Johannes Hohlenberg (1881–1960) was a Danish author, artist and Anthroposophist.

Early life and work

Hohlenberg was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, the son of assistant pastor at Holmens Church Ove Hohlenberg (1835–98) and Emilie Dahlerup (1852–1923). His paternal great-grandfathers were Chief Ship Builder at the Royal Danish Dockyard Frantz Hohlenberg and historian and former Danish prime minister Ove Malling. His maternal grandfather was royal physician to Frederik VII (1812-1882). His maternal grandmother was the daughter of librarian at the

Classen Library The Classen Library, ( Danish: Det Classenske Bibliotek) was a public library in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was created from the private book collection of Johan Frederik Classen, at the time of his death in 1792. It was the third largest library in ...

and former planter in the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies () or Danish Virgin Islands () or Danish Antilles were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with , Saint John () with , Saint Croix with , and Water Island. The islands of St ...

Georg Gordon Mac Dougall. Hohlenberg studied painting under

Kristian Zahrtmann Peder Henrik Kristian Zahrtmann, known as Kristian Zahrtmann, (31 March 1843 – 22 June 1917) was a Danish painter. He was a part of the Danish artistic generation in the late 19th century, along with Peder Severin Krøyer and Theodor Philipsen, ...

from 1896 and lived as a painter in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

from 1906 until 1911. He was a member of Le Salon de la Société Nationale and later of the Salon d'Automne.

Anthroposophy

In Paris, Hohlenberg became acquainted with

Mirra Alfassa Mirra Alfassa (21 February 1878 – 17 November 1973), known to her followers as The Mother or ''La Mère'', was a French-Indian spiritual guru, occultist and yoga teacher, and a collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who considered her to be of ...

and met her nearly every evening for studying the teachings of occultism. When Paul and Mirra Richard had travelled to

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

in 1914 to meet

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian Modern yoga gurus, yogi, maharishi, and Indian nationalist. He also edited the newspaper Bande Mataram (publication), ''Bande Mataram''. Aurobindo st ...

, they invited Hohlenberg to join them and help publishing a journal. But due to the war and other circumstances he could come only in 1915, staying for a month. During this brief stay he took one of the few photos of Sri Aurobindo and prepared some sketches on whose basis he created an oil painting later on. Through his participation in talks of Sri Aurobindo with his disciples, Hohlenberg had acquired some basic knowledge which he used in 1916 for publishing his book titled ''Yoga i dens betydning for Europa'' (Yoga and its significance for Europe). In 1954 the title was also published in a German translation in whose Preface Hohlenberg referred to his stay with Sri Aurobindo and the talks with him as a source. At a later stage he started taking an interest in

Anthroposophy Anthroposophy is a spiritual new religious movementSources for 'new religious movement': which was founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensibl ...

and became a disciple of

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (; 27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century ...

, playing an important role as the general secretary of a newly founded anthroposophical society in Denmark and helping to spread Steiner's thought there.

Publications

Among Hohlenberg's works are ''Goethes Faust i det 20. Aarhundrede'' from 1928, a biography of

Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( , ; ; 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danes, Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical tex ...

from 1940, and further treatments of Kierkegaard's works. He published the cultural magazine ''Øjeblikket'' between 1947 and 1954, and contributed to the Norwegian magazines ''

Samtiden ''Samtiden'' is a Norwegian political and literary magazine. History and profile ''Samtiden'' was founded by Jørgen Brunchorst and Gerhard Gran in 1890. The magazine's first publisher was ''John Griegs forlag'' (Bergen), and from 1900 Ascheh ...

'' and ''Janus''. He also brought out the whole text of the

Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; ), often referred to as the Gita (), is a Hindu texts, Hindu scripture, dated to the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the Hindu epic, epic poem Mahabharata. The Gita is a synthesis of various strands of Ind ...

as well as two essays of Sri Aurobindo and an extract from his work "The Life Divine" in Danish translation.Bracker (2018), p. 231

Literature

* ''Johannes Hohlenberg.'' In: Klaus J. Bracker: ''Veda and Living Logos. Anthroposophy and Integral Yoga.'' Lindisfarne Books 2018, p. 227-232.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hohlenberg, Johannes 1881 births 1960 deaths 20th-century Danish biographers Danish male biographers Male essayists Burials at Holmen Cemetery 20th-century Danish essayists