Austin Osman Spare
 |
Austin Osman Spare |
Austin Osman Spare (
December 30,
1886 -
May 15,
1956) was an
English and
magician.
He was the son of a
London policeman. As a child, he showed an affinity for art, and he briefly attended evening classes at
Lambeth Art School. At the age of 13, he left school to become an apprentice to a
stained glass maker, Powell's of
Whitefriars Street. During his teen years, his fascination for the
occult grew apace, heavily influencing the work he produced. In May
1904 one of his drawings was exhibited at the annual
Royal Academy exhibition in
London, generating a storm of publicity for the young artist.
In October
1907 Spare exhibited his drawings at the Bruton Gallery in London. Critics likened his work to that of
Aubrey Beardsley, but Spare's images were full of grotesque, sexualized human figures and magical symbols. These elements appealed to
avant-garde London intellectuals, and brought him to the attention of
Aleister Crowley. He became a Probationer of Crowley's order
Argenteum Astrum ("Of the Silver Star") in July
1909, but was not initiated as a member, although he contributed four small drawings to Crowley's publication
The Equinox. Crowley later characterized Spare as a "
Black Brother", meaning that he did not approve of the goals of Spare's magical philosophy. His magical motto was
Yihoveaum[Magical Diaries of Aleister Crowley, page 237].
His
iconoclasm, distate for the props and symbolism of
ceremonial magic and his aversion to moralism as well as his innonative use of
sigilization served to distinguish his personal style of magic which his friend and associate
Kenneth Grant called
Zos Kia Cultus. Spare would later say that he learned much from from a Mrs. Paterson, an elderly descendant of
witches from
Salem Village. His work text
The Focus of Life includes a pencil drawing her. He also spoke of and drew portraits of a
spirit guide named Black Eagle who often appeared in the form of an
Amerindian man.
In
1917, during
World War I, Spare was conscripted into the British army, serving as a medical orderly of the
Royal Army Medical Corps in London hospitals. He did not see active service, and was commissioned as an official
War Artist in
1919. He visited the battlefields of
France to record the work of the RAMC. Several of his works presently hang in the
Imperial War Museum.
Although regarded as an artist of considerable talent and good prospects, Spare lived a rather secluded life from the mid
1920s onwards, falling out of step with changing trends and influences in the broader art scene. He sold his unique work for low prices at irregular exhibitions held in his home studio and in
South London pubs. Spare expressed contempt at the idea of selling his works at higher prices - an option he could easily have had available to him. He worked very quickly and often finished drawings in minutes.
|
"Dressing the Wounded During a Gas Attack", one of Spare's images done while serving as a war artist. |
Spare published very little during his life time. Works distributed to the public in
chapbook form, however, include
Earth Inferno,
The Book of Pleasure and
The Focus of Life. Manuscripts for
Logomachy of Zos and the
Zoetic Grimoire of Zos which remained uncompleted at the time of Spare's death. Posthumously, the
Zoetic Grimoire was published in
Zos Speaks!, a part memoir (by Grant), part collection of correspondence and part anthology of art and writing by Spare edited by
Steffi and Kenneth Grant and published by
Fulgur Press in 1998.
*
Chaos magic*
An archive of Spare's art and writing*
Another archive*
Fulgur Limited: Publishers of Austin Osman Spare*
An introductory essay by Kenneth Grant*
Spare's illustrations for The Starlit Mire by James Bertram and F. Russell
