Exhibition: Encounters with the Spirit World 14th – 20th August
expect to be amazed by over 500 examples of mediumistic art, spirit photographs, Victorian writing slates, spirit trumpets, planchettes and crystal balls, all displayed over six floors of our atmospheric Victorian townhouse in South Kensington.
Mediumistic art has become the focus of the mainstream art world this year due to two sensational exhibitions, namely Hilma af Klint at the Serpentine Gallery (Apr-May) and Georgiana Houghton at the Courtauld Gallery (Jun-Sep).
Georgiana Houghton (1814-1884) is particularly important for the College as we own an album of her spirit watercolours which will be loaned to the Courtauld for their exhibition. The intricate, woven brushstrokes of layered and vibrant colours in Georgiana’s art, executed in the 1860s and 70s under the guidance of 70 archangels, is challenging the well established belief that abstract art began with artists such as Kandinsky in the early 1900’s.
Although overlooked by art historians for over a 150 years, it is now becoming apparent that abstraction may actually have began 50 years before Kandinsky when Georgiana Houghton – an English medium and founder member of this College – produced these amazing works.
The College’s 90th anniversary celebrations in January, displaying for the first time in decades the College’s unparalleled collection of mediumistic art, spirit photographs and artefacts was a revelation to the art world. Since then there has been an overwhelming interest in the College collection and archives, by both artists and curators who are eager to discover more about the spirit world.
This interest was the catalyst for the College’s own blockbuster exhibition: Encounters with the Spirit World, which will open this summer from August 14-20th.
see full exhibition info at College of Psychic Studies
