All discussions about Theosophical influences on Lithuania’s leading painter mention his mentor, Polish symbolist Kazimierz Stabrowski. But what relationships did Theosophy have with art?
by Massimo Introvigne*
*A paper presented at the international conference “Sonata Soundscapes of M.K. Čiurlionis. Landscape and Sound: ‘Sonata of the Summer,’” Druskininkai, Lithuania, June 30–July 1, 2023.
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In 1904, the Lithuanian painter and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911) enrolled in the newly established Warsaw School of Fine Arts, whose director was Kazimierz Stabrowski (1869–1929). Stabrowski was only six years older than Čiurlionis and the two became friends. In all discussions about a possible influence of Theosophy on Čiurlionis, Stabrowski, who was a Theosophist, plays a crucial role.
Indeed, during his years at the Warsaw School, Stabrowski organized and Čiurlionis participated in the so-called “wild strawberry tea parties,” which were not formal meetings of a Theosophical lodge but included discussions of Theosophy, oriental religions, Spiritualism, and parapsychology.
We can call Stabrowski a “Theosophical” painter, and some of his paintings such as “The Consoler of Monsters” have a visible Theosophical flavor. However, some questions remain. What kind of Theosophist was Stabrowski? And how did Theosophy influence artists who were exposed to them? Answering these questions requires some preliminary notions about the Theosophical Society and its multiple connections with the artistic milieus.
The Theosophical Society was founded in New York in 1875 by Russian aristocrat Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891) and American lawyer Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907). Both had a background in Spiritualism. In 1878, they moved the headquarters of the Society to Adyar, India. Blavatsky then went to London, where she died in 1891.
In 1907, Olcott appointed as President of the Society Annie Besant (1847–1933), a former freethinker and feminist who will later have a crucial role in preparing the independence of India. Besant took as her close associate Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854–1934), a former Anglican clergyman. Leadbeater recognized in a young Indian, Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986), the future World Master.
The Theosophical Society experienced several major crises. In 1906, Leadbeater was accused of pedophilia, which led to more than one schism. These accusations resurfaced periodically until his death in 1934. In 1912–13, Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) founded the Anthroposophical Society as a Theosophical “Western Schism,” rejecting Blavatsky’s primacy of Eastern religions over Christianity. In 1929, Krishnamurti publicly renounced his role as World Master and continued a career as a spiritual teacher independent from the Society. The Theosophical Society survived the schisms, however, and currently still maintains some 24,000 members.
Only a few specialized academics studied Theosophy before 1970. In that year, art historian Sixten Ringbom (1935–1992) published a pioneer study, “The Sounding Cosmos,” claiming that Theosophy had a decisive influence on Kandinsky and the genesis of modern abstract art. Although Ringbom was criticized on several grounds, from then on scholars started discovering how many leading modern artists had been in touch with the Theosophical Society. In 1983, Linda Dalrymple Henderson published the first edition of her landmark study “The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art,” where she noted how Theosophists contributed to explore the idea of a spatial (rather than temporal) fourth dimension, which was crucially influential on modern art.
The relationship between the Theosophical Society and the visual arts passed what we may identify as three different stages: didactic, symbolic, and abstract. Although her comments on symbolic shapes influenced several artists, there is no evidence that Blavatsky was personally interested in avant-garde modern art. She seems to have rather favored a didactic art, illustrating through a quite conventional style the tenets of Theosophy. German artist Hermann Schmiechen (1855–1923) is an early example of this style. In 1884, he painted portraits of Blavatsky and of the mysterious Masters Koot Hoomi and Morya she claimed to be in contact with, under directions of Blavatsky and allegedly of the Masters themselves.
Towards the end of her life, Blavatsky befriended British painter Reginald Willoughby Machell (1854–1927). Machell left a promising career as an academic painter in order to focus on Theosophical works painted in a didactic style. After Blavatsky’s death, he joined the schismatic group of Katherine Tingley (1847–1929) and emigrated to her Californian community of Lomaland, where he lived for 27 years. Machell’s didactic art had his triumph in “The Path,” probably painted in 1895, a beloved Theosophical icon.
The second stage, Symbolism, of the Theosophical art emerged in Belgium around Jean Delville (1867–1952). He was part of the circle who first introduced the Theosophical Society into Belgium and remained its Belgian leader until he had to resign after Krishnamurti (whom he had strongly endorsed) announced he was not the World Teacher.
The influence of these Belgian Symbolists connected with Theosophy was felt in France, particularly by the painters known as the Nabis, whose leader Paul Sérusier (1864–1927) was a member of the Theosophical Society. Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) also read Blavatsky’s “The Secret Doctrine” and commented he had been strongly influenced by it.
French-speaking Symbolism was significantly influenced by French writer and member of the Theosophical Society Édouard Schuré (1841–1929), the author of the influential “The Great Initiates” (1889). Among those who regarded their encounter with Schuré as crucial was poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876–1944), the Italian founder of Futurism. Several Italian Futurists had contacts with the Theosophical Society, including Giacomo Balla (1871–1958), the Ginanni Corradini brothers, i.e., Bruno Corra (1892–1976) and Arnaldo Ginna (1890–1982, a member of the Society), and Umberto Boccioni (1882–1916).
Boccioni was among the painters who acknowledged the influence of Besant and Leadbeater’s book “Thought-Forms” (1905; a typo in some editions erroneously indicated it as first published in 1901), which claims that thoughts (and sounds) have forms that can be seen by clairvoyants. “Thought-Forms” had been preceded in 1902 by Leadbeater’s “Man Visible and Invisible.” The clairvoyant who drew the illustrations of this book was a Lithuanian diplomat and member of the Theosophical Society, count Mauricy Prozor (1849–1928).
The forms of “Thought-Forms” were not presented as abstract, since they claimed to be faithful representation of emotions and thoughts. Theosophy and “Thought-Forms,” however, did act in some instances as a catalyst in the transition from symbolism to abstract art. We can follow this process from Symbolism to abstract art among artists influenced by Theosophy and “Thought-Forms” in the career of Czech painter František Kupka (1871–1957).
Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) explored Theosophy for several years, and attended lectures by Steiner when the latter was still a member of the Theosophical Society.
Although never his only source of inspiration, Theosophy certainly did play an important role in Kandinsky’s approach to abstract art, as evidenced by his influential manifesto “Concerning the Spiritual in Art.”
The Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872–1944) joined the Theosophical Society in 1909. He made the transition, quite typical of Theosophical painters, from Symbolism to abstract art. While some critics denied it, he insisted to his last days that Theosophy was crucial for him and what he produced was “Theosophical art in the true sense of the word.”
Only recently, through several major exhibitions, Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) has been recognized as an important abstract painter. Af Klint was a Spiritualist who claimed to draw under the guidance of the spirits. But she also studied Blavatsky and became a member of the Theosophical Society. She met Steiner in 1908 and followed him when he left the Theosophical Society and founded Anthroposophy.
Lawren Harris (1885–1970), the best-known Canadian painter of the 20th century, was a very active Theosophist, and gathered around him in the Group of Seven and other enterprises artists who were either members or otherwise close to the Theosophical Society. He also went from figurative to abstract art.
Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947) was the best-known Russian Theosophist artist. Both he and his wife Helena (1879–1955) claimed they received messages from the same Masters Blavatsky had been in contact with. This eventually led to another schism from the Theosophical Society, Agni Yoga.
These artists had different relationships with the Theosophical Society or its splinter groups:
-Some were “influenced” by Theosophy (and admitted as much in their writings), such as Kandinsky and Gauguin, but did not regard themselves as Theosophists, nor did they try to propagate Theosophy.
-Some were somewhat “passive members” of the Theosophical Society, such as Mondrian (who tried to have his artistic theories endorsed by the Society but failed) and Ginna. They did belong to the Society but did not present themselves as Theosophists in public.
-Some were “active members” of the Society, had administrative responsibilities, proselytized for (their brand of) Theosophy, and tried to recruit other artists. These include Machell, Delville, Harris, and Roerich.
