"Divine Abstractions: Spiritual Expressions in Art" is a small show with a big ambition - to delineate spirituality in 20th century art, starting with the abstractions of Wassily Kandinsky and continuing through the present. It largely succeeds in at least providing an outline of its subject matter with some strong examples of work to back up its thesis.

The oldest painting in the show, which is the 2009-2010 Sheldon Statewide Exhibition, is a small painting "Heavy Woods - Midnight" by Ralph Albert Blakelock, an example of late 19th century romanticism, but with a tilt toward abstraction in its meditative nature scene.

But its anchor is Kandinsky's 1922 woodcut print "No. VIII, Die Kleine Welten," a black-and-white explosive abstraction from the writer of "Concerning the Spiritual in Art," a 1911 treatise in which he argued that abstract artists are compelled to create work of spiritual power.

From there, the show brings together Bauhaus artists Josef Albers and Hans Arp along with Charmion von Wiegand, whose Mondrian-influenced "Evolution" from 1949-50 delineates a continuing exploration of spiritual principles inside geometrical/mathematical forms in midcentury.

Figures then turn up in the works, which are often paired to great effectiveness. For example, Salvador Dali's 1958 lithograph "Dream of the Cosmic Unity," which depicts a man on a rearing horse reaching upward toward a cruciform figure, hangs next to Abraham Rattner's 1947 painting "Hands Upreaching," another depiction of the grasping for the spiritual, this time in the form of light.

Another pairing links Renee Stout's "Legba (Church of the Crossroads)," a 1998 monotype of a flattened, abstracted church front, with Lyonel Feininger's 1948 watercolor "Sunday," which is purely abstract but hints at a spiritual passageway that feel very much like the church door.

Less direct, but perhaps even more representative of how artists bring spirituality into their work is the pairing of Susan Dunkerley's "This is the Shape of the Soul, #4," a 2001 gelatin silver print photograph of a silhouetted fork and bowl, based on a Sufi poem, and Helen Lundeberg's surrealist "Cosmicide," a 1935 oil on Masonite painting that is haunting and otherworldly.

But the most vivid example of the combination of abstraction and figuration in service of a spiritual theme is Leroy K. Burket's 1952 painting "Crucifixion," which uses sharp lines and a dark palette to describe, without great detail, Christ's crucifixion - or at least that is how the imagery that is more hinted at than overt will be viewed by Christian eyes.

"Divine Abstractions: Spiritual Expressions in Art" is accompanied by a small, well-written and researched catalog by Sheldon Statewide Curator Susan J. Soriente that provides some background on each of the artists, most of whom are far from household names, along with how their work links to the exhibition's theme.

The selection of work from the Sheldon Museum of Art's extensive collection, most of which is rarely seen (I didn't know Sheldon owned a Dali until I saw the show), is strong enough to illuminate the idea of spirituality in abstract art without the catalog - which, for me, is the measure of a successful exhibition.

It is also a challenging show, requiring some thought on the part of the viewer to connect with its theme. That's another plus and good to see in an exhibition which, after it ends its Sheldon run on Aug. 2, will go on the road for a year, showing in nine Nebraska communities starting in Chadron and ending next July in Scottsbluff.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.