Name: Notes and Methods
Price: 44.71 EUR
Availability: InStock
Author: Hilma af Klint
ISBN: 9780226591933

Type

Physical Book

Author

Hilma af Klint

Introduction by

Iris Müller-Westermann

Illustrated by

Christine Burgin

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Year

2018

Language

English

Pages

288

Format

Hardcover

Dimensions

25.7 x 19.1 x 2.5 cm

Weight

1.00 kg.

ISBN13

9780226591933

Edition No.

Synopsis "Notes and Methods "

At the turn of the twentieth century, Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) created a body of work that left visible reality behind, exploring the radical possibilities of abstraction years before Vasily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, or Piet Mondrian. Many consider her the first trained artist to create abstract paintings. With Hilma af Klint: Notes and Methods, we get to experience the arc of af Klint's artistic investigation in her own words. Hilma af Klint studied at the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm where she was part of the first generation of female students. Up until the beginning of the century, she painted mainly landscapes and detailed botanical studies. Her work from this period was that of a young artist of her time who meticulously observed the world around her. But, like many of her contemporaries, af Klint was also interested in the invisible relationships that shape our world, believing strongly in a spiritual dimension. She joined the Theosophical Society, and, with four fellow female members who together called themselves "The Five," began to study mediumship. Between 1906 and 1915, purportedly guided by a higher power, af Klint created 193 individual works that, in both scale and scope of imagery, are like no other art created at that time. Botanically inspired images and mystical symbols, diagrams, words, and geometric series, all form part of af Klint's abstract language. These abstract techniques would not be seen again until years later. Notes and Methods presents facsimile reproductions of a wide array of af Klint's early notebooks accompanied by the first English translation of af Klint's extensive writings. It contains the rarely seen "Blue Notebooks," hand-painted and annotated catalogues af Klint created of her most famous series "Paintings for the Temple," and a dictionary compiled by af Klint of the words and letters found in her work. This extraordinary collection is edited by and copublished with Christine Burgin, and features an introduction by Iris Müller-Westermann. It will stand as an important and timely contribution to the legacy of Hilma af Klint.

Hilma af Klint

(Author)

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Hilma af Klint (Solna, Sweden, October 26, 1862 - Danderyd, Sweden, October 21, 1944) was a Swedish painter recognized as a pioneer of abstract art. She studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, where she specialized in naturalist painting. However, her interest in esotericism and spiritualism led her to develop an abstract artistic language from 1906, ahead of contemporaries like Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian.

Among her most notable works are the series "The Ten Largest" (1907), "The Swan" (1915), and "The Paintings for the Temple" (1906-1915). Her work remained unpublished until 1986, as per her wish that it not be exhibited until at least 20 years after her death, considering that her time was not prepared to understand it. Although she received no awards in her lifetime, her legacy has been the subject of major posthumous exhibitions, such as the one organized by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 2024.

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