Art as Spiritual Activity (Paperback)

Rudolf Steiner

ISBN 10: 0880103965 / ISBN 13: 9780880103961

Published by Anthroposophic Press Inc, New York, 1997

About this Item

Paperback. This book introduces a new way for thinking about, creating, and viewing art. Rudolf Steiner saw his task as the renewal of the lost unity of science, the arts, and religion; thus, he created a new, cognitive scientific and religious art in anthroposophy. The implications of his act --recognized by such diverse artists as Wassily Kandinsky and Joseph Beuys --are only now coming fully to light. In his thorough introduction of more than a hundred pages, Michael Howard takes readers through these thought-provoking chapters: * Is Art Dead? * To Muse or Amuse * Artistic Activity As Spiritual Activity * The Representative of Humanity * Beauty, Creativity, and Metamorphosis * New Directions in Art Lectures include: * The Aesthetics of Goethe's Worldview * The Spiritual Being of Art * Buildings Will Speak * The Sense Organs and Aesthetic Experience * The Two Sources of Art * The Building at Dornach * The Supersensible Origin of the Arts * Truth, Beauty, and Goodness * Christ, Ahriman, and Lucifer * Plus a bibliography and index Although trained as a scientist and a philosopher, Rudolf Steiner always placed a high value on the practice of art and always worked artistically: whatever he did was done with great artistry. Furthermore, as a spiritual teacher, Steiner's ideal was the reunion of science, religion, and art in a new, human sacramental culture. The eleven lectures collected here reveal the many-facetted perspectives Steiner offered regarding the vital role of the visual arts in human affairs. For Steiner, art is above all a way of building a bridge between the spiritual and the physical realms. His views are not abstract theories or utopian ideals, but a constant striving through the inherent qualities of color and form to realize concrete artistic projects in architecture, sculpture, and painting. On first meeting Steiner's radical ideas, many people — artists as well as non-artists — wonder what sense they can make of such an approach to art. The introduction by Michael Howard introduces these ideas by recounting one artist's experience of struggling to make Steiner's views and way of doing art his own. Ultimately, however each person must make their own relationship to Steiner's approach, buth the story of how one artist took up the challenge may stimulate others to do the same. The book includes numerous photographs. Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780880103961

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Art as Spiritual Activity (Paperback)
• Publisher: Anthroposophic Press Inc, New York
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0880103965
• ISBN 13: 9780880103961
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

“Through the introduction by Michael Howard and Steiner’s ten lectures, this volume offers an account of the sources and purposes of art, as well as a particularly helpful approach to art as a spiritual practice. So, far from being dated, Steiner’s account of art and its relation to spiritual experience is at least contemporary and probably ahead of its time. As this book ably shows, Steiner’s insights concerning art, particularly when approached and practiced as a spiritual activity, might be exactly what art, artists, and contemporary culture urgently need.” ―Robert McDermott (from the foreword)

Seeing his task as the renewal of the lost unity of science, art, and religion, Rudolf Steiner created in the worldview he called Anthroposophy a new, cognitive scientific and religious art, the implications of which―recognized by such divergent artists as Wassily Kandinsky and Joseph Beuys―are only now becoming fully apparent. Art as Spiritual Activity includes a comprehensive, thought-provoking introduction of more than a hundred pages by Michael Howard, who writes:

“The most fundamental issue for arts today...is the spiritual foundation of arts.... Steiner demonstrates that our individual creative activity is not solely a personal affair. Our creations do not originate out of nowhere, nor solely out of ourselves, but from an objective world of spirit with which we are intimately related in the depths of our being. He shows that our creations have significance beyond ourselves and beyond the recognition they receive: works of art are vehicles of spiritual qualities. In bringing these spiritual qualities into the sphere of human life, the artist becomes responsible for the spiritual effects the work of art has on the artist, other people, and ultimately on human evolution.”

Art as Spiritual Activity introduces a new way of thinking about, looking at, and creating art.

About the Author

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up. As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe's scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner's multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.