Hilma af Klint : notes and methods / introduction and commentary by Iris Mu˜ller-Westermann ; afterword by Johan af Klint ; edited by Christine Burgin ; translations by Kerstin Lind Bonnier, Elizabeth Clark Wessel, Anne Posten.
The Five Notebook HaK s-9 -- The "Blue" Notebooks: HaK 1171 -- HaK 1180 / translated from Swedish by Kerstin Lind Bonnier and Elizabeth Clark Wessel -- The Atom Series: HaK inventory TK / translated from Swedish by Kerstin Lind Bonnier and Elizabeth Clark Wessel -- Flowers, mosses and lichen: Notebook HaK 588 / translated from German by Anne Posten -- Letters and words pertaining to works by Hilma af Klint: Notebook HaK 1040 / translated from Swedish by Kerstin Lind Bonnier and Elizabeth Clark Wessel.
Summary:
At the turn of the 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, acknowledged fathers of twentieth-century abstraction. Like many of her contemporaries, af Klint was interested in the invisible relationships that scientists at the turn of the century were discovering shape the world. She strongly believed in a spiritual dimension to the universe and devoted her life to an exploration of this realm. Hilma af Klint's process of investigation took many forms and drew on systems and symbols outside the traditional language of art. Notes and Methods traces the origins of her powerful abstract work. Included are the mediumistic drawings she created with the group of women who called themselves The Five; Flowers, Mosses, and Lichens, a spiritual explication of the plant world; and the Blue Books, in which af Klint catalogued her most important body of work, The Paintings for the Temple. Notes and Methods is the first extensive English translation of the writings of Hilma af Klint. In addition to translations of all notebooks reproduced, Notes and Methods also includes Letters and Words Pertaining to Works by Hilma af Klint, an invaluable guide to the meaning behind the work, compiled by Hilma af Klint herself--back cover.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.