Spiritualist Art in Early Twentieth-Century Aotearoa New Zealand: Minnie Chapman, Sophia Garland Allan and Berta Sinclair Burns

Abstract

Spirit drawing, as a means of channelling and expressing communications with spirit entities, has been marginalised in definitions of art as well as in art history. This essay contributes to ongoing and historical conversations in which new religious movements are considered in conjunction with histories of feminism and art, exploring the work of three medium artists: Minnie Chapman (1856–1949), Sophia Garland Allan (1867–1959) and Berta Sinclair Burns (1893–1972). This essay shows how the three artists share spiritualist sensibilities and practices and a visual language of abstraction, decorative expression and particular “universal” biomorphic forms, inviting speculation at the intersection of material culture and esoteric thought.