From ancient rituals and supernatural visions to sorcerers, mythical creatures, and Surrealist dreamscapes, this remarkable collection brings together more than fifty extraordinary works inspired by magic and the supernatural across thousands of years of art history.
This visually stunning volume traces the history of magic in art through an astonishing progression of paintings, sculptures, prints, and decorative arts, from prehistoric cave paintings and ancient Egyptian carvings to Japanese ghost scrolls, Renaissance masterpieces, Surrealism, and contemporary art. Canonical masterpieces by Botticelli, Bosch, Dürer, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Goya, Klee, Magritte, Chagall, Warhol, Louise Bourgeois, and Kiki Smith appear alongside Maya ritual imagery, Vodou ceremonies, and other unexpected discoveries that forge surprising connections across cultures and centuries. Witches’ sabbaths, enchanted forests, fortune tellers, fairy queens, magical transformations, and uncanny visions unfold across spectacular reproductions. Brief essays accompany each image, illuminating the folklore, symbolism, religious traditions, and cultural beliefs behind its creation while showing how artists across cultures and centuries have drawn on the supernatural as a source of mystery, wonder, fear, and inspiration.
Biography
Alexander Adams is a British artist, poet and critic. His critical essays have appeared in a wide range of periodicals including The Burlington Magazine, The British Art Journal, Print Quarterly and The Critic.
