LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART ABDEVILLE PRESS : PUBLISHERS: NEW YORK. ‘ 1486 \ COrgorzed by MAURICE TUCHMAN wi sh asstane of JUDI FREEMAN insertion wth CAREL BLOTKAMP Fup BOL, JONN £, BOMLT CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS CHARLES. ELDREDGE ROBERT GALDREATH LINDA DALRYMPLE HENDERSON OSE-CAROL WASHTCN LONG SIXTEN RINGHOM W JACKSON RUSHING HARRIETT WATTS ROBERT P. WELSH THE SPIRITUAL IN ART: ABSTRACT PAINTING 1890-1985MYSTICISM, LINDA DALRYMPLE HENDERSON In 1904 the American architect and occult author Cau ROMANTICISM, AND THE FOURTH D agdon (pl. 1) wrote an article onthe Belgian Symbol~ ‘he Mauece Maeterinck that brought together overall spiritual cneeens ofthe ew cen= tury, Of Mactetinek, Biagdon wrote, "Acta igor have walue to himtonly as they image hae spiritual workdin which souls meet nd dell and he communicates to ov inner Consciousness his tere in this itmmanent, tpuiavinible universe much 252 mathemati fan i able co make plan the nature of foar “Timensional space intangible co the senses, {etvacedinch’s esas sem “strange and tneflabl," it only beense "the infinite fetuses to be expressed in terms ofthe finite. Macterlinck i "the mystic of che modecn World," and "the onenes of the individual Weinabe absote ie te ecureen cefiain of his {very song,” Moreoves, is "widening inh ee and his increasing popularity” establ thar aficr centuries of parey objective com= lowsness 2 speivual epoch is at ast upon Shieh the soul dra neat the surface of ie" Beagdon’s text contains one of bis first pub lished references to the fourth dimension, 2 fubjet that he wold ake his own ina series Stbocks publithed from 1912 onward. fin tyoaiehad not yet developed the connections ‘erween a fourth dimension and mysticism, te he would do Ite his ext nevertheless set IMENSION forth certain mystical themes that became fencal to early wentieth-century discussions fof fourth dimension: the infinite, the woh tion of consciousness, and the philosophical toniam implied by Maetstnck's bein he oneness ofthe indvidal with the abso tue" Transcending national Boundaies these three themes weave «thread reaching, bck to Romanticism and forward to Surreal {bm, evo movements which the mystical tradition played an importanc rok [Although interest in a fourth dimension of Space was an ourgeomrth of te development ole dimensional geomeries during dic frst fal of the nineteenth century. the nocion of fourth dimension had become highly popular~ jae by te urn ofthe century. By that time the term ie accumolted a variery of ‘nowmathematial associations he primary fone being an ideals philosophical nterpeet2~ lon ofits higher rest Beyond chee ‘mensional, visual perception. fc, the toncepe enjoyed symbiotic reaionship with the mystical tradition. Early weners onthe fourth dimension often drew upon the se sminology of mysticism, and convessly weit- rs of mystial bent soch 2s Brgdon found inthe idea of fourth dimension 3 means 0 sake the inelable more concrete neNDeRsoine Brad. 8p. otogrph. Bragéon Paty Papers Unvery of chor rang, New York ‘hotogaph uspesty Colleton, ‘ner. New Hoven Counce “This essay examines the three eatiest and rosin uel ewentieth-century statemens ‘on arc and the fourth dimension, Two ofthese feoxs were written by figuees within the art ‘world: Max Weber's Camere ork article “The Fourth Dimension fom a Plastic Point of View" (1910), and Guillaume Apolinaice’s iscasion of lepine dimesion he fourth imension), printed frst ns 1912 article and Tater in his Les Pevares Cites (1913). The ‘hicd text, Tern Ongena, published in Saint Poceesbrg nyt), was writen By the ‘rye philosopher PD. Ouspensky an was ead by arts from te Russian Futurists and Malevich through the Sueeasts and beyond Althowgh published in widely separated few York, Pars, Sane Pversburg), the hee statements share sours inthe ys tial and occult tradition. Considered rel tion to the sues of infinity, mons, and the ewolaion of conscious he text have Far ‘ore in common than has ben noted previously Variations within the mystical wadiion belp plain the differing aresie ramifications of tach cent, respecively, for Weber's painting, for Coie painters i Apolliaie’s cele, and for Karimi Malevich andthe Surrealist who ead Ouspensky,* Indeed, 2 soholy or partly ‘mystical iterpretation of the fourth dimen sion underlies seyesanging from Symbalist and Cubiscevocations of higher space, which ‘tlized some degre of recognizable form, t0 the foal sbetracion: of Malevich's geometric Supeematisn and che organi inner world oF ‘he Srrealists Matt and Gordon Onslow-Ford.> Deore considering the statements of Weber, Apollinsre, and Ouspensky in chit indivi tal contexts, is helpful o provide some bistorial background for these wre" con cepts of infinity as well as monismn and che fvolution oF consciousness. Because infinity hhsea more complex altral history than either ofthe other two issues, it serves pattce blarly wel to demonstate the remarkable Similrtes in the larguage of mysticism, Romanticism, and erature onthe fourth slimension, Thus we begin with the words of ‘Weber, Apollinste, and Ouspensky onthe subject of infinity. ‘Compared with Ouspensky's kngthy book con the fourth dimension, the essays of Weber dnd Apollinate offer suecinc statements on ‘he relation of the fourth dimension 0 infin- ity tn is tgioarile, Weber explained that th fourth dinension i "he emmensity fall tinge” ad the dimension f ny Apoliaie in hi agra arte deseribed the fourch dimension 35 "the aac of space cteraising sel nll dvecoons at any ven ‘omen and srrtd that" space ell {he dimension ofthe nfnite"» The dosenss ofthe so texts maybe explained in part by Weber's having met Apolinaie in Pare b> {908 and Apolinairessubreyoen eransoion of Weber's ey Before he wrote his own ‘Ouspensky's Ten Organon presents his _mysical philosophy based on ee evolution of consciousness co comprehend higher-dimet= ‘Sonal space. For Quspnsky (pl 2) “art Finciuding poetry and msic}is 2 path 0.65 ‘ic consciousness," and 9 "sensation of init ity” characterizes the fst mornents ofthe transition tothe new consccasness of Fou dimensionality: "The sense of the infinite ‘he fis and most treble wea before ini ation, Nothing exists. A litle miserable soul feos tslf suspended in an infiite void. Then ‘even the void disappear. Tare is only itin~ ityea constant and continuous division and isolation of everything.”According co Ovspensky che “sensation of infinity" and che attendant recognition of "sn abyss everywher2" willbe secompanied by 0 impression of unter and never-ending ilogiaiy-"™ With the ansiton to four- imensional consciousness comes radical reversal of what had ben seen in the three ‘imensional world as rel and unreal 0 logi= ‘al and illogieal. Ouspensky proponed h ‘ew alogial logic of “Tertiom Organum” 3s ‘means for an individual to prepare forthe tevtltion of four-dimensional reality. Once achieved, "cormie consciousness” brings fur- {er reversals In the fourth dimension, the | snitorioned sense of up-down and left-right fadesaway, and objects canbe viewed from al sides at once. Even more sailing isthe ‘discovery that time and motion, as under ‘00d nthree dimensions, ad been mere lu sions produced by inadequate perception of four-dimensional extension. Not ony 3 new Togie but anew language i needed forthe world of higher consciousness. "New parts of seeds are necessary, a infinite number of ‘words," Ouspensky argued.* In addition to infinity, these Last re issues (Geeedom feom up-down and left-right ort entation and the adequacy of present n= guage) aso indicate che debc of Ouspensky and others to mysticism and Romanticism. For example, Wiliam jomesin The Vareer of Religious Experionc (1903) lite 38 the st uricteristc of mystical experience" {abity” or “incommunicableness fon the fourth dimension in the early ewe cencury Feequendly pointed ox the nad