Saturday 8 December 2012

At the bank


Barclays is, excitingly, offering personalised bank cards. They have understandable restrictions on the images which you can use. I have two cards and so successfully uploaded a family portrait. For the other, of course, I would like a Mondrian.

My first choice was my favourite Mondrian photograph, taken in a London garden, by John Cecil Stephenson in the late 1930s. This was rejected, presumably as it was regarded as copyright, but how they distinguished between this and a snap of what might have been my dad is a mystery.
My second attempt was a Mondrian painting which does not exist in anything resembling the format in which I tried to use it. This was B149 ,  Komposition mit Gelb, Zinnober, Schwarz, Blau und verschiedenen grauen und weissen Tönen, 1922: lost following its inclusion in the Nazis' decadent art exhibition, Entartete Kunst. It is only known in pre-war B&W photographs, but is part of the Reconstruction Project. Rejected by Barclays, perhaps because it, demonstrably, looks like a Mondrian.


My third attempt was to be part of a Mondrian jigsaw of Broadway Boogie-Woogie shown in Toys and Games, but this was not large enough (featured early on the site when space was far more expensive). I thought this might be accepted as it looks as much like a map of Wales as it does a PM painting.

Where next? Any of the highlights on the main Artifacts page would fit the bill, but most would face almost certain rejection: the Camel cigarette packet is a particular favourite but tobacco and alcohol are specifically excluded. Anything from Page 1 of Homages would be good, but, again, would probably be rejected out of hand.

I'll try my stained glass version of Theo van Doesburg's 1917 Cow. Not PM, but it's in the ballpark. Submitted.
[10th Dec] Rejected: no hint is ever given of the clause which has been infringed.

[10th Dec] I found another snap of the jigsaw in the Collections Memorial page. Though the colours are rather strained, I have given it a try. I think I might try the Moondrian plush next and then perhaps the Reitveld chair.

[11th Dec] In some ways I'm a little disappointed to say that the jigsaw was accepted. It's a piece of Mondrian rather than the De Stijl alternatives I had tried and was planning, but I might have preferred the Moondrian.