Theosophy and the Arts

Enchanting Modernity: Theosophy and the Arts in the Making of Early Twentieth-Century Culture

Liverpool Hope University

3 Dec 2010

> "In Search of Images of Religious Purity: Osvald Sirén and the Allure of Chinese Art"

paper by Dr. Minna Törmä

This paper takes a look on Osvald Sirén (1879–1966) and the way theosophy played a role in both his professional and personal life. He was internationally known historian of Italian painting and pioneering scholar of Chinese art in the West; he was institutionally placed in Stockholm, first as Professor of Art History in the University of Stockholm (1908–1923) and then as curator of the Department of Painting and Sculpture in the Nationalmuseum (1926–1944).

Theosophy played an important role in Sirén’s life, it was the basis of his world view, and he had published articles on various topics in Swedish journal Theosophia since 1900, then in 1912 appeared his first article in the English periodical The Theosophical Path, after he had visited Point Loma in California, the Theosophical Headquarters and Katherine Tingley (1847–1929), in 1911.

Historically speaking, the movement has promoted in a significant degree the knowledge of Asian cultures by popularizing Oriental religions. On the other hand, because they had a tendency to mystify matters, they sometimes went from one extreme to the other: instead of scorn, the East was seen as a paradise veiled in secrecy. Sirén himself saw that spreading knowledge of particularly East Asian art, would help a return to spiritual values which were lost in the surge of materialism.