Amongst the many female artists who’ve fallen out of the public eye over the years, Hilma af Klint is one of the more provocative. Born in Stockholm in 1862, the painter began creating highly abstract paintings in 1906, well before figures like Vasily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich found fame doing the same. While the latters’ philosophies and manifestos went on to be widely published, af Klint kept her work private. She rarely exhibited them due to her doubts that the public was not ready to understand them and even stipulated that nothing would be exhibited until 20 years after her death. Thus, her work only started to be shown in 1986 and has only recently begun to receive its just attention.
Hilma af Klint’s oeuvre is currently being shown at the Guggenheim Museum in New York – the first major solo show devoted to the artist in the United States. The exhibition focuses on paintings made during from 1906-20, the period where af Klint began producing non-objective paintings. Organised in collaboration with the Hilma af Klint Foundation in Stockholm, this survey of af Klint’s work is an enticing explosion of shape, colour and symbolism, influenced by the scientific discoveries and spiritual movements of her age.
To celebrate the exhibition, Guggenheim New York has created an exclusive collection of fashion, homeware, stationery and jewellery pieces, inspired by af Klint’s works. Produced with a predominantly female group of artisans and designers, the collection ranges from ceramic vases and incense holders to scarves, t-shirts, bags and a watch, incorporating gestural geometric forms and washes of bright colour.
Featuring the work of Hellen van Berkel (Netherlands), Margaret and Colleen Clines (USA), Ibai Demirdache (Canada), Maya Luz (USA), Karen Konzuk (Canada), Michele Quan (USA) and Michele and Martin Yeeles (USA), the 60-piece collection is certainly one way to ensure that af Klint’s legacy for daring and imaginative thinking remains in tact.
INFORMATION
‘Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future’ is on view until 23 April 2019. For more information, visit the Guggenheim website
-
Saint Laurent's Anthony Vaccarello curates four rare Charlotte Perriand reissuesThese lesser-seen Charlotte Perriand furniture designs are reissued in a limited edition and on display at Paris' Galerie Patrick Seguin (until 22 November 2025)
-
Viewers are cast as voyeurs in Tai Shani’s crimson-hued London exhibitionBritish artist Tai Shani creates mystical other worlds through sculpture, performance and film. Step inside at Gathering
-
Explore the riches of Morse House, the Canadian modernist gem on the marketMorse House, designed by Thompson, Berwick & Pratt Architects in 1982 on Vancouver's Bowen Island, is on the market – might you be the new custodian of its modernist legacy?
-
The largest posthumous survey of Helen Frankenthaler puts her in the frame with Pollock and RothkoGuggenheim Bilbao hosts 'Painting Without Rules', a major exhibition of soak-stain innovator Helen Frankenthaler’s paintings that also includes Pollock and Rothko
-
'We need to be constantly reminded of our similarities' – Jonathan Baldock challenges the patriarchal roots of a former Roman temple in LondonThrough use of ceramics and textiles, British artist Jonathan Baldock creates a magical and immersive exhibition at ‘0.1%’ at London's Mithraum Bloomberg Space
-
Genesis Belanger is seduced by the real and the fake in LondonSculptor Genesis Belanger’s solo show, ‘In the Right Conditions We Are Indistinguishable’, is open at Pace, London
-
Portrait of a modernist maverick: last chance to see the Jean Cocteau retrospective in Venice‘Cocteau: The Juggler’s Revenge’, celebrating the French artist's defiance of artistic labels, is in its final week at Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
-
Edinburgh Art Festival 2023: from bog dancing to binge drinkingWhat to see at Edinburgh Art Festival 2023, championing women and queer artists, whether exploring Scottish bogland on film or casting hedonism in ceramic
-
Last chance to see: Devon Turnbull’s ‘HiFi Listening Room Dream No. 1’ at Lisson Gallery, LondonDevon Turnbull/OJAS’ handmade sound system matches minimalist aesthetics with a profound audiophonic experience – he tells us more
-
Hospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth unite for a sensorial London exhibition and auctionHospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth are working together to raise money for arts and mental health charities
-
‘These Americans’: Will Vogt documents the USA’s rich at playWill Vogt’s photo book ‘These Americans’ is a deep dive into a world of privilege and excess, spanning 1969 to 1996
