Mon, 16 Feb 2004

“Towards the Light”: Steiner, Kandinsky, Belyj and others on show in Denmark

In January, the exhibition “Towards the Light” opened at Gl. Holtegaard, a country residence a few miles north of Copenhagen built in 1756 and surrounded by a baroque garden, with works of art by Rudolf Steiner, Hilma af Klint, Wassily Kandinsky, Andrej Belyj, Arild Rosenkrantz, Martinus and Jens Adolf Jerichau. On 7 March the exhibition moves to the spaciousness of the Northern Jutland Art Museum in Aalborg, built in 1972 by Alvar Aalto and Jean-Jacques Baruël, where this exhibition will be situated in a context of twentieth century and contemporary art, mostly from Denmark, from 20 March to 6 June. Jens Thorning went to see the exhibition

Copenhagen, 16 February (NNA) - One and a half years ago, the art collector and curator John Hunov attended the Art Fair in Basel. Upon hearing that Dornach was in the immediate vicinity of Basle, he went there with the intention of creating an exhibition at Gl. Holtegaard of works he might find in Dornach. He knew from his acquaintance with the artist Josef Beuys that Rudolf Steiner’s blackboard drawings had been the source of inspiration for Beuys’ own scribbled blackboards.

In Dornach, Dr.  Walter Kugler of the “Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung”, which looks after Steiner’s estate, also drew Hunov’s attention to Andrej Belyj’s watercolours. Hunov selected 23 of these as well as securing 17 of Steiner’s boards for the project. Originally Hunov had envisaged Beuys as a main contributor to the exhibition he had in mind, but the works he wanted from Beuys could not be procured, being on long-term show at the Tate Gallery in London, nor could portraits by Arnold Schönberg based on Goethe’s Theory of Colour which Hunov thought appropriate. So Steiner, Belyj and Kandinsky were supplemented by Nordic artists, most notably Hilma af Klint.

In an interview with the Internet art site kopenhagen.dk, Hunov, who was an early supporter of “the young wild” painters of the 1980s, states he is fed up with the present state of art in Denmark dominated by media stunts and senseless provocations. In response to the question whether it makes any sense to exhibit Steiner’s blackboards as being art, Hunov answered: “I do not know if it does. This, of course, is what I postulate. Beuys’ blackboards were not conceived as art, either … to me, this is an exhibition for artists. It may command a certain intellectual tolerance and maturity to place these works in a context that is contemporary. And I am absolutely convinced that this exhibition is contemporary … Today you can’t turn on the TV but some lady tells your fortune or speaks with the deceased … this could well attract an audience that does not usually attend art exhibitions. Already we’ve seen a little more advance interest than we’re used to.”

There has indeed been greater press awareness and more visitors to Gl. Holtegaard than would normally be expected since “Towards the Light” opened at 16 January.

The exhibition features first, last and foremost 17 of Rudolf Steiner’s blackboard drawings, all from the early 1920’s mostly dealing with natural science and the human organism as well as social questions and history. The press release’s claim that “all artists on exhibition here were influenced by Steiner” may not be altogether accurate; be that as it may, there seems to be a considerable gap between Steiner’s educational and scientific approach and the mysticism of some of the exhibition’s Nordic artists. Their works, although not intended as such, might well lead the uninitiated viewer to feel that these artists were trying to escape the treadmill of ordinary life.

In 1908 Wassily Kandinsky and other upcoming new artists attended the lectures of Rudolf Steiner held at the Architektenhaus in Berlin. That same year the Swedish painter Hilma af Klint encountered Steiner in Stockholm. In 1920 she came to Dornach in order to renew contact with him. She apparently never knew the origin of the inspiration for her strange paintings. As a consequence, presumably on Steiner’s advice, she turned to naturalistic studies of plants in an anthroposophical style from the early thirties until her death in 1944, having left behind the mediumistic art for which she was rediscovered as a pioneer of abstract painting along with Kandinsky and Mondrian.

She was rediscovered when some of her more than 1,000 pictures resurfaced to be exhibited in Los Angeles in 1986 – after a twenty year ban on public exhibition which she specified in her will. The paintings shown here are often geometric representations of possibly theosophical concepts. One is titled “Standpoint of the Jews and the Heathens at (time of) the Birth of Christ” and shows a small black spot within a large circle on a white background. Leaving the viewer with absolutely no clue at all, these works inspire one to learn more about her life as the pictures seem unable to reveal their secrets.

Baron Arild Rosenkrantz was born in Denmark in 1870. His mother, the Scottish-born Julia McKenzie, became an ardent theosophist and Rosenkrantz had been a member of the Anthroposophical Society in London for some years when he was appointed the Society’s representative at the building of the first Goetheanum, staying there from 1914 until the decoration of the cupolas were finished in 1917. This exhibition shows three of the large original pastels of the Seven Seals of the Apocalypse which he started working on under the guidance of Rudolf Steiner in 1922 as well as some early works from the painter’s Pre-Raphælite period; when still a young man he exhibited at the Salon de Rose Croix in Paris.

The tragically short-lived Danish symbolist Jens Adolf Jerichau (1890-1916) is represented with a large oil of “The Birth of Eve”. No direct and probably no indirect connection either to Steiner here.

Martinus created three large coloured diagrams on the human being and the cosmos. An academically untrained dairy assistant from Northern Jutland he became the author of two comprehensive works called “The Third Testament” and “The Book of Life” spending his life as a teacher until 1981. Indeed the expression “Martinus and Steiner held that …” is often heard when people in Denmark try to categorise different forms of spirituality.

Martinus’ picture of the human being and the cosmos, founded on karma and reincarnation compatible with Christianity, centres heavily on theology. It originates from a vision he had unexpectedly in 1921 that came as an answer to questions which had arisen from the reading of a book on theosophy. He never revealed its title, I believe. Followers of Martinus maintain that a Danish anthroposophist in Dornach mentioned the still unknown philosopher to Steiner, and it tumed out Steiner was already aware of his existence.

Kandinsky (1866-1944) is represented with the “Small Worlds” series created after he came to Weimar in 1922 as a teacher. Inspired by the Bauhaus style of geometrical precision, these 12 works are some of his finest creations as a graphic artist.

Fellow Russian Andrej Belyj (1880-1934), author of the acclaimed experimental novel “Petersburg”, was part of the community creating the first Goetheanum, something he described in his “secret diaries” which since have been unearthed and published. Not intended as art – we presume – and with no titles, the 23 watercolours here date from 1913-1915 being obvious attempts at illustrating and fixing on ordinary note paper what he had heard Rudolf Steiner say in the lectures he attended. The results are striking, not to say breathtaking, unfathomable. Belyj tries especially to put down on paper the interaction between the angels or third hierarchy and the human organism. Along with Steiner’s blackboard drawings they are of extraordinary interest and the definite highlight of this exhibition – dynamic, exciting and original.

ENDS

Item: N040216-01EN Date: 16 February 2004

Copyright 2004 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See http://www.nna-news.org/copyright/

More NNA reports at: http://www.nna-news.org/content/