Why read The Spiritual in Art?

Book cover of The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985

Book description

The seventeen essays in this provocative book provide a radical rethinking of abstraction, from the Symbolism that prefigured abstract art through the current manifestations of spiritual content in American and European painting.

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Spiritual in Art as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Charlene Spretnak

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This is the grand exhibition catalogue that burst through the professional art world’s wall of denial that modern, especially abstract, art would have any spiritual content. The extensive exhibition this book accompanied opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1986 and then travelled to The Hague, where it influenced young European art historians (though was largely ignored in the United States). This catalogue contains excellent articles by 17 noted “rebellious” art historians, including an overview by the head curator of the exhibition, Maurice Tuchman. The many color plates are stunning. This book is indispensable for anyone seeking…

From Charlene's list on The best books on the spiritual dimension of modern art, 1800 to the present.