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Episode 5: Austin Osman Spare Part I

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Description

Austin Osman Spare was an artist in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Famous at a young age, he was deeply involved in the occult and mystical side of things, going as far as making up his own religion. Until recently, the details of Spare’s life were largely unknown causing rumours to proliferate. This was partly due to Spare himself as he enjoyed embellishing stories about his life to add a flavour of mysticism and magic.

Despite his early fame and success, Spare lived the majority of his life as the classic starving artist, which only makes what he produced even more interesting.

Alan Moore, who wrote the intro for Phil Baker’s book, puts this idea best:

If anything, this emphasis upon Spare’s sheer cat-shit and kitchen sink humanity serves only to make his glorious work of self-invention seem both more heroic and more genuinely magical

Sample of A:.A:. Questions

  1. What is the meaning, & why, of the following numbers: 148, 210, 831?
  2. Reconcile the two apparently conflicting series of meanings of the number 65
  3. Work out the equation 3=4 especially in relation to the Sephiroth and the Planets
  4. Describe a woman with

rising in 80

  1. A friend’s cows suffer from some epidemic disease. How would you set to work to discover the cause; if due to bewitchment, how to detect the agent; and how would you protect to advert the evil?

Photos

  • “Portrait of Hisself”, from publication “Earth:Inferno”, 1905
  • “A Rehearsal of Despair”, from publication “Earth:Inferno”, 1905
  • The Resurrection of Zoroaster, 1905, first drawing accepted into the Royal Academy of Art.
  • Self Portrait, 1907. Currently owned by Jimmy Page.

Sources

  • Austin Osman Spare: The Life and Legend of London’s Lost Artist by Phil Baker