Ian Whittlesea (born 1967, UK) is an artist whose work explores the relationships between language, light, image and diagram both on the page and in the world. His translation of Yves Klein’s Les Fondements du Judo was published in 2009, his edition of Mazdaznan Health & Breath Culture in 2012, Becoming Invisible in 2014 and The Egyptian Postures in 2017. These texts have been collectively described as ‘instruction manuals for transcendental exercise’.
This book explores the intimate relationship between Mazdaznan, Johannes Itten and the Vorkurs (P... more This book explores the intimate relationship between Mazdaznan, Johannes Itten and the Vorkurs (Preliminary or Foundation Course) at the Bauhaus, Weimar. It is a practical guide to performing the exercises that Itten taught at the Bauhaus and a celebration of a moment of mysticism at the heart of Modernism.
"At the start of the morning I brought my classes to mental and physical readiness for intensive work through relaxing, breathing, and concentrating exercises. The training of the body as an instrument of the mind is of the greatest importance for creative man." Johannes Itten
Founded by the extraordinary Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish in Chicago at the start of the 20th century Mazdaznan was a religion and way of life. Dr. Ha'nish is claimed to have been variously a genius, a shepherd, a typesetter, a magician and a fraud, as well as friend and inspiration to a bewildering variety of figures including Karl Marx, Haeckel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, H.G. Wells, Annie Besant and J. H. Kellogg. It is said that Edison named the first lightbulb Mazda in his honour and that Henry Ford attributed the dawn of the motor-age to Ha'nish's influence.
Mazdaznan's vegetarian diet, magnetic and electric sexual exchanges, breathing exercises and glandular theories were taken to Europe by its early disciples, flourishing in Switzerland, Germany and England between the wars.
The Swiss artist and teacher Johannes Itten was a devout Mazdaznan and its exercises were an essential part of his courses at the Bauhaus.
Health & Breath Culture has been newly illustrated by Ian Whittlesea with drawings of current Foundation students demonstrating the exercises. It is followed by a selection of found texts and images that go some way to explaining the beliefs and history of Mazdaznan.
The Egyptian Postures
Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish
The Egyptian Postures is a guide to the... more The Egyptian Postures
Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish
The Egyptian Postures is a guide to the most advanced Mazdaznan exercises that Johannes Itten taught his students at the Bauhaus. Often performed while singing or humming the postures were intended to activate glands and re-channel internal energies, stirring the blood in ways that contributed to the perpetual evolution of humanity. They were also said to induce auto-illumination, the participant’s body generating an intense light from within.
This edition of Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish’s original instructions has been newly edited and illustrated by Ian Whittlesea with images of actor Ery Nzaramba demonstrating the postures and an in-depth essay by Pádraic E. Moore that explores the relationships between esoteric movements, their racial theories and early modernism's embrace and eventual dismissal of the occult, Mazdaznan and Itten.
It is widely assumed that everyone is ‘interdisciplinary’ nowadays, that we all work at the inter... more It is widely assumed that everyone is ‘interdisciplinary’ nowadays, that we all work at the intersections of conventional disciplines. But if being flexible, multi-skilled and polymathic are the prerequisites of survival in today’s world, why do educators and art marketeers still find it imperative to maintain conditions of production that advocate specialist outcomes? The aim of this new anthology in the Occasional Table series is to critically reflect upon the role of specialism in art and society and to understand better how the claim of those who seek to transcend the parameters of specialisation contrasts to that of others who maintain that deep levels of achievement can only be attained within highly focused methods and forms
"Founded by the extraordinary Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish in Chicago at the start of the 2... more "Founded by the extraordinary Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish in Chicago at the start of the 20th century Mazdaznan was a religion and way of life. Dr. Ha’nish is claimed to have been variously a genius, a shepherd, a typesetter, a magician and a fraud, as well as friend and inspiration to a bewildering variety of figures including Karl Marx, Haeckel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, H.G. Wells, Annie Besant and J. H. Kellogg. The Swiss artist and teacher Johannes Itten was a devout Mazdaznan and its exercises were an essential part of his courses at the Bauhaus. Health & Breath Culture has been newly illustrated by Ian Whittlesea with drawings of current Foundation students demonstrating the exercises. It is followed by a selection of found texts and images that go some way to explaining the beliefs and history of Mazdaznan." -- Publisher's website
This book explores the intimate relationship between Mazdaznan, Johannes Itten and the Vorkurs (P... more This book explores the intimate relationship between Mazdaznan, Johannes Itten and the Vorkurs (Preliminary or Foundation Course) at the Bauhaus, Weimar. It is a practical guide to performing the exercises that Itten taught at the Bauhaus and a celebration of a moment of mysticism at the heart of Modernism.
"At the start of the morning I brought my classes to mental and physical readiness for intensive work through relaxing, breathing, and concentrating exercises. The training of the body as an instrument of the mind is of the greatest importance for creative man." Johannes Itten
Founded by the extraordinary Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish in Chicago at the start of the 20th century Mazdaznan was a religion and way of life. Dr. Ha'nish is claimed to have been variously a genius, a shepherd, a typesetter, a magician and a fraud, as well as friend and inspiration to a bewildering variety of figures including Karl Marx, Haeckel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, H.G. Wells, Annie Besant and J. H. Kellogg. It is said that Edison named the first lightbulb Mazda in his honour and that Henry Ford attributed the dawn of the motor-age to Ha'nish's influence.
Mazdaznan's vegetarian diet, magnetic and electric sexual exchanges, breathing exercises and glandular theories were taken to Europe by its early disciples, flourishing in Switzerland, Germany and England between the wars.
The Swiss artist and teacher Johannes Itten was a devout Mazdaznan and its exercises were an essential part of his courses at the Bauhaus.
Health & Breath Culture has been newly illustrated by Ian Whittlesea with drawings of current Foundation students demonstrating the exercises. It is followed by a selection of found texts and images that go some way to explaining the beliefs and history of Mazdaznan.
The Egyptian Postures
Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish
The Egyptian Postures is a guide to the... more The Egyptian Postures
Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish
The Egyptian Postures is a guide to the most advanced Mazdaznan exercises that Johannes Itten taught his students at the Bauhaus. Often performed while singing or humming the postures were intended to activate glands and re-channel internal energies, stirring the blood in ways that contributed to the perpetual evolution of humanity. They were also said to induce auto-illumination, the participant’s body generating an intense light from within.
This edition of Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish’s original instructions has been newly edited and illustrated by Ian Whittlesea with images of actor Ery Nzaramba demonstrating the postures and an in-depth essay by Pádraic E. Moore that explores the relationships between esoteric movements, their racial theories and early modernism's embrace and eventual dismissal of the occult, Mazdaznan and Itten.
It is widely assumed that everyone is ‘interdisciplinary’ nowadays, that we all work at the inter... more It is widely assumed that everyone is ‘interdisciplinary’ nowadays, that we all work at the intersections of conventional disciplines. But if being flexible, multi-skilled and polymathic are the prerequisites of survival in today’s world, why do educators and art marketeers still find it imperative to maintain conditions of production that advocate specialist outcomes? The aim of this new anthology in the Occasional Table series is to critically reflect upon the role of specialism in art and society and to understand better how the claim of those who seek to transcend the parameters of specialisation contrasts to that of others who maintain that deep levels of achievement can only be attained within highly focused methods and forms
"Founded by the extraordinary Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish in Chicago at the start of the 2... more "Founded by the extraordinary Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish in Chicago at the start of the 20th century Mazdaznan was a religion and way of life. Dr. Ha’nish is claimed to have been variously a genius, a shepherd, a typesetter, a magician and a fraud, as well as friend and inspiration to a bewildering variety of figures including Karl Marx, Haeckel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, H.G. Wells, Annie Besant and J. H. Kellogg. The Swiss artist and teacher Johannes Itten was a devout Mazdaznan and its exercises were an essential part of his courses at the Bauhaus. Health & Breath Culture has been newly illustrated by Ian Whittlesea with drawings of current Foundation students demonstrating the exercises. It is followed by a selection of found texts and images that go some way to explaining the beliefs and history of Mazdaznan." -- Publisher's website
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Books by Ian Whittlesea
"At the start of the morning I brought my classes to mental and physical readiness for intensive work through relaxing, breathing, and concentrating exercises. The training of the body as an instrument of the mind is of the greatest importance for creative man."
Johannes Itten
Founded by the extraordinary Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish in Chicago at the start of the 20th century Mazdaznan was a religion and way of life. Dr. Ha'nish is claimed to have been variously a genius, a shepherd, a typesetter, a magician and a fraud, as well as friend and inspiration to a bewildering variety of figures including Karl Marx, Haeckel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, H.G. Wells, Annie Besant and J. H. Kellogg. It is said that Edison named the first lightbulb Mazda in his honour and that Henry Ford attributed the dawn of the motor-age to Ha'nish's influence.
Mazdaznan's vegetarian diet, magnetic and electric sexual exchanges, breathing exercises and glandular theories were taken to Europe by its early disciples, flourishing in Switzerland, Germany and England between the wars.
The Swiss artist and teacher Johannes Itten was a devout Mazdaznan and its exercises were an essential part of his courses at the Bauhaus.
Health & Breath Culture has been newly illustrated by Ian Whittlesea with drawings of current Foundation students demonstrating the exercises. It is followed by a selection of found texts and images that go some way to explaining the beliefs and history of Mazdaznan.
Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish
The Egyptian Postures is a guide to the most advanced Mazdaznan exercises that Johannes Itten taught his students at the Bauhaus. Often performed while singing or humming the postures were intended to activate glands and re-channel internal energies, stirring the blood in ways that contributed to the perpetual evolution of humanity. They were also said to induce auto-illumination, the participant’s body generating an intense light from within.
This edition of Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish’s original instructions has been newly edited and illustrated by Ian Whittlesea with images of actor Ery Nzaramba demonstrating the postures and an in-depth essay by Pádraic E. Moore that explores the relationships between esoteric movements, their racial theories and early modernism's embrace and eventual dismissal of the occult, Mazdaznan and Itten.
Papers by Ian Whittlesea
"At the start of the morning I brought my classes to mental and physical readiness for intensive work through relaxing, breathing, and concentrating exercises. The training of the body as an instrument of the mind is of the greatest importance for creative man."
Johannes Itten
Founded by the extraordinary Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish in Chicago at the start of the 20th century Mazdaznan was a religion and way of life. Dr. Ha'nish is claimed to have been variously a genius, a shepherd, a typesetter, a magician and a fraud, as well as friend and inspiration to a bewildering variety of figures including Karl Marx, Haeckel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, H.G. Wells, Annie Besant and J. H. Kellogg. It is said that Edison named the first lightbulb Mazda in his honour and that Henry Ford attributed the dawn of the motor-age to Ha'nish's influence.
Mazdaznan's vegetarian diet, magnetic and electric sexual exchanges, breathing exercises and glandular theories were taken to Europe by its early disciples, flourishing in Switzerland, Germany and England between the wars.
The Swiss artist and teacher Johannes Itten was a devout Mazdaznan and its exercises were an essential part of his courses at the Bauhaus.
Health & Breath Culture has been newly illustrated by Ian Whittlesea with drawings of current Foundation students demonstrating the exercises. It is followed by a selection of found texts and images that go some way to explaining the beliefs and history of Mazdaznan.
Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish
The Egyptian Postures is a guide to the most advanced Mazdaznan exercises that Johannes Itten taught his students at the Bauhaus. Often performed while singing or humming the postures were intended to activate glands and re-channel internal energies, stirring the blood in ways that contributed to the perpetual evolution of humanity. They were also said to induce auto-illumination, the participant’s body generating an intense light from within.
This edition of Dr. Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish’s original instructions has been newly edited and illustrated by Ian Whittlesea with images of actor Ery Nzaramba demonstrating the postures and an in-depth essay by Pádraic E. Moore that explores the relationships between esoteric movements, their racial theories and early modernism's embrace and eventual dismissal of the occult, Mazdaznan and Itten.