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Comprehensive Publications
Apart from commissioned collection research, Bax Art initiates projects and publications which provide new views on art history.
Western esotericism, of great importance to the development of avant-garde art currents, is one of the neglected – and therefore rewarding – topics. All of this historical research – objective, detailed and interdisciplinary, with equal attention to the whole and to the detail – offers new cultural interpretations and international relations.

Architectura & Natura

Bauhaus Lecture Notes 1930-1933. Theory and practice of architectural training at the Bauhaus, based on the lecture notes made by the Dutch ex-Bauhaus student and architect J.J. van der Linden of the Mies van der Rohe curriculum, Amsterdam, Architectura & Natura 1991.

Concept realization for the Iona Foundation in Amsterdam.
The brothers Jan en Kees van der Linden were the only Dutch students of architecture at the Bauhaus in Dessau. Jan (1907-1993), founder of the Iona Foundation, had retained his complete notes of the lectures.
The book reframes the artistic goals of the institute and of Mies van der Rohe. Not the Bauhaus changed under the directorship of Mies, but Mies changed because of his directorship at the Bauhaus.
Published with microfilms of the notes.
Interviews with the architect.
 

Amsterdam University Press

The Initiated Artist. Methodological Introduction into Western Esotericism in Art, 1800-1945, forthcoming from Amsterdam University Press (co-editor Andréa Kroon, www.kroonwagtberghansen.nl ).

The first handbook to appear on de relationship between art and western esotericism in the 19th and 20th century.

Key activities: concept realization, book production, fundraising, international networking.
 

Dissertation

Het web der schepping. Theosofie en kunst in Nederland van Lauweriks tot Mondriaan, Amsterdam, SUN Publishers 2006.

First elaborate, interdisciplinary study of the influence of modern theosophy on Dutch art between 1880 and 1920.
Analysis of the evolution of the Dutch section of the Theosophical Society out of anarchistic, spiritualist, Masonic and freethinking circles, and of the essential components of the theosophical doctrine and their influence on visual arts, architecture and design. First comprehensive analysis of the theosophical components of Piet Mondrian’s art and art theory based on his essays in the magazine De Stijl. Contains a prosopographical analysis of the Dutch members of the Theosophical Society, based on thorough genealogical research, and a complete list of artist members.
 
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