1937 (ca.), Austin Spare, Uprise -- Auckland Art Gallery
From the gallery label:
Tumescent phallic forms endowed with faces rise and fall with fluid grace in this pencil and wash drawing by English artist Austin Osman Spare. Initially influenced by Symbolism and Art Nouveau, Spare was later touted as England's first Surrealist, having promoted since 1910 a form of automatic drawing in which 'something is transmitted - I don't know where from - maybe from the dead, or from our own past experiences, or from other lives we have lived'. A one-time follower of the occultist Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), Spare became a famous authority on witchcraft and magic symbols ('sigils') and championed sexual energy as a means to transcend everyday reality.
1937 (ca.), Austin Spare, Uprise -- Auckland Art Gallery
From the gallery label:
Tumescent phallic forms endowed with faces rise and fall with fluid grace in this pencil and wash drawing by English artist Austin Osman Spare. Initially influenced by Symbolism and Art Nouveau, Spare was later touted as England's first Surrealist, having promoted since 1910 a form of automatic drawing in which 'something is transmitted - I don't know where from - maybe from the dead, or from our own past experiences, or from other lives we have lived'. A one-time follower of the occultist Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), Spare became a famous authority on witchcraft and magic symbols ('sigils') and championed sexual energy as a means to transcend everyday reality.