For the Record: Kandinsky, Theosophy and Biographical Corrections
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
Are all interpretations equal? Chapter Three demonstrates how important it is to identify appropriate frames of reference when theorising about an artist. For abstract artists, biographical information and expressed artistic intent provide essential clues to understanding an artwork’s meaning. Kandinsky, it is shown, has often been mistaken for a Theosophist, his ideas mistranslated and misrepresented, much to the detriment of our understanding of abstraction. Looking at related artists, such as Georgina Houghton and Hilma Af Klint, whose religious views were quite different to Kandinsky’s, points of similarity and difference are outlined.