my conference talk from TransStates 2022

Reclaiming Philip-Jacques de Loutherbourg’s Place in Art History

keywords: Philip-Jacques de Loutherbourg, art history, alchemy, esotericism, special effects, proto-cinema, Turner, Mystagogue, art and magic, art history for filmmakers

Paper Presentation at TransStates 2022 University of Northampton

Philip-Jacques de Loutherbourg, a prodigious painter and scenographer, invented special effects and the proto-cinema Eidophusikon. A landscape painter and teacher to Turner, Loutherbourg’s visionary work shaped art and stagecraft. So why is he largely forgotten in art history?

Known as ‘the Mystagogue’, Loutherbourg was also an alchemist, magician, and faith healer who created special effects in his alchemical lab and experimented with radical ideas, including a Freemason temple that admitted women. he and wife Lucy even led a secret sex magick circle.

Why has this enigmatic figure been sidelined? This talk will explore Loutherbourg’s occult practices and the challenge of reinserting him into the art historical canon, reflecting on what academic research can offer esoteric studies—and vice versa.

Introduction:
Gillian McIver began her artistic career capturing bands through a camera lens, later diving into underground cinema and co-founding Luna Nera, an artist collective focused on site-specific projects in unconventional locations. From a Russian naval base to a grand, abandoned hotel, her work spans films, installations, photography, and curating, with her most recent project being Alchemy! in London. She is also the author of Art History for Filmmakers and the forthcoming Between Realism and the Sublime (Bloomsbury Press).