CREATIVITY
Julia Voss loves art and literature. The art historian has written several books herself, including a biography.
CREATIVITY
Julia Voss loves art and literature. The art historian has written several books herself, including a biography.
The greatest moment in art is when
you feel it’s taking you along with it,”
says Julia Voss. Just like the works of
Swedish painter Hilma af Klint, to
whom she dedicates a large part of her
work. Julia Voss is considered one of the
most important art critics in Germany
and a recognised expert on the painter.
One of the most moving moments of her work was the Klint exhibition
at the Guggenheim Museum in New York five years ago.
It attracted 600,000 visitors, making it the most successful show in
the history of the museum.
“The exhibition was a game-changer,” says Julia Voss. “Hilma af Klint finally got the place in art history that she deserved. Before that, she was misunderstood for years, or even ignored. She is The Discovering Woman par excellence. She began painting abstract compositions very early on. She created her first series of non-representational images in 1906, long before famous painters like Wassily Kandinsky.” For Julia Voss personally, the exhibition was so groundbreaking because she had rediscovered the history of the painter and believed in her importance.
For the Marc Cain shooting, we are able to visit the 50-yearold at her home in Berlin where she lives with her partner, the artist Philipp Deines, and their two children. Many other artworks hang on the walls alongside pictures by her husband: a Baroque painting, a print by Maria Sibylla Merian and a picture Voss found at a flea market. It depicts a Stone Age woman with a club in her hand and a baby on her arm. “It puts me in a good mood because the woman is going hunting just like men,” says Julia Voss. She likes the mix of different eras because art, unlike science, does not become outdated but shows how things were understood at different times, she says.
“The exhibition was a game-changer,” says Julia Voss. “Hilma af Klint finally got the place in art history that she deserved. Before that, she was misunderstood for years, or even ignored. She is The Discovering Woman par excellence. She began painting abstract compositions very early on. She created her first series of non-representational images in 1906, long before famous painters like Wassily Kandinsky.” For Julia Voss personally, the exhibition was so groundbreaking because she had rediscovered the history of the painter and believed in her importance.
For the Marc Cain shooting, we are able to visit the 50-yearold at her home in Berlin where she lives with her partner, the artist Philipp Deines, and their two children. Many other artworks hang on the walls alongside pictures by her husband: a Baroque painting, a print by Maria Sibylla Merian and a picture Voss found at a flea market. It depicts a Stone Age woman with a club in her hand and a baby on her arm. “It puts me in a good mood because the woman is going hunting just like men,” says Julia Voss. She likes the mix of different eras because art, unlike science, does not become outdated but shows how things were understood at different times, she says.
The greatest moment in art is when
you feel it’s taking you along with it,”
says Julia Voss. Just like the works of
Swedish painter Hilma af Klint, to
whom she dedicates a large part of her
work. Julia Voss is considered one of the
most important art critics in Germany
and a recognised expert on the painter.
One of the most moving moments of her work was the Klint exhibition
at the Guggenheim Museum in New York five years ago.
It attracted 600,000 visitors, making it the most successful show in
the history of the museum.
“The exhibition was a game-changer,” says Julia Voss. “Hilma af Klint finally got the place in art history that she deserved. Before that, she was misunderstood for years, or even ignored. She is The Discovering Woman par excellence. She began painting abstract compositions very early on. She created her first series of non-representational images in 1906, long before famous painters like Wassily Kandinsky.” For Julia Voss personally, the exhibition was so groundbreaking because she had rediscovered the history of the painter and believed in her importance.
For the Marc Cain shooting, we are able to visit the 50-yearold at her home in Berlin where she lives with her partner, the artist Philipp Deines, and their two children. Many other artworks hang on the walls alongside pictures by her husband: a Baroque painting, a print by Maria Sibylla Merian and a picture Voss found at a flea market. It depicts a Stone Age woman with a club in her hand and a baby on her arm. “It puts me in a good mood because the woman is going hunting just like men,” says Julia Voss. She likes the mix of different eras because art, unlike science, does not become outdated but shows how things were understood at different times, she says.
“The exhibition was a game-changer,” says Julia Voss. “Hilma af Klint finally got the place in art history that she deserved. Before that, she was misunderstood for years, or even ignored. She is The Discovering Woman par excellence. She began painting abstract compositions very early on. She created her first series of non-representational images in 1906, long before famous painters like Wassily Kandinsky.” For Julia Voss personally, the exhibition was so groundbreaking because she had rediscovered the history of the painter and believed in her importance.
For the Marc Cain shooting, we are able to visit the 50-yearold at her home in Berlin where she lives with her partner, the artist Philipp Deines, and their two children. Many other artworks hang on the walls alongside pictures by her husband: a Baroque painting, a print by Maria Sibylla Merian and a picture Voss found at a flea market. It depicts a Stone Age woman with a club in her hand and a baby on her arm. “It puts me in a good mood because the woman is going hunting just like men,” says Julia Voss. She likes the mix of different eras because art, unlike science, does not become outdated but shows how things were understood at different times, she says.
Julia Voss began honing her art critique skills as a child in
her living room at home. Her mother, an art teacher, often spread
her students’ pictures out on the floor and talked about them with
Julia. “That was more exciting than any exhibition, and my mother
was careful to make sure it was educational,” recalls Julia Voss. She
herself still enjoys painting – mostly small things like birthday
cards, for example.
Work takes up most of her time. Julia Voss is a research associate at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. She has written several books on Hilma af Klint and curated an exhibition of works by Klint and Kandinsky in Düsseldorf last year. It was an incredibly exciting process which she found tremendously fascinating from conception through to opening, she says. When she’s not working, she likes to spend time in nature and go jogging or running. It provides an energy boost. She often has little time for longer holidays. Where would she go? “The beach would be lovely. But more often than not I go to cities. I look for nearby museums on Google Maps and visit their exhibitions,” she says, laughing. Art is one of life’s essentials.
Julia Voss can thank Swedish painter Hilma af Klint for the fact that she is now entirely dedicated to research and completely changed direction in her mid-forties. Until 2017, she worked at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, heading the art department for ten years and serving as deputy director of the culture section for three years. She always loved writing and gained work experience there while she was studying art history, German studies and philosophy, she explains. It is the mix of journalism and research that characterises her. She earned her doctorate, received a Max Planck Institute scholarship and was then invited to join the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin in 2016. She travelled to Sweden for a research project on Hilma af Klint.
Work takes up most of her time. Julia Voss is a research associate at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. She has written several books on Hilma af Klint and curated an exhibition of works by Klint and Kandinsky in Düsseldorf last year. It was an incredibly exciting process which she found tremendously fascinating from conception through to opening, she says. When she’s not working, she likes to spend time in nature and go jogging or running. It provides an energy boost. She often has little time for longer holidays. Where would she go? “The beach would be lovely. But more often than not I go to cities. I look for nearby museums on Google Maps and visit their exhibitions,” she says, laughing. Art is one of life’s essentials.
Julia Voss can thank Swedish painter Hilma af Klint for the fact that she is now entirely dedicated to research and completely changed direction in her mid-forties. Until 2017, she worked at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, heading the art department for ten years and serving as deputy director of the culture section for three years. She always loved writing and gained work experience there while she was studying art history, German studies and philosophy, she explains. It is the mix of journalism and research that characterises her. She earned her doctorate, received a Max Planck Institute scholarship and was then invited to join the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin in 2016. She travelled to Sweden for a research project on Hilma af Klint.
Julia Voss began honing her art critique skills as a child in
her living room at home. Her mother, an art teacher, often spread
her students’ pictures out on the floor and talked about them with
Julia. “That was more exciting than any exhibition, and my mother
was careful to make sure it was educational,” recalls Julia Voss. She
herself still enjoys painting – mostly small things like birthday
cards, for example.
Work takes up most of her time. Julia Voss is a research associate at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. She has written several books on Hilma af Klint and curated an exhibition of works by Klint and Kandinsky in Düsseldorf last year. It was an incredibly exciting process which she found tremendously fascinating from conception through to opening, she says. When she’s not working, she likes to spend time in nature and go jogging or running. It provides an energy boost. She often has little time for longer holidays. Where would she go? “The beach would be lovely. But more often than not I go to cities. I look for nearby museums on Google Maps and visit their exhibitions,” she says, laughing. Art is one of life’s essentials.
Julia Voss can thank Swedish painter Hilma af Klint for the fact that she is now entirely dedicated to research and completely changed direction in her mid-forties. Until 2017, she worked at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, heading the art department for ten years and serving as deputy director of the culture section for three years. She always loved writing and gained work experience there while she was studying art history, German studies and philosophy, she explains. It is the mix of journalism and research that characterises her. She earned her doctorate, received a Max Planck Institute scholarship and was then invited to join the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin in 2016. She travelled to Sweden for a research project on Hilma af Klint.
Work takes up most of her time. Julia Voss is a research associate at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. She has written several books on Hilma af Klint and curated an exhibition of works by Klint and Kandinsky in Düsseldorf last year. It was an incredibly exciting process which she found tremendously fascinating from conception through to opening, she says. When she’s not working, she likes to spend time in nature and go jogging or running. It provides an energy boost. She often has little time for longer holidays. Where would she go? “The beach would be lovely. But more often than not I go to cities. I look for nearby museums on Google Maps and visit their exhibitions,” she says, laughing. Art is one of life’s essentials.
Julia Voss can thank Swedish painter Hilma af Klint for the fact that she is now entirely dedicated to research and completely changed direction in her mid-forties. Until 2017, she worked at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, heading the art department for ten years and serving as deputy director of the culture section for three years. She always loved writing and gained work experience there while she was studying art history, German studies and philosophy, she explains. It is the mix of journalism and research that characterises her. She earned her doctorate, received a Max Planck Institute scholarship and was then invited to join the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin in 2016. She travelled to Sweden for a research project on Hilma af Klint.
INSPIRATION
Julia Voss quit her job in her mid-fortiesand deepened her research on Hilma af Klint. That felt like a bold thing to do, she says.
INSPIRATION
Julia Voss quit her job in her mid-fortiesand deepened her research on Hilma af Klint. That felt like a bold thing to do, she says.
The oeuvre of the painter (1862–1944) was only published in
the 1980s, decades after her death: more than 1,200 works, some
several metres tall, bursting with captivating and cheerful colours.
But in the art world, she was regarded as reclusive, her work as
a kind of product of chance. “I didn’t want to believe that,” says Julia
Voss. What she found out was groundbreaking: “Hilma af Klint
wasn’t who people thought she was. She was a discoverer. She
wasn’t a recluse – she travelled a lot, was interested in science and,
as an illustrator at the veterinary institute, she knew how to look
through a microscope,” explains Julia Voss. “She lived at a time
when Nobel Prizes started being awarded in her home city of
Stockholm from 1901, and a lot of new and invisible things were
being discovered: x-rays, radioactivity, telephony. Hilma af Klint
incorporated
what lay beyond the visible into her art and this motivated
her to create her abstract paintings,” says Julia Voss.
The oeuvre of the painter (1862–1944) was only published in
the 1980s, decades after her death: more than 1,200 works, some
several metres tall, bursting with captivating and cheerful colours.
But in the art world, she was regarded as reclusive, her work as
a kind of product of chance. “I didn’t want to believe that,” says Julia
Voss. What she found out was groundbreaking: “Hilma af Klint
wasn’t who people thought she was. She was a discoverer. She
wasn’t a recluse – she travelled a lot, was interested in science and,
as an illustrator at the veterinary institute, she knew how to look
through a microscope,” explains Julia Voss. “She lived at a time
when Nobel Prizes started being awarded in her home city of
Stockholm from 1901, and a lot of new and invisible things were
being discovered: x-rays, radioactivity, telephony. Hilma af Klint
incorporated
what lay beyond the visible into her art and this motivated
her to create her abstract paintings,” says Julia Voss.
WELL-BEING ZONE
The whole family often gathers in the kitchen.
WELL-BEING ZONE
The whole family often gathers in the kitchen.
She was certain that her findings would cast the painter in
a new light. Julia Voss quit her job, learnt Swedish, conducted further
research and published articles on Klint. It was as if she felt
compelled to do so. She knew that if she didn’t do it then, she would
never do it. Professionally, it was a major challenge. “There was a lot
of headwind, especially at the beginning,” says Julia Voss. Hilma af
Klint had stipulated that her work should not be shown until at
least 20 years after her death, for future generations who would
understand it. But no one was interested. She was routinely neglected
at modernist exhibitions. “Art history would have had to be
rewritten, so they preferred to leave her out,” says Voss, describing
the painter’s alienation. Some of her colleagues even told her she
was making herself look ridiculous by writing so much about the
painter. That annoyed her.
In such phases, it is particularly good to talk about other things from time to time. At home with her husband and in her circle of friends, which includes a mix of people from a wide variety of professions. “You’re also quite happy when you’re not just immersed in your own world,” says Julia Voss. She loves variety. Biology is another subject she would have liked to study. But luckily it turned out to be art.
And so she came to experience one of the most emotional days of her career so far: the first day after the opening of the exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum. “Suddenly an institution like that with so much weight held its protective hand over Hilma af Klint. That changed a lot of things. When I arrived at the museum, a huge queue had already formed around the block. I could hardly believe it. I actually cried because I was so happy that Hilma af Klint meant so much to so many people.”
In such phases, it is particularly good to talk about other things from time to time. At home with her husband and in her circle of friends, which includes a mix of people from a wide variety of professions. “You’re also quite happy when you’re not just immersed in your own world,” says Julia Voss. She loves variety. Biology is another subject she would have liked to study. But luckily it turned out to be art.
And so she came to experience one of the most emotional days of her career so far: the first day after the opening of the exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum. “Suddenly an institution like that with so much weight held its protective hand over Hilma af Klint. That changed a lot of things. When I arrived at the museum, a huge queue had already formed around the block. I could hardly believe it. I actually cried because I was so happy that Hilma af Klint meant so much to so many people.”
She was certain that her findings would cast the painter in
a new light. Julia Voss quit her job, learnt Swedish, conducted further
research and published articles on Klint. It was as if she felt
compelled to do so. She knew that if she didn’t do it then, she would
never do it. Professionally, it was a major challenge. “There was a lot
of headwind, especially at the beginning,” says Julia Voss. Hilma af
Klint had stipulated that her work should not be shown until at
least 20 years after her death, for future generations who would
understand it. But no one was interested. She was routinely neglected
at modernist exhibitions. “Art history would have had to be
rewritten, so they preferred to leave her out,” says Voss, describing
the painter’s alienation. Some of her colleagues even told her she
was making herself look ridiculous by writing so much about the
painter. That annoyed her.
In such phases, it is particularly good to talk about other things from time to time. At home with her husband and in her circle of friends, which includes a mix of people from a wide variety of professions. “You’re also quite happy when you’re not just immersed in your own world,” says Julia Voss. She loves variety. Biology is another subject she would have liked to study. But luckily it turned out to be art.
And so she came to experience one of the most emotional days of her career so far: the first day after the opening of the exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum. “Suddenly an institution like that with so much weight held its protective hand over Hilma af Klint. That changed a lot of things. When I arrived at the museum, a huge queue had already formed around the block. I could hardly believe it. I actually cried because I was so happy that Hilma af Klint meant so much to so many people.”
In such phases, it is particularly good to talk about other things from time to time. At home with her husband and in her circle of friends, which includes a mix of people from a wide variety of professions. “You’re also quite happy when you’re not just immersed in your own world,” says Julia Voss. She loves variety. Biology is another subject she would have liked to study. But luckily it turned out to be art.
And so she came to experience one of the most emotional days of her career so far: the first day after the opening of the exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum. “Suddenly an institution like that with so much weight held its protective hand over Hilma af Klint. That changed a lot of things. When I arrived at the museum, a huge queue had already formed around the block. I could hardly believe it. I actually cried because I was so happy that Hilma af Klint meant so much to so many people.”
PREFERENCES
Different eras and styles offer that certain something. The painting with the Stone Age-looking woman is a flea market find.
PREFERENCES
Different eras and styles offer that certain something. The painting with the Stone Age-looking woman is a flea market find.
CREDITS
Photography: Lena Giovanazzi, Production: Vanessa Zeeh, Styling: Ourania Marmara/4Artists Management, Hair & Make-up: Claudia Fischer, Photo assistance: Mirka Pflüger
Photography: Lena Giovanazzi, Production: Vanessa Zeeh, Styling: Ourania Marmara/4Artists Management, Hair & Make-up: Claudia Fischer, Photo assistance: Mirka Pflüger
