Overview

This pioneering account of Modern Spiritualism in late 19th and early 20th-century Scotland is a compelling history of the international movement’s cultural impact on Scottish art. From spirit-mediums creating séance art to mainstream artists of the Royal Scottish Academy, this exposition reveals for the first time the extent of Spiritualist interest in Scotland. With its interdisciplinary scope, Modern Spiritualism and Scottish Art combines cultural and art history to explore the ways in which Scottish art reflected Spiritualist beliefs at the turn of the 20th century. More than simply a history of the Spiritualist cause and its visual manifestations, this book also provides a detailed account of scepticism, psychical research, and occulture in modern Scotland, and the role that these aspects played in informing responses to Spiritualist ideology. Utilising extensive archival research, together with in-depth analyses of overlooked paintings, drawings and sculpture, Michelle Foot demonstrates the vital importance of Spiritualist art to the development of Spiritualism in Scotland during the 19th century. In doing so, the book highlights the contribution of Scottish visual artists alongside better-known Spiritualists such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Daniel Dunglas Home.

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9781350405813

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Reviews

This fascinating book illuminates a neglected aspect of Scottish art and society, namely the strong contribution to international Spiritualism from the middle of the 19th century onwards. Whilst Arthur Conan Doyle’s involvement is well known, the contributions of Scottish artists linked to Spiritualism are not. * Murdo Macdonald, Professor Emeritus of History of Scottish Art, University of Dundee, UK * In this rigorous and illuminating study, Foot reveals how modern spiritualism impacted Scotland’s urban, religious, and most importantly, artistic cultures in the 19th and early-20th centuries, mapping a nationally-specific current of spiritualist aesthetics within Scotland that stands dramatically apart from the movement’s reception in England. * Christine Ferguson, Professor of English, University of Stirling, UK * This is a ground-breaking study of Spiritualism and art. Its value goes way beyond its primary focus on the Scottish context. Michelle Foot’s analysis, based on an impressive knowledge of primary sources and visual material, offers new insights that will be useful to all those who are interested in the social and cultural impact of Spiritualism in the modern world. * Marco Pasi, Associate Professor, History of Hermetic philosophy, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands *

Author Information

Michelle Foot is Lecturer of Nineteenth-Century Art in the History of Art department at the University of Edinburgh, UK. She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

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