The Chaos of the Normal: Austin Osman Spare
Austin Osman Spare’s name may not be familiar to many people these days, but this visionary artist, writer and occultist created some of the most striking art that I’ve ever seen. Comparable in some ways to the work of Aubrey Beardsley, Spare’s work echoed the dark sexuality of the Decadents while incorporating new ideas inspired by the Spiritualist movement, psychology and early twentieth century occultists.
A colleague of Aleister Crowley and Kenneth Grant, Spare published his work in cryptic tomes with evocative titles like “Earth Inferno”and “The Anathema of Zos.” These books – equal parts grimoires and art objects – featured dozens of dark, lurid and sometimes inscrutable drawings that Spare clamed were of spirits and demons, alongside his magical philosophy, which was often written in an invented alphabet Spare referred to as “Sigils.”
Drafted in World War I, the English artist was commissioned as an official war artist, traveling to France to create works that today still hang in the Imperial War Museum. After the war, Spare became something of a recluse, selling his work for a pittance and eventually fading into obscurity.
Spare’s work is difficult to find in print, and is often limited to small print runs from even smaller publishing houses. To the extent that he is remembered, Spare is hailed as an influence on the “Chaos Magick” movement of the eighties and nineties. Sadly, the work of this major artist – a true Outsider in every sense of the word – has never received its fair due from the art community.
Fortunately, however, Spare’s work remains a presence on the internet, with a small number of sites (1, 2) devoted to sharing the creative output of this art pioneer.
I’ve uploaded a few plates from my own collection HERE. (Warning: some mildly NSFW).
April 10, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I’ve got an Arthur Machen book with his drawings in it. I think it’s The Great God Pan, some really amazing stuff and the idea of automatic drawing was discussed in the introduction. I don’t think it’s in print anymore – couldn’t dig up a link at Amazon. I’d agree that Spare’s more well known for his occult work, particularly his method of taking a statement of intent that the user wants to happen, deleting duplicative letters and then combining the rest into one symbolic image that the user then puts out of his conscious mind. Would be an interesting idea to see something like this developed in fiction, in fact I’m often surprised how relatively little the western esoteric systems via the Golden Dawn are used in fantasy. You see tarot all the time, but very little geomancy. Lots of chess, very little Enochian chess. Lots of Ouija boards, very few using the GD’s rather unique skrying device.
April 10, 2008 at 3:05 pm
>> I’m often surprised how relatively little the western esoteric systems via the Golden Dawn are used in fantasy…
I’m working on it.
[From the Nightshade PR machine:] “From newcomer Mark Teppo comes Lightbreaker, an explosive, action-packed occult thriller combining Western magick, Hermetic traditions, and shamanism.”
April 10, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I’m a huge fan of Spare’s work, and recommend the three-volume _From The Inferno to Zos: The Writings and Images of Austin Osman Spare_ set of his works when the subject comes up.
April 10, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Thanks for the heads up Mark, I’ll look for it upon release. Usually happy with Night Shade.
April 10, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Spare lived only a few miles from gets quite a bit of press in the right company round here, that being Treadwells bookshop. Funnily enough, Treadwells is also having a talk about Machen next month and I’m pretty excited about that.
Western esoteric systems get an outing in Call of Cthulhu via Pagan Press’ book, the Golden Dawn and the the French version of Nephilim which is based all around the major arcana.
April 10, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Nice to see AOS mentioned here, someone whose work I’ve admired for many years. My favourite book is the big (and probably OOP) Zos Speaks! which has many colour plates and extracts from Kenneth Grant’s diaries detailing the final years of the artist/magus.
The Machen book referred to above was from my publisher Creation:
http://www.amazon.com/Great-God-Pan-Creation-Classics/dp/1871592119
Someone emailed me this week with details of a Spare original they’re auctioning on eBay. More than I can afford just now but he’s one of the few artists whose work I’d pay for:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=130213184598&Category=552&_trksid=p3907.m29
April 10, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Hmm, my previous comment is still in moderation but I forgot to mention that Archive.org has an early Spare volume available as a free download.
http://www.archive.org/details/behindveil00roltiala
April 10, 2008 at 10:32 pm
I’m quite sorry, John. The system flagged it as spam for some reason. All fixed now.
April 11, 2008 at 11:43 am
That’s okay Matt, WP holds comments with two or more links for approval but also treats them as spam sometimes. WordPress admin lets you allow two or more links but every time I try and enable that on my blog it increases the amount of spam that gets through the filter.
April 13, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I’m a fan of Spare’s work, but I suppose how well known he is depends on the circles you travel in (or cast from!) Spare is known as the “grandfather of chaos magick” in chaote and occult circles and his art and books by or about him continue to sell out immediately upon release.
April 14, 2008 at 1:24 pm
The Machen book referred to above was from my publisher Creation:
http://www.amazon.com/Great-God-Pan-Creation-Classics/dp/1871592119
John, yes that was the one. I’m impressed by your Amazon skills, after about 5 minutes or so I gave up looking for it :). But, I ended up picking up the same story in one of the Chaosium collection and still couldn’t give this book up because of the Spare artwork.
April 29, 2008 at 6:46 pm
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