Enchanted Modernities
Mysticism, Landscape, and the American West
April 14 - December 10, 2014
With artworks from the NEHMA permanent collection and works on loan from a number of museums and private collectors, this exhibition explores the role of the American West as a site for rebirth and enchantment, specifically through artists and composers who explored the visionary interpretations of the landscape in visual or musical forms inspired by Theosophical ideas. Curated by a group of international scholars, selected works convey local and regional connections to Theosophically-inspired artists and musicians while also placing them within the international network of enchanted culture that flourished in the early 20th century.
So what is Theosophy? While its roots go back thousands of years, beginning from the 1500s forward, it has generally been associated with the practices of using knowledge and observations of nature and one's self as a way to understand the divinity in nature both physically and metaphysically.
Oskar Fischinger
Oil pastel on blue paper
20 x 19.5 inches
Gift of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation
Photograph by Andrew McAllister
Emil Bisttram, Dualities, 1938, Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches, Gift of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation
Enchanted Modernities: Mysticism, Landscape, and the American West exhibition. April 14 – December 10, 2014. Installation view 1, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. Utah State University. Logan, Utah. Photograph by Andrew McAllister, June 2014.
Beatrice Wood, Double Bottle, 1987, Earthenware with luster glaze, 7.25 x 11 x 4.5 inches, Gift of Nora Eccles Harrison
Emil Bisttram, Symphony in White, 1942, Oil on canvas, 36 x 27 inches, Gift of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation
William Lumpkins, A Painting is Conceived as the Color Flows from the Brush to Paper, 1947, Watercolor on paper, 7 x 14.75 inches, Gift of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation
Enchanted Modernities: Mysticism, Landscape, and the American West exhibition. April 14 – December 10, 2014. Installation view 2, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. Utah State University. Logan, Utah. Photograph by Andrew McAllister, June 2014.
Oskar Fischinger, Blue Cristal, Oil pastel on blue paper, 20 x 19.5 inches, Gift of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation
Emil Bisttram, The Burning Bush, 1959, Enamel on canvas, 59.5 x 36 inches, Gift of Barry Sloane
Raymond Jonson, Watercolor No. 10, 1938, Airbrushed watercolor on paper, 21.75 x 20 inches, Gift of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation
Enchanted Modernities: Mysticism, Landscape, and the American West exhibition. April 14 – December 10, 2014. Installation view 3, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. Utah State University. Logan, Utah. Photograph by Andrew McAllister, June 2014.
Emil Bisttram, Reflections, 1960, Lacquer on masonite, 44 x 56 inches, Gift of Barry Sloane
Lawren Harris, Painting No. 48, ca. 1938 – 1941, Oil on Masonite, 20 x 26 inches, Gift of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation
Henrietta Shore, Two Worlds, ca. 1921, Oil on canvas, 33.5 x 29.5 inches, Gift of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation
Enchanted Modernities: Mysticism, Landscape, and the American West exhibition. April 14 – December 10, 2014. Installation view 4, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. Utah State University. Logan, Utah. Photograph by Andrew McAllister, June 2014.
