Immensely informative and inspirational, the documentary Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint is also academic to a fault.
Essentially the visual tangent of a gallery-approved coffee-table-book companion to a major exhibit, German filmmaker Halina Dyrschka’s feature directorial debut succeeds at advocating for the talent and influence of the titular pioneering Swedish abstractionist.
The prolific and wildly imaginative af Klint’s paintings are the film’s rightful stars, and they and her notebooks are depicted via crisp close-ups, augmented by illuminating interviews with predominantly female scholars who provide welcome background on this largely unknown figure.
German art historian Julia Voss, whose recent af Klint biography is slated for an English translation in 2021, is by far the most passionate and possibly the most informed of the bunch. As with her fellow interviewees, she offers sparkling insight on the long history of women’s inability to be recognized by the male-dominated art world and the exciting impact of science and spirituality on af Klint’s imagery; yet Dyrschka’s overall presentation is so dry and PBS-basic that it’s a bit of a struggle to remain engaged for more than half an hour at a time.
In an effort to retain viewer attention, Dyrschka interjects dramatized re-creations of a few af Klint paintings, purposefully employing overhead shots that succeed at depicting the works’ scales rather than merely providing a cute yet empty stylistic detail.
The director herself is also directly involved in front of the camera, leading the investigation into the reasons for her subject’s omission from art history — at least initially, before all but disappearing and letting her film’s mixed bag of approaches stodgily roll on.
While tracking af Klint’s education and development as an artist, with help from the recollections of surviving relatives, Dyrschka tosses in unsubtle suggestions that some of the artist’s ideas were stolen and showed up in famous works by Andy Warhol and Frank Lloyd Wright — thrilling possibilities but a tad sensationalistic given that the film offers not a shred of evidence.
Still, the provocative insinuations plant the possibility of her widespread impact — and, in tandem with her marvelous body of work, provide justification for further investigation to rightfully place af Klint’s name on equal footing with her well-known peers.
If you need further proof of her enduring allure, consider the record-setting attendance during her six-month, 2019 show at New York City’s Guggenheim Museum, 75 years after her death — a celebration that will hopefully result in an even better documentary about her.
Now available via fineartstheatre.com and grailmoviehouse.com
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