Although they never met, Hilma af Klint and Piet Mondrian shared a deep dynamic connection to the natural world and began their careers as landscape painters. For them, science and mysticism were not exclusive practices, but part of the same essential framework for understanding the life forces around them. Both artists engaged with science and esoteric thought as tools for exploring the underlying structures of nature and how they give meaning to art and life.
The catalogue explores both artists’ practices in rich detail. Natural forms are abstracted to their atomic levels; cells evolve, dividing and expanding the canvas in colour; sinuous stems spiral into the ether whilst the crystalline formations of grids stretch out to form an infinite universe.
Nabila Abdel Nabi is a London-based art historian and curator. She is currently Curator, International Art at Tate Modern. Previously she was the Associate Curator at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. Prior to this she served as Gallery Manager at The Third Line in Dubai. She earned her M.A. from The Courtauld Institute of Art and a B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Laura Stamps is curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Kunstmuseum Den Haag and has previously worked at KM21 Den Haag. She worked on international exhibitions and catalogues of Alice Neel, Lee Bontecou, Paula Rego and Constant. New Babylon.
Briony Fer is an art historian who has written extensively on modern and contemporary art. Her research interests have consistently moved between the history of the avant-gardes and the work of contemporary artists, including Zoe Leonard, Gabriel Orozco, Roni Horn, Vija Celmins and Tacita Dean. Her books include On Abstract Art (1997), The Infinite Line (2004), Eva Hesse: Studiowork (2009) and Gabriel Orozco: thinking in circles (2013). She co-curated the Anni Albers retrospective with Maria Muller-Schareck and Ann Coxon at Tate Modern and K20 Dusseldorf in 2018. She is Professor of History of Art at University College London and a Fellow of the British Academy.
