Author Description

A lavishly produced facsimile of af Klint's rarely seen portfolio of botanical drawings Hilma af Klint's Nature Studies portfolio (1919-20), rooted in the artist's close observation of flowering plants and her extensive botanical knowledge, aims to connect the material and spiritual realms. The 46 sheets of this pivotal work present more than 100 flowering plants rendered in exquisite detail, evocatively reflecting what the artist saw in the field and what she knew of their morphology, from the shape of a blossom to the arc of a leaf. Juxtaposed with each is a multicolored diagram, drawn from her own abstract language, which visualizes aspects of the human character. Af Klint imagined her portfolio as an atlas--or in botanical terms, a flora--that details the plants of Sweden, where she lived and worked. Hers, however, is a flora of the spirit, a mapping of the natural world in spiritual terms. This deluxe facsimile of af Klint's rarely seen portfolio is published in a limited edition of 500. Each of the 46 drawings is presented on its own sheet at full scale, and the collection is enclosed in a luxe clamshell case. A booklet with a contextualizing essay by curator Jodi Hauptman examines af Klint's engagement with the natural world.