so much going on in the art & film worlds this week so I thought I’d share one of my favorite artists and the film that’s bringing her to life for many who don’t know her.
This week’s news of note: Many of you have taken art history class with me in the past and might remember a series I did on the life & work of Swedish artist Hilma af Klint.
While we know and appreciate her today for the numerous large scale, often symmetrical, color filled abstracts and geometric works she painted, many of which she said were inspired directly by spiritual forces, this aspect of her creative life was relatively unknown to the general public during her lifetime.
Her work was years ahead of Kandinsky’s abstracts, yet she kept them hidden from the public, because they were so vastly different than her floral illustration work. Because she felt the abstracts would not be well received by a public that was not ready yet, she stipulated that nothing could be shown to the public for DECADES after her death…a sad delay that resulted in her being overlooked for her incredibly galvanizing, ground breaking work.
She began working on The Ten Largest in October 1907 after a vision inspired her to create beautiful images that explained the stages of life. Curiously, October seemed to be play a role in her life and its creative flow, as she was born and died in October ( 1862-1944) and created her first massive series of large scale works a month after having a vision about the process.
Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom has brought her story to the screen and the reviews at festivals are quite positive with tour de force Lena Olin as Hilma.
If your looking for a rapid paced, quick fire action film, this will not be for you…but if you’re looking for a finely crafted film that makes a connection to a tremendously, talented female artist who was overlooked and disrespected during her lifetime, then this film has your name, well actually Hilma’s name, all over it.
profvalfranco 
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