SPRING 2021 BOKFÖRLAGET STOLPE BOKFÖRLAGET STOLPE Craftmanship, Scholarship and Quality elcome to Bokförlaget Stolpe. We produce specialist books Contact us for any questions regarding rights or distribution. of the very finest quality, which means we place great emphasis on design, reproduction, printing and binding, Marika Stolpe Simon Hohn as well as high-quality scholarly content. We offer a wide Managing Director and Publisher Head of Marketing rangeW of publications, and the subjects are often timeless. [email protected] [email protected] The publishing house works in collaboration with the Swedish foundation +46 70 586 07 26 +46 70 789 13 00 Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Their vision is to support individuals, ideas and projects in the humanities and Erica Karlsson social sciences. We publish books based on the foundation’s research projects, Publishing Coordinator seminars and grants awarded to writers and scholars, and we ensure that the [email protected] books are available in Sweden and around the world. +46 70 772 55 21 Cover: Lejonjakten [The Lion Hunt] by Axel Törneman, 1918. Design: Patric Leo HILMA AF KLINT Occult Painter and Abstract Pioneer This classic pioneering work by Åke Fant is now available in English translation for the first time since its original publication in 1989. Following her training at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm and twenty years of painting, Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) began working with an abstract visual language in 1906. She then dedicated the rest of her life to an immense artistic commission. Like her contemporaries Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian, af Klint was inspired by the spiritual realm. She drew on occult sources of her day, such as Spiritualism and the writings of Madame Blavatsky, Annie Besant and Rudolf Steiner. This edition supplements Åke Fant’s original text and Lars Nittve’s foreword with a new preface by Kurt Almqvist and an updated timeline. Fant’s work remains vital even in the light of subsequent research, at a time when interest in Hilma af Klint and her work has never been greater. Åke Fant, (1943–1997) was a senior lecturer, art historian and sculptor. To this day he is considered to be the foremost connoisseur of Hilma af Klint’s oeuvre and the one who performed the first comprehensive review of her works. Translation: Ruth Urbom ISBN: 978-91-89069-47-3. 155 illustrations. 29 x 23 cm (portrait). 256 pp. Also available in Swedish. Specification: Clothbound with a debossed sticker and gold foil stamp, sewn. Published in February 2021. HILMA AF KLINT Message and Mission Hilma af Klint’s works carry within them a message and a philosophy of life, and according to Erik af Klint (1901–81), who was the sole heir to af Klint’s oeuvre, and founder of The Hilma af Klint Foundation, ‘Everything should be done to bring this hidden message to light.’ The artist left behind 1600 works of different kinds, of which 124 are notebooks with a total of 26,000 pages. For the first time, all these diaries and notebooks have now been combed through in the quest for the answer to what message, mission and philosophy of life the work contains, and what, as Erik af Klint writes, ‘Hilma af Klint’s spiritual masters intended with them.’ Hilma af Klint called the notebooks ‘educational material’, and they are the key to understanding her paintings. The book, among other things, brings up ideas from Spiritualism, Theosophy and Anthroposophy, and also thoughts from Rosicrucianism, that af Klint called ‘mystery knowledge’, and which influenced her message, mission and philosophy of life. Kurt Almqvist, President of Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnsons Foundation for Public Benefit, and board member of The Hilma af Klint Foundation. Translation: Ruth Urbom ISBN: 978-91-89069-96-1. Approx. 95 illustrations. 29 x 23 cm (portrait). Approx. 152 pages. Also available in Swedish. Specifications: Clothbound with a debossed sticker and gold foil stamp, sewn. Release: Autumn 2021. Not all artists oeuvre can, will, or deserve to be collected in a CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ. But Hilma af Klint’s art not only deserves it – it demands it – since her oeuvre holds a message and reveals a philosophy. For the first time ever, the reader will be able to review the complete works of Hilma af Klint in this historical document divided into seven volumes. It is undeniably one of Sweden’s most fascinating collections of artistic output. The first three volumes was published in autumn 2020. The paintings are presented in the same order as the anthroposophist Olof Sundström placed them in 1945, on assignment from Erik af Klint (1901–1981). He was the sole heir of Hilma af Klint’s works as well as the sole donor to and founder of The Hilma af Klint Foundation in 1972. The works are printed in an exclusive edition designed by Patric Leo. The series is produced in cooperation with Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation, and features introductions by Daniel Birnbaum and Kurt Almqvist. The final volume includes a biographical essay on Hilma af Klint by the German author Julia Voss. A separate slipcase containing the seven volumes will be available in spring 2022. ‘Here we can all follow the chronological development and hopefully understand a bit more about af Klint’s elusive, esoteric image-world. It is a tool that facilitates research, and fundamentally establishes the artist’s work – all in all, a true deed for culture.’ Birgitta Rubin, Dagens Nyheter Kurt Almqvist, President of Axel and Daniel Birnbaum, Artistic Director of Margaret Ax:son Johnsons Foundation Acute Art, London, UK. Former roles for Public Benefit, and board member include Director of Moderna Museet in of The Hilma af Klint Foundation. Stockholm, and board member of The Hilma af Klint Foundation. Slipcase including books ISBN: 978-91-98523-66-9. Slipcase excluding books ISBN: 978-91-89069-32-9. Specification: Clothbound with a debossed sticker. Dimensions TBA. Release: Spring 2022. SPIRITUALISTIC DRAWINGS (1895–1910) THE PAINTINGS FOR THE TEMPLE (1906–1915) The abstraction in Hilma af Klint’s pictures developed over time; it was The Paintings for the Temple is the best known of Hilma af Klint’s series of a process in which a group of female friends, The Five, played a major works. These mostly abstract paintings, including The Ten Largest, came to role. The members of the group acted as mediums and deemed themselves the artist – she claims – mediumistically. The series illustrates the message to receivers of messages from spirits regarding the development of humanity. humanity that she believed had come to her by way of the High Masters. ISBN: 978-91-89069-23-7. Approx. 350 illustrations. 31 x 24 cm (portrait). 368 pp. ISBN: 978-91-89069-11-4. 193 illustrations. 31 x 24 cm (portrait). 232 pp. Specification: Clothbound with a debossed sticker, sewn. Specification: Clothbound with a debossed sticker, sewn. Published in January 2021. Published in November 2020. THE BLUE BOOKS PARSIFAL AND THE ATOM (1916–1917) In ten blue sketchbooks Hilma af Klint’s presented miniatures for The In her two series Parsifal and The Atom, Hilma af Klint interpreted the Paintings for the Temple, photographs as well as aquarelles. Hilma af Klint messages she previously had received. In Parsifal she explored humanity’s travelled with these books in order to show a selected few her creations in a different levels of experience through an inner journey that overcomes all more accessible format. types of duality. In The Atom series, af Klint explored the spiritual foundation of reality beyond the immediate impressions of the mind. ISBN: 978-91-89069-24-4. 140 illustrations. 31 x 24 cm (portrait). 192 pp. ISBN: 978-91-89069-25-1. Approx. 212 illustrations. 31 x 24 cm (portrait). 196 pp. Specification: Clothbound with a debossed sticker, sewn. Specification: Clothbound with a debossed sticker, sewn. Published in November 2020. Release: May 2021. GEOMETRIC SERIES AND LATE WATERCOLOURS (1922–1941) OTHER WORKS (1917–1920) After her mother’s death in 1920, Hilma af Klint gave up her geometric works and began to paint with watercolours, inspired by Anthroposophy. Hilma af Klint executed a sort of research and used ‘spiritual scientific’ This is seen in the series On the Viewing of Flowers and Trees from 1922. methods, a phrase from Anthroposophy, in order to understand the spiritual evolution and development of mankind. In her studies of living beings she gained insight into an abstract world of geometrical conditions and guidelines. ISBN: 978-91-89069-26-8. Approx. 126 illustrations. 31 x 24 cm (portrait). Approx. 140 pp. ISBN: 978-91-89069-27-5. Approx. 450 illustrations. 31 x 24 cm (portrait). 376 pp. Specification: Clothbound with a debossed sticker, sewn. Specification: Clothbound with a debossed sticker, sewn. Release: Autumn 2021. Release: May 2021. LANDSCAPES, PORTRAITS AND MISCELLANEOUS WORKS (1886–1940) This volume shows Hilma af Klint as a painter of landscapes, portraits and botanical works. The total number of illustrations is still not determined since many of these works were sold to private buyers, where they remain. In 2020, the publishing house will conduct a search to find further works. “Today Hilma af Klint is recognised as one of the world’s most esteemed artists – an unprecedented triumph. Hilma af Klint’s time is now. Her art has become an important part of our Swedish cultural heritage. Few artists have been given the privilege of a catalogue raisonné. Thanks to Bokförlaget Stolpe’s comprehensive work, we now have the opportunity to become acquainted with the entirety of Hilma af Klint’s artistry. This would not have been possible without the support of the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.