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Add Texture to GoogleIn the heart of the Breuer Building in New York, during the fifth edition of the Independent 20th Century fair in September 2026, a unique display draws attention to the Hauser & Wirth gallery booth. Far from the traditional vertical hanging, a work on paper is displayed flat on a table. This arrangement is not merely a stylistic flourish; it recreates the working posture of Emma Kunz, a woman who, during her lifetime, rejected the label of “artist,” preferring instead to be known as a researcher and healer. Her sensational debut on the contemporary art market, with pieces estimated at between $280,000 and $310,000, raises a fundamental question about the nature of the art object: when does a therapeutic tool become a modern masterpiece?
Geometry as Diagnosis
Born in 1892 in Aargau, Emma Kunz spent most of her life in Switzerland practicing naturopathy and dowsing. It was not until 1938 that she began producing large geometric drawings in colored pencil and graphite on graph paper. For Kunz, aesthetics was never an end in itself. Her compositions were the result of work sessions—sometimes uninterrupted—guided by the oscillations of a pendulum. These complex drawings served as visual aids for diagnosing her patients, analyzing energy flows, or structuring her therapeutic interventions. During sessions, the drawing was placed on the floor, between the practitioner and the person seeking a remedy.
The body of work left behind by Kunz, who passed away in 1963, comprises between 400 and 500 compositions. None bear a title or date, reinforcing their status as working tools rather than objects of contemplation. The legacy of this remarkable figure is now preserved in Würenlos, at the Emma Kunz Center and Foundation, which opened in 1986 and 1991, respectively. Kunz herself seemed aware that her practice was ahead of her time, stating that her work was “designed for the 21st century.”
From the stone quarry to the gallery walls
Emma Kunz’s holistic approach was not limited to paper. In 1941 (or 1942, depending on the source), she identified the healing properties of a limestone extracted from a quarry in Würenlos. She named this mineral “AION A,” a term derived from Greek meaning “without limit.” This product, used to treat inflammation and pain, is still sold in Switzerland, attesting to the enduring impact of her naturopathic research across the decades. This mineral and earthly dimension of her work anchors her drawings in an organic reality, far removed from the purely theoretical abstractions of the avant-garde movements of her time.
Yet the art world has continued to embrace her work ever since the first major posthumous exhibition at the Kunsthaus in Aarau in 1973, titled *Der Fall Emma Kunz*. More recently, prestigious institutions have incorporated her drawings into reinterpretations of the history of abstraction. In 2005, the Drawing Center in New York juxtaposed her work with that of Hilma af Klint and Agnes Martin in the exhibition *3 x Abstraction*. In 2018, the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich paired her with Georgiana Houghton in *Weltempfänger*, highlighting a spiritual and mediumistic lineage that had long been obscured by academic formalist dogma.
A Centuries-Old Tradition of Healing Art
Emma Kunz’s case is part of a much broader historical trajectory—that of “healer-artists.” This tradition has its roots in ancestral shamanic practices, where ritual chants, trances, and sand drawings were inseparable from the community’s well-being. In the 20th century, this overlap between healing and creation became institutionalized under the term “art therapy.” The term was formalized as early as 1942 by Adrian Hill, while in 1946, Edward Adamson began his work at Netherne Psychiatric Hospital in the United Kingdom. There, Adamson established the principles of non-directive hospital art therapy, laying the groundwork for the British Association of Art Therapists in 1964.
During the same period, other pioneers were exploring these frontiers, such as Sigríður Björnsdóttir in Iceland, who, as early as 1952, used artistic creation with hospitalized children. For these practitioners, as for the pioneers of spiritual abstraction such as Hilma af Klint, the artwork arises from an altered state of consciousness or a vital need for healing rather than from a preestablished aesthetic intention. The transition of these objects—initially conceived as remedies or diagnostic tools—to the walls of international galleries and prestigious art fairs creates a fascinating epistemological tension.
The Commodification of the Sacred
The inclusion of nine works on paper by Kunz at Hauser & Wirth in the “Independent 20th Century” exhibition marks a further step in the commercial recognition of these practices. The announced price, ranging from 250,000 to 280,000 euros per sheet, establishes these therapeutic diagrams as masterpieces of modern art. This shift in value raises the question of how the work is received: can one appreciate Kunz’s geometry while setting aside its vibrational or medical function?
Recent solo exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery in London in 2019 and at the Aargauer Kunsthaus in 2021 have sought to maintain this balance, presenting the “Emma Kunz Cosmos” in all its complexity. While accounts from her contemporaries speak of healings or telepathic abilities—claims that stem from personal belief rather than verified medical facts— it is precisely this mysticism that today seems to fascinate an art market in search of meaning and spiritual depth. By transforming the naturopath’s office into a fair booth, the culture industry does more than just sell images; it attempts to capture a part of the invisible that Kunz, with her pendulum and graphite, humbly sought to map.