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| Het web der schepping. Theosofie en kunst in Nederland van Lauweriks tot Mondriaan |
| Author(s): | Marty Bax |
| Editor(s): | |
| Publisher(s): | SUN, Amsterdam |
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ISBN 90.8506.192.X
Dissertation Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam 2004. This dissertation is an interdisciplinary study of the relationship between modern theosophy and art in the Nederlands between 1880 and 1920. For the Summary, see the section Shared Files in this member profile (for members only).
The book describes the roots of theosophy in Dutch society (freemasonry, spiritualism, freethinking, secularization) between 1850 and 1890 and the sociological mechanisms behind it. It provides a prosopography of the Dutch branch of the Theosophical Society 1880-1920, a full list of artist members retrieved from the international membership registration in Adyar, Chennai, India, and a social stratification of the Dutch branch of the society, based on the international HISCO system of professions.
The analysis of the theoretical structure of modern theosophy provides key concepts by which art can be examined in a new way. Theories on numbers and geometrical systems in architecture and applied arts, which were grounded firmly in tradition but took on a new form, and the concepts of cosmogenesis and the world behind visual reality in painting are placed within the theosophical frame of thought of the artists themselves. Thus, artistic interpretations, by individual artists and groups, lead to new interpretations of already established currents in art, from realism to symbolism, expressionism and abstraction.
The abstract painting theory of Piet Mondrian is placed firmly within theosophical context. In architecture and applied arts, the hitherto unknown or disgerarded esoteric influences on the architecture of Berlage and the Amsterdam expressionist school of architecture, also in relation to German developments, are discussed in empirical detail. |
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