Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn

OLGA FRÖBE-KAPTEYN WAS BORN IN LONDON TO DUTCH ENGINEER AND PHOTOGRAPHER, ALBERTUS KAPTEYN, AND HIS WIFE, THE PHILOSOPHICAL ANARCHIST TRUUS MUYSKEN.

IN 1900 SHE MOVED TO ZURICH TO MAJOR IN HISTORY OF ART AT THE SCHOOL OF APPLIED ARTS, WHERE SHE MARRIED IWAN FRÖBE, A CROATIAN FLUTIST AND ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR. AFTER HER HUSBAND DIED IN A PLANE CRASH, FRÖBE-KAPTEYN AND HER FATHER TRAVELLED TO THE MOUNTAIN OF TRUTH IN THE SWISS VILLAGE OF ASCONA - AN ANARCHIST’S UTOPIA, GUIDED BY LAWS OF VEGETARIANISM AND NUDISM. FROM 1920 ONWARDS, ASCONA BECAME HER HOME.

IT WAS HERE THAT FRÖBE-KAPTEYN CREATED AN INFORMAL CENTRE CALLED ERANOS - A TITLE SUGGESTED TO HER BY HISTORIAN OF RELIGIONS, RUDOLF OTTO. THE SWISS PSYCHIATRIST AND PSYCHOANALYST, CARL JUNG, PROPOSED SHE USE ERANOS AS A MEETING PLACE BETWEEN EAST AND WEST, WITH SYMPOSIA THEMATICALLY POISED TO INSPIRE INTERDISCIPLINARY CONVERSATION.