Motherwell’s Spiritual Underground
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 Five, Motherwell’s 1944 lecture, “The Place of the Spiritual in a World of Property,” is considered within the Immaterial Frame, using the artist’s biographical experiences, ideological influences, and cultural context to shed light on Motherwell’s conception of the ‘spiritual.’ As an active member of the mid-twentieth century American art scene, Motherwell’s relationship to Dada, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism is considered, alongside foundational intellectual influences such as Arthur O. Lovejoy, Meyer Schapiro, and Alfred North Whitehead. In this context, the relationship between the immaterial and the spiritual is explored.