Spiritualism and the Mystery of Modern Art Massimo Introvigne Conference “The Science of Things Spiritual” Lily Dale, July 28, 2017 Above: Spirit art by Madge Gill (1882-1961) “An Embarrassing Story” “The fact is, theosophy [but the same judgement is applied to Spiritualism] is embarrassing. If there is one thing you do not want your hardcore modernist to be, it is a member of an occult cult […]. [This] takes art into Dan Brown territory. No serious student of art history wants to touch it.” Waldemar Januszczak (right) Superstar British art historian The Sunday Times, 21 February 2010 Six Years Later: Januszczak 2.0 “Only rarely in my time as an art reviewer have I felt as flabbergasted as I was by the watercolours of [spirit painter] Georgiana Houghton. Her dates had me rubbing my eyes in disbelief. She did this when? Out of nowhere, like an unforeseen comet, a career has appeared in art that rewrites the whole story.” Waldemar Januszczak “The Woman Who Changes Everything” The Sunday Times, 25 July 2016 Januszczak 2.0 (II) Rediscovering Houghton is “an event of tremendous art-historical significance. Not just because Houghton predates Kandinsky and Mondrian by half a century, but because her motivation throws so much clear light on their motivation. All the famous pioneers of abstraction — Kandinsky, Malevich, Mondrian — were spiritualists […]. But in all their cases, the occult aspect of their creativity has been actively suppressed in the canonical story of modern art. Potty spiritualist imaginings have never been allowed to disturb the smooth progress of progress. On this astonishing evidence, however, the potty spiritualist imaginings were the key ingredient.” But What Is Spirit Painting? Given that spirit paintings have exerted a decisive influence on modern art, there is a certain confusion on what spirit painting exactly is. We can distinguish at least three different cases: 1. Precipitated paintings 2. Portraying the spirits during seances 3. Painting with hands guided by the spirits 1. Precipitated Paintings The first case is “precipitation” of works of art that appeared on canvas (or on paper, or on a slate, left), ostensibly without the use of human hands, during a Spiritualist seance. In this case, the mediums claimed that the spirits produced the paintings directly, rather than by guiding the hands of a human artist David Duguid The first famous medium who was able to “precipitate” spirit paintings was Scottish cabinet-maker David Duguid (1832-1907). Although Duguid often painted with his hands guided by spirit painters, including Jan Steen (1626-1679) and Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682), his guides also produced “direct” (precipitated) works during his seances, including some that illustrated his 1876 spirit novel (or historical account) Hafed, Prince of Persia (1876) Duguid’s “direct” illustrations for Hafed, Prince of Persia Spirits and Copyright One problem with Duguid was that the spirits of Steen and Ruisdael were apparently not familiar with copyright laws. Several “direct” illustrations in the first edition of Hafed were suspiciously similar to the popular Cassell’s Family Bible and had to be expunged from the second edition Alternative Explanations For the believers, similarities with the Cassell’s Family Bible, in both the “direct” and the “guided” spirit paintings of Hafed, were not conclusive evidence of fraud. If one believed that the spirit were at work, they could well have worked with material they found in the mind of the medium, including reminiscences of the Cassell’s Family Bible The Campbell Brothers Among the first mediums who specialized in precipitated paintings were Lily Dale’s Campbell brothers. Allen Campbell (1833-1919) and Charles Shourds (1863-1926) were not brothers, but lived and held seances together Lincoln Appears Their most famous portraits, such as Lincoln’s, were done in public, with the Campbell brothers’ hands never touching the canvas Azur, A. Campbell’s Spirit Guide Statement of six witnesses: “During the entire séance [of June 15, 1898] there was light enough for us to see everything perfectly and note the gradual growth of the painting on the canvas. Mr. A. Campbell was entranced and Azur, using his organism, gave us some very beautiful words […] After some music, additional lights were brought, the curtain withdrawn, and lo! The picture was complete. […] While we were admiring it, there came at the back of the head a six-pointed star, which is now distinctly seen” The Bang Sisters Not less famous for precipitated spirit paintings were the Bang Sisters, Elizabeth (1859-1920), and May (Mary) Elvira (or Eunice) (1862-1917), who kept cottages both at Lily Dale and at Camp Chesterfield, Indiana The Bang Sisters precipitated (and sometimes spirit-painted) portraits of deceased persons. They were repeatedly denounced as frauds, but vigorously defended by a significant portion of the American Spiritualist community “The World’s Worst Woman” Unfortunately, spirit paintings became connected with the notorious “Swami Laura Horos,” a.k.a. Ann Odelia Diss Debar (1849-1911?), who claimed to be guided by the spirits of old masters. Debar ended up in jail in 1901, sentenced to seven-year imprisonment both for fraud and for immoral sexual practices in her temple in London. Contemporary media labeled Debar as “the world’s worst woman,” which made precipitated spirit paintings especially suspect Rol and Goya And yet witnesses attested that in the presence of somebody very different from Debar, famous Italian psychic Gustavo Adolfo Rol (1903-1994), a man who never accepted money for his seances and was famous for his charitable activities, “brushed moved by themselves” to paint, or previously controlled white sheets of paper displayed works signed by Goya (left), Braque, or Kandinsky – although Rol was not sure of what part of their “intelligent spirit” had produced the artworks Madame Blavatsky, Spirit Painter At the time of the Campbells, or before, none other than Madame Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891), in the early phase of her career, was also busy precipitating spirit paintings. In his definitive 2001 study, John Patrick Deveney claimed that her productions were “in the dozens” They included a portrait made in 1875 of the mysterious John King (left) – who, Blavatsky later claimed, was one and the same with Theosophy’s Master Hilarion – … Blavatsky: The First Theosophical Painter? …and another, of 1877, of one “Tiruvalla Yogi: from “Ghost Land or the Land of the Living Brotherhood” (right). Although most of these works were “precipitated,” they may imply that the first of a long list of Theosophical painters was none other than Madame Blavatsky herself While We Are at Blavatsky… Theosophical Masters are not spirits but century-old human beings living in Tibet or other secret places. However, Theosophical “Masters painting” was clearly indebted to early Blavatsky’s spirit painting For the most famous Master painting experiment, German Victorian painter Hermann Schmiechen (1855-1925) was personally selected by Master Morya. In a letter received by Madame Blavatsky, now at the Winterthur Library in Winterthur, Delaware, Morya wrote: “Say to S.[chmiechen] that he will be helped – I myself will guide his hands with brush for K[oot Hoomi]’s portrait” Laura Holloway Morya also wrote: “Take her with you to Schmiechen and tell her to see.” From the context of the letter, it was clear that the unnamed “her” was Laura Holloway (1848- 1930), a colorful American author, Spiritualist medium, feminist lecturer, and Theosophist Cigarettes and Masters In1912, Holloway would tell the story of how she attended with several other Theosophists, including Blavatsky, a session in Schmiechen’s studio. Holloway (right) was not a smoker, but Blavatsky insisted she smoke a cigarette (perhaps containing more than tobacco?), which put her in the right state to influence Schmiechen’s mind Painting the Masters If we trust Holloway’s later recollections, Schmiechen painted Koot Hoomi (left) first. She saw the Master “standing near Mr Schmiechen” and heard Blavatsky correcting Schmiechen when she believed the painter deviated from Koot Hoomi’s likelihood, even if “she sat where she could not see the easel, nor know what was on it” Blavatsky and the Portraits Holloway reported that Schmiechen then went on to portray Master Morya (right), and this portrait was also approved by Blavatsky. According to Blavatsky, a chain was set in motion whereby she received the images of the Masters and transmitted them telepathically to Holloway, who in turn transmitted them to Schmiechen’s mind, while the painter’s hands were guided by the Masters. The similarities with spirit paintings are obvious 2. Portraying Spirits During Seances In the heydays of Spiritualism, it became very common for mediums to sketch portraits of spirits who they claimed were present during the seances. Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was a better writer than he was a painter, and the spirit painting he produced during seances held at his home are hard to decipher. Other mediums produced better results A Dynamic Couple Those who sought portraits of the deceased loved ones in the United States fueled a flourishing Spiritualist market. Prominent there was the couple of Wella Percy (1833-1900?) and Lizzie Pet Anderson (1839?-1896), partners in life and Spiritualism, although they divorced in 1875 Portraits from Atlantis The Andersons did more than paint deceased spouses and children for wealthy clients. They channeled and painted masters of wisdom such as Confucius, the legendary Masonic ancestor Hiram Habiff, and members of “a band of Old Atlantis” A Continuing Practice Spirit portraits emerging during seances rarely became part of mainline art. However, the moving practice continues to this day. Says Coral Ryder, a well- known British medium: “I do not see the spirits that I draw, my hand is guided, I therefore do not know how close a likeness I have created unless shown a picture for comparison” (above).