GERTRUDE HONZATKO-MEDIZ
(1893-1975, Austria)

Gertrude Honzatko-Mediz was the daughter of the Austrian artist couple Emilie Mediz Pelikan and Karl Mediz. Shortly after her mother's death, spiritualist séances were held at her aunt's house, at which a medium established contact with her mother. Soon, the 16-year-old Gertrude herself experienced mediumistic trance states in which she communicated with her mother and other “spirit friends” on the other side, under whose guidance she began to make drawings. In a regular spiritualistic exchange with her mother, a kind of collaborative effort beyond the boundaries of immanence, the mother gave her, as it were, drawing lessons from the afterlife.

The mediumistic work of Gertrude Honzatko-Mediz suggest, that she did not regard herself exclusively being just an instrument of powerful spirit guides without autonomy but that her art was largely produced in collaboration with disembodied entities. There are several historical examples of the notion of mediumistic art as an autonomous collaborative interaction of drawing and painting mediums with their spiritual guides.