Writer and Director: Halina Dyrschka
An arts documentary with its eye on the future as much as the past, Beyond the Visible tells the story of artist Hilma af Klint.
Af Klint was born in Stockholm, 1862. She showed an aptitude for drawing and painting, and was part of the second generation of women allowed to attend the Stockholm Royal Academy. Her still-life and portrait work earned money; she also worked as an illustrator. But a sudden move into abstraction in 1906 saw af Klint’s paintings shift into another gear. Early in the film we are shown examples of af Klint’s work, compared to known abstract masters such as Mondrian, Klee and Kandinsky. Af Klint’s paintings, dated, pre-empt every one of these artists.
It is this extraordinary introduction that shapes the rest of the documentary. Directed and written by Halina Dyrschka, Beyond the Visible questions why an artist making such ground-breaking work was ignored by the establishment.
Using the standard format of interviews with archive footage and examinations of af Klint’s paintings, the documentary is at its strongest when assessing Hilma’s artistic contribution. Compared to the slower, more measured development of her male peers, af Klint moves quickly and boldly into abstraction. Her focus on colour and composition make striking images. They feel reminiscent of what we’ve seen before, in particular with artists such as Wassily Kandinsky. The documentary then reminds us that af Klint was painting these images while Kandinsky’s were still in the development phase. Her early interest in botany fuses with the scientific breakthroughs of the age. There are clear references in her work to the splitting of the atom, radioactivity and quantum mechanics. But what is different here is that the range of influence is retrospective. Af Klint’s abstract work was not fully exhibited until 1986.
Beyond the Visible picks at the threads, looking at why af Klint went unrecognised for so long. The film makes the obvious points – abstraction was considered an intellectual, ‘male’ field, and to acknowledge af Klint’s earlier work would mean rewriting the history of abstract art. She was rejected because of her keen interest in spiritualism, despite this also being popular with other (male) artists at the time. While a Guggenheim exhibition has recently showcased af Klint’s achievements, Dyrschka answers the earlier neglect by allowing large parts of the film to be taken up with close-ups of the paintings. While the documentary’s contributors make a strong case for af Klint, the work is allowed to speak for itself.
The documentary has no choice in leaning on the art because af Klint left so little personal material behind. Her biography is pieced together but cannot give us a clear idea of her personality. Even in family photos, af Klint’s piercing gaze appears aloof and other-worldly. While the film convinces us of af Klint’s artistic worth – her paintings pulsate with energy – Beyond the Visible struggles with an enigmatic subject. We learn what the artist did but her motivation, to become a “pioneer of abstraction”, remains a mystery.
Beyond the Visible is available on DVD and Video on Demand from Modern Films.
The Reviews Hub Score:
An enigmatic portrait
