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Theosophy’s Influence on Visual Artists
THEOSOPHY AND THE ARTS PROGRAM - 6 WEEKS
Music, Dance, and Theosophy - Juliana Cesano & Dan Smolla
Myth: A Once and Future Map to the Inner Landscape - John Algeo
Theosophy’s Influence on Visual Artists - Pam Lowrie
Mystical Poetry and Theosophy - Dan Smolla
Creating a Personal Mandala - Pam Lowrie
Theosophical Principles in the Healing Art of Therapeutic Touch - Marilyn Johnston
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Theosophy’s Influence on Visual Artists - Pam Lowrie
Theosophy’s influence on visual arts, especially, abstract art, is far-reaching and significant. Pam Lowrie explained that after the turn of the century, artists, perhaps lead by painters, were looking for more subtle world views. Theosophy’s sensitive delving into spiritual planes articulated what artists themselves were intuiting. Important, gifted, ground-breaking artists, like Kandinsky, read largely in Theosophy and gained confidence from Theosophy’s descriptions of other realities, realities that these artists were sensing and now felt licensed to celebrate.
Download handout The Influence of Theosophy on Visual Artists
Discussion questions
(For general discussion questions on Theosophy and the Arts click here)
1- The spiritual zeitgeist around the time of the beginning of Theosophy and the initial wave of writings seems to have been all-pervasive. It is as if many spiritual, abstract painters were waiting for this cue to break-out of old patterns of expression. Reflect on a big transitional moment in your own spiritual life, and see if there was also a dramatic change in your taste in culture, art. For example, did the old types of books and movies lose their appeal? Did the spiritual opening create an appetite for any new sorts of arts or forms of expression?
2- Have there been any paintings or painters (or photographs or photographers) who made a big impression on you at any time? It is difficult to put in words, but try to share with the group the reason for the appeal.
3- Describe any movie you have seen that struck you visually for any reason: the use of color, or camera angles, images, or scenery, etc. Share with the group why you think this image stuck in your memory.
4- Whether you have any sort of technical knowledge of painting or not, try to answer this question: What sort of tools of expression does a painter have? How does a painter express emotion? An idea? An intuition? A mathematical conept?
Proposed activities
It is recommended that your Study Group have at least these three books on hand, all available through the Henry S. Olcott Memorial Library.
- Man Visible and Invisible by C.W. Leadbeater. (The 1974 edition has the color chart.)
And the over-sized editions of these two works:
- Sacred Mirrors: The Visionary Art of Alex Grey with Ken Wilber and Carlo McCormick.
- Kandinsky by Hans K. Roethel
1- Read out loud as a group the handout “The Influence of Theosophy on Visual Arts.”
2- Use the color chart at the beginning of Leadbeater’s Man Visible and Invisible. Have a group facilitator cover the “key to the meanings” of the colors on the bottom of the page, and let group members meditate on different individual colors, writing down the feelings and thoughts associated with five or ten of them. Share as a group your associations with specific colors. After everyone has shared, have the group facilitator give the clairvoyant interpretation of the color.
3- A great visual artist intuitively uses a sense of rhythm which may well be made more apparent by viewing their work with musical accompaniment. Before the meeting, the group facilitator(s) should choose a few appropriate meditative musical pieces, and then choose four or five print replications of paintings from Kandinsky using the Roethel book. While the music is playing, have group members meditate on each painting for a few minutes and write down their impressions, feeling, etc. Group members who choose to can share their intuitive impressions.
4- Repeat exercise three using the work of Alex Grey (or another spiritual artist of your choice).
Resources: Books, audio and videorecordings on Arts and Music.
Music, Dance, and Theosophy - Juliana Cesano & Dan Smolla
Myth: A Once and Future Map to the Inner Landscape - John Algeo
Theosophy’s Influence on Visual Artists - Pam Lowrie
Mystical Poetry and Theosophy - Dan Smolla
Creating a Personal Mandala - Pam Lowrie
Theosophical Principles in the Healing Art of Therapeutic Touch - Marilyn Johnston
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Theosophy’s Influence on Visual Artists - Pam Lowrie
Theosophy’s influence on visual arts, especially, abstract art, is far-reaching and significant. Pam Lowrie explained that after the turn of the century, artists, perhaps lead by painters, were looking for more subtle world views. Theosophy’s sensitive delving into spiritual planes articulated what artists themselves were intuiting. Important, gifted, ground-breaking artists, like Kandinsky, read largely in Theosophy and gained confidence from Theosophy’s descriptions of other realities, realities that these artists were sensing and now felt licensed to celebrate.
Download handout The Influence of Theosophy on Visual Artists
Discussion questions
(For general discussion questions on Theosophy and the Arts click here)
1- The spiritual zeitgeist around the time of the beginning of Theosophy and the initial wave of writings seems to have been all-pervasive. It is as if many spiritual, abstract painters were waiting for this cue to break-out of old patterns of expression. Reflect on a big transitional moment in your own spiritual life, and see if there was also a dramatic change in your taste in culture, art. For example, did the old types of books and movies lose their appeal? Did the spiritual opening create an appetite for any new sorts of arts or forms of expression?
2- Have there been any paintings or painters (or photographs or photographers) who made a big impression on you at any time? It is difficult to put in words, but try to share with the group the reason for the appeal.
3- Describe any movie you have seen that struck you visually for any reason: the use of color, or camera angles, images, or scenery, etc. Share with the group why you think this image stuck in your memory.
4- Whether you have any sort of technical knowledge of painting or not, try to answer this question: What sort of tools of expression does a painter have? How does a painter express emotion? An idea? An intuition? A mathematical conept?
Proposed activities
It is recommended that your Study Group have at least these three books on hand, all available through the Henry S. Olcott Memorial Library.
- Man Visible and Invisible by C.W. Leadbeater. (The 1974 edition has the color chart.)
And the over-sized editions of these two works:
- Sacred Mirrors: The Visionary Art of Alex Grey with Ken Wilber and Carlo McCormick.
- Kandinsky by Hans K. Roethel
1- Read out loud as a group the handout “The Influence of Theosophy on Visual Arts.”
2- Use the color chart at the beginning of Leadbeater’s Man Visible and Invisible. Have a group facilitator cover the “key to the meanings” of the colors on the bottom of the page, and let group members meditate on different individual colors, writing down the feelings and thoughts associated with five or ten of them. Share as a group your associations with specific colors. After everyone has shared, have the group facilitator give the clairvoyant interpretation of the color.
3- A great visual artist intuitively uses a sense of rhythm which may well be made more apparent by viewing their work with musical accompaniment. Before the meeting, the group facilitator(s) should choose a few appropriate meditative musical pieces, and then choose four or five print replications of paintings from Kandinsky using the Roethel book. While the music is playing, have group members meditate on each painting for a few minutes and write down their impressions, feeling, etc. Group members who choose to can share their intuitive impressions.
4- Repeat exercise three using the work of Alex Grey (or another spiritual artist of your choice).
Resources: Books, audio and videorecordings on Arts and Music.
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