“The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting
1890-1985”
LACMA | 1987
Curated by Maurice Tuchman
LACMA was the first museum to feature curator Maurice Tuchman’s groundbreaking exhibition “The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985” in 1987, including both Hilma af Klint and Jackson Pollock. “The exhibition has deservedly received major attention in the art world, both for its visual achievement and for the interesting questions it raises with respect to the spiritual, mystical and occult origins of abstract art. The documentation in the book will forever change how we understand those origins. Moreover, that one of the major museums in this country should inaugurate a new period in its life with the subject matter of the spiritual in art represents a major shift in contemporary sensibilities. Two decades ago this would have been unthinkable.” – The Los Angeles Times Review, 1987.
Select Images
Maurice Denis, “Catholic Mystery,” 1889.
Paul Ranson, “Christ and Buddha,” 1880.
Piet Mondrian, “Evolution,” 1911.
Wassily Kandinsky,”The Lady in Moscow,” 1912.
Hilma af Klint, “Group X, No. 1, Altarpiece,” 1915.
Paul Klee, “Untitled,” 1929.
Jackson Pollock, “Night Mist,” 1944.
Ellsworth Kelly, “Yellow Relief,” 1954.
