Skilled Painter Turned Abstract Pioneer: The Gendered Press Reporting on Hilma af Klint 1890–2013

The article examines the Swedish press reporting on Hilma af Klint from 1890 to 2013. The analysis shows that af Klint's identity as a woman artist influenced the reception of her art in different ways throughout history. During the late nineteenth century, af Klint exhibited figurative art and was described as a relatively skilled artist in the press. She did not receive as much prominence as some male colleagues, which may have been due to the discrimination of women artists. In the late 1900s, af Klint's occult abstract paintings were exhibited, initiating a press debate on her standing as an abstract pioneer in modernist art history. However, the commentators did not consider af Klint a modernist painter and agreed she could not be equated with modernist male pioneers. When af Klint's abstract paintings were shown in an exhibition at Moderna Museet in 2013, the press responded differently. On this occasion, af Klint's gender had a favorable influence on the press reporting. Furthermore, there was widespread consensus that af Klint needed to be recognized as an abstract pioneer. As a result, af Klint was portrayed as a groundbreaking genius within modernism, illustrating the dynamic process of canonization in art history.