On Hilma af Klint and the Spirit of Her Time · The exhibition Hilma af Klint - A Pioneer of Abstraction, offers a spectacular view of the artistic œuvre of Hilma af Klint (1862-1944),

AN INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ARRANGED BYAXEL AND MARGARET AX:SON JOHNSON FOUNDATION

TOGETHER with Louisiana Museum of modern art

On Hilma af Klintand the Spirit of Her Time

9th of May 2014at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk

OutlineOn Hilma af Klint

and the Spirit of Her Time

The exhibition Hilma af Klint - A Pioneer of Abstraction, offers a spectacular view of the artistic œuvre of Hilma af Klint (1862-1944), one of the greatest Swedish modernist artists.

A contemporary of Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich, Hilma af Klint was one of the few women artists at the time and was similarly influenced by the contemporary spiritual movements, such as Spiritism, Theosophy and during the latter part of her artistic work by Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy.

This international symposium highlights the ideas and the zeitgeist of the fin-de siècle that was formative to the development of the so-called modernist movement of abstract art. It aims at providing a framework for the understanding of the spirit of the time with its dramatic interplay between the ra-dical new expressions within the arts and new scientific theories such as the theory of evolution. Scientific breakthroughs that oc-curred during this era completely changed the perception of modern man, space and time due to ground-breaking developments such as photography, film, electricity, X-rays, air-planes and submarines.

These radical developments, as well as disco-veries of the ideas of foreign religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, popularized by

Theosophy, gave rise to hopes and ideas about a limitless progress that also extended itself to the notion of the possibility of ever new dis-coveries about the soul, consciousness and the universe. In this atmosphere of change, movements such as Spiritism, Theosophy and Anthroposophy became mediators of an in-tellectual shift. How were these ideas part of the international culture of modernity and if so what role did they play for af Klint and other early abstract painters?

The symposium is arranged by Axel and Mar-garet Ax:son Johnson Foundation together with Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in order to create a dynamic discussion about Hilma af Klint and her historical context as well as to further the understanding of the spiritual ideas and influences upon art during the turn of the 20th century, as a part of the Foundation’s on-going effort to further the dissemination of scholarly knowledge.

Programme

Friday 9th of May

13:30 Welcome Tine Colstrup, Exhibition Curator, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

13:35 Welcome Kurt Almqvist, President, Ax:son Johnson Foundation

13:40 Moderator Julia Voss

13:45 Introduction to the Exhibition Tine Colstrup

13:55 Hilma af Klint- A Pioneer? Tessel M. Bauduin

14:15 The Spirit at the Turn of the 20th Century Gary Lachman

14:35 Was There a First Abstract Painter? Amimetic Images and Abstract Art Raphael Rosenberg

14:55 Hilma af Klint and Her Early 20th Century Occult/Scientific Context Linda Dalrymple Henderson

15.15 Discussion with Tessel M. Bauduin, Gary Lachman, Raphael Rosenberg and Linda Dalrymple Henderson led by Julia Voss

15:45 COFFEE BREAK

16:30 Paradigm Shift of Art at the Turn of the 20th Century Iris Müller-Westermann

16:50 An Anthroposophical Background to af Klint Wolfgang Zumdick

17:10 On Hilma af Klint’s Occult Diaries Gertrud Sandqvist

17:30 af Klint’s Iconography – Reading Images to the Temple Caroline Levander

17:50 af Klint at the Heart of Contemporary Art – Hilma af Klint at the 55th Venice Biennale Helga Christoffersen

18:10 Discussion with Iris Müller-Westermann, Wolfgang Zumdick, Gertrud Sandqvist, Caroline Levander, Helga Christoffersen and Tal R led by Julia Voss

18:40 Closing Remarks Tine Colstrup

OutlineOm Hilma af Klint

og Hendes Tids Ånd

Udstillingen Hilma af Klint – Abstrakt pioner byder på et overblik over en af Sveriges sto-re modernistiske kunstnere, Hilma af Klints (1862-1944), samlede produktion.

Det internationale symposium Om Hilma af Klint og hendes tids ånd sætter fokus på tankerne og tidsånden i det fin-de siècle, som formede udviklingen af den abstrakte kunst.

Hilma af Klint var samtidig med den moder-nistiske bevægelses hovedpersoner Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian og Kazimir Ma-levich, og som dem var hun påvirket af sin samtids åndelige bevægelser som fx spiri-tismen, teosofien og, i den senere fase af sin kunstneriske virksomhed, af Rudolf Steiner og antroposofien.

Dette symposium skaber en ramme for forståelsen af tidsånden omkring år 1900 med det dramatiske samspil mellem, på den ene side, de radikale nye kunstneriske udtryk og, på den anden, de ligeledes nye videnskabelige teorier, fx evolutionsteorien. Revolutionerende videnskabelige gennem-brud fandt sted i denne periode, og en række banebrydende videnskabelige og teknologis-ke landvindinger som fx fotografiet, filmen, elektriciteten, røntgenstrålerne, flyvema-skinen og undervandsbåden ændrede det moderne menneskes perception og opfattel-se af tid og rum.

Sammen med opdagelsen af tankerne i fremmede religioner som hinduismen og buddhismen, der blev udbredt gennem fx teosofien, vakte dette videnskabelige og tek-nologiske nybrud nye forhåbninger og ideer om et ubegrænset fremskridt, der også om-fattede muligheden af stadig nye opdagelser om sjælen og bevidstheden.

I denne atmosfære af forandring var spiritis-men, teosofien og antroposofien med til at forme en helt ny tænkning. Hvordan var de nye ideer koblet til den internationale mo-dernitetskultur, og hvilken rolle kom de til at spille for Hilma af Klint og de tidlige moder-nister?

Symposiet er arrangeret af Axel og Marga-ret Ax:son Johnsons Stiftelse i samarbejde med Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, og er et led i stiftelsens fortsatte arbejde med at formidle akademisk forskning. Ønsket er at skabe en frugtbar diskussion om Hilma af Klint og hendes historiske kontekst og at belyse de åndelige ideer og indtryk, som på-virkede kunsten omkring år 1900.

Lecturers and Participants

Dr. Tessel M. BauduinUniversity of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Ms. Helga ChristoffersenNew Museum, USA

Ms. Tine ColstrupLouisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark

Professor Dr. Linda Dalrymple HendersonUniversity of Texas at Austin, USA

Mr. Gary LachmanAuthor, UK

PhD Candidate Caroline LevanderGothenburg University, Sweden

Dr. Iris Müller-WestermannModerna Museet, Sweden

Tal R Artist, Denmark

Professor Dr. Raphael Rosenberg University of Vienna, Austria

Professor Gertrud SandqvistLund University, Sweden

Dr. Julia VossFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany

Dr. Wolfgang ZumdickOxford Brookes University, UK

AN INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ARRANGED BYAXEL AND MARGARET AX:SON JOHNSON FOUNDATION

TOGETHER with Louisiana Museum of modern art

9th of May 2014at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk

ORGANISATION PRESIDENT, AX:SON JOHNSON FOUNDATION: Kurt Almqvist

PROJECT LEADER, AX:SON JOHNSON FOUNDATION: Louise Belfrage PROJECT ASSISTANTS, AX:SON JOHNSON FOUNDATION: Rebecka Scharfstein & Alexander Nyquist

Director, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art: Poul Erik tøjnerCurator, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art: Tine Colstrup

Staff, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art: Eva Lund & Kristin Terp Jensen

Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation Stureplan 3, 103 75 Stockholm, Sweden

Telephone: + 46 8 788 50 50www.axsonjohnsonfoundation.org