Stars in Their Eyes: 19th-Century Spiritualism and Female Proto-Surrealism

This lecture will introduce some of the radical cultural and scientific shifts that took place in the US, Europe and the UK that resulted in groups of women who were interested in Spiritualism coming together to create art works. Questions to discuss: How did science impact on the early days of abstraction? How did Spiritualism, and in particular Theosophy, encourage artists to look beyond the confines of material reality in their work? How was the idea of female suffrage entwined with Spiritualism? Artists we will discuss will include Georgian Houghton, Anna Mary Howitt and Hilma af Klint.

Many of the techniques that 19th-century Spiritualist artists employed, such as automatism, were to become central to the Surrealists decades later. In the centenary of André Breton’s First Manifesto of Surrealist Art, we will look at the innovations that were explored decades earlier by women whose contributions, until very recently, were omitted from canonical art history.

We are committed to making our sessions as accessible as possible. If you are unable to pay the full amount for this class, please reach out to us via email at [email protected] and we will provide you with a discount code.