HILMA AF KLINT
Hello friends & Hilma enthusiasts!
I have set-up this page to house the essays that Mark and I are currently writing based on our gallery tour: Colour, Symbol, and Spirituality.
In this tour we examined Hilma's links to Rudolf Steiner, Theosophy and Anthroposophy and discussed her use of colour, symbol,
and the spiritual world evoked in her paintings.
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BOOKS
In the meantime I have had requests about what book/s people should choose to buy. I am still moving slowly through what is available out there and so I will add to this over the coming weeks, but here is a start:
Firstly check out your local library! This is ideal in respect to keeping to a budget, as there are so many publications relating to Hilma's work. My local library has four books and I am still waiting in line to borrow three of them, so I will add more information about them in the coming weeks.
Hilma af Klint : The Secret Paintings (2021)
This is the exhibition catalogue that accompanied the exhibition here in Wellington. It was created for the NSW, Australia/NZ tour.
Costs around $50NZD
THIS CAN BE PURCHASED AT VARIOUS OUTLETS ONLINE.
INSIDE:
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A Preface by Sue Cramer
Essays:
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Hilma af Klint: the secret growing – Sue Cramer
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A wonderful linguistic system: Hilma af Klint's notebooks and text paintings – Nicholas Chambers
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Becoming one again: The role of gender in the creation and reception of Hilma af Klint's art – Jennifer Higgie
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Hilma af Klint: receiver/received – Aaron Lister
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Afterword – Johan af Klint
MY NOTES:
Though this is a lovely companion publication to the exhibition, if I were to choose between this one and the one below, (that accompanied the Guggenheim exhibition in 2018), I would probably go with the latter, due to it having more substantial content. There is a price difference too though!
Hilma Af Klint: Paintings for the Future (2018)
This is the exhibition catalogue that accompanied the exhibition at the Guggenheim.
Costs around $130NZD
THIS CAN BE PURCHASED AT VARIOUS OUTLETS ONLINE.
INSIDE:
Essays:
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Temple for Paintings – Tracey Bashkoff
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Art for Another Future: Learning from Hilma af Klint – A conversation among artists, curators, and art historians
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The Traveling Hilma af Klint – Julia Voss
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Questioning the Spiritual in Art: Hilma af Klint, Vasily Kandinsky, and the Swedish Art World – Andrea Kollnitz
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Hilma af Klint and the Swedish Folk Art Revival – Vivien Greene
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"The World Keeps You ij Fetters; Cast Them Aside": Hilma af Klint, Spiritualism and Agency – David Max Horowitz
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Hilma af Klint Diagrammer – Briony Fer
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Science and Occultism in Hilma af Klint's Time and in Her Work – Tessel M.Bauduin
MY NOTES:
This one is worth paying extra for, with interesting essays and more of her work on display. Unfortunately the 'conversation among artists' is objectionable. They have no notion of the spiritual impulse that lives behind her work, they are not well researched and they speculate incorrectly about Rudolf Steiner (something we will speak to in our essays). It is a pity this is included in this publication as it has become a best seller and therefore spreading some misinformation.
Hilma af Klint : Notes and Methods (2018)
Costs around $70NZD
THIS CAN BE PURCHASED AT VARIOUS OUTLETS ONLINE.
INSIDE:
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Introduction and commentary – Iris Müller-Westerman
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Afterword – Johan af Klint
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Translations of her handwritten notes found in her notebooks. These are key to understanding the works. Especially her Flowers, Mosses and Lichens – which need the words that enable a broader, richer understanding of the symbols.
MY NOTES:
I borrowed this from the local library. It is an excellent supplementary book and essential for my research because it shows the contents of the Blue Books which include each painting in sequential order, per series. This was important since the exhibition in Wellington was missing many pieces in each sequence, so that the true 'storytelling' of each series was not possible to convey. The exceptions were for The Ten Largest and The Altarpieces were seen in full. So this book was illuminating!
The notebooks have black & white photos of all her final works and small, unrefined colour versions, sitting side-by-side. She created these to use as a kind of travelling portfolio.
Also Iris Mūller-Westerman writes with a special quality, without the judgements and opinions that many of the essays in the previous books have.
Hilma Af Klint : Seeing Is Believing (2020)
Hilma Af Klint : The Art of Seeing the Invisible (2021)
Hilma af Klint : Artist, Researcher, Medium (2020)
These three above I will be loaning from my local library soon, I will be able to comment more fully thereafter.
ALL OF THESE CAN BE PURCHASED AT VARIOUS OUTLETS ONLINE.
Hilma af Klint: Visionary : on Hilma af Klint and the Spirit of Her Time
Hilma af Klint: Catalogue Raisonné – Volumes I–VII
These two I am yet to track down. The Catalogue Raisonné volumes can be purchased separately, as well as in a box set.
ALL OF THESE CAN BE PURCHASED AT VARIOUS OUTLETS ONLINE.