THE SOUNDING COSMOS: A Study in the Spiritualism of Kandinsky and the Genesis of Abstract

Book by Sixten Ringbom

May 2022

Published by Bokförlaget Stolpe

Press Contact: Alexandra Fanning | alexandra@alexandrafanning.com

Long unavailable and highly sought after, Ringbom's classic 1970 volume launched the study of esotericism's influence on abstract art

For many years, relatively few people knew of spiritualism's impact on the birth of abstract art. But when the Finnish art historian Sixten Ringbom's book The Sounding Cosmos was published in 1970, the writing of history changed forever. Through his research on Wassily Kandinsky, one of the pivotal figures in modern art, Ringbom showed how Theosophy and esoteric teachings were absolutely essential to the development of nonfigurative painting.

This discovery generated great debate at the time, and the book was both celebrated and controversial. Although the original publication is extremely rare and sought after, to this day The Sounding Cosmos is a classic of art history that continues to be discussed--especially in recent years, as the presence of esotericism in modernist art from Hilma af Klint to Mondrian and beyond has been revisited. The Sounding Cosmos is now being reissued for the first time in this elegant new edition.

The richly illustrated original text has been supplemented with a new foreword by Daniel Birnbaum and Julia Voss.

Sixten Ringbom (1935-92) was an influential Finnish art historian. In 1965 he completed a PhD under the great art historian Ernst Gombrich. Ringbom succeeded his father as professor of art history at Åbo Akademi University in 1970, and became the first art historian to explore in depth the connections between early abstract art and occultism. He published prolifically until his death in 1992.

About the Author

Sixten Ringbom was a professor of art history at Åbo Akademi University. He studied at the Swedish classical lyceum in Turku, then at the Åbo Akademi University Iwhere he later became professor.

Ringbom became the first scientist who has supposed an existence of a connection between early abstract art and occultism. He published his conjectures in an article "Art in 'The Epoch of the Great Spiritual': Occult Elements in the Early Theory of Abstract Painting" (1966) and in a book The Sounding Cosmos: A Study in the Spiritualism of Kandinsky and the Genesis of Abstract Painting (1970). From 1969 to 1973, he was the chief editor of Finsk Tidskrift, he was also the editor of a book Konsten i Finland [Art in Finland].