The Spiritual Dynamic in Modern Art, 1800 to the Present research collection, 1890-2011

Printable guide [HTML]

Summary

Creators:
Spretnak, Charlene, 1946 -
Abstract:
The collection consists of working files for Charlene Spretnak's book, The Spiritual Dynamic in Modern Art: Art History Reconsidered, 1800 to the Present, along with exhibition catalogs and artists monographs.
Extent:
9.2 linear feet (9 record boxes and one 2" box)
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

The Spiritual Dynamic in Modern Art, 1800 to the Present research collection, GTU 2016-10-01. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of working files, clippings, articles, interviews, exhibition catalogs and artist's monographs used to write the book, The Spiritual Dynamic in Modern Art .

Biographical / historical:

Charlene Spretnak (1946- ) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and raised in Columbus, Ohio. Spretnak earned her B.A. at St. Louis University, and an M.A. in English and American Literature from the University of California, Berkeley (1981). Beginning her pioneering work in the 1970s, Spretnak is known for her theorizing, scholarship, and activism in the areas of feminism (including women's spirituality), ecological thought (including Green politics), cultural history (including the history of modern art), social criticism, and dynamic interrelatedness.

She is author of two works on the women's spirituality movement: Lost Goddesses of Early Greece (1978) and The Politics of Women's Spirituality (editor, 1982). Later books include: coauthor with Fritjof Capra, Green Politics: The Global Promise (1984); author of The Spiritual Dimension of Green Politics (l986); States of Grace: The Recovery of Meaning in the Postmodern Age (1991); The Resurgence of the Real: Body, Nature, and Place in a Hypermodern World (1997); Missing Mary: The Queen of Heaven and Her Re-Emergence in the Modern Church (2004); and Relational Reality: New Discoveries of Interrelatedness That Are Transforming the Modern World (2011). This collection is based on her research for her 2014 book The Spiritual Dynamic in Modern Art: Art History Reconsidered, 1800 to the Present .

She is Professor Emerita in the Philosophy and Religion Department at the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, California, and a research fellow at The Green Institute, a center for research and policy of the Green Movement, which she helped found in August 1984. She was inducted in 1989 into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in recognition of her writings on spirituality and social justice. In 2006, she was named by the British government's Environment Department as one of the "100 Eco-Heroes of All Time."

Acquisition information:
The collection was donated by Charlene Spretnak and received on 1/27/2017.
Arrangement:

The original order created by Charlene Spretnak was maintained. The order is a combination of chronological and alphabetical. Prominent historical modern artists are in the front of a series; contemporary artists are then listed alphabetically. Series: 1, Modern Artists Engaged with the Abrahamic Traditions (predominately Christianity); 2, Modern Artists Engaged with Esoteric Spirituality (1885-1920); 3, Modern Artists Engaged with Allusive Spirituality (subtle, abstract art; often Buddhist-inflected); 4, Modern Artists Engaged with the Spirituality of Immanance (body and nature as sacred); 5, Photographers and Videographers Engaged with Spirituality; 6, Modern Architects Engaged with Spirituality; 7, Art Historians on spirituality in Modern Art; and 8, Videos (VHS).

Physical location:
6/J/top-6
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

The Spiritual Dynamic in Modern Art, 1800 to the Present research collection, GTU 2016-10-01. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.

Location of this collection:
2400 Ridge Road
Berkeley, CA 94709, US
Contact:
(510) 649-2523/2501
archives@gtu.edu
Website