Examines how and why religion matters in the history of modern American art. Andy Warhol is one of the best-known American artists of the twentieth century. He was also an observant Catholic who carried a rosary, went to mass regularly, kept a Bible by his bedside, and depicted religious subjects throughout his career. Warhol was a spiritual modern: a modern artist who appropriated religious images, beliefs, and practices to create a distinctive style of American art. Spiritual Moderns centers on four American artists who were both modern and religious. Joseph Cornell, who showed with the Surrealists, was a member of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Mark Tobey created pioneering works of Abstract Expressionism and was a follower of the Bah̀'̕ Faith. Agnes Pelton was a Symbolist painter who embraced metaphysical movements including New Thought, Theosophy, and Agni Yoga. And Warhol, a leading figure in Pop art, was a lifelong Catholic. Working with biographical materials, social history, affect theory, and the tools of art history, Doss traces the linked subjects of art and religion and proposes a revised interpretation of American modernism.
Spiritual Moderns: Twentieth-Century American Artists and Religion -- Joseph Cornell and Christian Science: "White Magic" Modernism and the Metaphysics of Ephemera -- Mark Tobey and Bah̀'̕: "White Writing" and Spiritual Calligraphy -- Agnes Pelton and Occulture: Spiritual Seeking and Visionary Modernism -- Andy Warhol and Catholicism: Pop Art's "Spiritual Side" -- Spiritual Moderns: Culture War Controversies and Enduring Themes.