The intersections between art and magick was probably never more pronounced than in the succession of art movements that began with the Symbolists of Bell Epoque Paris and ended (more or less) with Dadaism. In the late 19th century, Josephine Peladan’s Rosicrucian Order sought to inspire transcendental consciousness via properly conceived and contrived works of art. By the mid-1950’s New York City was teeming with ex-patriot Dada-ists like Marcel Duchamps. EGC Bishop Harry Smith claimed that they all worked in magick and that it was “big business.” So we’re very excited to hear about an often overlooked female Dada artist, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, finally getting her due. Here’s an excerpt of a recent New York Times feature:
“Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943), a pathbreaking artist, is the only woman on a Swiss bank note, and she has been featured previously in major museum exhibitions. But her name is hardly bandied about — certainly not with the frequency of her husband’s, Jean (Hans) Arp — and some influential people in the art world are collectively looking to change that.
“Among her advances was using interior design as an artistic tool, an early version of installation art, and when she wasn’t painting she made textiles, costumes and sculptures and edited magazines. She was a dancer, too.
“Beginning with a current online show from the gallery Hauser & Wirth, the artist is getting a too-rare spotlight, which intensifies next year with the museum survey, “Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Living Abstraction.” That exhibition is scheduled to debut in March at the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland, and then travels to the Tate Modern in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Jointly organized by the three institutions, it was originally scheduled to begin this year and will be the most comprehensive show of her work to appear in the United States.”
Read the entire article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/arts/design/sophie-taeuber-arp-exhibition.html.
