Hilma af Klint and Hilla Rebay: Adding a New Thread to the Web of Abstraction

Description/Abstract/Artist Statement

Hilma af Klint and Hilla Rebay were two women who dedicated themselves equally to non-objective art in very different ways. Af Klint worked on her abstract paintings in seclusion and sought her work’s meaning from spiritual “Higher Beings” that she claimed painted through her. Rebay became an important figure who brought spiritually-inflected art to America, not only through collaboration with Solomon Guggenheim but also through her own paintings. Af Klint’s obscurity has only recently changed because of the popularity of the exhibit Paintings for the Future at the Guggenheim Museum in 2018. Rebay has been excluded because of rumors surrounding her personal life. Neither’s absence from the historical record has been adequately explained and attributed to misogyny. Moreover, their work was incompatible with a still predominantly formalist history of modern art. This paper argues that instead of imposing a story on af Klint and Rebay that is untrue to their identities in order to find a “fitting” place for them within the canon of abstraction, it is more interesting to examine their isolation. Af Klint’s and Rebay’s paintings demand a new way of looking at images that entails a deep understanding of their purposes, resulting in a challenge to the inflexibility of art history itself. An examination of their segregation adds a new thread to the web of abstraction that reflects their selfless dedication to non-objective painting.

Presenting Author Name/s

Kayla Everett

Faculty Advisor/Mentor

Vittorio Colaizzi

College Affiliation

College of Arts & Letters

Presentation Type

Oral Presentation

Disciplines

Modern Art and Architecture | Painting | Theory and Criticism | Women's History

Session Title

Art History 2: Identity and Society

Location

Zoom Room L

Start Date

3-20-2021 11:00 AM

End Date

3-20-2021 11:55 AM

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Mar 20th, 11:00 AM Mar 20th, 11:55 AM

Hilma af Klint and Hilla Rebay: Adding a New Thread to the Web of Abstraction

Zoom Room L

Hilma af Klint and Hilla Rebay were two women who dedicated themselves equally to non-objective art in very different ways. Af Klint worked on her abstract paintings in seclusion and sought her work’s meaning from spiritual “Higher Beings” that she claimed painted through her. Rebay became an important figure who brought spiritually-inflected art to America, not only through collaboration with Solomon Guggenheim but also through her own paintings. Af Klint’s obscurity has only recently changed because of the popularity of the exhibit Paintings for the Future at the Guggenheim Museum in 2018. Rebay has been excluded because of rumors surrounding her personal life. Neither’s absence from the historical record has been adequately explained and attributed to misogyny. Moreover, their work was incompatible with a still predominantly formalist history of modern art. This paper argues that instead of imposing a story on af Klint and Rebay that is untrue to their identities in order to find a “fitting” place for them within the canon of abstraction, it is more interesting to examine their isolation. Af Klint’s and Rebay’s paintings demand a new way of looking at images that entails a deep understanding of their purposes, resulting in a challenge to the inflexibility of art history itself. An examination of their segregation adds a new thread to the web of abstraction that reflects their selfless dedication to non-objective painting.