Art and the Theosophical Movement

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UNDER CONSTRUCTION
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Art movements associated with Theosophists

Artists influenced by Theosophy

Theosophical Society Founders Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and William Quan Judge were quite skilled in drawing. The arts have always been appreciated by Theosophists as a means of expression spirituality.

  • Hilma af Klint was a Swedish artist and mystic who painted some of the earliest abstract art.
  • A. Theodore Bondy was an American Theosophist known internationally as a calligrapher and illustrator.
  • Claude Fayette Bragdon was a Theosophist from Rochester, New York who is known for his architecture, stage sets, and writings.
  • Maurice Braun was a Hungarian-American artist of the Point Loma community, noted for his landscapes of California.
  • Burton Callicott was an art professor from Memphis, Tennessee who incorporated Theosophical concepts into his paintings and drawings.
  • Jean Delville was a Belgian symbolist painter, author, and teacher; he was the first General Secretary of the Theosophical Society in Belgium.
  • Harold E. Forgostein was and American artist and teacher, and Guardian-in-Chief of the Temple of the People.
  • Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn was a Dutch artist and Theosophist. She is best known as the founder of the Eranos Foundation that holds annual conferences of scholars.
  • Lawren Stewart Harris was a Canadian painter in the Group of Seven who pioneered a distinctly Canadian painting style in the early twentieth century. He was a member of the Toronto Lodge.
  • Monsieur Harrisse was a French amateur artist who drew the first portrait of Master Morya in black and white crayons at The "Lamasery" in New York.
  • Z. Vanessa Helder was an American artist from the Pacific Northwest who came from a family of Theosophists.
  • Johannes Itten was a Swiss expressionist painter, designer, teacher, writer and theorist associated with the Bauhaus school.
  • Wassily Kandinskywas a Russian abstract expressionist painter who was heavily influenced by Theosophy. He wrote a hugely influential book, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, and taught at the Bauhaus.
  • Paul Klee was a Swiss-German artist influenced by Theosophy and by the art movements of Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism.
  • J. Augustus Knapp was an American Theosophist and artist best known for his superb illustrations of Manly P. Hall's masterwork The Secret Teachings of All Ages and many works of science fiction and fantasy.
  • Don Kruse is an art professor at Indiana University at Fort Wayne. His paintings draw on mythological images, popular art such as comic strips, and the works of master artists, and he is a life member of the Theosophical Society in America.
  • Thomas Le Clear was a prominent American painter who was part of the circle of friends of Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott in New York City.
  • Boleslaw Leitgeber was a Polish artist, writer, and diplomat who spent several years at the Adyar campus of the Theosophical Society.
  • Reginald Machell was an English painter whose best-known work is The Path. He joined the Theosophical Society after meeting Helena Petrovna Blavatsky in London. Later, at the Point Loma community, he painted, wrote, and designed furniture.
  • Piet Mondrian was an influential Dutch painter, and one of the founders of the Dutch modern movement De Stijl.
  • Louise A. Off was a Theosophist and artist in California,s best known for becoming the editor of The New Californian.
  • William R. O'Donovan was a distinguished American sculptor and art critic who made a bronze medallion of Mme. Blavatsky, whom he visited often in New York.
  • James S. Perkins was a commercial artist and author of several books. He served as President of the Theosophical Society in America and as Vice President of the international Theosophical Society based in Adyar, India for ten years beginning in 1961.
  • Erling Roberts was an English-American painter known for his portrait of Charles Webster Leadbeater.
  • Nicholas Roerich was a Russian painter, theatrical designer, and writer best known for his mystical paintings of the Himalayas. He and his wife Helena were members of the Theosophical Society.
  • Dane Rudhyar was a French-American composer, writer, artist, and astrologer who was involved with the Theosophical Movement.
  • George William Russell was an Irish poet, painter and essayist who wrote with the pseudonym Æ (sometimes written AE or A.E.). He was a Theosophist, a political activist and a key figure in the Irish Literary Renaissance.
  • Hermann Schmiechen was a German artist who painted portraits of the Masters Koot Hoomi and Morya, and also of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. While he lived in England from 1884-1895, he was a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, and painted members of the British aristocracy.
  • Rona Scott-Abbott was a talented and prolific artist, active in the Theosophical Society in Australia and in the Theosophical Order of Service.
  • Georgine Shillard-Smith, was an American artist and arts patron, and a member of the Theosophical Society in America. She was responsible for commissioning the Olcott murals.
  • Isabelle de Steiger was one of the earliest English Theosophists – an occultist, painter, and writer. Many of her paintings were occult works related to her participation in the Golden Dawn.
  • Edward Wimbridge was an engraver who became one of the earliest English members of the Theosophical Society.
  • Beatrice Wood was an American ceramicist and writer who was influential in the Avant Garde movement. She was a life member of the Theosophical Society in America.
  • Cabot Yerxa was an artist who established a colony in Desert Hot Springs, California. He was a member of the Theosophical Society (Pasadena), then based in Covina, and later of the Theosophical Society in America.

Other Theosophists who were skilled artists include Mary Gebhard; William Loftus Hare, an engraver; Harold Edward Hare; Charles J. Ryan; Brian Stonehouse; and Robert Vaughn.

Art works significant to Theosophists

See also

Additional resources

Articles

Bibliographies

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