DRAWING MEDIUMS IN HANS MALIK'S SPIRITUALIST GROUP
Adelma von VayBaroness Adelma von Vay (1840-1925) was highly regarded among spiritualists in the late 19th century, not only within the Habsburg Monarchy but also internationally. A spiritualist medium and author of several mediumistic works, her book Geist, Kraft, Stoff ("Spirit, Power, Substance"), published in 1870 [1], gained recognition far beyond her homeland. Adelma von Vay maintained worldwide connections, and her international reputation was bolstered by praise from Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891), founder of the Theosophical Society in New York. Although Blavatsky was known for her disdain for spiritualist mediums, she made an exception for Adelma von Vay, describing her as "the gentle Baroness Adelma von Vay" and a “noble example” of a pure medium in her work Isis Unveiled (1877). [2]
After World War I, Adelma von Vay became aware of Austrian engineer Hans Malik (1887-1964) in Vienna. [3] Malik, who had been involved in spiritualism and studied her work extensively, founded a growing Spiritualist Association that held séances based on her writings. Recognizing him as the person who would preserve and continue her life's work, she entrusted him with her spiritual legacy, including original messages she received about spirit, power, and substance, as well as documents, manuscripts, and books from the Budapest Society of Spiritual Investigators (Szellemi Búvárok Pesti Egylete). This society, founded by physician Adolf Grünhut (1826-1906), was significantly influenced by Adelma von Vay and her husband, Ödön (1832-1921). [4]
Hans Malik, born in Auspitz (Hustopeče, South Moravia), worked as an engineer in Nuremberg from 1909, during which time he discovered his mediumistic abilities. After moving to Vienna at the start of World War I, he delved deeply into the works of Allan Kardec and Adelma von Vay. During a spiritualist séance, he met the medium Maria Vondrak (1890-1971) and joined her group. Spirits revealed that Maria was his soulmate, destined for him from the beginning. The two married in 1919.
In 1923, Malik founded the Christophorus Society (Christophorusbund), a spiritualist circle of like-minded people and mediums who gathered around him to continue Adelma von Vay's work. They pursued what Malik called "spiritualistic salvation work." Their practices mirrored those of Carl Wickland (1861-1945), a Swedish psychiatrist who believed that many mental illnesses were caused by possession by deceased spirits. [5] Like Wickland, Malik conducted séances where spirits were transferred into mediums, taught about their condition, and guided "into the light" for further spiritual development.
Mediumistic drawing by Mizi Malik through the spirit Colbus, 1944Remarkably, many mediums involved in these dramatic public séances were also active as drawing mediums within the private sphere of the circle. This focus on mediumistic drawing was likely influenced by Malik's wife, Maria ("Mizi"), who received numerous messages from the spirit world through drawings. Two spirits, Aurelia and Colbus, were the primary sources of her symbolically charged works, characterized by fantastical plant-like structures, abstract ornamental designs, and even faces or Marian figures emerging from colorful flowers.
Hans Malik (front row) with members of his Spiritualist CircleIn 1928, Malik compiled his lectures—mainly excerpts from von Vay's Geist, Kraft, Stoff with his own explanations—into a book titled Der Baumeister seiner Welt: Ein Führer auf dem Weg in die Urheimat (The Master Builder of His World: A Guide on The Way to the Original Homeland) published with support from members of the Christophorus Society. [6] The book included ten mediumistic drawings by various mediums, which Malik described as being created mechanically without conscious involvement by the artists, attributing the works entirely to spirits.
After the National Socialists came to power, the Christophorus Society was forced to cease most public activities. Malik was arrested in 1943 and sent to Dachau concentration camp. Malik survived and resumed his Spiritualist work in post-war Vienna. However, many documents, membership lists, books and drawings were confiscated and lost. He was even able to republish his book in 1949, which attracted many new members.
The Christophorus Society's "redemption séances" were again held publicly, often featuring multiple trance mediums and dramatic scenes that sometimes resulted in hysteria and even physical altercations. Due to public controversy, the Ministry of the Interior banned and dissolved the society in 1952. Nevertheless, Malik and his followers continued their activities discreetly under different names. They even conducted séances in a forest west of Vienna, leading to a trial in 1954, which ended in Malik's acquittal. However, negative media coverage affected him deeply.
Mediumistic drawings in Malik's "Der Baumeister seiner Welt" (left) and a page from the Dorotheum auction catalogue of 2001 with two drawings from the Malik Circle by Mizi Malik and Gustav Leiss
After Malik's death in 1964, Ernst Vicenty continued the spiritualist mission, with Mizi Malik remaining an influential medium until her death in 1971. By then, several offshoots of the original Christophorus Society had emerged.
When I first came across Malik's book Der Baumeister seiner Welt a few years ago, it sparked my search for the Society’s mediumistic drawings. Some of these works I could identify as Mizi Malik's, having surfaced at auctions, such as one at the Dorotheum in Vienna in 2001. It was later revealed that several drawings had been sold to fund the Society's activities, with some ending up in the Outsider Art collection of Austrian artist Arnulf Rainer (b. 1929). After extensive research, I was able to locate some 160 surviving mediumistic drawings from the Malik circle, dating from about 1920 to 1970, which are now part of the CoMA collection.
Works by the following artists from the Malic Spiritualist Circle are included in the CoMA: Hilda Ernest, Maria Hofman, Holub, Sister Hübsch, Gustav Leiss, Mizi Malik, Thea Pum, Karl Rom, Mitzi Schnatke, and several so far anonymous mediums identified only by the signatures of their mediating spirits, such as Franziskus, Henricus, and Phydias, as well as some (so far) completely anonymous authors, such as Anonymous [4], Anonymous [5], Anonymous [9], Anonymous [10].
Notes
[1] Catharina, Adelma and Ödön Vay (eds.), Geist, Kraft, Stoff. Wien: Holzhausen, 1870.
[2] H. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled: A Master-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology. New York: J. W. Bouton, Vol. I, p. 352.
[3] On Adelma von Vay an Hans Malik cf. Baier, K 2020, Occult Vienna: From the Beginnings until the First World War. in A Mattes, HG Hödl & L Pokorny (eds), Religion in Austria, Volume 5. vol. 5, Praesens Verlag, Wien, Religion in Austria, pp. 1-76.
[4] Cf. Júlia Gyimesi, "Between Religion and Science: Spiritualism, Science and Early Psychology in Hungary." International Psychology, Practice and Research, 5, 2014, pp. 1-23.
[5] Carl August Wickland, Thirty Years among the Dead. In Collaboration with Nelle M. Watts, Celia L. Goerz, Orlando D. Goerz. Los Angeles: National Psychological Institute, 1924.
[6] Hans Malik, Der Baumeister seiner Welt: Ein Führer auf dem Weg in die Urheimat. Vienna: Selbstverlag, 1928.
text © 2025 Elmar R. Gruber
