The Immaterial Frame Methodology
Spirituality in Modern Art - The Immaterial Frame from Kandinsky to Motherwell - Jewell Homad Johnson
Jewell Homad Johnson [+]
University of Sydney
Dr Jewell Homad Johnson held a MA and PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Sydney. An exhibiting artist since 1982, Johnson’s academic work is informed by her art practice and experience as a director/scenographer in theatre, television, and film.
Description
In Chapter Two, the Immaterial Frame methodology is explained in detail, outlining the difficulties inherent in studying the immaterial, the abstract, the non-representational and the subjectively spiritual. While challenging, this task is of great importance. The failure to record aesthetic forms of religious history simply because they do not resemble previous forms reveals a certain secular bias among art historians. Applying the Immaterial Frame, the researcher can begin to unveil the abstract artwork, looking past its secular disguise. In this chapter, Motherwell’s 1944 lecture, “The Place of the Spiritual in a World of Property,” is discussed in relation to its published title, “The Modern Painter’s World.”