{"product_id":"hilma-af-klint-tree-of-knowledge-9781644230848","title":"Hilma AF Klint: Tree of Knowledge","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe first detailed survey of Swedish artist Hilma af Klint's groundbreaking \u003ci\u003eTree of Knowledge\u003c\/i\u003e series \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Revelatory and sublime. . . . Her work remains conceptually open enough for viewers to draw their own conclusions, insert their own meaning and feel transported to other glorious worlds.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e One of the most inventive artists of the twentieth century, af Klint was a pioneer of abstraction. Her first forays into nonobjective painting preceded the work of Kandinsky and Mondrian and radically mined the fields of science and religion. Deeply interested in spiritualism and philosophy, af Klint developed an iconography that explores esoteric concepts in metaphysics, as demonstrated in \u003ci\u003eTree of Knowledge\u003c\/i\u003e. This rarely seen series of works on paper renders orbital, enigmatic forms, visual allegories of unification and separateness, darkness and light, beginning and end, life and death, and spirit and matter. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Published on the occasion of the exhibition \u003ci\u003eHilma af Klint: Tree of Knowledge\u003c\/i\u003e at David Zwirner, New York, in 2021 and David Zwirner, London, in 2022, this book features a text by the art historian Susan Aberth examining af Klint's spiritual and theosophical influences. With a conversation between curator Helen Molesworth and the US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo discussing connections between \u003ci\u003eTree of Knowledge\u003c\/i\u003e and Native theories, the publication broadens the scope of philosophical interpretations of af Klint's timeless work. Also included is a newly commissioned essay by the celebrated af Klint scholar Julia Voss, a contribution by the artist Suzan Frecon, and a text by art historian Max Rosenberg that further develops the conversation around why af Klint's work was not recognized in its time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHilma af Klint \u003c\/b\u003e(1862-1944) is now regarded as a pioneer of abstract art. Though her paintings were not seen publicly until 1987, her work from the early 20th century predates the first purely abstract paintings by Kandinsky, Mondrian, and Malevich. Af Klint was born in Solna, outside Stockholm, and studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm from 1882 to 1888. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's 2018 survey of af Klint's work was the first major solo exhibition in the United States devoted to the artist, offering an unprecedented opportunity to experience af Klint's long-underrecognized artistic achievements. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eJulia Voss\u003c\/b\u003e is a curator, art critic, and professor. Her biography of Hilma af Klint was on the shortlist of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in 2020 and became a bestseller. She headed the visual arts department of the \u003ci\u003eFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung\u003c\/i\u003e for ten years and has been teaching art history as an honorary professor at Leuphana University in Lüneburg since 2015. She lives in Berlin with her husband Philipp Deines and two children. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eSusan Aberth\u003c\/b\u003e is the Edith C. Blum Professor in the Art History and Visual Culture Program at Bard College. Her publications include \u003ci\u003eThe Tarot of Leonora Carrington\u003c\/i\u003e, co-authored with Mexican curator Tere Arcq, and \u003ci\u003eLeonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art\u003c\/i\u003e. She has contributed to the publications \u003ci\u003eWitchcraft\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eNot Without My Ghosts\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eAgnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eSurrealism, Occultism and Politics: In Search of the Marvelous\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eLeonora Carrington and the International Avant-Garde\u003c\/i\u003e, among others. Her work has also appeared in \u003ci\u003eArtforum\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eJournal of Surrealism of the Americas\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAbraxas: International Journal of Esoteric Studies\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eBlack Mirror\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eSuzan Frecon\u003c\/b\u003e is an artist known for abstract oil paintings and works on paper. She was born in 1941 in Mexico, Pennsylvania. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eMax Rosenberg\u003c\/b\u003e is an art historian and associate director of research and exhibitions at David Zwirner. He has worked on exhibitions on Josef Albers, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, William Eggleston, Paul Klee, Giorgio Morandi, Raymond Pettibon, and Christopher Williams, among others. He has received grants and awards from the Dedalus Foundation, the Fulbright Program, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and the Getty Research Institute, among other institutions. His writings have appeared in various publications, including \u003ci\u003eThe Getty Research Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTexte zur Kunst\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eArt in America\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA poet, musician, playwright, author, and member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, \u003cb\u003eJoy Harjo\u003c\/b\u003e is currently serving as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, her second term as Poet Laureate. She has written nine books of poetry and two memoirs, and has edited several anthologies of Native American writing. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eHelen Molesworth\u003c\/b\u003e is a Los Angeles-based writer, podcaster, and curator. Her major museum exhibitions include: \u003ci\u003eLeap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933-1957\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThis Will Have Been: Art, Love, and Politics in the 1980s\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eWork Ethic\u003c\/i\u003e. She has organized monographic exhibitions of Ruth Asawa, Moyra Davey, Noah Davis, Louise Lawler, Steve Locke, Kerry James Marshall, Catherine Opie, and Luc Tuymans. She is the author of numerous catalogue essays and her writing has appeared in \u003ci\u003eArtforum\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eArt Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eDocuments\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eOctober\u003c\/i\u003e. The recipient of the 2011 Bard Center for Curatorial Studies Award for Curatorial Excellence, in 2021 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship and in 2022 she was awarded The Clark Art Writing Prize.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"David Zwirner Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50618243023122,"sku":"9781644230848","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f3f6c27e-fa10-4498-87d7-562fb18da2fe.jpg?v=1732528850","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/hilma-af-klint-tree-of-knowledge-9781644230848","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}