Constant (1920–2005), Cover to New Babylon, 1963. Lithographs, 400 × 380 mm. DMC 1472.
The following is excerpted from Constant’s New Bablyon, 1963, and translated by Kenny Stevens.
Books full of words, oral, printed traditions fixed the cities as a law of life for generations – conquered and vanquished before and re-erected. Buried under a hollowed time, or still an endless and compelling space, from Angkor, Tughlakabad and Cuzco whispers even further the power of the Incas. Crocodiles crawling through the temple of Thebes; mushrooms raining down on Hiroshima; trumpets sounding in Jericho; the Trojan war will take place again. Zion calls for work and prayer and Babylon will still be presented as a forbidden fruit. Names stay alive, through them we are given memory and knowledge.
Constant (1920–2005), Colophon to New Babylon, 1963. DMC 1472.f.
We heard the presence of Chandigarh and Brasilia, words reflected in glass and concrete. But we are witnesses of another building. Constant is building a new world, and we are now witnesses to the making of his city-society, and he makes this, with both hands, with mind and heart, with the senses and the imagination of someone possessed. He remodels a whole world, striving for a wished-for ‘New Babylon’, a creation of words, models, photographs, drawings, plays and theories.
Constant (1920–2005), New Babylon, 1963. Lithograph, 400 × 760 mm. Estate of the artist. DMC 1472.1.Constant (1920–2005), New Babylon, 1963. Lithograph, 400 × 760 mm. Estate of the artist. DMC 1472.2.Constant (1920–2005), New Babylon, 1963. Lithograph, 400 × 380 mm. Estate of the artist. DMC 1472.1.Constant (1920–2005), New Babylon, 1963. Lithograph, 400 × 380 mm. Estate of the artist. DMC 1472.3.Constant (1920–2005), New Babylon, 1963. Lithograph, 400 × 760 mm. Estate of the artist. DMC 1472.3.Constant (1920–2005), New Babylon, 1963. Lithograph, 400 × 380 mm. Estate of the artist. DMC 1472.5.Constant (1920–2005), New Babylon, 1963. Lithograph, 400 × 380 mm. Estate of the artist. DMC 1472.5.Constant (Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys), New Babylon, no.6, 1963. Lithographs, 400 × 380 mm. DMC 1472.6.Constant (1920–2005), New Babylon, 1963. Lithograph, 400 × 760 mm. Estate of the artist. DMC 1472.7.Constant (1920–2005), New Babylon, 1963. Lithograph, 400 × 760 mm. Estate of the artist. DMC 1472.8.Constant (1920–2005), New Babylon, 1963. Lithograph, 400 × 760 mm. Estate of the artist. DMC 1472.9.Constant (1920–2005), New Babylon, 1963. Lithograph, 400 × 760 mm. Estate of the artist. DMC 1472.1.
Subscribe to our free bimonthly newsletter, which highlights new writing on the site and offers a snapshot of Drawing Matter's activities – new publications, exhibitions, events.
– Niall Hobhouse