Books in the Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner series

9 lectures in various cities, April 1915-June 1920 (CW 288)"As rigidified in the aesthetic formulas of the École des Beaux-Arts and nineteenth-century academic architecture, these proportions, orders, and geometrical types were no longer suited to a living architectural expression, and modernism was obliged to abandon them. One attempt to recapture this connection was made by Le Corbusier with the use of his 'Modular' figures based on human bodily proportion as units of architectural measurement. Another effort was made from the organic functionalist side by Steiner, who proposed that in the architectural art everything 'points to, and proceeds from, the human form.' His architectural approach tried to find a renewed way to attune his buildings holistically to their human users by employing patterns of the life forces or formative forces within the human constitution." -- David J. Adams (introduction)The planning, construction, and execution of the functional work of art that was the First Goetheanum was an endeavor that occupied Rudolf Steiner for the better part of seven years. Every detail, from the seemingly small--such as the shape and feel of the door handles--to the grand motifs of the paintings on the ceilings of the cupolas and the building's intended sculptural centerpiece, was lovingly designed to meet and inspire the individual human beings who would some day encounter it, not with didactic symbolism, but with the transparent reality of the spiritual foundation of humanity and the world, and the open possibility to both know this spiritual foundation and to work with it practically and artistically for the good of all.The lectures in this volume--accompanied by reproductions of more than a hundred slides--were heard by various audiences as the building neared completion and before it was destroyed by fire. The text is complemented with a foreword by the esteemed architect Douglas J. Cardinal, as well as an important and revelatory Introductory essay by David Adams: "The Form-Function Relationship in Architecture and Nature: Organic and Inorganic Functionalism."This volume of The Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner is essential reading for anyone who wants to gain a deeper understanding of the artistic motivation of Rudolf Steiner as an artist and architect, while also clearing up many of the misunderstandings that the building and its sculptural and painted components have inevitably given rise to, both then and now. This book is a translation from the German edition Architektur, Plastik und Malerei des ersten Goetheanum: Neun Vorträge, gehalten an verschiedenen Orten zwischen dem 10. April 1915 und dem 12. Juni 1920, herausgegeben aufgrund von stenographischen, teilweise von Rudolf Steiner korrigierten Nachschriften (GA 288).

"The translation is based on the 2nd edition (1980) of volume 277, Eurythmie: Die Offenbarung der sprechenden Seele, of the German-language Gesamtausgabe ... published by Rudolf Steiner-Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach. Additional materials from other volumes ... have been included as indicated in the Notes and Introduction"--Title page verso.

Volume 338 in The Collected works of Rudolf Steiner. Translation of: Wie wirkt man fèur den Impuls der Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus? Dornach, Switzerland: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1986.

In 1921 the Association for Anthroposophic College Studies was founded, and courses and conferences began to be given in Dornach and a number of large cities throughout Europe. This Berlin Course drew more than a thousand participants. The goal was 'to give an impression of the possible incentives anthroposophy could offer various scientific fields.' Each day began with a lecture by Steiner, followed by presentations from other lecturers, artistic events, panel discussions, and more. The lectures included Anthroposophy and Natural Science; The Organizations of Humans and of Animals; Anthroposophy and Philosophy; Anthroposophy and Education; Anthroposophy and Social Science; Anthroposophy and Theology; and Anthroposophy and Theory of Language.

"Translation of Das Faust-Problem: Die romantische und die klassische Walpurgisnacht Geisteswissenschaftlich Erlèauterungen zu Goethes "Faust" Band II, published by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach, Switzerland, 1981"--Title page verso.

An introductory lecture with slides, Bern, Switzerland, June 29, 1921 (CW 290)Rudolf Steiner gave thousands of lectures in his lifetime, usually without notes, and, with very few exceptions, with nothing more than chalk and a blackboard if he chose to accompany his speech with some kind of visual illustration. A notable exception is the presentation that constitutes the main part of this book. Given in June 1921, in Bern just eighteen months before its tragic destruction by fire, this lecture and slide show (consisting of a hundred slides) is both the closest thing we have to a guided tour of the original Goetheanum by its architect and a profound statement of artistic purpose.In addition to the lecture and slide show that comprise the main content of this volume, the introduction by John Kettle serves to place Steiner's artistic contribution to architecture in the context of early twentieth-century Expressionism and Organicism. Frederick Amrine's thorough bibliographic essay highlights the most important secondary literature on Steiner's architecture and provides a sound entry to further exploration and study.This book is translated from the 3rd revised German edition, Das Goetheanum als Gesamtkunstwerk: Rudolf Steiner, Der Baugedanke des Goetheanum: Einleitender Vortrag mit Erklärungen zu den Lichtbildern des Goetheanum-Baues gehalten in Bern am 29. Juni 1921, Verlag am Goetheanum, 1986.

"Five lectures given in Dornach, Switzerland, October 10-25, 1914."

Translation of: Die Verbindung zwischen Lebenden und Toten. Dornach, Switzerland: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1995. Based on transcripts not reviewed by the speaker.

"volume 323 in the Collected Works (CW) of Rudolf Steiner."

An Author's Summary, 1888Four Essays Written between 1890 and 1898Eight Lectures between 1909 and 1921 (CW 271)"The challenge of saying something about art was personal for Rudolf Steiner. He experienced it as deeply connected with his biography. It is not for nothing that, in the last lecture of this volume, he points to his repeated attempts to develop a new approach and new forms of expression for speaking about art. We find at least three forms of this attempted approach in this book." --Zvi Szir (from the introduction)The subject, practice, and vital importance of art was a thread that ran through Rudolf Steiner's life, from his early work as a scholar of Goethe, through his time as an editor of a literary and arts journal in Berlin in the 1890s, and to his two and a half decades as a spiritual researcher and teacher. Understanding and articulating the significance of art was a perennial challenge for Rudolf Steiner.This volume of Steiner's Collected Works is unique in that it showcases a survey of both early written works and later lectures to anthroposophic audiences, and in doing so presents a picture of a lifetime of intensive effort to convey something essential about the arts. Beginning with his early philosophical work and literary criticism at the end of the nineteenth century and on into his later lectures, this volume follows Steiner's endeavor to reveal in words the mystery obscured by the vague concept of what "art" is.Viewed as a whole, this volume forms one of the most provocative collections of the twentieth century on the subject of art. It offers a unique analysis of the origin, foundation, and method of the creative process.This book is a translation of Kunst und Kunsterkenntnis: Grundlagen einer neuen Ästhetik, 3rd edition, published by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach, Switzerland, 2010 (GA 271).