The Art of the Occult was an Amazon suggestion when I ordered Nevill Drury’s book about artist Rosaleen Norton.   And like most Amazon suggestions, its OK, but not great.  Suggestions are driven, by payoffs, marketing scams, and a little bit of correlated purchase habits.

The book shows examples of art featuring different kinds of symbolism.  The material dates from from the 1500’s to contemporary times.  Interesting to see spiritual topics outside Christendom in the 1600’s.  Salvator Rosa’s 1646 “Witches at their Incantations” gives Rembrandt a run for his money.  Don’t worry, there are also more “traditional” things like “Christmastime Divination” by Konstantin Makovsky (1905).  Many examples are by better known artists: Piet Mondrian (exploring the golden ratio), John William Waterhouse (Circe Invidiosa, greek mythology), Salvador Dali (“The Death Tarot Card”).

Be aware that at 9x7”, this is not an art book, but rather a book about art.  When trying to track down the authors actual first name, I ran across an entry saying the text was copyright by Sarah Walter.  This was followed by “Sarah Walter has asserted her moral right to be identified as the Author of the Work in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988”.  Sounds like there was some behind the scenes drama.  S. Elizabeth lives in Florida, so I image she was the hype woman, selected the pictures, and Ms Walter did all the writing.  Jesus of Mara Lago showed us how people in Florida operate.  Of course that says more about me than either of them.

As a collection “The Art of the Occult” seems better now, looking through it as a whole, than it did when I was reading a dozen pages each night.  You will not learn of hidden knowledge, just experience some interesting corners of the art world.