Quotations are ancient and modern - some collected over time, some specifically for this theme but however laterally, all refer to the big picture... don’t look for deeper meaning in the juxtapositions I left it loose. It’s always about the pyramid versus the open net-work structure - the right and the left in which the right, throughout history, has an overwhelming record of success but those periods of enlightenment when that was challenged, however briefly, dominate the achievements of culture and they are seen as the most valuable - even in the managed view of history. The faces in the arrays at the back of the book are similarly chosen... some will appear later - some have not yet been found and I’ve added a few jokers to break up the feeling this is definitive.

Women have not really been players in this recent power/culture scenario, although seeming to have achieved some prominence thanks entirely to the long struggles of the left thinkers. Basically, recent times have been consistent with the old, in that these battles are by men and between men with women occasionally getting caught up but more often being there in their great lateral influence. So I include some icons who were in that category and some others crept in for illustrating a point in my train of thought. It’s my observation that most women “in evidence” - culture or not - have not grasped certain sophisticated points vis-à-vis their optimistic view they have “arrived”. The recent progress of the pyramid control of society in the US has exposed them (alongside many other groups of which they may be part) to a very skilled sort of double-think in which they are accepted and rejected simultaneously - a technique which was to work well in the cultural program I describe from 50 years ago. Clear analysis of the disadvantages is never to be encouraged - so people pursue short-sighted paths and neutralize themselves. Extremely efficient. Culture has been defined and advanced by men, so adapting to that historical phenomenon means such women who have made a name show all sorts of avoiding tactics when it comes to the high-stakes game... they really have no choice.