"As an art student in the late sixties, I recall how painfully dry and intellectual my art history classes were. I thought to myself, or rather felt to myself, 'There must be something more'" (Van James).
Artist Van James offers that something more. This is a richly readable and lavishly illustrated text that reveals how, at every stage, human consciousness has evolved through the medium of art. It makes the case for a hidden stream that has put forth art works and art movements throughout history, in an ongoing visible revelation of invisible spiritual currents.
Art, originally a part of the secret Mystery cults of the ancient world, has become an expression of the individual creative intuition. At every stage, Albert Einstein's comment applies: "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science."
CONTENTS
Introduction: The Spiritual in Art
PART ONE: FROM WEST TO EAST
I. ECHOES OF ANCIENT MYSTERIES
1. The Spiritual in Modern Art
2. A Modern Master
3. The Road to Modernism
4. The Dance of Death
5. Renaissance and Realism
6. Cathedral
7. Catacomb
II. ANCIENT ART OF THE GRECO-ROMAN ERA
1. Power and Glory
2. The Mithraic Mysteries
3. The Art of Balance
4. Free Form
5. The Oracles and the Mysteries
6. The Labyrinth and the Bull
III. THE ART AND MYSTERIES OF ANCIENT EGYPT
1. The Art and Craft of the Mysteries
2 Egyptian Theosophy
3. Immortal Images
4. Art of the Riddle
5. The Royal Art
6. The Temple Is Man
7. In Praise of the Sun
IV. MEGALITHIC CULTURE AND ART
1. Hibernian Mysteries
2. Druidism
3. Three faces of Megalithic Man
4. Megalithic Monuments
5. Cosmic Script
6. Sun and Cross
PART TWO: FROM EAST TO WEST
V. MYSTERY IMAGES
1. Image and Symbol
2. Asian Art
3. Near-Eastern Art
4. African Art
5. Art of the Americas
6. The Art of Oceania
7. Australian Aboriginal Art
VI. PALEOLITHIC ART AND CAVE MYSTERIES
1. Primal History, Prehistory, and History
2. The Primal Human Being
3. Initiatory Art
4. Animal Magic
5. The Shaman
6. The Goddess
Epilogue: Art and the New Mysteries
Appendices
