Recently I have been studying the work of Swedish artist Hilma Af Klint ( 1862-1944) a pioneer in abstract art, geometric works and large abstract works some inspired by her three spirit guides called Ananda-Amaliel-Gregor. She was interested in human evolution, mathematics and the paranormal. Her abstract paintings where never shown as part of exhibitions during her life time this is because Hilma Af Klint thought that her generation wasn't ready to accept her work but also I would like to add that she was marginalised by the main stream art world predominantly dominated by men both in terms of art critics and artists I think her being a female artist and mystic in the early 20th century was a brave choice. She was not interested in making money or being famous but in exploring and understanding her place in the world & the universe it self. Her marginalization by the art world also made me think that modern art is really based on the market place: museums, dealers buying your work and establishing the artist and if the artist is not part of the market place then they are 'outside' and ignored by the art world no matter how good or talented.
She was part of a spiritualist group with four other women walled the Five, was influenced by Theosophy ( also founded by a woman H. P. Blavatsky) the first religious organisation in Europe that included women at a senior level, that recognised women on an equal level. She met Rudolph Steiner who didn't understand her work but answered her call (he did not answer Mondrian who was quite upset about it) she was depicting the spiritual world while in trance (she was a medium) but not all of her work is done in trance and not all of it is geometrical, at the beginning she was working with landscapes & portraits which was quite common in her times. She anticipated the work of artists such as Mondrian (concept of pure colours and forms), Malevich, Kandinsky (concept of synesthesia) her symbology & automatic drawings came much earlier on (30 years) then Surrealism. Both Theosophy and the encounters with Rudolph Steiner inspired her work making it less geometric, less angular precise more loose and huge 11 feet high in fact which make me think more of meditation paintings/abstract art with the use of soft pinks, brunt orange, lilac colours. Some include letters which where meant as a symbolic language for humanity.
She was part of a spiritualist group with four other women walled the Five, was influenced by Theosophy ( also founded by a woman H. P. Blavatsky) the first religious organisation in Europe that included women at a senior level, that recognised women on an equal level. She met Rudolph Steiner who didn't understand her work but answered her call (he did not answer Mondrian who was quite upset about it) she was depicting the spiritual world while in trance (she was a medium) but not all of her work is done in trance and not all of it is geometrical, at the beginning she was working with landscapes & portraits which was quite common in her times. She anticipated the work of artists such as Mondrian (concept of pure colours and forms), Malevich, Kandinsky (concept of synesthesia) her symbology & automatic drawings came much earlier on (30 years) then Surrealism. Both Theosophy and the encounters with Rudolph Steiner inspired her work making it less geometric, less angular precise more loose and huge 11 feet high in fact which make me think more of meditation paintings/abstract art with the use of soft pinks, brunt orange, lilac colours. Some include letters which where meant as a symbolic language for humanity.
She left most of her work to her nephew with instruction they shouldn't be sold or exhibited only after 20 years after her death in her life she only shown her landscape and portraits but she kept secret the other much more important abstract paintings which preceded the abstract painters of 1910-1913 (Kandisky-Robert Delauney, Kupka & Picasso's Cubist period) and the scale of them ( considering she was a tiny lady) shows as Rebecca Pardrige states in the Berlin Art Link review:
'a female artist with tenacity, one with a sheer disregard for any artistic or gender conventions of the time'.
http://www.berlinartlink.com/2013/07/14/review-outside-is-in-hilma-af-klint/
'a female artist with tenacity, one with a sheer disregard for any artistic or gender conventions of the time'.
http://www.berlinartlink.com/2013/07/14/review-outside-is-in-hilma-af-klint/
Her first abstract works where called 'Primordial Chaos 1906-1907' and where a combination of abstract shapes with elements showing cosmic creation nearly 200 paintings followed by the Evolution works they are really colourful abstract works combined with strict geometric forms, circles and oblong shapes then there are the amazing small scale watercolours part of the Parsifal Series with again vibrant colours.
She was also aware of the book written by two women theosophists Annie Besant & C. W Leadbeater called 'Thought Forms' which states that thoughts float & radiate. Between 1905-1912 she made paintings called the 'Paintings for the Temple', the Temple is a metaphor for a building that would propel the spiralling movement within her paintings forward uniting each single painting into one so moving the viewer into a higher level of consciousness.
Followed by the Atom Series in 1917 biological mix, complex organism mixed with simple circular shapes.
Her prolific, large scale works definitely challenge male artists in abstract art even if she was working in isolation or with a small group of women in the North of Sweden, being a woman she felt they where supporting her as in her times women where still seen as only good for reproduction and where not taken seriously artistically they where not seen in the arts as capable of introducing a new body of art works e nobody at the time believed that a woman could connect with a high power or guide when painting which makes her life long dedication to her work even more outstanding and I see this as a political stance in itself. Political not in the narrow sense so against past aesthetic traditions & political institutions but political from the fact that spiritual liberation from materialism will bring social revolution.
This ideas where coming from philosophical vitalism (Henry Bergson) & contemporary occultism which in turn where based on the belief that the arts could bring revolution in the way people think, experience, view things in their daily lives. So the role of the artist was from this point of view and as embraced by Hilma af Klint as a 'prophet visionary' that could show the way to humanity towards a new spiritual order this is in turn was an expression of Utopian way of thinking as political ideas at the time where getting mixed with occultism (the two where not seen as different like we do know) by artist's in the early 20th Century in the Northern countries creating new ways of artistic expression & thinking.
This ideas where coming from philosophical vitalism (Henry Bergson) & contemporary occultism which in turn where based on the belief that the arts could bring revolution in the way people think, experience, view things in their daily lives. So the role of the artist was from this point of view and as embraced by Hilma af Klint as a 'prophet visionary' that could show the way to humanity towards a new spiritual order this is in turn was an expression of Utopian way of thinking as political ideas at the time where getting mixed with occultism (the two where not seen as different like we do know) by artist's in the early 20th Century in the Northern countries creating new ways of artistic expression & thinking.
Below it's a really good link to learn more about Hilma Af Klint and her work.
http://www.modernamuseet.se/en/Stockholm/Exhibitions/2013/Hilma-af-Klint/
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