September 10 2020

For immediate release

EXHIBTION EXTENDED THROUGH MID FEBRUARY 2021!!

BUCKLAND MUSEUM OF WITCHCRAFT AND MAGICK and stephen ROMANO gallery present

“APPARITIONS”

featuring works by

William Hope + William Mortensen + Kenyon Cox + Richard Boursnell + Falconer Brothers

John Myers + Jack Edwards + Romeyn de Hooghe + Jacques Callot + Fritz Gareis + John Everard

Dolorosa De La Cruz + Luciana Lupe Vasconcelos + Nahw Yg + Attributed to Johann Georg Gichtel

Daniel Gonçalves + Alexis Karl + Barry William Hale + Kim Bo Yung + Darcilio Lima + Eugène le Poitevin

Josh Stebbins + Wolfgang Grasse + Karl Koh + Shannon Taggart + Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Anonymous and unknown artists and makers

BUCKLAND MUSEUM OF WITCHCRAFT AND MAGICK is pleased to announce an exhibition of important vintage spirit photography, prints and drawings and contemporary art on the subject of ghosts, spirits and the paranormal from the collection of stephen ROMANO gallery. The exhibition will open on October 1 2020 and continue through MID FEBRUARY (updated!) at the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick in Cleveland Ohio.

The exhibition is inspired by a 3D virtual exhibition produced by stephen ROMANO gallery which received an overwhelmingly strong response as an engaging alternative to visiting a gallery in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic.

APPARITIONS 3D Virtual exhibition at KUNSTMATRIX. click "enter exhibition".

This exhibition is the third collaboration between the museum and stephen ROMANO gallery. Previous projects have included “WILLIAM MORTENSEN'S WITCHES”, an exhibition of the 1920's visionary photographer's occult themed works, and “BARRY WILLIAM HALE”, which featured the renowned Australian esoteric artist's first solo exhibition in the USA. The which was recently featured on “monsterbrains”, “one of the greatest websites in the world according to director Guillermo Del Toro and in the Jennifer Lauren “collector series”.

Steven Intermill, the director of the Buckland Museum says “We are always excited when Romano comes knocking and lets us play with his toys, his collection is a vast well of the history of the arcane. These works are striking and beautiful, a must see for those that just have a passing interest in metaphysics to the lifelong student of the occult.”

Curator and collector Stephen Romano explains his interest in occult imagery..

"I’ve had an interest in the esoteric and occult since my early teenage years, studying the works of Aleister Crowley, Anton LaVey, Robert Fludd, Eliphas Lévi, Dion Fortune, Carlos Castaneda, the amazing poet, author and collector Manly Palmer Hall, Jack Parsons, among many others. When I was 19 I met a true sorcerer who became my mentor and still is to this day, the British artist Ray Robinson. I don’t have any kind of practice, just daily prayers and rituals for protection and hopefully affluence. "

Romano continues.. "The art of the esoteric though is very interesting to me. I have a modest collection of grimoires which most notably includes two different editions of “Doktor Johannes Faust's Magia Naturalis et Innaturalis”, one of which seems to have been used in ceremony. To hold a special magic book in your hands… it’s a primary experience that we hopefully don’t lose in our time of instantaneous access and gratification. In a manner of speaking to me, it’s what the whole essence of collecting should be, to give us access to a higher order, a true primary experience which refreshes the psyche and enriches our quality of life. This experience is accessible to anyone who decides to pick up and follow an obsession and see where it takes them"

"The artist as a practitioner of witchcraft… it’s a loaded term. I see this as the artists who were effective at bringing change unto the world. Darcilio Lima (1944 - 1991) for instance, is a Brazilian artist I have interest in. He considered his works as spells for protection against malevolent forces, and gifted that protection to the person who would acquire that work and live with it. This is the true magic."

"To me Visual Art is the jewel in the crown of our cultural achievements.. The greatest reward is sharing our collections with others to inspire awe in them as well."

for further information please contact

stephen romano at romanostephen@gmail.com

and

Steven Intermill at Bucklandmuseum@gmail.com

Highlights for the exhibition include:

3 spirit photographs circa 1920 by William Hope (1863 – 1933)

William Hope was a pioneer of so-called "spirit photography". Based in Crewe, England, he was a member of the well known spiritualists group, the Crewe Circle. During his photography sessions, Hope would sometimes carry out prayers and religious hymns.

Literature: The Guardian “William Hope's spirit photographs”

William Mortensen (1897 - 1965) “Obsession” (Also titled “Fear”) 1928 photograph

William Mortensen (January 27, 1897 – August 12, 1965) was an American photographer, primarily known for his Hollywood portraits in the 1920s–1940s in the Pictorialist style and occult themed works that were controversial in their time. A print of this image hung in Anton LaVey (the founder of the Church of Satan)'s “Black House” in San Francisco in the 1960's.

Litterature: The Guardian “William Mortensen: photographic master at the monster’s ball”

 

LILITH by Kenyon Cox 1894 albertype.

Kenyon Cox (October 27, 1856 – March 17, 1919) was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, writer, and teacher. Cox was an influential and important early instructor at the Art Students League of New York. Lilith (/ˈlɪlɪθ/; Hebrew: לִילִית Lîlîṯ) is a figure in Jewish mythology, developed earliest in the Babylonian Talmud (3rd to 5th century AD). From c. AD 700–1000 onwards Lilith appears as Adam's first wife, created at the same time (Rosh Hashanah) and from the same clay as Adam—compare Genesis 1:27.[1] The figure of Lilith may relate in part to a historically earlier class of female demons (lilītu) in ancient Mesopotamian religion, found in cuneiform texts of Sumer, the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, and Babylonia.

 

Unknown photographer circa early 1800's Albumen print

detail of Luca Signorelli, The Damned Cast into Hell, 1499-1504, fresco, 23′ wide (San Brizio chapel, Orvieto Cathedral, Orvieto, Italy)

Richard Boursnell Spirit Photograph circa 1900 Richard Boursnell (1832 – 1909)

was a British medium and spirit photographer. Unknown photographer, vernacular snapshot circa 1930.

Spirit photo cabinet card circa 1890

Ghost of Bernadette Soubirous (spirit of nun) 1880

A Cheshire Ghost Spirit Photo 1870

Craig and George Falconer (mid 19th - early 20th century) Spirit photograph circa 1930

The Falconers would invite audiences to watch them load film into their cameras and produce prints, “proving” that no trickery was afoot.