The Fiery Visions of Agnes Pelton

Two exhibitions highlight the landscapes and abstractions of an underrated modernist

Agnes Pelton, “Mount of Flame.” Oil on canvas, 1932.

In 2012, very few people had heard of the Swedish mystic and painter Hilma af Klint. Then, in 2013, her solo retrospective at Stockholm’s Moderna Museet became the most heavily attended exhibition by a Swedish artist in the museum’s history. Virtually overnight, interest in the spiritual and esoteric dimensions of early…