Sixten Ivar Alexander Ringbom (July 27, 1935 – August 18, 1992) was a Finnish art historian.

Biography

Sixten Ringbom was the son of , a professor of art history at

Åbo Akademi University Åbo Akademi University ( sv, Åbo Akademi , ) is the only exclusively Swedish language multi-faculty university in Finland (or anywhere outside Sweden). It is located mainly in Turku (Åbo is the Swedish name of the city) but has also activit ...

. He studied at the Swedish classical lyceum ( sv, Svenska klassiska lyceum) in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

, then at the Åbo Akademi University among students of his father. In 1965, Sixten received his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

. A supervisor his doctoral thesis was art historian

Ernst Gombrich Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich (; ; 30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United Ki ...

. In 1970, Ringbom succeeded his father as professor of art history at Åbo Akademi University. Ringbom became the first scientist who has supposed an existence of a connection between early abstract art and

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism ...

ism. He published his conjectures in an article "Art in 'The Epoch of the Great Spiritual': Occult Elements in the Early Theory of Abstract Painting" (1966) and in a book ''The Sounding Cosmos: A Study in the Spiritualism of Kandinsky and the Genesis of Abstract Painting'' (1970). According to

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

, he had written 93 works. From 1969 to 1973, he was the chief editor of '' Finsk Tidskrift'', he was also the editor of a book ''Konsten i Finland'' 'Art in Finland''

Published works

Books

* ''Icon to Narrative. The Rise of the Dramatic Close-Up in Fifteenth-Century Devotional Painting'' (1965) * ''The Sounding Cosmos. A Study in the Spiritualism of Kandinsky and the Genesis of Abstract Painting'' (1970) * ''Konsten i Finland: från medeltid till nutid'' (1978) * ''Kandinsky und 'Der Blaue Reiter'. German Art of the 20th Century'' (1985) * ''Art History in Finland before 1920'' (1986) * ''Stone, Style and Truth. The Vogue for Natural Stone in Nordic Architecture 1880−1910'' (1987) * ''Pinta ja syvyys: esseitä'' (1989)

Selected articles

* "'Maria in Sole' and the Virgin of the Rosary" (1962) * "Plato on Images" (1965) * "Art in 'The Epoch of the Great Spiritual': Occult Elements in the Early Theory of Abstract Painting" (1966) * "Devotional Images and Imaginative Devotions" (1969) * "Paul Klee and the Inner Truth to Nature" (1977) * "Transcending the Visible" (1985) * "Action and Report. The Problem of Indirect Narration in the Academic Theory of Painting" (1988)

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ringbom, Sixten 1935 births 1992 deaths Finnish art historians Writers from Turku Åbo Akademi University alumni Academic staff of Åbo Akademi University 20th-century Finnish historians