BEYOND THE VISIBLE: HILMA AF KLINT (2019) & CHASING PORTRAITS (2018)

BEYOND THE VISIBLE: HILMA AF KLINT (2019) by Halina Dryschka

“It’s more than worth a look — not only for its careful illumination of the artist’s biography, plus an abundant representation of her luminous paintings, but for the way in which it exposes the obstacles af Klint and her legacy faced. “ Christopher Knight, The Los Angeles Times

“It seems strange to be discussing such matters—from the occult, to the nature of universe, to sexism—within the context of a documentary that focuses on an obscure artist whose oeuvre is missing large sections, whose biography has a few gaps in it, and whose place in the history of art went overlooked until only a few years ago.” Mark Dujsik, Mark Reviews Movies

“But this is also a deeply engaging portrait of a woman who lived life on her own terms at a time when options for women were even more limited than they are now; who understood and seems to have accepted — albeit perhaps reluctantly — that her work would be ignored; who looked at the great movements of her time, both scientific and philosophical, and tried to integrate them in her own mind and outlook.“

CHASING PORTRAITS (2018) by Elizabeth Rynecki

“This is a very personal documentary that occasionally has the intentional feel of a home movie.” Odie Henderson, RogerEbert.com

“This film is less about the Holocaust than learning what happened to Holocaust era artwork. For Rynecki, it’s a lengthy quest but truly worth it in the long term. In finding more paintings and learning more about her great-grandfather, it enables her family to get the healing that they need. “ Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

“A heartfelt, vivid account of a hunt for lost masterpieces painted by a great-grandfather that prove to be unforgettable relics of a rich world swept away by war, taking readers on a lusciously detailed international journey that reminds us that the search for missing paintings is, at heart, a search for missing history.”—Anne-Marie O’Connor, National Bestselling Author of The Lady in Gold

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[Laurie]

Can you notice a theme for this May movie month? It’s something like documentaries that focus on artists whose artwork may or may not be made public in their lifetimes. Hidden artwork, and who gets to see it or keep it.

In the case of Hilma af Klint, she believed the world was not ready to understand her spiritual groundbreaking abstraction works, so she had stipulated in her will that her abstract artwork should not be shown publicly until at least 20 years after her death. It was her nephew who inherited her works and honoured this request and eventually slowly introduced her works to a gallery.

In Chasing Portraits, it is the filmmaker who is searching for the artwork of her great grandfather, Moshe Rynecki, many of which are in private collections worldwide and in Poland. Moshe saw what was happening in Poland in 1939 and wanting to protect his artwork, bundled it up and gave it to friends to keep it safe for his family to have after the war. He was murdered in 1943. Hilma af Klint died in 1944 in Sweden. I thought the timing was interesting here - her art was being sealed off from the world and his art was being protected by friends in Poland during the war. The following is a line, as remembered in the memoir of his son George:
“I simply am a writer of sorts—instead of words, I leave my messages in pictures.” I think this could apply to Vivian M, and to Hilma too !

You can stream BEYOND THE VISIBLE: HILMA AF KLINT and CHASING PORTRAITS for free on Kanopy.

Happy viewing!