Construction: Three Vertical Elements

In Construction: Three Vertical Elements Anthony Hill engages a dynamic relationship between the light reflecting surface of the white plastic-faced chipboard and the three protruding T-shaped and rectangular strips of black plastic. In his detailed account of this relief, published in 1966, Hill describes the theme or idea of the work as ‘the articulation of a tall slab by vertical elements producing “fields” of horizontal tensions across the surface.’ [1]

Hill associated the non-representational geometric relationships in his constructed reliefs with a more precise aesthetic. The proportions of the work were not predetermined or subject to exact measurement, but were, Hill noted, the result of an intuitive sense of balance:

‘In the case of the slab the exact ratio of height to breadth to width plays no important part in the surface articulation of the physical idea. The fact that after the work was completed the measurements showed a module that tied in and reinforced the theme simply points to the fact that a theme, even when conceived “intuitively”, will express itself “metrically”, in the general sense of the word.’ [2]

The proportions and surfaces of the relief subtly change as the spectator moves around it. When Construction: Three Vertical Elements was displayed at the ICA in 1958, the critic Lawrence Alloway drew attention to the crucial role of changing light as part of this experience:

‘Hill’s constructions communicate to us, both as something made by the artist, the end product of formal decisions, and as an object in the world as responsive to visual change as a mirror.’ [3]

Lisa Newby, February 2021

[1] Anthony Hill, ‘The Structural Syndrome in Constructive Art’, in Module, Symmetry, Proportion, ed. by György Kepes (London: Studio Vista, 1966), p.164.

[2] Ibid.