Emma Kunz “Visionary Drawings”
The Serpentine presents the first UK solo exhibition by the late Swiss visionary artist, healer and researcher Emma Kunz (1892–1963) that features over 40 of her rarely seen drawings. In the past, Emma Kunz’s work has been shown alongside Hilma af Klint, who was presented at the Serpentine in 2016, Georgiana Houghton and Agnes Martin, all of whom share her preoccupation with spirituality and forms of abstraction. This survey exhibition is a timely review of Kunz’s work which is underpinned by her belief in a holistic worldview. Systematic yet expansive in their compositions, her ‘energy-field’ drawings simultaneously contain micro and macro perspectives of nature, chiming with current discourses on ecology, as well as a desire to forge meaningful connections with our environment. Never shown in her lifetime, Emma Kunz predicted her drawings were destined for the 21st Century. The Serpentine has invited a number of contemporary voices to collaborate on this exhibition, bringing this historic body of work to future generations: The contemporary artist Christodoulos Panayiotou has worked with the Serpentine on the conception of the exhibition and has created new work.
Words and images via Serpentine Galleries
