PER FAXNELD
‘Mirages and visions in the air’ Tyra Kleen and the paradoxes of esoteric art
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30664/ar.98199 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
round the year 1900, European discourse with some of the central notions of this on art was becoming increasingly ‘eso discourse. Atericized’. The 1890s saw esoteric art salons create a sensation in Paris, and art critics and theorists painted a picture of the true artist Esoteric art and esotericized art criticism and the esotericist as overlapping figures. There During the second half of the nine- was also at the time a conflict regarding medium teenth century, the reciprocal relationship istic art, a phenomenon initially made popular between esotericism and visual art intensi- through Spiritualist mediums. This debate, as we shall see, had interesting gendered dimensions. fied. While major artists had certainly been In what follows, I will discuss how the Swedish inspired by esoteric currents and motifs female esotericist and artist Tyra Kleen (1874– connected with them earlier (e.g. depic- 1951) attempted to situate herself in connection tions of alchemists by Bruegel the Elder to the concept of the artist as a magus, and the tensions between the positive view of medium and Younger, Rembrandt’s 1652 Faust ism in Spiritualism and the more negative or cau engraving, William Blake’s many visionary tious approach to it in Theosophy, as well as in works), this seemed to become increasingly relation to the attendant gender issues. prominent during the aforementioned period, especially among Symbolists.1 A The material used is primarily Kleen’s more or less fresh theme was the idea of book Form (1908), a sort of artistic mani- (true) art itself as inherently esoteric, and festo that she produced, partially, it would (true) artists thus possessing conscious or seem, in response to ideas about esoteric unconscious esoteric insights.2 Notions of art and women artists prominent at the time. Moreover, I provide an outline of the 1 On Symbolism and esotericism in a Scandi- occultist circles in which Kleen moved, and navian context, see e.g. Lahelma 2014. of who some of her primary occult con- 2 ‘True’ art in these types of discourses typi- cally designated either a type of avant-garde versation partners were, better to under- art perceived as transcending stale, con- stand what shaped her own ideas concern- ventional art ideals, or a form of ‘eternal’, ing related matters. We start, however, with spiritual art present in different eras that a broader overview of how the period’s art stood above decorative, commercial work criticism became ‘esotericized’ in a manner and temporal subject matter (often instead grounded in the individual artist as a unique which made it unavoidable for a person figure) (cf. Lahelma 2014: 51–2, 76, 99–100, with Kleen’s interests to actively engage 135–6).
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 63 the artist as a visionary or seer had roots According to Pater, when Leonardo stretching back to the Romantic period, but chose his disciples, he required of them the explicit connection between this theme ‘enough genius to be capable of initiation and esotericism was not so well established into his secret’ (Pater 1998: 75). The women prior to the mid-nineteenth century. I in Leonardo’s paintings are, in Pater’s would suggest that such ideas might have understanding, ‘clairvoyants, through come not so much from artists themselves, whom … one becomes aware of the sub- as from art critics and art theoreticians (on tler forces of nature’, and who ‘feel powers which more presently). at work in the common air unfelt by others’, Henrik Johnsson has highlighted how passing ‘them on to us in a chain of secret the Swedish author and playwright August influences’ (ibid. p. 74). Leonardo himself Strindberg employed esotericism stra- was held up by Pater as a person who tegically, to demonstrate that he was at the forefront of literature and modernity … brooded over the hidden virtues (Johnsson 2015). This speaks to two inter- of plants and crystals, the lines traced esting, if perhaps obvious, points: 1) that by the stars as they moved in the esotericism was considered a fashionable, sky, over the correspondences which up to date worldview in influential cultural exist between the different orders of circles, and 2) that it could therefore be living things, through which, to eyes used to signal that you were a relevant cul- opened, they interpret each other; and tural figure. While the interest artists took for years he seemed to those about in various esoteric ideas has been studied him as one listening to a voice, silent in relation to many individual persons, the for other men. (Pater 1998: 66) discourse on this intertwining in art criti- cism is somewhat less well explored. Pater’s text was one of the most import A pioneering example of the esoteri ant pieces of art criticism of its time and cization of art criticism was the English had long-lasting effects not only for how art critic and author Walter Pater’s (1839– Leonardo was viewed, but also probably 94) discussion of Leonardo da Vinci in an played a key role in establishing notions of 1869 article for the Fortnightly Review, later great art as being connected to deep, eso- republished in the highly influential book teric insights – and the figure of the emi- The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry nent artist in general as a sort of magus. (1873). Pater stated that Leonardo ‘seemed When it came to Leonardo more specifi- to his contemporaries to be the possessor cally, by the turn of century it had become a of some unsanctified and secret wisdom’ common trope among esotericists to claim (Pater 1998: 63). Such phrasings recur Leonardo as literally one of their own. The throughout the text, with Leonardo also Theosophical leader Annie Besant 1847( – being described as ‘rather the sorcerer or 1933), for example, considered him a vessel the magician, possessed of curious secrets of esoteric gnosis (Besant 1901/14: 123), and a hidden knowledge’, and claims that while Édouard Schuré (1841–1929), a suc- what his philosophy ‘seems to have been cessful, Theosophically inclined playwright, most like is that of Paracelsus … and much wrote a whole drama based on the con- of the spirit of the older alchemy still hangs cept of Leonardo as a magus (Léonard da about it’ (ibid. p. 68). Vinci: Drame en prose en cinq actes, 1905). In Paris, initiates of Joséphin Péladan’s
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 64 (1858–1918) esoteric group L’Ordre du who had come to Paris ‘in order to be Temple de la Rose+Croix swore the oath understood by the initiated’, that is, those of the first degree in the name of Leonardo with the proper esoteric understanding of (Dantinne 1948: 34–45). art (Strindberg 2011: 126).4 Péladan – both an esotericist and an art theorist – was a leading representative of Tyra Kleen: the life of an artist the weaving together of art and esotericism Let us now turn to our case study, Tyra and exerted a significant influence on the Kleen. This gifted and successful artist was Symbolist movement (in which Kleen was heavily involved with esoteric systems of arguably a participant). A spectacular and thought throughout most of her life, and, somewhat exhibitionistic character, from like so many of the women drawn to these 1892 he organized yearly esoteric-Rosicru- currents in turn-of-the-century Sweden, cian art exhibitions, as a sort of idealist- came from a noble background.5 Her father esoteric alternative to the regular Paris art worked as a diplomat, and due to his profes- salon. For the 1893 Rosicrucian salon, he sion the family travelled extensively during was granted the privilege of using parts of her childhood. She got to learn several for- the same building where the official, con- eign languages and undertook a formal ventional salon was also held, the Palais du education at art academies in Germany Champ de Mars, and he attracted a long and France, thus coming to perceive herself list of important cultural personages to his more as broadly European than Swedish. events. They were also so popular with the While studying in Paris, she had her first general public that they caused traffic jams solo exhibition in 1896. Numerous exhib (Pincus-Witten 1976: 148, 190). Probably itions were to follow, in for example the most famous statement Péladan made London, Berlin, Vienna, St Petersburg, and was his declaration ‘Artist you are magus’ Stockholm (Hermelin 2016: 21–2; Ström (ibid. p. 105), conflating the figure of the Lehander 2016: 39–40). artist and the esotericist. We will return to Though she mastered several tech- Péladan below, in relation to Tyra Kleen. niques, Kleen’s foremost forms of expres- The 1890s also saw the Polish high- sion were drawing and printmaking (etch- profile critic and author Stanislaw ings and lithographs). In terms of style, the Przybyszewski (1868–1927) develop an German Jugendstil and its French counter- esoteric theory of art in Berlin. He wrote part art nouveau influenced her strongly, of Edvard Munch’s work as connected to ‘visions, clairvoyance, dream’, viewing it as the product of a ‘somnambule, transcend- 4 Regarding Munch’s own esoteric interests, ent consciousness’ (Przybyszewski 1992: see Eggum 1989 and Faxneld 2011. 158, 151), and elsewhere placed ‘true art- 5 There are preserved diaries from60 years of ists’ in a lineage of esoteric visionaries like Kleen’s life (held in the Tyra Kleen archive at Valinge gård, Sweden), an enormous 3 John Dee and Paracelsus (ibid. p. 45). A body of material that scholars have not yet little later, August Strindberg, who knew dipped very deeply into. Our knowledge Przybyszewski well, would write a review of her interaction with esoteric currents is where he called Munch an esoteric painter, therefore to some degree limited, but PhD research being conducted by Karin Ström Lehander (co-supervised by the author of the present article) will hopefully rectify 3 On Przybyszewski, see Faxneld 2015. many of these lacunae.
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 65 and the flowing, organic lines so typical of these movements are prominently on display throughout much of her produc- tion. Aside from her accomplishments as a visual artist, she also wrote literary works (e.g., the illustrated prose poem ‘En psyke saga’, ‘A Psyche Fairy Tale’, 1902). Moreover, she was a productive illustrator of other people’s texts, with an apparent proclivity for the dark and the decadent, like Edgar Allan Poe and Baudelaire. For the latter’s poems, Kleen created images emphasiz- ing their grotesque and Satanic dimen- sions. In general, baleful skeletons, hanged men, demons, grinning skulls, and other macabre motifs abound in her works, at times with a humorous twist, but just as often with an atmosphere of pitch-black sombreness. In 1898, Kleen relocated to Rome, where Tyra Kleen, 1912. Wikimedia Commons. she remained for almost ten years, living a bohemian and to some degree transgres- combine their artistic work with the tasks sive life; for example socialising freely with of a bourgeois wife (Franzén 2016: 68–9; artists of both sexes, and moving around Ström Lehander 2018: 19, 66–7). without a chaperone in any context that she The fiercely independent Tyra Kleen fancied (Ström Lehander 2016: 42; Franzén never married. Instead, she only had more 2016: 71–2). After returning to Stockholm or less brief relationships with men, in in 1907, Kleen was one of the founders of spite of being courted by numerous suit- Föreningen Svenska Konstnärinnor (The ors (Hermelin 2016: 22; Franzén 2016: 65, League of Swedish Women Artists) in 75). Such a life was made possible primar- 1911, which attempted to break male dom- ily through her rich family financing her inance in the art world. Time and time over education, and several timely inheritances said dominance had been a hindrance for meant that she did not really have to sell her, and during this period powerful male her art to provide for herself. Instead, she artists often systematically undermined often gave away her works as gifts, though and blocked their female colleagues. The they also sold quite well when she exhibited reasons for this were probably tradition- (Ström Lehander 2018: 24). based to some extent, but an additional Kleen spent the 1910s and 1920s travel- factor could be that women were perceived ling in East and South Asia, which among as a threat, dangerous competitors for the other things resulted in a series of books limited number of patrons and commis- about ceremonial dances in Java and Bali. sions. Women artists who married a male The images from the books were exhibited colleague generally found themselves in the Netherlands and Germany, as well standing completely in the shadow of their as at the prestigious Victoria and Albert husbands, and moreover struggling to Museum in London. The self-confident
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 66 cosmopolitan Tyra Kleen was a well-estab- Karadja’s father was the liquor manu- lished artist during most of her life, but facturer L. O. Smith (1836–1913), one of during her final years she found herself mar- the wealthiest men in Sweden, and she had ginalized by the ascent of a male-domin enjoyed an even more privileged upbring- ated modernism, which made her decora- ing than Kleen. After the1894 death of tive images appear passé (Lind 2016).6 her husband, an Ottoman diplomat and prince, Mary developed a keen interest in Kleen’s esoteric circles Spiritualism. At a séance in London in 1899, One of Tyra Kleen’s closest friends was she claimed to have been contacted by the the prominent progressive intellectual and spirit of the early Swedish feminist Fredrika feminist Ellen Key (1849–1926). Kleen Bremer (1801–65), who instructed her to helped her friend distribute pamphlets help the women of Sweden. Subsequently, and may have been inspired by her ideas Mary co-founded several Spiritualist regarding female independence. Both of groups (Nilsson 1994: 8). Kleen visited them had a deep interest in Theosophy, Mary Karadja several times, and was, and we will presently discuss Kleen’s in among other things, treated to the princess volvement with this current. Kleen’s spir- reading to her from her short stories and itual exploration had however begun long dramas. The two stayed in touch by mail before she encountered Theosophy. During for several years and met in Stockholm her time in Paris, she participated in on a number of occasions (Franzén 2016: Spiritualist séances (Ström Lehander 2016: 69–71). Like many Spiritualists, Karadja 50–1). To communicate with ghosts would created art that she claimed was ‘automatic’ certainly have been titillating for a person (i.e., her hand was guided by spirits), for like her, considering her taste for all things example an impressively straight and exact morbid. Kleen spent the winter and spring drawing of a triangle or pyramid (an initi of 1897–8 in Stockholm, and at this time atory symbol of spiritual ascent also found became acquainted with two devoted eso- in works by Hilma af Klint from around the tericists, Anna Maria Roos (1862–1938) same time) with a fire-breathing serpent and Princess Mary Karadja (1868–1943). (symbolising the power of darkness) below, that she underscored had been drawn in the presence of two witnesses and without the help of a ruler (Karadja 1900: 1). 6 In her will, drawn up in 1947, she stipulated Anna Maria Roos held several key posi- that her artworks and notebooks would become the property of Riddarhuset, the tions in Swedish cultural life, among them Swedish House of Nobility. Moreover, none a post on the editorial board of the influ- of it was to be made available until 50 years ential periodical Ord och bild (‘Word and after her death. As Kleen died in 1951, the image’). She also wrote the lyrics for well- material was released in 2001 (Hermelin known children’s songs like ‘Blåsippor’ 2016: 37). This led to a rediscovery of her, and some key works were shown as part of (‘Pennywort’). Parallel to this, she had eso- a Symbolist exhibition at Waldemarsudde teric interests, and provided healing by the in Stockholm in 2015, at Östergötlands laying on of hands as well as cooperated museum in 2016, at Riddarhuset in 2017, at with Mary Karadja’s sister Lucie Lagerbielke Thielska Galleriet in 2018, and again as part of an exhibition also featuring Lucie Lager- (1865–1931), another important person in bielke and Hilma af Klint at Millesgården in the local esoteric milieu (Nordlinder 2018). 2019–20.
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 67 Kleen’s friendship with Karadja and For much of her life, the cosmopol Roos probably strengthened her already itan Tyra Kleen moved in the midst of the existing interest in esoteric matters (Franzén esoteric currents that perfumed so much 2016: 70–1).7 In 1904, she joined the of the European art world. For example, Theosophical Society in Rome. However, Stanislaw Przybyszewski’s much-debated her diaries indicate that she had been an essay on Munch as an esoteric artist, men- adherent of Theosophy for a number of tioned above, was published in 1892, that is, years by then, and she was a regular visi- exactly when Kleen had arrived in Germany tor at Theosophical meetings and lectures to study at the art school in Karlsruhe. She long prior to actually formally joining remained in Germany for around three (Franzén 2016: 69–71, 76). In Sweden, she years, during precisely the period when contributed at least twice to Theosophical Przybyszewski’s theories of art’s connec- art exhibitions. Over the years, her enthusi tion to the esoteric reached their pinna- asm for esotericism remained strong, as is cle of popularity there. Considering the attested to in preserved letters between her Polish writer’s focus on, and close ties to, and Hilma af Klint from the early 1940s. Scandinavian artists, it would seem very In them, Kleen suggests some possible likely that Kleen was exposed, directly or solutions that would provide a permanent indirectly, to his ideas. It is documented that place of display for af Klint’s radical eso- she met with Munch and the Norwegian teric-abstract paintings. The suggestions sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869–1943), were not met with great enthusiasm, and who had both belonged to the circle around af Klint mostly seems to have felt pressured Przybyszewski in Berlin. by the offers of help. In one letter to Kleen When Munch later exhibited in Paris, from 1943, she thus explains: ‘To decide in and Strindberg wrote his review of him as haste regarding the life’s work that I have an ‘esoteric painter’, Kleen was studying in been given the opportunity to produce with that city. She visited Munch’s exhibition, the help of higher beings was impossible.’8 and probably read or heard of Strindberg’s Af Klint’s art, as this quote indicates, was esotericizing review. Kleen would thus have according to herself the product of pre- been exposed to the contemporary trends ternatural entities guiding her hand quite in esoteric art, and esoteric art criticism. directly (similar to what Mary Karadja During her Paris years, she also visited claimed). Péladan’s esoteric art salons, but appears to have become frustrated with his refusal, supposedly on esoteric grounds, to invite 7 Roos later published a book attacking The- women to exhibit (Franzén 2016: 68–9). osophy, describing it as incompatible with After returning to Sweden, Kleen had the one true religion – Christianity. Her vit- the opulent Villa Brevik (completed in riolic book moreover highlights frauds and 1908) built for her in Lidingö, just outside sexual misconduct by Theosophical leaders (Roos 1913). of Stockholm. In her home country she 8 Letter from Hilma af Klint to Tyra Kleen, continued her Theosophical involvement 9 September 1943. Tyra Kleen-arkivet, by regularly attending lectures. She was Valinge gård. Swedish original: ‘Att i hast well read in Theosophical literature, as well bestämma over det livsverk, som jag varit i tillfälle att med höga väsens hjälp utföra var as knowledgeable regarding the Parisian omöjligt.’ All translations of archive mat occultist publications of Péladan and his erial are mine. compatriots Stanislas de Guaita (1861–97)
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 68 and Papus (Gérard Encausse, 1865–1916) rejects ideas popular with many esoteric (Franzén 2016: 85). In spite of this, and artists of her time, while affirming certain notwithstanding her own Spiritualist past, Theosophical views on creativity and its it does not appear that her work process relation to the spirit world. Form is a fairly had any ritualistic dimensions, or involved short text (102 small pages with generous communication with spirits, as was the case margins), and written in a spirited, relaxed with af Klint, Lagerbielke, Karadja, and manner but also with a considerable firm- other of her Swedish peers. The actual pro- ness in the views presented. As indicated by duction of the art was, in other words, quite the references to various philosophical ideas conventional (which is also clear from her and cultural history, it is clearly the work stance in the book Form, to be discussed of a well-educated person, aimed at a simi- below). However, dream states, of a seem- larly well-educated audience. Interestingly, ingly almost visionary kind, did play a role a certain knowledge of esoteric thought in in her creative endeavours. For example, the reader is taken for granted, indicating during a trip to Munich, Kleen had a dream how widespread such ideas were among the that she described in a diary entry: turn-of-the-century intelligentsia. Following a section in the book about Tiredness: Drifting in a boat. Curious: the supposed abilities of Indian fakirs, Bandora with a big laughing figure in Kleen lays down the following: ‘Even the background. Eroticism in a room though Westerners have at this point not with two kissing figures in the clouds, reached so far in occult ability that they are surrounded by youths. Dread: With able to project their thoughts as mirages a skull and a very upset background. and visions in the air, they are however Rumination: Shining an antique lamp able to project them in clay or on canvas upon a sphinx. (Quoted from Ström in more indirect and arduous ways’ (Kleen Lehander 2018: 59)9 1908: 49).11 For this, ‘the Westerner need not have reached the miraculous fakir’s This dream resulted in one of her most level of spiritual development, but only fascinating works, Psyke och sfinxen (Psyche requires the type of sensitivity that is artis- and the Sphinx, 1901), which she worked tic talent’ (ibid. pp. 49–50).12 In this line of on intensely.10 reasoning, we can see that Kleen does not seem to adhere to ideas about true art being Kleen’s book Form connected to some type of occult aptitude, Tyra Kleen presented her own views as for example Przybyszewski claimed. regarding art and beauty in the small book Form (1908). In some respects, there she 11 Swedish original: ‘Men fastän västerländ- ingarna hittills ej nått så långt i ockult förmåga, att de kunna projektera sina 9 Swedish original: ‘Trötthet: Drivande i en tankar som hägringar och visioner i luften, båt. Nyfiken: Bandora med en stor skrat så kunna de dock på ett indirektare och tande figur i bakgrund. Erotik i ett rum med arbetsammare sätt projektera dem i leran två kyssande figurer i molnen och ynglingar eller på duken.’ runt omkring. Fasa: Med en dödskalle och 12 Swedish original: ‘behöver västerländingen mycket orolig bakgrund. Grubbel: Lysande inte ha uppnått den undergörande faki- med en antik lampa å en sfinx.’ rens andliga utvecklingsnivå, utan bara ha 10 In spite of the title, this image is not in den slags känslighet, som är konstnärlig cluded in Kleen’s book En psykesaga. begåvning’.
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 69 At the same time, Kleen draws parallels Hilma af Klint and Mary Karadja were pro- to esoteric phenomena and references eso- ducing. We should note that Kleen here teric authors, like the Theosophist Annie more or less adheres to the mainstream Besant (whose ideas about Leonardo da Theosophical view regarding mediumis- Vinci as an esotericist were mentioned tic art, which was deemed problematic above). Another Theosophist she brings to and dangerous by leading figures in this the fore is Franz Hartmann (1838–1912), current. As Theosophy’s main ideologue specifically his bookMagic White and H. P. Blavatsky puts it in Isis Unveiled Black (1886). She summarizes his discus- (1877): ‘Mediumship is the opposite of sion of how too great a number of disparate adeptship; the medium is the passive impressions at once can entail such grave instrument of foreign influences, the adept consequences for ‘our spiritual organism’ actively controls himself and all infer that it leads to drastic results like ‘madness ior potencies’ (Blavatsky 1877: 588). This or suicide’ (Kleen 1908: 51).13 Kleen how- view has its background in the old con- ever adds that as long as one can rid oneself flict between Theosophy and the move- of the impressions through artistic figur ment that preceded it as the main esoteric ation ‘one can expose oneself to any kind of current in the nineteenth century, that is, witches’ sabbath of variegated impressions’ Spiritualism, which had a much more posi- (ibid. p. 52).14 tive view of mediumism in general as well She also ponders, mostly in a dismiss- as in art. Theosophical attitudes towards ive manner, over artists who ‘work in an mediumism were at times more compli- almost ecstasy-like inspiration, when ideas cated than the Blavatsky statement just assault them in a manner most similar to quoted indicates, but the widespread scep- hallucinations’ and situations when ‘the ticism about it in this group still seems a artist is an unconscious medium, who likely background for Kleen’s reasoning.17 becomes the executing tool for an idea The phenomenon of mediumistic art, transferred to him’ (Kleen 1908: 67, 68).15 which could be defined as art created under This is something negative, since the result- the more or less direct influence of preter- ing art will then not be one’s own ‘creation natural entities, has been studied by sev- of fantasy’, which is preferable at all times eral scholars. One of them is Marco Pasi, according to Kleen (ibid. p. 68).16 This pas- who has devised a two-fold model to better sage appears to be an explicit rejection of understand how artists (especially in an mediumistic art of the type that her friends esoteric framework) experience/construct their interaction with said entities. Firstly, there is the condition of alienated agency, 13 Swedish original: ‘vår andliga organism’; in which ‘vansinne eller självmord’. 14 Swedish original: ‘så kan man utsätta sig för vad som helst för hexsabbat av olika i n t r y c k’. 15 Swedish original: ‘arbeta under ett slags rusliknande inspiration, då idéer överfalla 17 It is notable that Rudolf Steiner, following dem på ett sätt närmast liknande hallu- Theosophical attitudes, was in fact so disap- cinationer’; ‘konstnären är ett omedvetet proving of mediumistic painting that Hilma medium, som blir det utförande verktyget af Klint temporarily ceased working after för en på honom överförd idé’. hearing his admonitions regarding this 16 Swedish original: ‘fantasiskapelse’. (Bauduin 2013: 447).
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 70 the ultimate authorship of a strongly indeed attract many women’s rights activ- innovative or radical artistic discourse ists, such as Kleen’s close friend Ellen Key is attributed to entities subjectively and the popular writer Selma Lagerlöf independent from the author’s self. (1858–1940). Accordingly, anti-feminists Because of this perceived independ- like August Strindberg attacked Theosophy ence, alienated agency allows the art for this very reason. Strindberg is an illus- ist to develop a certain freedom of trative example of the acrimonious reac- expression from predominant conven- tions the emancipatory dimensions of tions and norms, precisely because the Theosophy and esotericism sometimes author does not believe that he bears met. In 1896, Strindberg wrote contemptu- responsibility for the particular aspects ously about Ellen Key that she now appar- of his creation. It is not he who is chal- ently ‘is going to become an occultist and lenging existing norms, but the entity together with Blavatzky [sic] surpass the he is channelling. (Pasi 2015: 113–14) achievements of males’ (Strindberg 1969: 141).19 In his article ‘Sista ordet i kvinno Secondly, there is creative dissoci frågan’ (‘The last word in the women’s ation, in which ‘an experience of detach- issue’, 1887), Strindberg called Blavatsky ment from everyday reality may lead an a ‘charlatan’ and described Theosophy artist to relativize norms and values that as ‘a band of deceivers and the deceived, were perceived as cogent and absolute, and who claimed to have gained superhuman therefore to a radical change of perspec- wisdom from India, and which is led by tive’ (Pasi 2015: 114). Arguably, Kleen’s women’. He treated it as part of a broader friends Karadja and af Klint experienced esoteric movement, ‘now operated by the more radical type of these two, alien- women’, that also included Spiritualism and ated agency, whereas Kleen’s own draw- which, using ‘supposed higher knowledge ing on dreams for direct inspiration might about hidden matters’, attempts to ‘swing possibly fit with the notion of creative dis- past and above’ males (Strindberg 2012: sociation. In general, however, her artistic 277).20 When a friend attempted to recruit practice seems much more the product of a him to the Theosophical Society, he angrily strictly regulated self, akin to the adeptship proclaimed that this group consists of ‘reli- characterized by self-control that Blavatsky gious fanatics, power-mad women, Indian advocated. Creativity, for Kleen, should be stranglers and other assassins, who have firmly centred in a stable sense of individ- uality, and external influences from spirits Theosophy are Bednarowski1980 , Dixon should be barred from the work process. 2001, Kraft 1999. See also the discussion of A further interpretative framework for Blavatsky and femininity in Prothero 1993. Kleen’s line of argument is that of gender 19 Swedish original: ‘skall bli occultist [sic] och in relation to her Theosophical interests. slå manfolksrekordet, med Blavatzky [sic]’. 20 Swedish original: ‘charlatan’; ‘en liga av Internationally, Theosophy was often per- bedragare och bedragne, som påstodo ceived as intimately connected to femi sig ha fått en övermänsklig visdom från nism, even if there is certainly some Indien, och vilken ledes av kvinnor’; ‘som ambivalence to these ties if they are scru- nu bedrives av fruntimmer’; ‘föregiven 18 högre kunskap om förborgade ting’; ‘i ett tinized more closely. In Sweden, it did tag svinga sig om och över’. For more on Strindberg and Theosophy, see Johnsson 18 Some important studies on feminism and 2015: esp. chs 5 and 6.
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 71 decided to take over the Earth’ (Strindberg too were heavily influenced by esotericism) 1969: 386–7).21 who became inscribed in art history as the In light of such attacks, we could read creators of abstract art (Bauduin 2013: 441; Kleen’s Form as a strategic underscoring Rosseau 2008: 13–14). To some degree, we that her art did not come from any esoteric could therefore speculate that Kleen under- source (a type of ‘cheating’ or false claims of stood the career-strategic importance, legitimacy to triumph over men, according especially for a woman artist, of underscor- to Strindberg), but from her as an individ- ing that the art came from the artist herself, ual. Thus, she herself as an artist was ren- not from any external source. dered impervious to the frequent gendered attacks on female esotericists. Moreover, Esoteric themes in Kleen’s art she thus underscores that she herself, a for- In a way, then, Kleen seemingly distanced mally trained artist, is the creator of her art, herself from esoteric modes of producing and that she is not a passive female medium art. This does not mean her art is lacking for spirits often coded more or less explicitly in esoteric references or explicit inspir as male (as was the case with, for example, ation from specific figures in the occult most of the spirits af Klint claimed guided milieu, even if her works were produced her hand). We have already seen that Kleen in a more conventional or non-esoteric was very concerned with the position of manner. As Tessel M. Bauduin has pointed women artists, and co-founded Föreningen out, Theosophy influenced a multitude of Svenska Konstnärinnor three years after artists, working in different stylistic trad the publication of Form. It therefore makes itions, such as Symbolism, Expressionism, sense that she would want to assert the or abstract art, thus making it impossible strength of female creativity, as opposed to to speak of a specific Theosophical style passive female mediumship. (Bauduin 2013: 430).22 We can there- Kleen’s contrasting of her own method fore not really designate specific works by with that of the Indian fakirs could, in turn, Kleen ‘Theosophical’ on stylistic grounds. be understood as a distancing from the Interestingly, official Theosophical tastes type of esoteric Indian wisdom Strindberg seem to have remained traditional, favour- connects with Theosophy. Thus, Kleen sets ing conventional representational images, her art free from potentially troublesome connections to esotericism, even if in the same book she affirms the value of esoteric 22 It is today fully established that pioneers of abstraction like Frantisek Kupka, Wassily thought in general. Kandinsky, and, in particular, Piet Mon- It has been suggested that Hilma af drian (who was a card-carrying member Klint’s marginalization from art his- of the Theosophical Society) were heavily tory (until recently) was partly due to her influenced by Theosophical ideas when mediumistic claims, and that the supposed they developed their different modes of non-representational abstract art. Interest- outside guidance from spirits set her apart ingly, however, contemporary Theosoph- from the male pioneers (even though they ical responses to their innovations were often lukewarm or even negative. For ex ample, Mondrian submitted an article on the so-called Neoplasticism he was devel- 21 Swedish original: ‘religiösa fanatici, hersk- oping based on Theosophical principles to lystna qvinnor, Indiska strypare och andra the journal Theosophia, but did not get it lönnmördare, hvilka beslutat intaga jorden’. accepted (Bauduin 2013: 434).
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 72 even after abstraction started to achieve radical reinterpretation of the myth of Eve its breakthrough in the art world (ibid. and the serpent in the Garden of Eden pp. 441–2). Tyra Kleen – whose decora- (Faxneld 2013). That counter-reading tive Jugendstil was perhaps moderately might be what Kleen is referencing in for forward-looking, but still remained firmly example Förbjuden frukt (Forbidden Fruit, within a traditional figurative idiom – fits 1915). well with these preferences, and she was It has been suggested that the surging welcomed to exhibit in Theosophical con- waves surrounding the figures in many of texts. On the other hand, so was Hilma af Edvard Munch’s pictures are energy fields Klint (Anonymous 1913), so perhaps the or auras, inspired by esoteric teachings conservative preferences of Theosophical (Eggum 1989: 60–2), and a similar argu- groups when it came to art have been ment has been made regarding certain somewhat overstated.23 works of Akseli Gallen-Kallela (Kokkinen Bauduin highlights the use of geometric 2019). Ideas about the emission of waves, forms to express esoteric concepts in art, vibrations, and so on, were prominent in proceeding from notions of said forms ‘as turn-of-the-century occultism, and thus carriers of the Absolute in a spiritual sense, frequently seen in art produced in such as spiritual or sacred geometry’ in the work contexts (Bauduin 2013: 437). Regarding of for example occultists like Éliphas Lévi, Kleen’s work, the flowing, wavy shapes Papus and Blavatsky. This would include, around the figures (e.g. inOrkidéer , Orchids, but not be limited to, ‘a dualistic prin 1907), partially similar to those pioneered ciple of male–female and/or heaven–earth, by Munch, are usually interpreted as indic- resulting in two-fold contrasts; symbolism ative of her indebtedness to Jugendstil. of numbers, in particular divisions or uni- However, it does not appear far-fetched to ties of three; and forms such as the cross, suggest an esoteric connection here as well, the circle, the square, and the triangle as just as with Munch. A quite clear example carriers of essential meaning’ (Bauduin of this theme in Kleen’s oeuvre is Hjärnans 2013: 435). There is fairly little imagery of spektrum (The Spectrum of the Brain, 1915), this type in the works by Kleen shown to which she exhibited in the premises of the public this far, including the work by Teosofiska samfundet in Stockholm. Here, her that we know appeared at Theosophical a human head with a transparent top sec- exhibitions. Certain of her images can con- tion, making the brain visible, is shown to ceivably all the same be related to motifs emit two rays: a jagged blue and white one in Theosophical writings, like Blavatsky’s to the left, and one with the colours of the rainbow to the right. Kleen at times also explicitly referenced 23 In Sweden, many of the most famous, and esoteric sources of inspiration when creat- most conventional, names in art had ties ing her art. An example of this is her 1907 of some sort to Theosophy. For example, when Katherine Tingley’s branch of the illustrations for a passage from the Parisian Theosophical Society organized a ‘peace occultist Stanislas de Guaita’s (1861–97) conference’ on Visingsö in 1913, artists like poetical work Rosa mystica (1885). A Carl Larsson (1853–1919), Anders Zorn prominent occult name from the period, (1860–1920), and Julius Kronberg (1850– 1921) provided works for the exhibition de Guaita started out as one of Péladan’s hall (Selander 2018: 40–3; Barton 1988: Rosicrucian brothers, but subsequently 457–8). had a violent falling out with him. Kleen’s
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 73 illustration has the title Les fantômes du Per Faxneld is associate passé (The Ghosts of the Past) and is a professor in the Study of nightmarish vision of how different pain- Religions at Södertörn Uni versity, Stockholm. He has ful impressions we have been subjected to written extensively about through our lives tend to linger, illustrated connections between the with a multitude of grasping hands reach- arts and esotericism in books ing for a female figure at the bottom of the like Mörkrets apostlar: Satan- image (Franzén 2016: 85). At the top of ism i äldre tid (Ouroboros 2006), Satanic Feminism: the depiction, the hands dissolve into non- Lucifer as the Liberator of figurative flowing, wavy lines, that may Woman in Nineteenth-Century Culture (Oxford again be inspired by esoteric notions of University Press 2017) and Det ockulta sekel- vibrations, energy fields, and so on. skiftet: Esoteriska strömningar i Hilma af Klints tid (Volante 2020). Moreover, he has contributed Concluding comments to exhibition catalogues of the Edvard Munch Museum and the Gallen-Kallela Museum, and As detailed above, Kleen’s book Form rep- lectured at the Edvard Munch Museum, the resents a ‘de-esotericization’ of the artistic August Strindberg Museum, Norrtälje konsthall, process, possibly for strategic reasons. In the Thiel Gallery, the Museo de Arte Moderno in the same text, however, she simultaneously Mexico City, and other art institutions. affirms esotericism as a relevant world- view that is important for a proper broader References understanding of man and the cosmos. She Unpublished sources also embraced esoteric themes in some of Letter from Hilma af Klint to Tyra Kleen, 9 September 1943. Tyra Kleen-arkivet, her work, but was, compared to someone Valinge gård, Sweden. like Lucie Lagerbielke or Hilma af Klint, not as adamant in displaying it prominently Literature there. Ultimately, she is clear regarding eso- Anonymous. 1913. Katalog. Konstutställning i tericism not necessarily being intrinsic samband med Teosofiska samfundets euro- to great artistic work, as male critics such peiska sektioners 7:de kongress i Stockholm as Pater, Péladan, and Przybyszewski had 1913. Barton, H. Arnold. 1988. ‘Swedish Theosophists implied. Following Blavatsky’s notion of and Point Loma’, Scandinavian Studies, the esoteric adept as a person in active con- 60(4): 453–63. trol of their self, Tyra Kleen’s vision of the Bauduin, Tessel M. 2013. ‘Abstract art as ideal artist was a creative figure that should “by-product of astral manifestation”: the certainly be employing esoteric wisdom, influence of Theosophy on modern art in yet leaving it out of artistic methods. Europe’, in Handbook of the Theosophical Current, eds. Olav Hammer and Mikael Rothstein (Leiden: Brill), 429–52. Bednarowski, Mary Farrell. 1980. ‘Outside the mainstream: women’s religion and women religious leaders in nineteenth-century America’, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 48(2): 207–31. Besant, Annie. 1901/14. Esoteric Christianity, or the Lesser Mysteries (Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House). Blavatsky, H. P. 1877. Isis Unveiled: A Master- Key to Mysteries of Ancient and Modern
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 74 Science and Technology, vol. 2 (New York: Lahelma, Marja. 2014. Ideal and Disintegration: J.W. Bouton). Dynamics of the Self and Art at the Fin-de- Dantinne, Èmile. 1948. L’oeuvre et la pensée Siècle (University of Helsinki). de Péladan: La Philosophie Rosicrucienne Lind, Elisabet. 2016. Tyra Kleen Niclas Fran- (Brussels: Office de Publicité S.C.). zén, Kerstin Gullstrand Hermelin, Elisabet Dixon, Joy. 2001. Divine Feminine: Theosophy Lind and Karin Ström Lehander (Björkvik: and Feminism in England (Baltimore: Johns Kerstin Gullstrand Hermelin). Hopkins University Press). Nilsson, Ulrika. 1994. ‘Från seans till revolu- Eggum, Arne. 1989. Munch and Photography tion: Lucie Lagerbielke och danandet av (New Haven: Yale University Press). framtidens folk (1903–1925)’, MA thesis in Faxneld, Per. 2011. ‘Blood, sperm, and astral intellectual history (Uppsala University). energy suckers’, in Text and Image, ed. Nordlinder, Eva. 2018. ‘Anna Maria Roos’, in Mai Britt Guleng (Oslo: Edvard Munch Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon,
Approaching Religion • Vol. 11, No. 1 • March 2021 75 ——2011. Samlade verk, vol. 34 (Stockholm: Norstedts). ——2012. Samlade verk, vol. 17 (Stockholm: Norstedts). Ström Lehander, Karin. 2016. ‘Tyra Kleen. Konstnär och kvinna vid förra sekelskiftet’, in Tyra Kleen, Niclas Franzén, Kerstin Gull- strand Hermelin, Elisabet Lind and Karin Ström Lehander (Björkvik: Kerstin Gull- strand Hermelin), 38–55. ——2018. ‘I Tyra Kleens fotspår. En studie över konstnärens tid i Rom och Paris 1892– 1908’, MA thesis in art history (Uppsala University).
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