The Aesthetics of Rudolf Steiner and Spiritual Modernism

by

Jennie Louise Cain

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Germanic Languages and Literatures)
in the University of Michigan
2016

Doctoral Committee:

Associate Professor Frederick Amrine, Co-Chair

Associate Professor Kerstin Barndt, Co-Chair
Associate Professor Andreas Gailus
Professor Elizabeth Sears
 DEDICATION

for Mira and Devika

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to my committee members, who have

inspired and supported me all of these years at Michigan: Frederick Amrine, Kerstin

Barndt, Andreas Gailus and Betsy Sears. It would have been impossible for me to pursue

this topic without Frederick Amrine’ s deep and extensive knowledge of Rudolf Steiner

and without his ability to patiently guide me to relevant concepts and works within

Steiner’ s oeuvre of over four hundred volumes. I am especially thankful to Fred for his

keen intellect and his exhortations to try to see the bigger picture. I owe a debt of

gratitude to Kerstin Barndt for her continual prompting to think critically, the

conscientiousness with which she closely read many drafts of my work in various states

of disorder, and for her warm encouragement every step of the way. During the final

months, Kerstin’ s guidance has been invaluable. Andreas Gailus provided critical

feedback at various stages and I also appreciate Betsy Sear’ s detailed and insightful

written feedback during the final stage of writing.

There are two people especially worthy of acknowledgement for their part in

contributing to my growth as a teacher and a scholar. Hartmut Rastalsky helped me to

discover the joy of teaching, has been an amazing mentor and has provided thoughtful

feedback on my teaching as well as on fellowship and award applications. I also wish to

thank Christian Clement for creating the online resource Rudolf Steiner Online Archiv

that enabled me to easily access many texts by Steiner.

iii
 During my years here I have benefitted greatly from the highly skilled and

dedicated administrative staff in the German department, including Sheri Sytsema-

Geiger, Nancy Blasch, Rachelle Grubb, Jen White and Gitta Killough. Thanks are owed

to each of them for guiding me and my colleagues through important administrative

procedures. I am especially grateful to Jen White for the many needed reminders, pieces

of practical advice and, above all, for all of our talks in her office that helped break up the

monotony of dissertation writing.

Multiple institutions have supported my education as a scholar and a teacher.

These include the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature, the Rackham

Graduate School, the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, and the Deutscher

Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD). I am thankful for the generous fellowships that

enabled research in the US and in Germany and for many helpful seminars on aspects of

research and teaching.

At the University of Michigan, I am indebted to my classmates and friends for

their personal and intellectual support. To Seth Howes, Sara Jackson and Solveig Heinz I

owe thanks for their mentorship. I also wish to acknowledge my classmates Biz Nijdam,

Nick Heckner, Hannah McMurray, Emma Thomas, Ariana Orozco, Michael André,

Simon Walsh and Claire Insel for their camaraderie and feedback on my work. To

Kathryn Sederberg I owe special thanks for her friendship and support, for her fine

editing skills, and for helping to keep me sane in graduate school.

iv
 Over the course of my life there have been a number of wonderful teachers whose

passion and skill helped shape me. I thank my class teacher Frances Vig for her

creativity and unbridled enthusiasm and my high school teacher Ed Vaitones for sparking

a special interest in German. I wish to recognize Dr. Hans Michael Speier and Dr.

Christine Geffers-Browne, two especially inspiring professors at the summer master’ s

program held at Middlebury College. I also wish to thank Dr. Jochen Richter, long time

director of the summer program, and the many other teachers and staff there who made

this program an intensive and truly exceptional educational experience. To Dennis

Klocek, director of the Consciousness Studies program, I owe thanks for igniting interest

in further study of Goethe and of Steiner. The late Dr. John Mohan, professor of Russian

literature and my favorite teacher at Grinnell College, will always be remembered for his

love of literature and his cornball humor.

Finally I wish to extend my deepest thanks to my family. My parents, Beth and

Roger, have always been so loving and supportive in all of my eclectic pursuits. I thank

my dad for the way he has always modeled a love of ideas and an interest in spiritual

practice. A very special thanks goes to Mira’ s and Devika’ s two beloved

grandmothers —”Oma” and “Dadiba”—who have gone above and beyond in their

support of me and my family by babysitting and also living with us for substantial

periods here and even in Germany. Thanks to them, I was able to finish the PhD with the

peace of mind that my little girls were in the best of hands. I also want to thank

v
caregivers who have become part of our extended family by loving our girls as their own:

Areli Hernandez, SandraSartori, Mary Eldridge and Laura Ganzel.

Finally I want to thank my best friend and husband Hirak Parikh for his

companionship, encouragement, and technical support and for keeping a cool head during

moments of crisis. Above all, Hirak helped me maintain the perspective that the

dissertation is just one stage of life. I look forward to the many years ahead with you!

vi
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii
LIST OF FIGURES viii
ABSTRACT ix
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 1
Rudolf Steiner’ s Goethean Symbolism and his Influence on Wassily Kandinsky’ s
Theory of Abstraction 37
CHAPTER 2
Against Mimesis: Steiner’ s Theory of the Evolution of the Arts in Dialogue with
Wilhelm Worringer’ s Abstraktion und Empathie and Alois Riegl’ s Kunstwollen 110
CHAPTER 3
The first Goetheanum Building and Steiner’ s Vision of Peace and Internationalism 174
CONCLUSION 247
BIBLIOGRAPHY 256

vii
 LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1: THE FIRST GOTHEANUM 186
FIGURE 2: STEINER’ S PAINTED MOTIFS OF THE ARCHETYPAL FIGURES OF THE
SEVEN POST-ATLANTEAN CULTURES WITH A SERIES OF COLUMNS AND THE
LARGE CARVED WOODEN SCULPTURE DER MENSCHHEITSREPRÄSENTANT
BELOW. COLORED DRAWING BY VAN BEMMELEN. 235
FIGURE 3: CROSS-SECTION OF DOMES FROM A MODEL. 239
FIGURE 4: THE MAIN HALL WITH THE AUDIENCE AREA BELOW AND THREE OF
THE COLUMNS WITH THEIR CAPITALS. 240
FIGURE 5: A CLOSE-UP OF THE SECOND COLUMN 242
FIGURE 6: A CLOSE-UP OF THE THIRD COLUMN 243
FIGURE 7: THE THIRD AND FOURTH COLUMNS 244

viii
 ABSTRACT

Around 1900, a wave of European artists and intellectuals turned to spiritual

themes and modes of thought to reform a society perceived as dominated by rationalism,

materialism and mimetic art. My dissertation places at the center of this movement

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925)—the Austrian philosopher, artist, architect, pedagogue and

social reformer. I trace Steiner’ s influence on canonical modernists and show that his

writings are deeply resonant with contemporary developments in the visual arts, art

theory and architecture. In Chapter One, I examine the influence of Steiner’ s theory of

dematerialization on Wassily Kandinsky’ s conception of abstraction. While exploring

significant points of connection between both thinkers, I argue that Steiner ultimately

does not aim for abstraction but instead for a return to the phenomenological world in an

immersive mode characteristic of Goethean thought. In Chapter Two, I bring Steiner’ s

art historical theory into dialogue with the writings of the German art theorist Wilhelm

Worringer and the Austrian art historian Alois Riegl. I argue that both Steiner and Riegl

conceive of the history of art as the expression of a collective aesthetic drive, what Riegl

calls Kunstwollen, and that Worringer and Steiner understand “abstraction” in

philosophical rather than periodic terms. Chapter Three turns to Steiner’ s first

Goetheanum building, placing it in the context of Expressionist architecture on the one

hand and anti-war responses to the First World War on the other. I bring Steiner’ s

theory of the first Goetheanum as promoting peace into conversation with three

contemporaneous thinkers and projects: Bruno Taut and his Glashaus Pavilion from

ix
1914; the German fantasy writer and illustrator Paul Scheerbart; and Sigmund Freud’ s

1915 anti-war text “Zeitgemäßes über Krieg und Tod.”

My project makes three interventions into the field of modernism studies. First,

by considering Steiner’ s place within Expressionism, it adds to the heterogeneity of this

movement. Second, it contributes to the neglected subfield of what I call “spiritual

modernism,” arguing that the spiritual was never historically “excluded” from the

modern. Finally, my dissertation broadens our understanding of modernism by

complicating traditional binaries such as religious/secular and pre-modern/modern.

x
 INTRODUCTION

At the turn of the twentieth century, many German-speaking writers, artists,

architects and art theorists felt that European society was in great need of cultural

transformation after decades of rapid industrialization and urbanization. Observing the

modern and increasingly secular society around them, they regarded their epoch as

plagued by fragmentation, over-rationalization, mechanism, “materialism” and mimetic

art. The dramatic changes in European society were noted by many well known

modernist thinkers. In his essay from 1903 “Die Großstädte und das Geistesleben,”

German philosopher and sociologist Georg Simmel (1858-1918) argued that society had

become increasingly dominated by a calculating spirit: “Der moderne Geist ist mehr

und mehr ein rechnender geworden.”1 In a similar vein, in 1917 German sociologist and

economist Max Weber (1864-1920) gave a lecture to future scientists in which he argued

that the increase in specialization within academe and rationality within greater society

had led to the “disenchantment of the world” (“die Entzauberung der Welt”). In these

conditions, Weber argued, people had lost the ability to understand the world as a unified,

coherent whole. As an unavoidable result, spiritual, or “sublime” values had to recede

from public life: “Es ist das Schicksal unserer Zeit, mit der ihr eigenen Rationalisierung

und Intellektualisierung, vor allem: Entzauberung der Welt, daß gerade die letzten und

1
“Die Großtädte und das Geistesleben.” Vorträge und Aufsätze zur Städteausstellung.
Jahrbuch der Gehe-Stiftung Dresden, Th. Petermann, ed., Band 9, Dresden 1903, 185-
206. < http://socio.ch/sim/sta03.htm>

1
sublimsten Werte zurückgetreten sind aus der Öffentlichkeit.”2 In this lecture Weber

uses a number of terms to characterize the retreat of some kind of incalculable, spiritual

dimension. Here he calls it “sublime,” while in another instance he describes it as

mysterious, immeasurable powers (“die geheimnisvollen unberechenbaren Mächte”).3

As one possible reaction to this state Weber proposes that

those who cannot tolerate the “disenchanted” state of modern life may choose to return to

traditional religion.

My project centers around contemporaneous artists and intellectuals who, as

opposed to thinkers like Simmel and Weber, believed that the modern world could be

reinfused with spiritual meaning or “reenchanted.” These artists saw the state of their

modern world as a catalyst for the start of a dramatically new cultural epoch based not in

a recourse to traditional religion, but instead in a new turn toward the spiritual in such a

way that it would be accessible to greater society. For all of the figures I treat art was the

primary vehicle for this spiritual transformation. Russian Expressionist and pioneering

abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky famously called this coming period “die Epoche des

großen Geistigen.”4 He described it as an unprecedented time when people, led by

certain modern artists, would gain the ability to perceive the spiritual dimension

underlying all of life. This dissertation traces the emergence of what I have termed

“spiritual modernism” as a phenomenon that arose at the nexus of modern art,

architecture and the esoteric between 1890-1920s. I argue that the intensive artistic

2
Max Weber, “Wissenschaft als Beruf (1919),” in Max Weber Schriften 1894-1922, ed.
Dirk Kaesler (Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner Verlag, 2002), 510.
3
Ibid., 488.
4
Wassily Kandinsky.Der blaue Reiter im Lenbachhaus München: Katalog der
Sammlung in der Städtischen Galerie. Eds. Rosel Gollek. München: Prestel, 1982, 313.

2
engagement with spiritual themes was a crucial and hitherto often overlooked part of the

modernist project.

At the center of this engagement I position Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925)—the

Austrian philosopher, artist, architect, dramaturge, pedagogue, and social reformer.

Steiner was the founder of Anthroposophy, a philosophy and spiritual movement whose

aim was and still is to develop supersensible capacaties that enable access to what Steiner

described as a spiritual dimension underlying all of life. Anthroposophy has many roots,

including German Idealism, German mysticism, and the Theosophical movement from

which it drew some of its vocabulary. Between 1902 and 1912, Steiner was the secretary

of the German branch of the Theosophical Society, a movement that draws from many

mystical traditions and aims to provide insight into the origins and divinity inherent in all

of life. The movement was begun in 1875 by Helena Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott and

William Quan Judge and still exists today. Steiner took issue with the differences in

philosophical and spiritual orientation, including how Theosophy was more orientated

toward eastern spiritual traditions. In 1913 Steiner and his approximately 2,400 members

of the German section of the Theosophical society were expelled and in the same year

Steiner founded his own movement of Anthroposophy.

Of particular importance for Steiner’ s thought and a focus of my project is his

interpretation of Goethe’ s worldview, especially concerning the notion of evolution.

Steiner worked intensively with Goethe’ s scientific thought as editor of his scientific

writing. In Weimar between 1884 and 1897, Steiner published five volumes of Goethes

Naturwissenschaftliche Schriften for the Kürschner edition of “Deutsche National-

Literatur.” Steiner argued for a revival of interest in Goethe’ s thought as essential to

3
understanding contemporary culture and as a needed intervention to contemporary

scientific method. Of specific importance to my project is the way in which Steiner

created his own concept of spiritual and cultural evolution based significantly upon the

evolutionary and morphological ideas of Goethe, as well as drawing from other

evolutionary thinkers, including Ernst Haeckel and Charles Darwin. In the first chapter, I

argue that Steiner’ s aesthetic project ultimately aims for a return to engagement with the

phenomenological in a way resonant with Goethean symbolism. I also show how Steiner

gives a more spiritual reading of Goethe’ s concepts of developing perceptual capacity

by arguing that supersensible powers can be honed through exercises like those suggested

in Goethe’ s Metamorphose der Pflanzen. In the first chapter, I also introduce Eurythmy

as a form of movement Steiner created to be an expression, in space and movement, of

Goethe’ s morphology.

In 1913, Steiner began constructing the Goetheanum building in Dornach,

Switzerland, near Basel, as the headquarters of the Anthroposophical movement and as

its artistic center. Steiner’ s original plan was to locate his movement’ s headquarters in

Munich, but this plan ultimately failed due to protests from non-Steinerian neighbors.

The first Goetheanum was financed, constructed and adorned largely by volunteers from

within the movement. It featured a large amount of hand-carved wooden decoration.

The building held conferences and performances of Steiner’ s mystery plays and

Eurythmy dance. Steiner wrote four mystery plays, between 1910 and 1913, meant as a

modern interpretation of a Medeival form of religious play and they tell the story of

multiple lives of fictional figured. Eurythmy is an expressive form of movement, created

by Steiner and his colleague and later wife Marie von Sivers, meant to express the inner

4
nature of speech and music. The first building burned down during the night of New

Year’ s 1922/1923 due to suspected arson. Still remaining are multiple photos of the

building, photos of models and lectures by Steiner in which he describes the first

Goetheanum. The second Goetheanum, built in the same location, was begun in 1924

and opened in 1928, three years after Steiner’ s death. It contrasts with the first building

in that it is made nearly entirely of reinforced concrete and did not have the same level of

handmade elements. Both buildings received praise from highly known architects,

including Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier, as well as a number of well-known

architectural historians, including Wolfgang Pehnt. Today, this second building still

serves as the headquarters of the international Anthroposophical movement and as its

performance space and artistic center.

Steiner is best known for his pedagogical thought, as the founder of the Waldorf

schools, and through his connection to Goethe. In the context of literary and artistic

modernism, however, Steiner is often overlooked. When Steiner is considered at all, it is

most often for his influence on more canonical modernist figures, above all the painter

Wassily Kandinsky and the Expressionist Blaue Reiter group. During the modernist

period there was a revival of interest in Goethe and I highlight the importance of Goethe’

s thought for Steiner’ s modernist project. In the first chapter, I also demonstrate how

aspects of Steiner’ s spiritual and aesthetic thought helped shape Kandinsky’ s theory of

artistic abstraction. In the second chapter, I also bring Steiner into conversation with the

art historians Wilhelm Worringer and Alois Riegl. In the third chapter, I consider

Steiner’ s thought in the context of Expressionist architeture and pacifist sentiment

regarding the First World War. I read Steiner alongside the architect Bruno Taut, the

5
fantasy writer and architectural theorist Paul Scheerbart and Sigmund Freud with his

early anti-war essay “Zeitgemässes über Krieg und Tod.” My claim is that Steiner’ s

thought is not only deeply resonant with better-known figures in the visual arts, art theory

and architecture, but that, in fact, Steiner helped formatively shape the discourse, in both

explicit and implicit ways, on many of the key questions of contemporaneous culture.

These include the questions of how to renew what many viewed as an ossified, overly

“materialistic” and rationalistic society; the meaning of “geistige Kunst,” the definition

and the origins of artistic abstraction; the relationship of the “spiritual” to the worldly and

the link between art and politics. An important crux of my project is how I consider

Steiner in relation to Goethe and to the visual: the visual arts, art theory and art history

and architecture.

My dissertation intervenes in the interdisciplinary field of modernism studies in

three ways. First, it contributes to the neglected subfield of what I call “spiritual

modernism.” Scholarship has absorbed a view in which modernity, in more and less

overt ways, is often defined as secular, divorced from the spiritual dimension. Yet my

project shows that the spiritual was never historically “excluded” from the modern and

modernism and that those artists whose work was shaped by an interest in the spiritual

were engaging with modernity in their efforts to transform it, not transcend it. Second,

by considering Steiner’ s place within Expressionism, my project calls attention to the

heterogeneity of this movement. Third, by complicating traditional binaries such as

religious/secular, pre-modern/modern and non-political/political, this dissertation seeks to

broaden our understanding of modernism.

6
Steiner among Contemporaries

Steiner throughout his life engaged with contemporaneous thinkers and

movements. There was a period at the turn of the century, though relatively brief, when

he took a very active role in contemporary culture. In Vienna and Munich, he held many

lectures on art. Munich was also an important center for Steiner as it is the location

where he premiered his mystery plays and, in 1907, he organized the very well attended

conference for the European section of the Anthroposophical society. As detailed in the

third chapter, Steiner also tried to situate the headquarters of his movement in Munich,

but protests from the neighboring church and other obstracles ultimately impeded this

plan. More generally, Steiner gave a very large number of public lectures— many of

which drew large audiences of over 1,000 attendees in locations all over Europe. As I

discuss in my first chapter, Steiner was an important influence on Wassily Kandinsky and

the Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter as well as on many Russian symbolists, many

of whom lived in Munich as expatriates at the beginning of the 1900s.

Steiner was also, as I argue, only one of many “spiritual modernists”—artists, art

theorists and intellectuals living during Steiner’ s time—who, in varying ways, engaged

with spiritual subjects in their work. Other such figures, only to name a few, include the

Expressionist painter Wasilly Kandinsky (1866-1944), the members of the Blaue Reiter

group, the writer and esotericist Stefan George (1868-1933), the author and founder of

the Dada movement Hugo Ball (1886-1927) and Johannes Itten (1888-1967), the Swiss

painter, art historican and member of the Bauhaus school.

Steiner contributed to the cultural discourse with myriad lectures and writings.

Between 1897 and 1900, he was the co-editor with German writer Otto Erich Hartleben

7
of the weekly publication Magazin für Literatur, devoted primarily to contemporary

literature.5 As seen in the many reviews he wrote for this publication, Steiner had a

sustained interest in the Austrian writer, playwright and critic Hermann Bahr (1863-

1934). It seems this interest was mutual, as Bahr also cites Steiner in his treatise

Expressionismus (1916), where he names him—along with Martin Buber and Johannes

Müller—as one of the three most important thinkers to lead the aesthetic turn away from

the visible and toward the invisible. Bahr argues that it is time “[Martin Buber],

Johannes Müller und Rudolf Steiner, diese drei vor allem, sagen uns das an. Die

Menschheit hat ja die Gewohnheit, immer wenn sie eine Zeitlang ganz zum Sichtbaren

hin […] nun wieder zum Unsichtbaren umzukehren […].”6 In 1898 Steiner also edited

the Dramaturgische Blätter, the official organ of the Deutschen Bühnenvereins. He also

corresponded with the writer Rainer Maria Rilke, an exchange that began with a glowing

review by Steiner in the Dramaturgische Blätter of Rilke’ s essay “Der Wert des

Monologes.”7 Steiner wrote theatre reviews with an anti-naturalistic bent but his

attempts to join the dialogue on avant-garde theater won only a small audience.

Throughout his career, he held public lectures, delivered in an accessible way to

interested audiences with or without an Anthroposophical background. Between 1903

and1918, Steiner held public lectures in the Berlin Architektenhaus that repeated every

winter due to popular demand. As I will discuss in the first chapter, Wassilly Kandinsky

5
In one issue, for example, Steiner reviewed, among many others, three realist authors:
Thedor Storm (1817-1888), the Austrian Emil Marriot (1855-1938) and the German
author Theodor Fontane. He also provided a very favorable review of the female author,
poet and dramaturge Marie Eugenie Delle (1864-1931). Rudolf Steiner, “Lyrik der
Gegenwart. Ein Überblick,” Magazin für Literatur1898, 1-41.
6
Hermann Bahr, Expressionismus (München: Delphin-Verlag, 1916), 41.
7
Mateo Kries, ed., Rudolf Steiner: Die Alchemie des Alltags (Ditzingen: Vitra Design
Museum, 2010), 322.

8
and a number of fellow artists attended some of these lectures. Between 1899 and 1905

Steiner also lectured at the workers’ education school (“Arbeiterbildungsschule”),

founded by Wilhelm Liebknecht in Berlin, covering the subjects of history, literature,

rhetoric and the natural sciences.8

The period during which Steiner was quite prominent in wider, modernist circles,

however, was relatively brief. The time at the workers’ education school and as editor

of Magazin für Literatur were both relatively short forays. In 1902, Steiner ended up

accepting the post of Secretary of the German section of the Theosophical Society, a post

that lasted until his break with Theosophy in 1912, in large part because he could not find

another venue open enough to his ideas. The pattern of trying, but ultimately failing, to

establish a more public profile is demonstrated in a physical manner in Steiner’ s failed

attempt to construct the Goetheanum building in Munich before its ultimate placement in

Dornach.

In 1922 German sociologist, journalist, cultural critic and film theorist Siegfried

Kracauer (1889-1966) engaged critically with Steiner’ s work in a piece entitled “Die

Wartenden” in the Frankfurter Zeitung. In it Kracauer argues that the secularization of

modern society (what he calls the “Entleerung des uns umfangenden geistigen Raumes”)

resulted in one of three basic responses.9 First, there are the skeptics who doubt any

possibility for a renewal of spirituality within modernity. Second, there are the believers

who envision some form of reconciliation. Third, there are those who wait to see what

may materialize. Kracauer critiques Steiner as an example of the second form of thinker

8
In 1902 Steiner also gave a lecture, along with Rosa Luxemburg, to celebrate the
opening of the Arbeiterbildungsschule in Spandau. Ibid., 322-23.
9
Siegfried Kracauer, “Die Wartenden (1922),” in Siegfried Kracauer. Schriften.
Aufsätze 1915-1926, ed. Inka Mülder-Bach (Frankfurt am Main: 1990), 160.

9
and as someone who attracted a large following due to an illusory and deceptive system

that purported to be capable of reconciling science with religion (in the following

Kracauer speaks of the “absolute”):

Die große Gefolgschaft Steiners erklärt sich zum guten Teil daraus, daß Steiner
auf Grund seiner Einsicht in die Unhaltbarkeit unserer geistigen Situation eine
wissenschaftlich nachprüfbare Methode zu besitzen vorgibt, die zur Schau
übersinnlicher Realitäten wie zur Erkundung menschlicher Bestimmung verhelfen
soll und den trügerischen Anschein erweckt, als stelle sie gesicherte Beziehungen
zum Absoluten her.10

Kracauer’ s public response to Steiner, only one instance out of many others that could

be cited, displays the level of prominence Steiner had within broader circles, even into

the 1920s as leader of the Anthroposophical Society.

The Question of Terminology: “Geist” and “Spiritual Modernism”

At this early juncture it is important to clarify some of the key terms and concepts

I use, including the terms “spiritual” and “spiritual modernism.” What I have chosen to

term the “spiritual” is a large and rather vague category, and even more so in German,

where the notion of “Geist” has a complex philosophical, cultural and religious history.

In addition, the figures I analyze, including Steiner and Kandinsky, do not limit

themselves conveniently to the single term “Geist.” Steiner is especially fluid with

terminology and uses the following terms, to name a few as examples: “Geist,” “das

Göttliche,” “die Seele” and he also speaks of spiritual beings or forces, “Wesen” or

“Kräfte.” In addition, while Kandinsky often talked of “Geist,” when speaking of the

coming age of spiritual art he envisioned, his art also drew on religious motifs, including

Apocalyptic imagery, as I discuss in my first chapter. One important aim of the project is

10
Ibid., 163.

10
to try to bring specificity to the terms used by Steiner, Kandinsky and the other figures

under analysis. At the same time, in order to provide a thorough and honest treatment of

these thinkers, I acknowledge and show the fluidity of terminology that is very often at

play.

Within scholarship there is likewise a great variety of different terms used to

describe what I call the “spiritual.” Terms such as “esoteric,” “occult,” “spiritual” and

“spiritist” or “spiritualist” frequently overlap and each term also carries a diversity of

meanings. Scholars whose work I reference for this project demonstrate this plurality of

terminology. For instance, Kandinsky scholars Sixten Ringbom and Rose-Carol

Washton-Long both prefer the term “occult.”11 But Ringbom—as is clear even from

titles of his analyses—varied his vocabulary: in 1966 he wrote of “Art in ‘ The’ The

Epoch of the Great Spiritual’ Spiritual’ : Occult Elements in the Early Theory of

Abstract Painting,” and in 1970 he chose The Sounding Cosmos: a Study in the

Spiritualism of Kandinsky and the Genesis of Abstract Painting. Even considering the

two titles cited below from Ringbom, however, the first includes the term “occult” and

the second, written only four years later, includes the term “spiritualism.” Historian

Corinna Treital also speaks of the “occult” and includes under this rubric a broad host of

movements and activities that arose during the Wilhelmine period (1890-1918),

especially focusing on the emergence of the “occult sciences.” She includes, among

other phenomena, astrology, psychical research, dowsing, spirit photography and

11
Sixten Ringbom, “Art in ‘ The Epoch of the Great Spiritual’ : Occult Elements in the
Early Theory of Abstract Painting,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 29
(1966); Sixten Ringbom, The Sounding Cosmos: a Study in the Spiritualism of Kandinsky
and the Genesis of Abstract Painting (Abo Akademi, 1970); Rose-Carol Washton-Long,
“Occultism, Anarchism, and Abstraction: Kandinsky’ s Art of the Future,” Art Journal
46, no. 1 (1987).

11
Theosophy. Exhibits on the subject of modern art and the spiritual also demonstrate a

variety of terms, including “occult” and “spiritual.”12 Gísli Magnússon ascribes this

diversity of terminology to differences in the nationality of the scholar—he names

Germany, England and France in particular—and the era of publication.13 Within the

title of Magnússon’ sMagnússon’ s Dichtung als Erfahrungsmetaphysik: esoterische

und okkultistische Modernität bei R.M. Rilke are an array of terms: “Metaphysik,”

“esoterisch” and “okkultisch.” A full explication of the range of meanings of all of the

terms used by artists, theorists and scholars would take me beyond the bounds of my

project. It is important, however, to establish the great diversity within terminology that

Steiner and his contemporaries as well as scholars have adopted to describe the

interrelated phenomena under consideration. In the following I clarify the reasons behind

my own choice of terms.

One of my primary motivations for choosing the term “spiritual” is that it

represents one translation of the term “geistig,” and so captures the broad meaning even

when Steiner and the other thinkers treated used a more varied vocabulary. Due to

Kandinsky’ s groundbreaking theory of a “geistige Kunst,” a concept also used by

figures of the Blaue Reiter and other Expressionist artists, the modifier “geistig” has the

specific connotation of a form of art that is innovative, spiritually inflected and also

culturally transformative. As Thomas Anz explains, during this period Expressionism

and the term “geistige Kunst” were considered nearly synonymous: “Expressionismus

12
Veit Loers, Okkultismus und Avantgarde: Von Munch bis Mondrian, 1900-1915:
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (Edition Tertium, 1995); Maurice Tuchman et al., The
Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985 (Los Angeles : New York: Los Angeles
County Museum of Art ; Abbeville Press, 1986).
13
Gísli Magnússon, Dichtung als Erfahrungsmetaphysik: esoterische und okkultistische
Modernität bei R.M. Rilke (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2009), 39.

12
und ‘ geistige Kunst’ ‘ geistige Kunst’ galten damals als weithin identisch, und das

sowohl in den Selbstbeschreibungen der Autoren und Künstler als auch später in der

Expressionismuskritik der 1920er Jahre.”14 In my project I inscribe Steiner’ s aesthetic

thought into this tradition of “geistige Kunst” and argue that his thought formatively

shaped aspects of Expressionist thought.

Another advantage of the term “spiritual” is the way it stands in distinction to the

traditionally “religious.” The thinkers I analyze did not advocate a return to preexistent

forms of institutionalized religions. Instead, they were interested in concepts of

supersensible dimensions, of a unity between the human being and the greater cosmos

and other ideas that expanded a strictly rationalistic or secular worldview. This said,

there was a certain blurring between the lines demarcating the “spiritual” from the

“religious,” just as there is considerable blurring between terms more generally in the

subfield of “spiritual modernism.” For instance, as discussed in the first chapter, many

Russian symbolists were drawn to the thought of both Steiner and Kandinsky because of

the way each discussed the Book of Revelation as a document relevant for modern times.

Also, in the second chapter I show that Worringer, though he personally voiced

skepticism toward religion, understood the aesthetic and psychic outlooks of “empathy”

and “abstraction” as constitutively formed out of the religious view dominant in a given

period. In addition, many Expressionist architects consciously drew upon the religious

traditions of the temple or the Gothic cathedral to create more secular forms. Thus, these

artists and theorists strove not for a stark departure from all things religious but, instead,

14
Thomas Anz, Literatur des Expressionismus (Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler, 2002), 60. Anz
lists a number of publications contemporaneous with Kandinsky’ s Über das Geistige in
der Kunst that feature “Geist.” They include: Heinrich Mann’ s “Geist und Tat” (1911);
Jahrbuch für die geistige Bewegung (1910) by Georg ibid., 60-62.

13
for a reworking and expansion of categories such that the spiritual, religious and secular

intertwined in new, innovative ways.

My term “spiritual modernism, “ though it has no German equivalent, resonates

strongly with the concept “geistige Kunst” and I use it so as to suggest the notion of

drawing from past traditions—including myriad spiritual streams, humanistic theories of

the past and even sometimes religious traditions—to create innovative, future-oriented art

forms. In addition, an important way that I define the term “spiritual modernism” is as a

concept that eludes a strict binary between the spiritual realm and art or, more broadly,

between the spiritual and the worldly. As I contend, especially in the third chapter,

“spiritual modernism” does not exist outside of politics. Thomas Anz discusses multiple

valences of the term “Geist,” three of which are especially relevant for my project. Anz

shows first how the intellectuals of the period understood the term “Geist” as a form of

cultural criticism (“kulturkritischer […] Forderungen).”15 The thinkers I analyze clearly

utilized the term “Geist” as a form of cultural critique and shared the wider Expressionist

aim of the reinscription of “Geist” as a needed intervention to over–rationalism in its

various forms. Anz’ s second and third forms of “Geist” are defined as being

diametrically opposed; whereas, I see both of them at play, especially in Steiner’ s work.

One form Anz describes as overtly political, occurring in the work of Gustav Landauer,

Ernst Toller and Heinrich Mann, and the other is anti-political, occurring in the work of

Paul Kornfeld among others. This latter group, Anz notes, used anti-political language of

“Innerlichkeit” and generally preferred “Seele” over “Geist.”16 My project, especially

15
Thomas Anz, Literatur des Expressionismus. (Stuttgart: Verlag J.B. Metzler, 2002),
60.
16
Anz, Literatur des Expressionismus, 63.

14
my analysis of Steiner, seeks to analyze the work of thinkers who believed

simultaneously in both of the above valences of “Geist.” Steiner and Kandinsky, for

instance, highlighted the “inner” and immanent quality of spiritual experience and of art.

Both also discuss the relationship between soul and spirit as exemplified in Steiner’ s

theory of multiple inner, spiritual sheaths that comprise the human being. At the same

time, Steiner, as well as Bruno Taut, Paul Scheerbart and so many other Expressionists

actively responded to the crisis of the First World War with clearly articulated, though

diverse, political theories and political actions. This topic comprises the center of the

third chapter.

The Scholarly Reception of “Spiritual Modernism”

In the last two decades the subject of what I am calling “spiritual modernism” has

become recognized as an important area of inquiry within both histories both of

modernism and of German Expressionism in particular.17 This has not always been the

case, and the issues continue to be downplayed in certain lines of study. While much

scholarship acknowledges the spiritual underpinnings of artistic innovation at the turn of

17
The following titles are more recent examples of scholarly engagement with “spiritual
modernism.” Christoph Wagner, ed. Johannes Itten, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee: das
Bauhaus und die Esoterik (Bielefeld, Germany: Kerber, 2005); Priska Pytlik,
Okkultismus und Moderne: ein kulturhistorisches Phänomen und seine Bedeutung für die
Literatur um 1900 (Paderborn: F. Schöningh, 2005); Corinna Treitel, A Science for the
Soul: Occultism and the Genesis of the German Modern (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2004); John Golding, Paths to the absolute: Mondrian, Malevich,
Kandinsky, Pollock, Newman, Rothko, and Still, A.W. Mellon lectures in the fine arts
;1997 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000). There are also the recent studies
of German poet and esotericist Stefan George (1868-1933): Ulrich Raulff, Kreis ohne
Meister: Stefan Georges Nachleben, Stefan Georges Nachleben (München: Beck, 2009);
Robert Edward Norton, Secret Germany: Stefan George and his Circle (Ithaca, N.Y.:
Cornell University Press, 2002).

15
the twentieth20th century, few scholars critically engage the category of the spiritual as

constituent to modernist aesthetics.

One important reason for the neglect or superficial treatment of “spiritual

modernism” is the assumption, explicit or implicit, that it is an atavistic phenomenon

incongruous with modernist, aesthetic innovation. That is, the categories of “spiritual”

and “modernist” are seen to represent an irreconcilable binary. Drawing on the binary,

Cornelia Klinger, for example, situates aesthetic modernity within the wider constellation

of what she theorizes as a “modernity process.”18 She argues that the secularization

process of the West—with the liberation of aesthetic values from theology and

metaphysics—set the fine arts on the same path of secularization as science and

technology.19 In her account, the arts followed the course of the sciences and technology

in their departure from spirituality.

A second influential line of thinking, first theorized by Theodor Adorno and Max

Horkheimer in 1944, conceives of the increasing rationality that arose out of the

Englightenment as producing new “myths” about the possibility of a wholly secular

world. Critiquing the equation of modernism with secularization, they argue that belief

in the enlightenment promise and its Kantian claims to liberation from myth and

authority fails to recognize the way it is part of a dialectical process that itself produces

new myth. While Steiner and many contemporaries similarly critiqued the shortcomings

of a world dominated by rationality, Steiner did not think of the spiritual dimension as

18
Cornelia Klinger, “Autonomy-Authenticity-Alterity: On the Aesthetic Ideology of
Modernity,” in Modernologies. Contemporary Artists Researching Modernity and
Modernism (Barcelona: Museu D’ Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 2009).
19
Ibid., 26.

16
belonging within the category of “myth,” as he believed in the tangibly transformative

power of spiritually infused art. Art historian Beat Wyss asserts that many of his

colleagues, in an effort to maintain a simplistic ideal of the Modern as tantamount to

Enlightenment principles, under-emphasize that the period of industrial revolution also

saw an expansion of esoteric movements, such as Theosophy, Anthroposophy and

Freemasonry. Following the Dialektik der Aufklärung, which Wyss cites explicitly, he

argues that art historians often would rather deny that “die Moderne nicht nur Fortschritt,

sondern auch Mythologie produzierte.”20 With Adorno and HorkheimerWyss argues that

the categories of “Fortschritt” and “Mythologie” do not represent two poles but are, in

fact, intertwined in a dialectical relationship. Wyss argues that those who downplay the

cultural and historical importance of secret societies and esoteric movements misconstrue

modernity as representing an ideal of rationality that, in fact, never existed: “Wer die

kulturhistorische Bedeutung der Geheimgesellschaften und esoterischen Bewegungen

herunterspielt, verengt die Moderne auf das rationalistische Wunschbild einer Epoche,

die es nie gegeben hat.”21 In a similar way, Thomas Anz speaks in similar terms when he

argues that aesthetic modernism is constructed out of a process in which dual forces are

at play: progress but also recourse to older models. Anz asserts the following:

“Fortschritte sucht die ästhetische Moderne vielfach in Rückgriffen auf das, was dem

zivilisatorischen Fortschritt voranging.”22 One key intervention my project seeks to make

is to productively complicate the notion that the modernist period, and aesthetic

20
Beat Wyss, Der Wille zur Kunst: zur ästhetischen Mentalitat der Moderne (Köln:
DuMont, 1996), 157.
21
Ibid.
22
See “Thesen zur expressionistischen Moderne” by Anz in Sabina Becker, Helmuth
Kiesel, and Robert Krause, Literarische Moderne: Begriff und Phänomen (Berlin ; New
York: W. de Gruyter, 2007), 341.

17
modernism in particular, represents a break with spirituality and religion. In stressing

that modernists were as concerned with the reconciliation between the artistic and the

spiritual realm as their forbearers, I follow Jonathan Crary, who argues against prominent

theories of modernism that hold that this period is typified by “rupture,” that is, a radical

break with the past. He points out that, “there are no such things as continuities and

discontinuities in history, only in historical explanation. […] How one periodicizes and

where one locates ruptures or denies them are all political choices that determine the

construction of the present.”23

My project aims to show that Steiner, Kandinsky and other contemporaries

created innovative, avant-garde art and art theory out of deep engagement with spiritual

topics. That is, these thinkers draw in different ways from spiritual and religious

traditions to help fashion their new, modernist aesthetic projects. For example, as I show

in Chapter One, Kandinsky’ s pioneering theory of abstraction was created precisely in

the years that he intensively read about Theosophy, including works by Steiner on

dematerialization. Examining the question of “rupture” and periodization, the second

chapter places Steiner into dialogue with two art historians writing at this time, Wilhelm

Worringer and Alois Riegl, and shows how these scholars worked towards destabilizing

the notion that artistic abstraction represents a radical break with the past. In the third

chapter I show that Steiner’ s history of art, based on a spiritually based concept of the

“evolution of consciousness,” deeply informed the forms of the Anthroposophical

Goetheanum building in Dornach, Switzerland. In this chapter I also illuminate how

Steiner’ s architectural theory and practice were politically engaged. Steiner conceived

23
Jonathan Crary, Techniques of the Observer. On Vision and Modernity in the
Nineteenth Century (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990), 7.

18
of his art and architecture as helping to promote peace and internationalism after the

outbreak of the First World War. Thus, for Steiner, spiritual and artistic work did not

mean an inherent break from societal and political engagement.

There are also political reasons for the scholarly neglect or mischaracterization of

“spiritual modernism.” As curator of the 1986 exhibition “The Spiritual in Art: Abstract

Painting 1890-1985,” Maurice Tuchman explained the subject was well studied until the

1930s when the National Socialist involvement in a fringe section of Theosophy led

many intellectuals to view all facets of interest in Theosophy or Anthroposophy as

suspect.24 The most prominent offshoot of Theosophy was Ariosophy, an esoterically

based doctrine defined in 1915 by the Austrian Lanz von Liebenfels that extolled the

wisdom of the Aryans. In addition, the Italian Anthroposophical movement had members

who were also involved in Fascism.25 Historian Corinna Treitel explains that for five

decades until the mid 2000s there was a strong trend within historical scholarship to

regard “the German occult movement [as] significant mainly insofar as it helps to explain

the ideological roots of National Socialism.”26 Treitel asserts that it has been clearly

established that there were indeed links between Adolf Hitler and Ariosophical circles.

She argues, however, that this single line of interpretation that subordinates the occult to

24
Tuchman et al., The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985.
25
For more details on the intersection of proto-Fascism and Fascism and the occult see
the following works. Peter Staudenmaier, “Esoteric Alternatives in Imperial Germany:
Science, Spirit, and the Modern Occult Revival,” in Revisiting the “Nazi Occult.”
Histories, Realities, Legacies, ed. Monica and Eric Kurlander Black (Rochester, New
York: Camden House, 2015); Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Die okkulten Wurzeln des
Nationalsozialismus (Graz: Leopold Stocker Verlag, 1997); George Moss, Die völkische
Revolution. Über die geistigen Wurzeln des Nationalsozialismus (Meisenheim:
Athenäum, Königstein & Hain, 1991).
26
Treitel, A Science for the Soul: Occultism and the Genesis of the German Modern, 24.

19
the völkisch has begun to reach its limit as more scholars have started to recognize that

“there was much more to German occultism than proto-Nazism.”27

There are likewise political reasons, though of a more diverse nature, for the

fluctuating status of modern art, especially abstraction, and Expressionism. I would

argue that in more and less explicit ways these shifts in political attitude over time have

also affected views on Steiner, as his thought, like a significant branch of Expressionism,

was so strongly oriented toward spirituality. Rose-Carol Washton-Long, noted expert on

Expressionism and Kandinsky, characterizes the various ways that in the 1920s and

1930s German political groups from both the political left and right leveled criticism

against modern art:

In the 1920s and 1930 [...] critics on the left, abandoning the notion that vanguard
art should be nonrealist, began to attack the perceived elitist direction of
Expressionism and abstraction. From the right, modernist artists and schools,
such as the Bauhaus, were denounced as “full of mysticism” and were charged
with artistic Bolshevism, responsible for anarchy and disorder. By the late
thirties, while the National Socialists were characterizing modernism as
“entartete” [sic] (degenerate) as well as anarchistic, the left was attacking
modernism, particularly Expressionism and abstraction, for its decadence,
anarchism, mysticism, and bohemianism.28

With her mention of degenerate art Washton-Long is referring to the Nazi art exhibition

in 1937 of so-called degenerate art (“entartete Kunst”) that began in Munich and

subsequently travelled from city to city. Much of the art on display was Expressionist.

When Washton-Long describes a critique of modernism from the left for its “decadence,

anarchism, mysticism, and bohemianism,” she provides a footnote that references the

27
Ibid., 26.
28
Washton-Long, “Occultism, Anarchism, and Abstraction: Kandinsky’ s Art of the
Future,” 39.

20
“Expressionist debate” (1937/1938). Georg Lukács played a part in inaugurating the

debate in 1934 with an article entitled “ ‘ Grösse’ Grösse und Verfall’ Verfall’ des

Expressionismus,” in which he argued that the Expressionist movement had helped to

foster the spread of a form of mystical irrationalism attractive to the Nazis. This is not

the place to detail the complex and varied arguments that comprised this famous debate,

but it is possible to say that these various accusations against modern art, abstraction or

Expressionism were formulated under very specific political circumstances of the late

Weimar Republic. After World War Two, there was an important revival and revaluation

of Expressionism, including praise for Steiner’ s second Goetheanum building.

Nevertheless, I contend that the early accusations still have a lingering affect, especially

the suspicion of proto-fascism, of Expressionism and of “spiritual modernism” that also

influences the reception of Steiner. As Treitel observed, within the field of history the

tendency to focus on the proto-fascist roots of what she calls the “occult” lasted until the

mid 2000s.

My project aims to contribute to this more recent shift within scholarship, marked

by the work of Treitel and others, toward illuminating multiple “spiritual modernists”

who emphatically did not have völkisch tendencies. In the third chapter I demonstrate

how Steiner’ s aesthetic and political thought resonated with pacifist and Expressionist

thinkers. I also show that Steiner responded to the outbreak of the First World War with

a call for peace and internationalism, a response that directly countered nationalistic and

völkisch ideologies. As I note in the third chapter, it was clear that German fascists were

opposed to Steiner. In 1921 while Steiner lectured in Munich, the Alldeutsch Alliance,

the same group that backed Hitler’ sHitler’ s putsch attempt in Munich, attempted to

21
assassinate him. Furthermore, Steiner’ s move to neutral Switzerland was akin to a

forced exile. The attempted Hitler-Ludendorff putsch two years later in 1923 was an

important factor in Steiner’ s decision to close his Berlin apartment and to move the

Anthroposophical press out of Germany to Dornach, Switzerland.29

Scholarship on Rudolf Steiner

While “spiritual modernism” has enjoyed significantly more attention in the past

couple of decades, the neglect of Rudolf Steiner remains stubbornly persistent. In

general, there is a dearth of scholarship on Steiner by mainstream non–Anthroposophical

thinkers. The small body of scholarship that exists shows a polarizing trend: works by

Steiner critics and enthusiasts. As one instance: in 2011, Helmut Zander published a

biography of Steiner that casts him in a harsh light, deeming him a dilettante, a derivative

thinker and an authoritarian leader.30 On the other hand, biographies and studies of

Steiner published in Anthroposophical presses tend to cast him in a very positive light

and lack a critical distance from their subject.31 In addition, it is important to note that

most of Steiner’ s works have been self-published by Anthroposophical presses. This

29
For the sources on which I draw for this information, see the last paragraph of the
section entitled “Steiner’ s Concept of the Modern Central European Cultural Mission as
both Distinct and Inherently Internationalist” in Chapter Three.
30
Helmut Zander, Rudolf Steiner: Die Biografie (München: Piper, 2011); Helmut Zander,
Anthroposophie in Deutschland: theosophsiche Weltanschuung und gesellschaftliche
Praxis 1884-1945 (Göttingen: Bandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007).
31
Henry Barnes, A Life for the Spirit: Rudolf Steiner in the Crosscurrents of Our Time
(Hudson, NY: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1997); Jan Davis, Light for the New Millennium:
Rudolf Steiner’ s Association with Helmut and Eliza von Moltke, ed. T.H. Meyer
(London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1997); Christoph Lindenberg, Rudolf Steiner. A
Biography, trans. Jon McAlice (Great Barrington, MA: Steiner Books, 2012); Peter Selg,
Rudolf Steiner 1861-1925. Lebens- und Werkgeschichte, 3 vols. (Stuttgart: Ita Wegman
Institut, 2012).

22
creates a barrier or “firewall” to mainstream researchers that further exacerbates the issue

of neglect of Steiner within scholarship. There is a great need for more rigorous,

scholarly research that falls between these poles, which I propose to offer as part of my

project.

Though a robust body of scholarship on Steiner is still lacking, it is not uncharted

territory. In the first chapter, I refer to the pioneering research of Sixten Ringbom who

published in the 1960s through 1980s. Ringbom argued that the then little-known role of

spiritual thought, especially Theosophy and the thought of Rudolf Steiner, decisively

shaped Wassily Kandinsky’ s aesthetic theory and his theory of abstraction.32 In this

chapter I also refer to the work of Rose-Carol Washton-Long, who, in the 1970s and

1980s, carried on Ringbom’ s work of demonstrating how Theosophy, Steiner and other

spiritual thought helped shape Kandinsky’ s aesthetic theory. Very recently, Clement

produced a critical edition of Steiner’ s central texts, written between 1884 and 1910, in

which he includes an account of the texts’ development, contextualizes the works with

information on Steiner’ s intellectual background and illuminates the myriad sources

from which Steiner drew.33 Christian Clement also wrote a book about Steiner’ s

32
Sixten Ringbom, “Transcending the Visible: The Generation of the Abstract Pioneers,”
in The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985, ed. Los Angeles County Museum
of Art. (Los Angeles; New York: Abbeville Press, 1986); Sixten Ringbom, “Kandinsky
und das Okkulte,” in Kandinsky und München. Begegnungen und Wandlungen 1896-
1914, ed. Armin Zweite (München: Prestel-Verlag, 1982); Sixten Ringbom, “Die Steiner-
Annotationen Kandinskys,” in Kandinsky und München. Begegnungen und Wandlungen
1896-1914, ed. Armin Zweite (München: Prestel-Verlag, 1982); Ringbom, The Sounding
Cosmos: a Study in the Spiritualism of Kandinsky and the Genesis of Abstract Painting;
Ringbom, “Art in ‘ The Epoch of the Great Spiritual’ : Occult Elements in the Early
Theory of Abstract Painting.”
33
Christian Clement, Rudolf Steiner. Ausgewählte Schriften. Kritische Ausgabe.
(Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog, 2013).

23
mystery plays in which Clement highlights the importance of Schiller and above all

Goethe on Steiner’ s plays and his theoretical thought regarding theater.34

In my project I draw on a number of publications by Frederick Amrine. In the

article “Discovering a Genius: Rudolf Steiner at 150,” Amrine summarizes the many

fields in which Steiner made innovations as well as the myriad reasons that Steiner’ s

thought has often been misconstrued or neglected.35 In “Idea, Theory, Emotion, Desire,”

Amrine illuminates the key Steinerian concept of the “evolution of consciousness,” an

idea theorized in greater detail by Owen Barfield.36 The first chapter stands in dialogue

with two articles by Amrine on Goethe. In “Goethean Intuitions” Amrine provides

philosophical context for Goethe’ s scientific method and emphasizes especially the

formative role of Spinoza’ s thought.37 In “The Metamorphosis of the Scientist,” Amrine

argues that Goethe anticipated many of the main ideas of recent philosophy of science

and, most importantly, that he understood science as developing not by a collection of

facts but by transformations in perception.38 I draw significantly on the forthcoming

edition and translation of two of Steiner’ s lecture series by Frederick Amrine and John

Kettle, and the commentary and annotations they provide. The first is the set of five

34
Christian Clement, Die Geburt des modernen Mysteriendramas aus dem Geiste
Weimars : zur Aktualitaät Goethes und Schillers in der Dramaturgie Rudolf Steiners
(Berlin: Logos, 2007).
35
Frederick Amrine, “Discovering a Genius: Rudolf Steiner at 150,” being human2011.
36
Frederick Amrine, “Idea, Theory, Emotion, Desire,” being human, no. spring (2015).
Amrine argues for links, and divergences, between this concept and the work of three
contemporary thinkers: Julian Jaynes, Thomas Kuhn and Wilhelm Worringer. He argues
that in the case of each of these three thinkers has some brilliant insights about the nature
of the human psyche, but that each theory would be strengthened if its creator had been
aware of the Steinerian concept of the “evolution of consciousness” to provide a
coherent, interpretive context.
37
Frederick Amrine, “Goethean Intuitions,” Goethe Yearbook 18 (2011).
38
Frederick Amrine, “The Metamorphosis of the Scientist,” Goethe Yearbook 5 (1990).

24
lectures Steiner presented over three weekends in October, ten to twelve weeks after the

outbreak of the First World War, entitled “Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen

geschichtlichen Werdens und künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse.” Amrine and Kettle

give this lecture series the English title “The First Goetheanum. Architecture as

Peacework.” The other work is the set of lectures Steiner gave in Bern in 1921 that

accompanied a slide presentation of images of the first Goetheanum that was titled by

Amrine and Kettle—”The First Goetheanum: Towards a New Theory of Architecture.”

In my third chapter I treat the first lecture series in significant detail. All of the images of

the first Goetheanum displayed in Chapter Three are taken from this second, forthcoming

book by Amrine and Kettle.

Two noteworthy recent art exhibitions have recently touched on the topic of my

dissertation: one devoted to Steiner, and the other to the little-known Expressionist artist

Hilma af Klint who was significantly influenced by Steiner. The show Rudolf Steiner:

Alchemie des Alltags was held at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein to mark

Steiner’ s the 150th birthday and ran between 2010 and 2012,39 accompanied by a

comprehensive catalogue edited by Mateo Kries and Alexander von Vegesack.40 This

exhibition also travelled to Wolfsburg where there was a parallel exhibition entitled

Rudolf Steiner and Contemporary Art that focused on seventeen contemporary artists

whose work was interpreted in light of Steiner’ s thought. In 2013, the Hamburger

39
It was a retrospective of Steiner’ s entire oeuvre and included more than 200 works,
including texts, art works, drawings, architectural models and furniture designs. The
show illuminated links to social and artistic movements from his era to the present day.
Parallels between Steiner’ s work and the following thinkers are made: Wassily
Kandinsky, Lyonel Feininger, Antoni Gaudí, Erich Mendelsohn, Frank Lloyd Wright,
Joseph Beuys and Olafur Eliasson.
40
Kries, Rudolf Steiner: Die Alchemie des Alltags (Ditzingen: Vitra Design Museum,
2010).

25
Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart in Berlin put on the exhibition “Hilma af Klint: Eine

Pionierin der Abstraktion” with an accompanying catalogue.41 It illuminated how,

beginning in 1906, af Klint created over 200 abstract paintings, thus predating even

Kandinsky in her move toward abstraction in the visual arts. The exhibition highlighted

how her art was integrally informed by concepts of Spiritism, Theosophy

and Anthroposophy.

The one aspect of Steiner’ s thought where the general rule of scholarly neglect

does not apply is Steiner’ s Goetheanum buildings, which has been included in many

studies of Expressionist architecture. The noted architectural historian Wolfgang Pehnt

has devoted serious attention to Steiner’ s architectural theory in a number of chapters

within anthologies and published a book-length study on the Goetheanum buildings.42

As I discuss in my third chapter, many scholars have acknowledged links between

Steiner’ s architecture and that of his contemporaries, and it is also well documented that

the famous architects of the twentieth century—including Le Corbusier, Erich

Mendelsohn and Frank Lloyd Wright—were impressed with the building.

41
Iris et al. Müller-Westermann, ed. Hilma af Klint: Eine Pionierin der Abstraktion
(Berlin: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2013).
42
Wolfgang Pehnt, Rudolf Steiner, Goetheanum, Dornach, Opus 1 ([Berlin]: Ernst &
Sohn, 1991). See also Dennis Sharp, Modern Architecture and Expressionism (Norwich,
England: Longmans, 1966); Dennis Sharp, “Expressionist Architecture Today,” in
Expressionism Reassessed, ed. Shulamith Behr, David Fanning and Douglas Jarman
(Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1993). The third chapter
references a number of other studies of Expressionist architecture that include Steiner.
For a more comprehensive description of the secondary literature on Steiner within
studies of Expressionism, see the bibliographic essay by Frederick Amrine in Rudolf
Steiner, The First Goetheanum. Architecture as Peacework, ed. Frederick Amrine and
John Kettle, vol. GA 287 (Great Barrington, MA: SteinerBooks, forthcoming). As
Amrine points out, even though many scholars have recognized Steiner’ s architecture, it
is still glaringly missing from a number of studies, including quite recent ones.

26
 With my project I am broadening the scope of existing scholarship on Steiner by

considering him, in the second chapter, as an art historian and by placing his theory into

conversation with contemporary art historians Wilhelm Worringer and Alois Riegl. In

the third chapter, I am also continuing the groundwork laid by Frederick Amrine and

John Kettle in examining Steiner as a figure who took a stance against the First World

War and whose thought resonates with contemporary, pacifist thinkers. Other aspects of

my dissertation elaborate and deepen already existing scholarship. This includes the

illumination of the link between Kandinsky and Steiner’ s thought as well as between

Steiner and Expressionist architecture. In close analysis of Steiner’ s writings and those

of his contemporaries I interrogate the notion of “the spiritual” by paying attention to

linguistic and conceptual elements with a special emphasis on aesthetic theory.

The Scholarly Neglect of Steiner’ s Thought

There are multiple reasons why Steiner’ s work has played so small a part within

studies of modernism. In the following I suggest three of the most salient ones. The first

reason for neglect I wish to discuss is how Steiner’ s relationship to Anthroposophy and

Theosophy has affected his reception in mainstream scholarship. In an article entitled

“Discovering a Genius: Rudolf Steiner at 150,” Frederick Amrine catalogues a number of

reasons why Steiner has been largely neglected in scholarship. Amrine points out that

Anthroposophy has its own set of concepts and vocabulary and that Steiner’ s early

period with Theosophy meant the adoption in early writings of Sanskrit terms that only

add to the difficulty to comprehend Steiner’ s writings from a non-theosophical

perspective. In researching and writing this dissertation, as well, Steiner’ s idiosyncratic

vocabulary and specialized concepts have posed a challenge. Amrine also argues that,

27
seen superficially, Steiner might seem to deserve the negative titles he sometimes

receives of “guru” or “occultist” or “mystic” but that, in fact, Steiner rejected

categorically the idea of himself or anyone as an authority. Amrine also points out that

there is a distinct lack of personal details in his lectures and his unfinished autobiography

that point to how he worked against becoming a cult of personality, though there were

followers who treated him with excessive reverence. Above all, as Amrine asserts,

Steiner’ s anti-authoritarian view is expressed the way that he defined Anthroposophy

“from the very outset as a philosophy of freedom.”43

I argue, however, that a second factor has been at play in scholarly neglect of

Steiner. Not only his language but his thought structures are difficult to penetrate,

because his entire oeuvre is so fundamentally and thoroughly spiritual, and of such a

complex nature, that it proves difficult for scholars to penetrate. In addition, Steiner’ s

own articulations reveal that his aim first and foremost in his engagement with

contemporaneous institutions or movements was to pursue his spiritual agenda. For

instance, when Steiner describes his motivation for taking over the editorship of the

Magazin für Literatur he does not highlight the choice first and foremost as an

opportunity to tap into the avant-garde literary world. Instead, he articulates it as a means

to foster the spiritual impulses (“die geistigen Impulse”) of contemporary culture.44

43
Amrine, “Discovering a Genius: Rudolf Steiner at 150,” 7.
44
In his autobiography Steiner narrates that he lacked the funds to start a journal himself
and so took the opportunity to become editor of Magazin für Literatur as an available
means to communicate his spiritual ideas. Steiner states: “Ich hatte schon seit längerer
Zeit daran gedacht, in einer Zeitschrift die geistigen Impulse an die Zeitgenossenschaft
heranzubringen, von denen ich meinte, daß sie in die Öffentlichkeit getragen werden
sollten.[...] Selbst eine Zeitschrift zu gründen, war damals etwas, woran ich nicht denken
konnte. Die Geldmittel und die zu einer solchen Gründung notwendigen Verbindungen
fehlten mir vollständig. So ergriff ich denn die Gelegenheit, die sich mir ergab, die

28
Steiner also speaks of the Expressionist movement as heading in this spiritual direction

but argues that it could go further and extend more deeply into its exploration of the

visual and a spiritual form of sight that can access the soul (“die Seele”):

Unser Seelenleben strebt eigentlich, wenn die Veranlassung zu der

Seelenstimmung da ist, viel mehr als man glaubt, fortwährend dahin, sich
umzugestalten im Sinne der Vision […] Ich glaube, daß viele Betrachtungen
der neueren Zeit, die sich ergehen innerhalb der Richtung, die als
Expressionismus bezeichnet wird, nahe an dieser Wahrheit sind […] nur geht
man nicht weit genug, schaut nicht tief genug hinunter in die Seele und lernt
nicht kennen diesen unwiderstehlichen Drang nach dem Visionären, der in
jeder Menschenseele eigentlich ist.45

Thus, it is not surprising that Steiner had few extended exchanges—but many brief

encounters—with contemporaneous writers and artists from within and beyond the

Expressionist movement. For example, in 1899, there is evidence of encounters with the

following contemporaneous writers and artists: Else Lasker-Schüler (1869-1945), Stefan

Zweig (1881-1942), Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945), Paul Scheerbart (1863-1915) and

Frank Wedekind (1864-1918), among others.46 With the exception of Scheerbart, where

there was some level of exchange, as discussed in the last chapter, these meetings seem to

be one-time events. Similarly, while Steiner’ s writings and lectures are replete with

references to thinkers from German Idealism and Classicism, Steiner references

contemporaneous writers, artists, art and architectural historians much less frequently.47

Herausgeberschaft des “Magazin für Literatur” zu erwerben. “Rudolf Steiner, Mein

Lebensgang. Eine Autobiographie. (Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Online Archiv, 2009),
http://anthroposophie.byu.edu/schriften/028.pdf. 334.
45
Rudolf Steiner, “Das Sinnlich-Übersinnliche in seiner Verwirklichung durch die
Kunst,” vol. GA 271 (Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Online Archiv, 2010),
http://anthroposophie.byu.edu. 86.
46
Kries, Rudolf Steiner: Die Alchemie des Alltags, 322.
47
Steiner is more likely to explicitly reference contemporary philosophers and scientists
as seen, for example, in his significant attention to Friedrich Nietzsche and Ernst
Haeckel.

29
When he does acknowledge a contemporary, it is often only a passing reference, such as

when Steiner briefly acknowledged having read the art historical treatise Stilfragen by

Austrian art historian Alois Riegl in the course of Steiner’ s discussion of art history, a

topic covered in the second chapter of this dissertation. This is the case despite the fact

that Steiner was known to have been a voracious reader and kept up with the new ideas of

the day in many fields.

The third and final reason for neglect I wish to introduce is the very large and

particular nature of Steiner’ s corpus. Steiner’ s complete works include over 400

volumes! That all of these works were produced within the span of about three decades

is an impressive feat. Steiner’ s written works are made up of forty books, including

books, essays, four plays (the “mystery dramas”), volumes of mantric verse and an

unfinished autobiography. It very important to highlight that the great majority of his

output was in lecture form as it speaks to his method. These lectures are the artifact of a

live performance that was directed at a particular audience and often to mark a particular

occasion. Lectures were also written for different kinds of audiences. Some lectures

were directed at a Steinerian audience with the assumption of a certain base level of

conceptual knowledge and shared vocabulary. The majority of them, however,

were composed for a public audience of non Steinerians. Steiner was trying to start a

movement and to get people on board, so to speak. Therefore, there is something

provisional and exemplary, as opposed to demonstrative, about many of the lectures.

The nature of the oral delivery of a lecture requires a looser and less conceptually dense

style. As already discussed, Steiner was often frustratingly loose with terminology, for

example, he spoke of “the spiritual” dimension by using multiple terms. Fairly often, his

30
formulations sound simply vague. Steiner spoke often in lectures of the impossibility of

translating what he held as supersensible, spiritual realities into everyday language. It

was not uncommon that he created neologisms to try to approximate a particularly

complex spiritually based concept.48 In addition, some of the volumes of lectures have

been edited by various people and some remain still unedited. Likewise, some lecture

cycles have been translated into English and some remain untranslated. For the scholar,

the lecture style combined with Steiner’ s particular fluidity with terminology means she

often has to read many volumes of lectures on the same topics in order to glean a clear

understanding of Steiner’ s concepts.

Amrine presents Steiner as a thinker and practitioner who was ahead of his time.

He argues that his attempts to have a more visible role around 1900 failed because the

culture was not yet ready for the kind of spiritual art proposed by Steiner. By the 1920s,

however, Expressionist movements like the Blaue Reiter had fully embraced ideas

formulated by Steiner. Amrine contends that “ideas that have become commonplace

today, such as the reality of the unconscious, or the active role of the perceiver in

constructing experience, were heresies in Steiner’ s youth.”49 Hence another reason for

his neglect is a kind of “untimeliness.”

This points to another way that Steiner’ s work evades easy categorization, that

is, with respect to periodization. There is a focus in my project on the pre-war period–

48
In one instance from the lecture “Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen
Werdens und künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse” (1914) Steiner coins the term
“verseelischen” when he argues that Dante revived the Egypto-Chaldean age by filling it
with soul: “Dante ist der Geist, der das Ägyptisch-Chaldäische “verseelischt”, durchseelt
wider auferweckt hat.” Rudolf Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen
geschichtlichen Werdens und künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), vol. 287
(Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1985), 23.
49
Amrine, “Discovering a Genius: Rudolf Steiner at 150.”

31
with the discussion of the intersection of Steiner and the Blaue Reiter group—and, more

broadly, the many links with Expressionist artists and architects. The pre-war period is

often regarded as the primary period for Expressionism, a movement often viewed as

beginning with the pre-war Brücke and Blaue Reiter groups and ending with the shift to

Dada and to Neue Sachlichkeit. Yet, it is important to point out that Steiner’ s thought

does not adhere to strict pre- and post-war categories. The building of the second

Goetheanum—which has been recognized for its links with many modernist and

Expressionist architects—was not undertaken until 1925, a full twelve years after

construction began in 1913 on the first Goetheanum. 1925 was the year of Steiner’ s

death and also seven years after the end of the First World War. In addition, Steiner

continued his parallel interests in both art and politics with his intensive theoretical work

on the concept of the three-fold social order. Thus, I would argue that the way Steiner’ s

thought bridges the divide between pre- and post-war and between art and politics is yet

another way that the study of Steiner’ s thought productively complicates traditional

binaries.

A central aim of my project, thus, is to bring Steiner into conversation with

contemporaries even if in many cases Steiner and his peers may have been resistant to

such a dialogue. I seek to make more explicit the ways that Steiner shared an interest

with contemporaries in many of the most pressing issues of the day. These issues include

questions of the intersection of art and spirituality; the history of art and the origins of

artistic abstraction; the interplay of art and politics; Expressionist architecture and the

response to the First World War, both artistically and politically.

32
Chapter Outline

In Chapter One, “Rudolf Steiner’ s Goethean Symbolism and his Influence on

Wassily Kandinsky’ s Theory of Abstraction,” I examine the brief period prior to the

First World War, especially in Munich, when a number of artists and intellectuals—

opposed to what they perceived as the over dominance of “materialism” and positivism—

turned to spiritual concepts.50 I focus primarily on the Russian Expressionist painter

Wassily Kandinsky and indicate how his close reading of a few of Steiner’ s early works

was instrumental in the development of Kandinsky’ s theory of abstraction. I argue that

Kandinsky used Steiner’ s concept of “Imagination,” the first in a three-stage meditative

process, in which one retreats from the sense world to hone inner capacities. While

Kandinsky links this stage of dematerialization with abstraction, I argue that Steiner’ s

spiritual and aesthetic vision does not aim for abstraction. On the contrary, I show that a

central component of Steiner’ s aesthetics is a critique of the abstract mode, what he

regards as an overly theoretical, disembodied approach typified by allegory. Steiner

regards allegorical art an unfortunate tendency in Theosophical art. Ultimately, I show

that Steiner aims for a return to the phenomenological world in a deep, immersive mode

characteristic of Goethean thought. In terms of the significance of this narrative for the

larger argument of my dissertation, this chapter illuminates how this moment of high

modernism, when Kandinsky was developing his groundbreaking theory of abstraction,

50
Much of the scholarship on Expressionism highlights Berlin as the prime center for the
movement. I focus on Munich as another important center of Expressionism, though this
is certainly not without precedent, as notable scholars have also drawn attention to
Munich as well as to Vienna. See, for example, Rainer Metzger, Munich: Its Golden Age
of Art and Culture 1890-1920 (London: Thames & Hudson, 2009); Peter Jelavich,
Munich and Theatrical Modernism: Politics, Playwriting, and Performance, 1890-1914
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985).

33
has roots in a much longer history that includes thinkers such as Goethe. This first

chapter also raises productive questions that carry through the whole dissertation

regarding the relationship of abstraction and spirituality, embodiment or disembodiment

and contributes to the theory of abstraction within modernism.

In Chapter Two, “Steiner’ s Theory of the Evolution of the Arts in Dialogue with

Wilhelm Worringer’ s Abstraktion und Empathie and Alois Riegl’ s Kunstwollen, I

examine Steiner’ s theory of the history of art as part of what Owen Barfield termed

Steiner’ s “evolution of consciousness,” according to in which artistic developments are

manifestations of an evolving “consciousness” and subjectivity. I read Steiner’ s theory

alongside the famous art historical treatise Abstraktion und Einfühlung (1907) by German

art historian Wilhelm Worringer (1881-1965) and the early history of art by Austrian art

historian Alois Riegl (1858-1905): Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der

Ornamentik (1893). In my reading of Steiner with Worringer I focus on temporality to

compare how Worringer’ s version of art history advances via a binary manner by

positing oscillation between the two poles of abstraction and empathy. Contrastingly,

Steiner’ s history of art is dialectical in nature: following Barfield’ s terminology, the

three phases include that of “original participation,” the “onlooker stage” and the final,

coming stage of “final participation.” In the second section of the chapter, I consider

Steiner’ s aesthetic theory in dialogue with Austrian art historian Riegl’ s Stilfragen and

compare their theories account for the origin of the acanthus motif, a vegetal ornament

that commonly adorns Corinthian columns. I highlight this small example in order to

illuminate larger issues: the critique of artistic naturalism and the adoption of the concept

similar to Riegl’ s Kunstwollen, a collective artistic will that helps shape the artistic

34
production of a given cultural period. More broadly, this chapter is concerned with three

thinkers for whom an encounter with contemporary—in particular Expressionist—art led

each to look backward and to trace the long history of art. In differing ways, they subvert

the radical break that modernism is supposed to represent by tracing much earlier roots to

artistic abstraction, whether in the “primitive” period, antiquity or the Renaissance.

In Chapter Three, “The first Goetheanum Building and Steiner’ s Vision of Peace

and Internationalism,” I focus on Steiner’ s aesthetic and political response to the First

World War in his vision of the first Goetheanum as an art form that promoted peace and

internationalism. In this chapter, I consider Steiner not only as an art and architectural

historian and art theorist, but also as a practicing artist, architect and as someone who

took a political stance vis-à-vis the war. I show how the first Goetheanum has been

recognized as belonging within the canon of Expressionist architecture and the multiple

links between this structure and other contemporaneous architectural creations of

Expressionist and other “spiritual modernists.”

I draw especially from a series of lectures delivered only weeks after the outbreak

of the First World War in which Steiner called for a tempering of nationalism by the

recognition of a universally shared history of culture. Steiner promoted the idea that each

culture had a distinct mission and he makes a case for special task of central Europe

(“Mitteleuropa”) in promoting internationalism. I bring Steiner’ s aesthetic and political

thought into conversation with two pacifist Expressionist thinkers: the German architect

Bruno Taut (1880-1938) and the German writer, illustrator and architectural theorist Paul

Scheerbart (1863-1915). I also briefly introduce a link between Steiner and Sigmund

Freud’ s early anti-war text “Zeitgemäßes über Krieg und Tod” (1915).

35
 By highlighting how Steiner conceived of the Goetheanum as an aesthetic

response to the war, I show that his spiritually inspired aesthetics were far from divorced

from contemporary, political issues. I demonstrate that Steiner’ s spiritual thought is

very grounded in both aesthetics and politics, a dual interest of so many Expressionists.

This argument also links in broader ways with an argument made in the first chapter,

namely that, despite the way his ideas of dematerialization influenced Kandinsky’ s

theory of abstraction, Steiner’ s aesthetics were ultimately not oriented toward the

abstract as divorced from the phenomenal.

36
 CHAPTER 1

Rudolf Steiner’s Goethean Symbolism and his Influence on Wassily

Kandinsky’s Theory of Abstraction

[Goethe] vertieft sich in dieselbe [die Wirklichkeit], um in ihrem ewigen

Wandel, in ihrem Werden und Bewegen, ihre unwandelbaren Gesetze zu
finden, er stellt sich dem Individuum gegenüber, um in ihm das Urbild zu
erschauen […] Das sind keine leeren Allgemeinbegriffe, die einer grauen
Theorie angehören, das sind die wesentlichen Grundlagen der Organismen
mit einem reichen, konkreten Inhalt, lebensvoll und anschaulich.
Anschaulich freilich nicht für die äußeren Sinne, sondern nur für jenes
höhere Anschauungsvermögen.
--Rudolf Steiner51

Wenn wir aber bedenken, daß die geistige Wendung ein direkt stürmisches Tempo
angeschlagen hat, daß auch die “festeste” Basis des menschlichen Geisteslebens,
d.h. die positive Wissenschaft, mitgerissen wird und vor der Tür der Auflösung der
Materie steht, so kann behauptet werden, daß nur noch wenige “Stunden” uns von
dieser reinen Komposition trennen.
--Wassily Kandinsky52

Introduction

At this point in Kandinsky scholarship it is well established that his aesthetics is

deeply informed by spiritual and religious concepts. More specifically, as Sixten

Ringbom points out, it was during a brief pre-war period, primarily in Munich that the

developments of Kandinsky’ s theory of abstract art coincided with his greatest

engagement with spiritual subjects. In the following instance Ringbom uses the term

“occult” for what I am calling “spiritual:” “am intensivsten war Kandinskys Interesse an

okkulten Phänomenen offenbar in der Zeit von etwa 1908 bis 1910, also gerade in den

51
Rudolf Steiner, “Goethe als Vater einer neuen Ästhetik,” GA 30 (1909): 9.
52
Wassily Kandinsky, Über das Geistige in der Kunst: insbesondere in der Malerei, 4
ed. (Sulgen: Benteli Verlag, 2013), 119.

37
Jahren, als er seine Theorie von einer abstrakten Kunst entwickelte.”53 In another essay

Ringbom asserts that Kandinsky had sympathy for Steiner’ s thought lasted until at least

the publication of Über das Geistige in der Kunst (1911).54 It was during this period that

the painter closely read a number of Steiner’ s works regarding theories of a

dematerialized spiritual reality only perceptible to those with trained super-sensible

capacities (without a provided visual referent). In one example, Kandinsky took notes on

a passage from Steiner’ s work Stufen der Höheren Erkenntnis (1905-1908) in which the

first stage of higher spiritual experience is described as one in which colors, sounds and

smells become unattached from objects and float freely in space.55 These ideas bear

striking similarity with Kandinsky’ s notion that colors and forms are dissociated from

objects.

In this chapter I begin by situating Steiner and Kandinsky in the prewar years,

especially in Munich, and show how Kandinsky and a number of other significant

modernist figures were exposed to Steiner, who at the time was a prominent figure as art

theorist and spiritual teacher in modernist circles. I then look more specifically at the

ways the two thinkers are united in their orientation: away from the “materialism” of

positivist science and naturalism and toward an inner mode of experience that looks to

depart from the sense world. In my analysis of Kandinsky I am especially guided by

Sixten Ringbom’ s pioneering research on the influence of Steiner on Kandinsky and

53
Ringbom, “Kandinsky und das Okkulte,” 93.
54
Ringbom, “Art in ‘ The Epoch of the Great Spiritual’ : Occult Elements in the Early
Theory of Abstract Painting,” 392.
55
Ibid., 403. The original includes the line: “Das macht eben die Beweglichkeit und
Freiheit der imaginativen Welt aus, dass das Zwischenglied der äusseren Dinge fehlt,
dass das Geistige ganz unmittelbar in den freischwebenden Tönen, Farben usw.sich
auslebt.” See Rudolf Steiner, Die Stufen der höheren Erkenntnis, (Rudolf Steiner Online
Archiv, 2010), http://anthroposophie.byu.edu. 23.

38
Theosophy more broadly. I also draw significant insights from Rose-Carol Washton-

Long’ s scholarship.

In the second section I show how the two thinkers diverge in important aspects of

their aesthetics. Importantly, Kandinsky’ s articulation of the spiritual dimension as

abstract in nature (what he also alternately calls the “compositional” or “objectless”) is

nowhere to be found in Steiner’ s aesthetics. I argue that this omission is not a matter of

wording. On the contrary, a central component of Steiner’ s aesthetics is a critique of the

abstract mode, what he regards as an overly theoretical, disembodied approach that is

typified by allegory. Moreover, Steiner faults Theosophy with a tendency toward

allegorical art. To show the critique of the allegorical as central to Steiner’ s aesthetics,

however, requires untangling how Steiner uses the terms “symbol” and “allegory,” as

they are often conflated into one concept that stands for all that Steiner is against:

alternately the mimetic or the theoretical. To shed light on this confusion, I follow

Hazard Adams and his explication of Goethe’ s pioneering distinction between the terms,

an aspect of Goethean thought of which Steiner appears strangely unaware. In addition, I

show that though Steiner stands in opposition to the allegorical his aesthetics is based in a

promotion of a symbolic highly resonant, though not explicitly derivative of, a Goethean

symbolic. With this argumentation, I depart from the thought of Sixten Ringbom who

deems Steiner as more closely alligned with Theosophy than I do and who remains

focused upon Steiner’ s ideas of dematerialization.

In the final section of the chapter, I focus on Steiner’ s aesthetics alone. Though

Kandinsky and Steiner shared an impulse to leave the physical plane, their respective

aesthetics ultimately end in very different places regarding the sense world. I argue that

39
albeit the earlier stages of Steiner’ s spiritual model are similar to Kandinsky’ s model in

the way the meditant is asked to retreat from the sense world to hone inner capacities, the

ultimate aim of Steiner’ s aesthetic model is not to remain in a disembodied, abstract

state. Instead the aim is to return to the phenomenological world in a deep, immersive

mode characteristic of Goetheanism. In Steiner’ s Goetheanism the symbol arises when

the sense world is entered deeply and becomes transparent. This is why Kandinsky

concludes with a groundbreaking theory and practice of abstract art, while Steiner’ s

oeuvre includes, along with his art and architecture, many thoroughly practical initiatives

such as a form of farming, medicine and schools, all of which he viewed as

manifestations of his Goethean aesthetics.

Before concluding the chapter, I discuss Steiner’ s art dance of Eurythmy and

how he theorized it as an expression and reworking, in movement form, of the Goethean

Metamorphosenlehre. In this section I bring Steiner’ s thought back into conversation

with Kandinsky’ s in a discussion of how each valued the spiritual potential of speech,

music and tone and its importance for Steiner’ s Eurythmy.

In terms of the significance of this narrative for the larger argument of my

dissertation, this chapter illuminates how at a moment of high modernism when

Kandinsky was developing his groundbreaking theory of abstraction he draws, in fact,

from a much longer history to include thinkers such as Goethe. The subject of

establishing a much longer genealogy to modern art is one that recurs prominently

throughout this project.

In Chapter Two I show how Steiner, along with German art historian Wilhelm

Worringer and Austrian art historian Alois Riegl, all write complex histories of art. In

40
each case they locate the origins of abstraction in much earlier periods, in the

Renaissance, in “primitive” art and in Hellenistic antiquity, respectively. In addition, in

Chapter Three I illuminate how many of the innovative Expressionist architectural

creations, including Steiner’ s Goetheanum building, are inspired by earlier architectural

traditions, most of which are religious or spiritual in nature. These earlier influences

include temple architecture and the Gothic cathedral. My focus on thinkers who trace a

longer history to modernism helps productively destabilize the notion of aesthetic

modernism and abstraction as representing a clean rupture with the past. This first

chapter in particular raises questions that carry through the whole dissertation regarding

the relationship of abstraction and spirituality to materialism or de-materialism,

embodiment or disembodiment and contributes to the theory of abstraction within

modernism.

Kandinsky and the Spiritual

Kandinsky’ s library, maintained by the Gabriele Münter and Johannes Eichner-

Stiftung in Munich, reveals the wide range of esoteric subject matter that the painter

gleaned as inspiration for his theory of abstraction. The collection included books on

topics such as spiritism, animism, mediums, magnetism, mysticism, transcendental

physics, esoteric color theory and Theosophy.56 Scholars cite a range of influences that

account for the spiritual or often explicitly religious thematic of some of his paintings

from this period. Jelavich highlights that between 1908 and 1914 Bavarian and Russian

56
Reinhard Zimmermann, “Der Bauhaus-Künstler Kandinsky-ein Esoteriker?,” in
Johannes Itten-Wassily Kandinsky-Paul Klee: Das Bauhaus und die Esoterik, ed.
Christoph Wagner (Bielefeld: Kerber Verlag, 2005), 47.

41
peasant art played a significant role in the development of Kandinsky’ s “spiritually

expressive abstraction.”57 He argues that Kandinsky valued in peasant art a freedom

from a faithful, realistic depiction and a joy in form, line and color for its own sake. This

combined with the incorporation of religious figures and themes from Catholicism and

Orthodox Christianity that expressed spiritual upheaval and the messianic role of the

artist, including the Deluge, the Apocalypse, St. George and Angel Gabriel.58 Long

emphasizes the influence of Theosophy, Symbolism and the Russian religious

movement.59 Ringbom points out that the Theosophical movement, which had wide

popularity at the turn of the century, helped spread knowledge of parallels in mystic

strains of Western and Eastern religion and their long-held traditions of objectless

contemplation.60 He reasons that it is very likely that Kandinsky, as well as artists such

as Piet Mondrian who was also involved with Theosophy for nearly twenty years and

became a member of the movement, would have gained exposure to notions of objectless

contemplation second-hand through Theosophical sources.61

57
Jelavich, Munich and Theatrical Modernism: Politics, Playwriting, and Performance,
1890-1914, 222.
58
Ibid.
59
She names as influences Steiner when a Theosophist; the Symbolist writers Andrei
Bely, Vyacheslav Ivanov and Dmitry Merezhkovsky and the Russian religious thinkers
Sergei Bulgakov and Nikolai Berdiaev. See Rose-Carol Washton Long, Kandinsky: The
Development of an Abstract Style (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980), 41.
60
Ringbom points out that the last decades of the 1800’ s involved a great rise in
popularity of publications on Eastern mysticism. For example, Alfred Percy Sinnett’ s
Esoteric Buddhism, a Theosophical reading of the subject, went through eight editions
between 1883-1903. See Ringbom, “Transcending the Visible: The Generation of the
Abstract Pioneers,” 134.
61
It should be noted that, though Kandinsky’ s engagement with spiritual and religious
subjects is by now well established, there is not unanimous agreement on this point in
Kandinsky scholarship. For example, early biographer and pioneering Kandinsky scholar
Will Grohmann regarded the spiritual element as an early preoccupation, in one instance
calling it a hobby, not constituent to Kandinsky’ s aesthetics. See Will Grohmann,

42
 In time Kandinsky came to distance himself from spiritual subjects and an

important factor in his decreasing engagement with spiritual subjects was the changing

political climate and his greater involvement with the Russian art scene. According to

Washton-Long, as Kandinsky became more involved in the Russian avant-garde

movement, there was a shift away from Theosophy and an apparent aim to dissociate his

notion of the coming spiritual epoch from Steinerian thought.62 Vergo sheds more light

on the cultural-political shift taking place in the years leading up to and immediately

following the First World War that made it difficult for Kandinsky to maintain his

spiritual outlook. Vergo argues that the basis of this outlook

had derived from a prewar mood that was foreign to the argumentative
materialism of Soviet society. […] In 1913 even Kandinsky’ s good friend
David Burliuk began to denounce “that talk about content and spirituality” as “the

Wassily Kandinsky: Leben und Werk (Köln: Verlag M DuMont Schauberg, 1958). More
recently, Peg Weiss argues Kandinsky’ s interest in Theosophy was more due to the
promptings of his partner Gabriele Münter. More fundamentally, she argues that the
English translation “spiritual” of the much broader, more multivalent German word
“geistig” has led to an exaggerated emphasis on the supernatural element in Kandinsky’
s oeuvre. See Peg Weiss, Kandinsky in Munich: the Formative Jugendstil Years
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1979), 141. Rose-Carol Washton-Long,
however, provides linguistic evidence that counters the claim by Weiss. She narrates that
when Kandinsky sent a version of his essay Über das Geistige to Russia to be read at a
conference in 1911 he used the Russian word “dukhovnyi” which does not have the
valence of “mental” but has a clearer meaning of “spiritual.” See Long, Kandinsky: The
Development of an Abstract Style, 156.
62
Long states that the 1914 English version of Über das Geistige in der Kunst only
mentions Blavatsky and that the Russian translation from the same year makes no
mention at all of Theosophy. His autobiography from 1913 references Steiner, but makes
more references to Russian writer and religious thinker Dmitri Merezhkovsky who
popularized the notion of society being on the brink of the “Third Revelation.” This
concept involves a coming religious revolution that would parallel that of the early
Christians and unite the East with the Christian mystical tradition. Über das Geistige in
der Kunst makes a number of explicit references to Steiner. See Long, Kandinsky: The
Development of an Abstract Style, 39-40.

43
 greatest crime against genuine art.” And the literary group known as Acmeists
“scorned the mystical vagueness of symbolism, its vaunted spirit of music.63

Vergo asserts that simultaneous with Kandinsky’ s breakthrough to abstraction, members

of a younger generation—including the Cubists and the Futurists—were undergoing a

dramatic change in values. By the time Kandinsky reestablished himself in Moscow after

the war, the new values, clearly less oriented toward things spiritual, had gained

prominence. One should, however, not overstate the shift away from spiritual subjects in

Kandinsky’ s thought.64

Kandinsky’ s interest in spiritual subjects did indeed persist into the Bauhaus

years–specifically in the years between 1920-1928. Reinhard Zimmermann points out

that while his lectures during the Bauhaus period do not have an emphasis on spiritual

topics, both his library and his paintings reveal a continued, serious engagement with

spiritual subjects. His library contained multiple books on astrology, two works by the

occult physicist Friedrich Zöllner as well as works on multiple subjects published after

the First World War. The book Jenseitiger Mensch (1925) by Emil Mattiesen—which

covers concepts such as the aura, mediums and telepathy—contains many notes in the

margins by Kandinsky. Even his lectures during the Bauhaus years also still hint at

subjects previously discussed more in length, including, according to Zimmermann,

references to Theosophical ideas and the esoteric dimension of synaesthesia.

63
Wassily Kandinsky, Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art, ed. Kenneth C. Lindsay and
Peter Vergo, 2 vols., vol. 1 (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1982), 27.
64
Rose-Carol Washton-Long argues how Kandinsky increased involvement in the
Russian avant-garde represented a shift away from Theosophy and Steiner. She points
out that his 1913 autobiography still references Steiner, but that Kandinsky aims to
dissociate his concept of the coming spiritual with Steiner and link it more with the
concept of the “Third Revelation” as popularized by Russian writer and religious thinker
Dmitry Merezhkovsky. See the chapter “Visions of a New Spiritual Realm” in Long,
Kandinsky: The Development of an Abstract Style, 13-41.

44
Zimmermann says that after this time it appears that these interests waned, though

Kandinksy was also then beyond sixty years old, and in letters he expressed a desire to

devote the time remaining to painting, in addition to his lecturing responsibilities.65 As

recent scholarship by Zimmermann and others has illuminated, Kandinsky’ s

involvement in spiritual topics was far from a fleeting phenomenon limited to the pre-war

period; in fact, it appears that the painter sustained interest in such subjects at least until

past his sixties. More generally, the varied spiritual interests of other members of the

Bauhaus contributed to a spiritual focus of the Bauhaus in the 1920s. These included the

Theosophical beliefs of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872-1944); the interest of Swiss

painter, art historian and Johaness Itten (1888-1967) in Mazdaznan—a mix of

Zarathustrianism, Hinduism and Christianity—and the Christianity of painter, writer and

dramatist Lothar Schreyer (1886-1966).

The Munich Moment: Kandinsky and Steiner

Kandinsky’ s early interest in the spiritual cannot be fully understood without

reference to Steiner’ s thought. In the pre-war period, Steiner intersected with

Kandinsky and others in his modernist circle in Munich. This city served as the creative

incubator for a number of groundbreaking thinkers and movements. It was home to

Thomas Mann, the Blaue Reiter group, the Thannhauser Galerie, art historian Heinrich

Wölfflin and philosopher Oswald Spengler.66 Rainer Metzger describes Munich as a

65
Zimmermann, “Der Bauhaus-Künstler Kandinsky-ein Esoteriker?,” 50-52.
66
Metzger, Munich: Its Golden Age of Art and Culture 1890-1920, 191.

45
“kind of biotope in which the avant-garde, the precious new generation, could feel at

home.”67

The bohemian neighborhood of Schwabing was the center of Munich’ s artistic

scene and home to a great number of artists.68 Robert Norton points out that the fact that

it adjoined the university and offered affordable housing allowed it to take on a role akin

to the Latin Quarter in Paris in the way it offered sanctuary for counter-cultural and

experimental endeavors in the arts, politics and in untraditional social expressions. Its

residents were sometimes playfully referred to as “Schlawiner,” a moniker deriverd from

the word for Slovenians. Norton defines a Schlawiner as “anyone who painted behind

the thousand atelier windows in Schwabing, who kneaded clay, wrote poetry in the

garrets, sang or wrote music, amassed debts in the little inns and proclaimed Nihilism or

Aestheticism in the cafes.”69 As Kandinsky hailed from Moscow and Steiner from

Kraljevec, an area formerly part of Austro-Hungary and currently Croatia, both figures

represent this Easter European heritage.

Rainer Metzger portrays the colorful milieu in Munich as typified by a mix of

conflicting qualities—cosmopolitan but provincial and progressivist but also decadent.70

Another important way that Munich was a city of contrasts was in its religious or spiritual

67
Ibid.
68
For a map showing the great number of artists, art schools and exhibition spaces
located in Schwabing in the year 1913 see the appendix “Wer wohnte wo in Schwabing?”
in Armin Zweite and Peter Jelavich, Kandinsky und München: Begegnungen und
Wandlungen, 1896-1914. (München: Prestel-Verlag, 1982), 444-45.
69
Norton, Secret Germany: Stefan George and his Circle, 165.
70
Metzger states, “the cosmopolitan coexisted with the provincial […] Progressiveness
coincided with the concept of decline and decadence […]. Claims of uniqueness, or at
least of originality, were made against the background of a plethora of reproductions.”
See “Decadence and the Avant-Garde: Munich Enters the 20th Century” in Metzger,
Munich: Its Golden Age of Art and Culture 1890-1920, 193.

46
orientation. It was a city traditionally Catholic that, during this period saw a great

increase of artists and thinkers with varied spiritual leanings. Corinna Treitel dates the

origin of the link between the spiritual (she most often uses the term “occult”) and the

modernist sensibility in Munich to the mid-1880s with the founding of the first psychical

research circle the Psychologische Gesellschaft in 1886.71 In terms of the wider context

of Munich as a locus for the intersection of spiritual explorations and art, it is important

to note that Kandinsky was acquainted with Symbolist poet Stefan George, an esotericist

and significant figure in Munich’ s cultural life. The Blaue Reiter almanac contains a

poem by George set to music by Anton Webern. George was the primary figure to bring

to Germany the ideas of Symbolism, especially those of Mallermé, from France and in

1896 founded the important magazine Blätter für die Kunst.72 He had a cult following

and a group formed around him that came to be known as the “Kosmiker” that held

poetry readings as well as Dionysian festivals and masques that combined literary,

theatrical and sexual expression. Paul Wolfskehl offered his home as a meeting place for

this group as well as for numerous intellectuals and artists of the period, including

Kandinsky and other artists of the Phalanx group.73

In different ways, Kandinsky and Steiner each contributed to the avant-garde

culture emerging in Munich. The Bavarian city served as Kandinsky’ s home base for

71
See Treitel, A Science for the Soul: Occultism and the Genesis of the German Modern,
31.
72
For recent works on George, in addition to the aforementioned Secret Germany: Stefan
George and his Circle by Robert Edward Norton from 2002, see also Ulrich Raulff’ s
Kreis ohne Meister: Stefan Georges Nachleben (München, Beck, 2009) and A Poet’ s
Reich: Politics and Culture in the George Circle ed. Melissa S. Lane and Martin Ruehl.
(Rochester, N.Y.: Camden House, 2011).
73
Long lists among Wolfskeh’ s friends the following figures: Martin Buber, Thomas
Mann, Else Lasker-Schüller, Arnold Böcklin and August Endell. See Long, Kandinsky:
The Development of an Abstract Style, 17.

47
almost two decades and many of Kandinsky’ s most significant artistic contributions

took place here. He had settled in Munich in 1896, after deciding to leave the profession

of law, Kandinsky settled in Munich to devote his time fully to studying painting. He left

only when the outbreak of the war in 1914 forced him to flee to Moscow. In this city

Kandinsky helped to found the Neue Künstlervereinigung Vereinigung in 1909 along

with, among others, Gabriele Münter, Alexej Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin.

When this group proved ultimately too conservative for the radically non-referential

nature of the work of some of its members, Kandinsky, along with Münter and Franz

Marc, took the refusal of one of Kandinsky’ s paintings as impetus to resign and create

the Blaue Reiter group and resulting almanac in 1912.

During this period Munich was also a very important center for Steiner. In

general, in this pre-war period Steiner was a prominent figure within modernist artistic

circles where interest in Theosophy was often great. Between 1902 and 1913, Steiner

was the Secretary General of the German section of the Theosophical Society that was

headquartered in Berlin and made frequent trips to the Munich branch of the

Theosophical Society. In 1907 in Munich Steiner organized the world conference of the

European section of the Theosophical Society. At this event he introduced a number of

artistic initiatives. The inner space was hung with bright red cloth, a choice based on

Steiner’ s color theory, and decorated with seven columns, made of painted boards. The

capitals of the columns contained signs of the planets and between the columns were

seven apocalyptic seals. The conference brochure also included images of five seals, in

transformed form. The great attendance of this event shows that Steiner received a lot of

exposure as an artist. It was also a highly controversial event, as many Theosophists

48
found the artwork too untraditional.74 This is not surprising because, as will emerge later

in this chapter, Steiner likewise often took issue with artwork by Theosophists, as he

regarded it as tending too much toward allegory, a form he did not admire.

Outside of Vienna, Munich was the city in which Steiner delivered the greatest

number of lectures on the spiritual aspects of art. Long argues that Steiner’ s physical

presence in Munich during this period and his idea that artistic activities were the most

potent way to develop knowledge of the spiritual were the greatest factors in Kandinsky’

s interest in Theosophy.75 One of the most significant lecture series was that held in the

Kunsthaus “Das Reich.” Steiner’ s lectures here took place concurrently with a group

exhibit containing works by Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Alfred Kubin and Franz Marc.

Kandinsky is known to have attended these lectures.76 There is also evidence that he

attended lectures by Steiner in Berlin in 1907 and 1908.77 In addition, Kandinsky was

74
See Rudolf Steiner, Bilder okkulter Siegel und Säulen, vol. 284, Der Münchner
Kongress Pfingsten 1907 und seine Auswirkungen (1907 ,1909 and 1911) (Dornach:
Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1993), 148. See also the chapter “The Architecture of Rudolf
Steiner” in Wolfgang Pehnt’ s anthology for a short description of this event. Wolfgang
Pehnt, Expressionist Architecture (Stuttgart and London: Thames and Hudson, 1973),
137-148.
75
Long, Kandinsky: The Development of an Abstract Style, 15.
76
Walter Kugler, “‘ Weltgeist, wo bist Du?!” Rudolf Steiner im Kontext des Aufbruchs
in die Moderne” in Rudolf Steiner. Die Alchemie des Alltags. ed. Mateo Kries and Julia
Althaus. (Ditzingen: Vitra Design Museum, 2010), 34. The lectures were so popular that
they were all repeated multiple times.
77
The lectures were part of the so-called “Architektenhausvorträge,” a series of public
lectures given between 1903-1918 in the Architektenhaus in Berlin on Wilhelmstraße 92-
93 and also in Munich. See Rudolf Steiner, Die Erkenntnis der Seele und des Geistes,
vol. GA 56, Rudolf Steiner Gesamtausgabe. Fünfzehn öffentliche Vorträge gehalten
zwischen dem 10.Oktober 1907 und dem 14.Mai 1908 im Architektenhaus in Berlin, am
3. und 5. Dezember 1907 und 18.März 1908 in München (Dornach, Switzerland: Rudolf
Steiner Verlag, 1985).
The artist couple Maria and Alexander Strakosch repeatedly attended these lectures with
Kandinsky this year. The latter was previously a student of Kandinsky’ s, See Ringbom,
The Sounding Cosmos: a Study in the Spiritualism of Kandinsky and the Genesis of

49
known to have attended lectures during the Murnau period, 1909 to 1914, when he and

Münter lived and worked during the summers in a bucolic town forty miles south of

Munich.78 In general, the span of years between 1902-1913 was a highly prolific time for

Steiner, one in which he wrote six books, many articles and gave over 2,000 lectures.79

Steiner was also intensively engaged with drama while in Munich. In 1909 he

produced the play Die Kinder des Luzifer by French writer and Theosophist Edouard

Schuré.80 In 1910 Steiner premiered the first of his own four “mystery dramas”—a form

of religious play originating in the medieval period based on Biblical stories. Steiner’ s

reinterpretations of this form describe the stages of initiation on a spiritual path and take

on subjects such as karma and reincarnation. Between 1911 and 1913 in Munich Steiner

Abstract Painting, 65. Ringbom notes that Kandinsky attended the lectures held in Berlin
both in 1907 and in 1908. Ringbom cites only a few select quotes from these lectures and
focuses on Steiner’ s discussion of the subject of matter in light of the new theory of the
atom and the idea that all matter is condensed spirit. See ibid., 37-38.
78
See Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky: Leben und Werk, 41. Kandinsky and his partner
and fellow artist Gabriele Münter spent the summers in an artistic community based in
what was called the “Russenhaus” in Murnau. Alexej Jawlensky and fellow Expressionist
artist and companion Marianne von Werefkin, two members of the Neue
Künstlervereinigung who also helped found Der Blaue Reiter, lived with Kandinsky in
Murnau in the summers of 1909 and 1910. Jawlensky discussed painting with Steiner,
and Werefkin was more deeply involved with Theosophical ideas and transmitted some
of Steiner’ s concept to Kandinsky. See Long, Kandinsky: The Development of an
Abstract Style, 27.
79
Ringbom, “Art in ‘ The Epoch of the Great Spiritual’ : Occult Elements in the Early
Theory of Abstract Painting,” 394.
80
Schuré is another link between Steiner and Kandinsky. Ringbom states that Grohmann
found Schuré’ s name in Kandinsky’ s sketchbooks and that he appears to have been a
favorite reading of various artists around 1900. Schuré’ s best-known work Les Grands
Initiés argues for a shared esoteric background to all world religions. See footnote 58 in
Sixten Ringbom’ s “Art in the “Epoch of the Great Spiritual”: Occult Elements in the
Early Theory of Abstract Painting.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes,
Vol. 29 1966), 395.

50
wrote and directed the three remaining plays.81 Kandinsky and Jawlensky attended the

first mystery play in 1910. Beat Wyss asserts that Kandinsky’ s play Der gelbe Klang

(1909) has distinct echoes with Steiner’ s works.82 In addition, Austrian composer and

pioneer of atonality Arnold Schönberg was known to have drawn inspiration from

Steiner’ s mystery plays for his oratoria Jakobsleiter.83 In the third chapter I discuss the

first Goetheanum as an example of Gesamtkunstwerk with more information on how

Steiner’ s work fits within this tradition.

Symbolist writers and philosophers of Russian origin often shared an interest in

Kandinsky and Steiner. A number of these Russian thinkers lived in Germany and

Munich more specifically. Washton-Long explains that during these tumultuous political

times in Russia many thinkers were drawn to philosophers and religious thinkers—

Steiner among many—who discussed the Book of Revelation as an important document

for modern times.84 In particular many Symbolist writers were adherents of or

sympathetic to Russian writer and religious leader Dmitri Merezhkovsky’ s

85
interpretation of the ‘ Third Testament.’ Beginning in 1907 there was a great interest

81
The four plays in chronological order are: Die Pforte der Einweihung (1910); Die
Prüfung der Seele (1911); Der Hüter der Schwelle (1912) and Der Seelen Erwachen
(1913).
82
See Beat Wyss, Der Wille zur Kunst: zur Ästhetischen Mentalität der Moderne. (Köln:
DuMont, 1996),142.
83
See Ringbom, The Sounding Cosmos: a Study in the Spiritualism of Kandinsky and the
Genesis of Abstract Painting, 58. Ringbom references Karl Wörner’ s work Musik
zwischen Theosophie und Weltanschauung; textile Interpretation des Oratoriums “Die
Jakobsleiter” von Arnold Schönberg, lecture in Jyväskylä (Finland), July, 1965
[mimeogr.]
84
See Rose-Carol Washton Long, “Kandinsky’ s Abstract Style: The Veiling of
Apocalyptic Folk Imagery,” Art Journal 34, no. 3 (1975).
See also Keith and Bernhard Spies Bullivant, ed. Literarisches Krisenbewußtsein. Ein
Perzeptions- und Produktionsmuster im 20.Jahrhundert (Munich: Iudicium, 2001).
85
Weiss, Kandinsky in Munich: the Formative Jugendstil Years, 6.

51
among Russian Symbolists in Steiner. The Symbolist novelist and poet Andrei Bely

became a follower of Steiner’ s and he and his first wife Asya Turgeneva lived in

Dornach and participated in the construction of the Goetheanum. Emilii Karlovich

Medtner (1872-1936) was a member of the Russian Symbolist movement, an

Anthroposophist and a friend and patient of Carl Gustav Jung. A number of

Anthroposophical Russian expatriates wrote memoirs of their time living in Dornach,

including Andrei Bely’ s work Verwandeln des Lebens. By 1909 Steiner began

incorporating the theories of Russian philosopher Vladimir Soloviev and by 1911 the

former was emphasizing Russia’ s role as a bridge between Eastern and Western cultures

in the creation of a universal brotherhood.86 Moreover, Kandinsky took a lengthy trip

back to Russia in 1910 and so experienced first-hand the great flowering of interest in

Steiner and Theosophy among Russian compatriots.

Leaving the Physical Plane as Response to “Materialism,” Positivism and

Naturalism

Like many of their fellow artists, intellectuals and theorists at the turn of the

twentieth century, Kandinsky and Steiner viewed their epoch as having reached a crisis

owed to increasing “materialism” in which society had become dominated by

industrialism, greatly increased commodification, the specialization and over-

rationalization of positivist science and, in the arts, the reign of naturalism. They also

regarded this crisis as representing a possibility for a shift toward a re-connection with

the spiritual dimension. In Über das Geistige in der Kunst (1911), Kandinsky

86
Long, Kandinsky: The Development of an Abstract Style, 34.

52
characterizes his epoch as having reached a turning point. The numbers of those not

interested in the materialistic, scientific approach were increasing, he said, but were

becoming re-oriented toward the immaterial or supersensible (“endlich mehrt sich die

Anzahl der Menschen welche keine Hoffnung setzen auf die Methoden der

materialistischen Wissenschaft in Fragen, die mit “Nichtmaterie” oder einer Materie zu

tun haben, die unseren Sinnen nicht zugänglich sind”).87 In a similar manner, in a lecture

series entitled “Kunst im Lichte der Mysterienweisheit” held in 1914 and 1915 Steiner

represents his era as a time ripe for a departure from materialism and a re-connection

with spiritual insight (“Jetzt aber leben wir in der Zeit, wo wir das durch geistige

Erkenntnis wiederum finden müssen […] und jetzt sind wir daran, uns wiederum aus dem

materialistischen Sumpf herauszuarbeiten”).88 As seen in both of the above quotes, both

thinkers name “materialism” as one of the prime dangers of the day. This term

encompasses all aspects of the culture that are oriented solely or very significantly toward

the external and the quantifiable. Into this category Kandinsky and Steiner place

positivist science and naturalist art.

For both thinkers a key way to ameliorate the materialistic mode of

contemporaneous art and science is to depart from the material plane. In one instance

Kandinsky argues that a new spiritual era is rapidly approaching, one that, with the

undermining of positivist science and the coming dissolution of matter will allow pure

composition:

Wenn wir aber bedenken, daß die geistige Wendung ein direkt stürmisches
Tempo angeschlagen hat, daß auch die “festeste” Basis des menschlichen

87
Kandinsky, Über das Geistige in der Kunst: insbesondere in der Malerei, 41.
88
Rudolf Steiner, Kunst im Lichte der Mysterienweisheit (1914-1915), vol. GA 275
(Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1990), 52.

53
 Geisteslebens, d.h. die positive Wissenschaft, mitgerissen wird und vor der Tür
der Auflösung der Materie steht, so kann behauptet werden, daß nur noch wenige
“Stunden” uns von dieser reinen Komposition trennen.89

It should be emphasized that neither theorist represents the spiritual dimension as

completely divorced from sensual experience and Steiner even refers to higher stages of

spiritual experience as a form of spiritual sight and spiritual hearing. Each instead

describes the nature of the sensual experience there as greatly altered.90 Steiner, for

instance, describes a spiritual world beyond the sense world and meditative instructions

for practicing inner visualizations that do not rely on an external referent but are meant to

hone the ability to perceive spiritual energies or beings latent but not typically perceptible

in the world. Scholars have established that Kandinsky owned and annotated Steiner’ s

work Theosophie: Einführung in übersinnliche Welterkenntnis und Menschenbestimmung

(1904); Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten (1904-05) as well as Stufen

der Höheren Erkenntnis, which first appeared in Steiner’ s periodical Lucifer-Gnosis

(1905-1908). Kandinsky’ s library also contains a copy of Steiner’ s Der Orient im

Lichte des Occidents, delivered in Munich in 1909.91

89
Kandinsky, Über das Geistige in der Kunst: insbesondere in der Malerei, 119.
90
It is also worth noting that both thinkers report experiences early in life that led to an
interest in an inner dimension to life that belies the fixed appearances of given, sense-
bound reality. In his memoir Kandinsky describes a synesthetic experience of listening to
Richard Wagner’ s opera Lohengrin and seeing the notes in the form of different colors.
See Wassily Kandinsky, Rückblick (Baden-Baden: Woldemar Klein Verlag, 1955), 15.
Similarly, in his autobiography Steiner recalls heightened perceptual and supersensible
experiences from a young age. In one example, he relates the joy he experienced when
he discovered that geometry offered the chance to visualize forms inwardly without an
external referent (“Dass man seelisch in der Ausbildung rein innerlich angeschauter
Formen leben könne ohne Eindrücke der äußeren Sinne […] Ich fand darin Trost für die
Stimmung, die sich mir durch die unbeantworteten Fragen ergeben hatte”). Steiner, Mein
Lebensgang. Eine Autobiographie.
91
Ringbom, The Sounding Cosmos: a Study in the Spiritualism of Kandinsky and the
Genesis of Abstract Painting, 62.

54
 An essential aspect of Steiner’ s conception of the spiritual world that resonated

with Kandinsky’ s theory of abstraction is that this world is comprised of multiple stages

that could be said to be increasingly abstract. It is important to note that Steiner

eschewed the word “abstract,” a fact important for my later argument on how the

aesthetics of the two thinkers differ. This progressively increasing abstraction is seen in

the stages of Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition, detailed in, among other sources, the

work Stufen der höheren Erkenntnis.92 In the stage of Imagination the aim is to create

inner pictures without a sensory referent present; then, at the next level of Inspiration the

pictures fall away to leave only the energy or forces that underlie the pictures; finally, at

the level of Intuition one enters a purely spiritual world and encounters the spiritual

beings themselves. In one instance this development is described in the following way:

“Was durch solche Wesen geschieht, das erkennt man im Bilde durch die Imagination,

den Gesetzen und Verhältnissen nach durch die Inspiration; will man den Wesen selbst

gegenübertreten, dann braucht man die Intuition.”93 As also seen in this quote, Steiner’ s

three stages also simultaneously entail a progressive movement counter to abstraction and

toward unity or immersion with the spiritual source.

This first stage of Imagination in particular bears striking links with Kandinsky’ s

aesthetic thought. One passage about this stage that spoke to the painter, as seen in his

summarized notes, describes this stage as one when colors, tones and smells are liberated

92
Regarding Steiner’ s choice of terminology, Ringbom states that these three terms are
“Begriffe der abendländisch-christlichen Mystik entlehnend.” See Ringbom, “Kandinsky
und das Okkulte,” 91. In many other instances, including, as we will see, in the work Wie
erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten? Steiner uses the Idealist term
“Anschauung” and not the Latin term Inspiration. This is one of many examples of the
tendency toward fluidity in terminology with Steiner. When discussing these three
stages, however, Steiner uses the Latin terminology.
93
Steiner, Die Stufen der höheren Erkenntnis, 40-41.

55
from their referents and float freely in space. The original in Stufen der höheren

Erkenntnis says the following:

Im gewöhnlichen Leben in der physischen Welt muss man sich ja gerade davor
hüten, Vorstellungen zu haben, die nicht von den Dingen herrühren, die
sozusagen “ohne Grund und Boden” sind. Zur Hervorrufung der imaginativen
Erkenntnis aber kommt es gerade darauf an, zunächst Farben, Töne, Gerüche usw.
zu haben, die ganz losgelöst von allen Dingen ‘ frei im Raume schweben.’ 94

In another articulation from the same source Steiner characterizes Imagination as typified

by a freedom and dynamism in which the spiritual element finds expression in the pure,

unattached elements of sound and color: “Das macht eben die Beweglichkeit und

Freiheit der imaginativen Welt aus, dass das Zwischenglied der äusseren Dinge fehlt,

dass das Geistige ganz unmittelbar in den freischwebenden Tönen, Farben usw. sich

auslebt.”95 One passage from Über das Geistige in der Kunst discusses colors in

strikingly similar language. Kandinsky argues that the right use of color grants the

painting independent subjectivity as it becomes a being that floats freely in the air:

“Ähnliche Möglichkeiten bietet die Farbe, die […] das Bild zu einem in der Luft

schwebenden Wesen machen kann.”96 The notion of art expressing an inner being or

“Wesenhafitkeit” is very prominent in the thought of both Steiner and Kandinsky.

Central to both thinkers’ critique of naturalism is the notion that the replication

of external appearances prevents the latent spiritual aspect of the work from expressing

itself. Peter Jelavich argues that Kandinsky’ s promotion of non-mimetic art stemmed

from his orientation away from rationalism. He explains that because objects represented

realistically “appealed to the rational, educated mind and everyday emotions, Kandinsky

94
Ibid., 22. See Ringbom, “Die Steiner-Annotationen Kandinskys,” 103.
95
Steiner, Die Stufen der höheren Erkenntnis, 23.
96
Kandinsky, Über das Geistige in der Kunst: insbesondere in der Malerei, 115-16.

56
came to believe that a truly “spiritual” response at a trans-phenomenal level could be

evoked only by “pure” color, line, and shape, used in a non-narrative and nonfigurative

manner.”97 In the essay “Über die Formfrage” (1912) Kandinsky promotes what he calls

“great realism” as one pole of non-mimetic art for which the complementary pole is

“great abstraction.” This first pole is described as created through a stark reduction of

outwardly pleasing elements. In this way the interior dimension of the object—here he

calls this dimension the soul—is able to express itself (“Bei diesem Reduzieren des ‘

Künstlerischen’ auf das Minimum klingt die Seele des Gegenstandes am stärksten

heraus, da die äußere wohlschmeckende Schönheit nicht mehr ablenken kann”).98

Towards the end of Über das Geistige in der Kunst Kandinsky criticizes the tendency of

the contemporaneous art spectator to focus on aspects of the work such as verisimilitude

and meaning that prevent the ability to tune into the work’ s inner message and value:

Der Zuschauer ist auch zu sehr gewöhnt, in solchen Fällen einen “Sinn”, d.h.
einen äußerlichen Zusammenhang der Teile des Bildes, zu suchen. […]Durch die
äußeren Mittel geblendet, sucht sein geistiges Auge nicht, was durch diese Mittel
lebt.99

Steiner considered the two forms of artistic sin to be allegorical art and naturalistic art.

The former form will be illuminated in the section on Steiner’ s concept of the symbolic

versus the allegorical. The fault in the latter form for Steiner was that it amounts to no

more than the mere imitation of the sensual (“die [Erbsünde] der Abbildung, der

Nachahmung zu sein, der Wiedergabe des bloß Sinnlichen).100 As will be further

97
Jelavich, Munich and Theatrical Modernism: Politics, Playwriting, and Performance,
1890-1914, 221.
98
Wassily Kandinsky, “Über die Formfrage,” in Der Blaue Reiter, ed. Klaus Lankheit
(München: Piper, 2009), 154.
99
Kandinsky, Über das Geistige in der Kunst: insbesondere in der Malerei, 124-25.
100
Steiner, “Das Sinnlich-Übersinnliche in seiner Verwirklichung durch die Kunst,” 1.

57
examined in the chapter dealing with Wilhelm Worringer’ s history of art, it was also

central to Steiner’ s concept of organicism that the forms arise not from imitation of

nature, but, instead, through a process of tapping into the creative forces involved in

organic creation:

Diese organische Form, die ist nicht auf naturalistische Weise empfunden, indem
man dieses oder jenes Organische nachgebildet hat, sondern sie beruht auf einem
lebendigen Sich-Hingeben an das organische-Schaffen überhaupt.101

Underlying both thinkers’ critique of naturalism is the notion that there is an inner

dimension to reality that can be accessed and expressed artistically when one emancipates

the object from its typical external appearance.

Another salient aspect of Steiner’ s notion of Imagination that relates closely to

Kandinsky’ s thought is that this is described as the stage in which the elimination of the

external object calls for the development of an inner form of sight. Steiner also refers to

this stage as “geistiges Schauen” or “okkultes Lesen.”102 As Will Grohmann explains,

Steiner and Kandinsky shared an orientation against positivism and toward the cultivation

of a form of spiritual sight.103 One way that Steiner describes an altered form of sight, in

the work Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten (1909), is in the ability to

view an object as if it were without its physical encasement and, thus, appears

transparent:

101
Rudolf Steiner, Stilformen des Organisch-Lebendigen (1921) (Dornach:
Philosophisch-Anthroposophischer Verlag am Goetheanum, 1933), two lectures, 12.
102
In the lecture series “Okkultes Lesen und okkultes Hören” (1914) Imagination is
described as a stage when one learns a form of vision analogous to reading a script and
Inspiration is described as a form of hearing.
103
Grohmann argues that the two thinkers share a feeling for “Katastrophensituationen,
“des Versagens der Wissenschaft und der Notwendigeit eines geistigen Schauens.”
Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky: Leben und Werk, 58.

58
 So wie der Mensch seine Aufmerksamkeit von etwas, das vor ihm ist, ablenken
kann, so daß es für ihn nicht da ist, so vermag der Hellseher einen physischen
Körper für seine Wahrnehmung ganz auszulöschen, so daß er für ihn physisch
ganz durchsichtig wird.104

One of the prime tasks of the meditant, as described by Steiner, is the development of the

capacity to form vivid, inner pictures whose source is not a given, material object, but

instead is said to be spiritual in nature (Steiner here uses the two terms meaning “soul”

and “spirit”). What I am calling a meditant, meaning someone who practices these

exercises, Steiner in the quote above refers to as a clairvoyant (“der Hellseher”). While it

is a jump from speaking of visualizing inner pictures to speaking of clairvoyance, this is

how Steiner conceived of this kind of activity, an aspect also of interest to Kandinsky and

greater Theosophical thought. Steiner argues that the meditant hones the ability:

Bilder zu formen, auch wo keine Sinnesgegenstände vorhanden sind. […] An

der Stelle der “Sensation” muss etwas anderes treten. Dies ist die Imagination.
[...] auf dieser Stufe treten Bilder auf genau so, wie wenn ein
Sinnesgegenstand auf ihn einen Eindruck machen würde; sie sind so lebhaft und
wahr wie die Sinnesbilder, nur kommen sie nicht vom “Materiellen,” sondern
vom “Seelischen” und “Geistigen.” Die Sinne bleiben vollständig untätig.105

In this passage Steiner speaks of both the soulful (“das Seelische”) and the spiritual (“das

Geistige”). In this case, Steiner did not mean these two terms to be interchangeable,

however, as he conceived of the former term as more connected with the emotional side

of the human being and the latter term as more linked with the higher self. This

description of inner picture formation that is divorced from external, sensual activity has

much in common with a comment by Kandinsky in his memoir in which he discusses

how the exclusion of the object in painting requires the development of a form of vision

104
Rudolf Steiner, Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?, (2010),
http://anthroposophie.byu.edu. 104-05.
105
Steiner, Die Stufen der höheren Erkenntnis, 4.

59
that allows an inner experience of forms: “das Streichen des Gegenstandes in der Malerei

[stellt] sehr große Forderungen an das innere Erleben der rein malerischen Form […], so

daß eine Entwicklung des Beschauers in dieser Richtung unbedingt notwendig ist und

deshalb in keinem Fall ausbleiben kann.”106 Kandinsky likewise uses a visual analogy

when he characterizes his materialistic era as suffering from blindness to the spiritual

dimension (“Die Menschen legen zu diesen stummen und blinden Zeiten einen

besonderen ausschließlichen Wert auf äußerliche Erfolge […] Die rein geistigen Kräfte

werden im besten Falle unterschätzt, sonst überhaupt nicht bemerkt”).107

Eckart Förster, in an article on the philosophical significance of Goethe’ s

frequent use of the term “the eye of the mind” (“das Auge des Geistes”), argues that

Goethe proposed a transformed mode of perception so that “something is or can be

visible to one person but not to another who lacks the organ in question.”108 By “organ,”

as is clear in the course of the article, Förster means that Goethe was arguing for an inner

organ of perception. He points out that though the concept can easily be dismissed as a

poetic metaphor, Goethe did not use this term metaphorically. Furthermore, Förster

demonstrates that this term played a significant role in the thought of German Idealists,

including Hegel and Fichte.

Steiner sometimes describes the visual activity at the stage of Imagination not as

representing a stark departure from the sense world but, instead, as a gradual process

toward objectless or non-referential sight. I argue that the gradual process involved in

Steiner’ s three stages also echoes with Kandinsky’ s theory of veiling, as highlighted by

106
Kandinsky, Rückblick, 31.
107
Kandinsky, Über das Geistige in der Kunst: insbesondere in der Malerei, 35-36.
108
Eckart Förster, “Goethe on ‘ Das Auge des Geistes,’ “ Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift
für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte 75 (2001): 90.

60
Washton-Long. As I try to show, the ultimate aim of Steiner’ s second version of visual

activity still has the same end goal of complete objectlessness. This is because all of the

three of Steiner’ s spiritual stages are meant to foster innovation and the creation of new,

not yet seen forms.

In one of Steiner’ s foundational works Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der

höheren Welten?, Steiner clarifies that the goal is to hone one’ s observational powers,

not to dull one’ s senses: “Dabei soll man nur ja nicht glauben, dass man weit kommt,

wenn man seine Sinne etwa stumpf macht gegen die Welt. Erst schaue man so lebhaft, so

genau, als es nur möglich ist, die Dinge an.”109 In this example the meditative exercises

in Imagination are described as involving an intensive engagement—observation and

contemplation—of the material world. One meditative technique described in this work

for training the powers of Imagination involves the visualization of a seed, an activity

fundamental to Goethe’ s Metamorphosenlehre.110 In this case the term “Anschauung”

is used to describe the imagination of the whole plant that grows out of a seed. The first

step is described as the careful observation of the physical characteristics of a seed after

which one then re-creates this exact image internally. One begins with the physical

referent, but an essential part of the training takes place once one has separated from the

physical object and engages in image-creation of a super-sensual nature:

Man baue [die Pflanze] sich in der Phantasie auf. Und dann denke man: Was ich
mir jetzt in meiner Phantasie vorstelle, das werden die Kräfte der Erde und des
Lichtes später wirklich aus dem Samenkorn hervorlocken […] dieses Unsichtbare
wird sich später in die sichtbare Pflanze verwandeln, die ich in Gestalt und Farbe
vor mir haben werde. Man hänge dem Gedanken nach: das Unsichtbare wird

109
Steiner, Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten? 25.
110
Owen Barfield asserts that “an attempt to use imagination systematically” is
fundamental to all of Goethe’ s scientific work. See Owen Barfield, Saving the
Appearances: A Study of Idolatry (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 1988), 137.

61
 sichtbar werden. […] Bringt man das in der rechten Weise zustande, dann wird
man nach einiger Zeit—vielleicht erst nach vielen Versuchen—eine Kraft in sich
verspüren. Und diese Kraft wird eine neue Anschauung erschaffen. […] Was
sinnlich unsichtbar war, die Pflanze, die erst später sichtbar werden wird, das
offenbart sich da auf geistig sichtbare Art.111

With repeated efforts at making this leap toward abstraction one can acquire the capacity

for Anschauung, or Imagination. In another example from Stufen der höheren Erkenntnis

Steiner emphasizes that the internal pictures must originate in the material world and not

be purely fantastical imaginations. It is described as one of the great challenges at this

stage to learn to distinguish between Imaginations and illusory images: “Es gehört eine

sehr sorfgfältige Schulung dazu, innerhalb dieser höheren Bilderwelt Täuschung von

Wirklichkeit zu unterscheiden.”112 Steiner describes the images that arise at this stage as

not more muted, as one might experience in a spiritual dimension, but as possessing an

especially vivid character that makes everyday sensual experience pale in comparison:

“die Bilder der Imagination sind von einer Lebhaftigkeit und Inhaltsfülle, mit der sich

nicht nur die schattenhaften Erinnerungsbilder der Sinnenwelt nicht vergleichen lassen,

sondern sogar nicht einmal die ganze bunte, wechselreiche Sinnenwelt selbst.”113 This

imaginative capacity entails a new form of sight: seeing as visible what is typically

invisible, namely the future plant that exists latently in Nature.

It might seem that Steiner had two conflicting views of Imagination as he

sometimes describes the activity as a total departure from the sensory world and, at other

times, he proposes exercises that rely on inner visualization of a physical object, such as a

seed. It is important to clarify that even with the exercises that incorporate a physical

111
Steiner, Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten? 39.
112
Steiner, Die Stufen der höheren Erkenntnis, 4.
113
Ibid., 5-6.

62
object Steiner’ s goal is to hone the ability to eventually create new forms. Förster

provides helpful clarification on the nature of the inner visualization entailed in the plant

metamorphosis, exercises upon which Steiner drew heavily for his conception of

Imagination. Förster asserts that

The demand [made by Goethe] that I should be able to produce the object in my
mind entails more than the ability to generate in intuition a copy of the living
plant: To really comprehend it, might say, I must know the law underlying its
development, its typus or archetype, so that I can generate imaginatively a new
plant from it.114

It is important that even in the version of Imagination that Steiner describes as first

involving the visualization of an object from nature, following Goethe’ s plant

metamorphosis, the ultimate aim is the creation of new forms. This is what makes

innovative art possible, whether in the form of the objectless art of Kandinsky and his

fellow abstract artists or in Steiner’ s Goetheanum, a structure he viewed as in some

ways without historical precedent. Regarding what Förster calls Goethe’ s belief in the

underlying “typus or archetype,” these ideas link, as will be discussed in this chapter,

with how both Steiner and Kandinsky argue for the central importance of lawfulness of

nature and art.

I also argue that Kandinsky’ s technique of veiling resonates strongly with how

Steiner sometimes describes Imagination as involving a gradual, stage-wise reduction of

the physical referent. It should be pointed out that the painterly technique of veiling,

creating layers so as to largely obscure the view of objects, is a counter action to the

striving for clear and vivid internal visions in Steiner’ s stage of Imagination. I argue

that, however, the way that Steiner sometimes describes this stage as a gradual process of

114
Förster, “Goethe on ‘ Das Auge des Geistes,’ “ 95.

63
decreasing reliance on the external world resonates with Kandinsky’ s painterly veiling

as part of a gradual, stage-by-stage progression away from the material world and toward

the objectless dimension. Sixten Ringbom argues for the link between progression

toward objectless spiritual experience and abstract art: “perhaps the closest graphic

analogy to the mystical ascent to objectless vision is presented by another method that

was employed by the abstract pioneers: the step-by-step dissolving of the material

objects of the image.”115 Rose-Carol Washton-Long links the importance of Kandinsky’

s veiling technique to the spectator. She argues that Kandinsky “felt that both the

spectator and other artists had to be led into the abstract sphere step by step and had to be

helped in finding its meaning.”116 Long argues that Kandinsky was concerned, as were

many like-minded artists of the period, that a purely non-representational form of art

could confuse viewers and cause the loss of many in his audience.117 One of the

solutions was the incorporation of barely discernable religious imagery, especially

images from the Apocalypse. After the viewer recognized rudimentary symbols that

were part of accepted religious iconography, the viewer could then move on to a deeper

experience of pure form, line and color. Kandinsky saw great potential in a method that

incorporated both veiled and apparent elements (“die Verschleierung [ist] eine enorme

Macht in der Kunst. Das Kombinieren des Verschleierten und des Bloßgelegten wird

eine neue Möglichkeit der Leitmotive einer Formenkomposition bilden).”118 In another

articulation from the same text Kandinsky argues that hidden constructions, as opposed to

115
Ringbom, “Transcending the Visible: The Generation of the Abstract Pioneers,” 144.
116
Long, “Kandinsky’ s Abstract Style: The Veiling of Apocalyptic Folk Imagery,” 217.
117
Long, Kandinsky: The Development of an Abstract Style, 48.
118
Kandinsky, Über das Geistige in der Kunst: insbesondere in der Malerei, 78.

64
more apparent geometrical ones, contain the greatest potential because they have an

affect on the soul rather than the eye, that is at a spiritual and not only physical level.

One striking commonality is how the two thinkers conceive of the non-

representational, spiritual dimension as aural or musical in nature. Über das Geistige in

der Kunst and Der Almanach “Der Blaue Reiter” are both replete with musical and

sound themes and analogies.119 Likewise, Steiner describes Inspiration, the second in the

triad of stages of super-sensible cognition, as a form of spiritual hearing. The spiritual

and aesthetic program of both thinkers shows itself as broader and more polysensual than

if the focus was narrowly on vision—though this breadth is often missed in scholarship in

modernism. As Juliet Koss claims, “One persistent account of modernism in the visual

arts asserts an increasing reliance on opticality. […] Modernism, as Clement Greenberg

explained it, was a matter ‘ of purely optical experience against optical experience as

revised or modified by tactile associations.’ ”120 Scholarship specifically concerning

Kandinsky and Steiner also shares the tendency to focus on the optical aspects of their

spiritual and aesthetic thought. For example, as already noted, Grohmann highlights that

the two thinkers share a feeling for the necessity of spiritual vision (“der Notwendigkeit

119
This work contains discussions of Wagner, Debussy and Schönberg in the context of
non-representational, spiritual art. The Almanac includes essays by Russian composer
Thomas von Hartmann; an essay on the Russian pianist and composer Alexander
Skrjabin; an essay and multiple paintings by Austrian composer and music theorist
Arnold Schönberg; an essay entitled “Die Freie Musik” by Dr. N. Kulbin as well as
Kandinsky’ s short, Expressionistic play “Der gelbe Klang” that includes music and
word play in the Symbolist vein. The final pages of the almanac are comprised of three
scores by Arnold Schönberg, Alban Berg and Anton v. Webern.
120
Juliet Koss, “On the Limits of Empathy,” The Art Bulletin 88, no. 1 (2006): 142. Koss
is citing Greenberg from “Modernist Painting” (1960) in Collected Essays and Criticism,
ed. John O’ Brien, vol. 4. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), 89.

65
eines geistigen Schauens”).121 Wyss offers critique of Steiner by focusing on his concept

of unmediated sight (“das reine Sehen, das Rudolf Steiner im Sinne der Klassischen

Moderne propagiert, entsteht im abziehenden Tarnnebel raunender Rede”).122 Along

with critiquing the idea of pure sight, by saying that Steiner murmurs or whispers

(“im...raunender Rede”), Wyss is implying that Steiner also does not express himself in a

clear, transparent manner. This tendency to focus on visuality at the expense of the other

senses also existed in contemporaneous Steiner reception. For example, Austrian author,

playwright and critic Hermann Bahr, who gives a prominent mention to Steiner in the

work Expressionismus (1906), demonstrates the tendency to formulate the turn toward

interiority or the spiritual dimension integral to Expressionism as primarily involving a

transformation in the nature of vision. In Expressionismus (1916) Bahr argues that “Die

Menschheit hat ja die Gewohnheit, immer wenn sie eine Zeitlang ganz zum Sichtbaren

hin […] nun wieder zum Unsichtbaren umzukehren.”123 As we will see in the following,

for Steiner and Kandinsky, sound and music play a role equal to sight, if not greater.

At the stage of Inspiration Steiner describes this form of auditory experience as a

pure, spiritual type of sound that stems from objects expressing their inner being in the

form of speech or sound:

Aber nicht mit Tönen wie in der sinnlichen Musik hat man es zu tun, sondern mit
einem rein “geistigen Tönen”. Man beginnt zu “hören”, was im Innern der Dinge
vorgeht. Der Stein, die Pflanze usw. werden zu “geistigen Worten”. Die Welt
beginnt der Seele gegenüber ihr Wesen wirklich selbst auszusprechen. Es klingt
grotesk; aber es ist wörtlich wahr; auf dieser Stufe des Erkennens “hört man
geistig das Gras wachsen”. Man vernimmt die Form des Kristalles als Klang;
die sich öffnende Blüte “spricht” da zum Menschen.124

121
Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky: Leben und Werk, 58.
122
Wyss, Der Wille zur Kunst: zur ästhetischen Mentalitat der Moderne, 144.
123
See Bahr, Expressionismus, 41.
124
Steiner, Die Stufen der höheren Erkenntnis, 6.

66
Noteworthy is Steiner’ s synesthetic description of the crystal form sounding forth

aurally as it is strongly reminiscent of Kandinsky’ s synesthetic understanding of

aesthetics. Also of importance is how the sound or speaking stems from an inner source

(“im Innern der Dinge” and “ihr Wesen”). In addition, both of the above formulations by

Steiner and a few to be quoted shortly by Kandinsky have strong Romantic echoes, for

example the famous poem by Eichendorff: “Schläft ein Lied in allen Dingen,/Die da

träumen fort und fort,/Und die Welt hebt an zu singen,/Triffst du nur das Zauberwort.”125

In Rückblick Kandinsky describes experiencing the world, both natural and man-made, in

terms very similar to those of Steiner: “Nicht nur die bedichteten Sterne, Mond, Wälder,

Blumen, sondern auch ein im Aschenbecher liegender Stummel […] alles zeigte mir sein

Gesicht, sein innerstes Wesen, die geheime Seele, die öfter schweigt als spricht.”126 In

the essay “Über die Formfrage” Kandinsky likewise talks of spirit speaking through

forms: “Wenn der Inhalt, der Geist, welcher sich nur durch diese scheintote Form

offenbaren kann, reif wird, wenn die Stunde seiner Materialisation geschlagen hat, so tritt

er in diese Form und wird durch sie sprechen.”127 Another formulation speaks of the soul

in terms of sound: “Der Klang ist also die Seele der Form, die nur durch den Klang

lebendig werden kann und von innen nach außen wirkt.”128 In another instance

Kandinsky describes the world as an entity that sounds forth and that is comprised of

spiritual beings: “Die Welt klingt. Sie ist ein Kosmos der geistig wirkenden Wesen. So

125
Joseph von Eichendorff, Wünschelrute, (1835),
http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/buch/joseph-von-eichendorff-gedichte-4294/188.
126
Kandinsky, Rückblick, 13.
127
Kandinsky, “Über die Formfrage,” 174.
128
Ibid., 137.

67
ist die tote Materie lebender Geist.”129 In this quote there is also the ontological shift

back from dead matter to living spirit. The dichotomy between the categories of matter

and spirit is also one that is central to Steiner’ s thought. Common to all of these

articulations is the assertion that the age of materialistic art will be overcome through a

mode of art that facilitates spiritual speech, music or sound expressed through form. It is

also the case that both thinkers stress sound over music, as seen in Kandinsky’ s

evocation of “Klang” and as evidenced also in the nature of the auditory production in his

play “Der gelbe Klang,” where figures never sing in a traditionally harmonic way but talk

and make sound in a highly expressive fashion. Steiner, likewise, focuses on “Tönen”

and “Klang.” It would not be accurate, however, to say both theorized sound over music

as, to cite only two examples, the Blaue Reiter almanac contains multiple song scores and

Steiner’ s Eurythmy performances were often accompanied by music.

Both thinkers prize music for its non-representational capacities. In the first

lecture from a series entitled “Das Wesen des Musikalischen,” held in 1906, Steiner

approvingly cites Schopenhauer and the way he privileges music as possessing a special

power for unmediated connection with an inner essence. In one instance he uses

Schopenhauerian language of the “will.”

Die anderen Künste müssen durch die Vorstellung hindurchgehen, also Bilder des
Willens geben. Aber der Ton ist ein unmittelbarer Ausdruck des Willens selbst,
ohne Einschiebung der Vorstellung. Wenn der Mensch im Ton künstlerisch tätig
ist, ist sie gleichsam mit seinem Ohr am Herzen der Natur selbst liegend […] So-
sagt Schopenhauer-steht der Mensch in einem vertrauten Verhältnis zu den
Dingen an sich, so dringt er ein in das innerste Wesen der Dinge.130

129
Ibid., 168.
130
Rudolf Steiner, Das Wesen des Musikalischen und das Tonerlebnis im Menschen, vol.
283 (Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1989), 12.

68
Many formulations in this short quote reveal how music is regarded as uniquely able to

connect directly with the spiritual dimension— the notion of music’ s close relationship

to the things themselves, to the inmost nature of things and to the heart of nature. In

another formulation from the same lecture Steiner speaks of music in even more

explicitly spiritual terms by calling the archetype or source of music the spiritual

dimension (“das Geistige”): “Das Urbild der Musik ist im Geistigen, während die

Urbilder für die übrigen Künste in der physischen Welt selbst liegen.”131 In this lecture

Steiner asserts that the spiritual world—which one enters when asleep and also between

successive lives in his schema based in reincarnation—is experienced as a profoundly

musical place, as what he calls a “Welt der Sphärenmusik.”132

Similarly, Kandinsky admired the unique ability of music to exercise direct,

unmediated influence on the soul: “Der musikalische Ton hat einen direkten Zugang zur

Seele. Er findet da sofort einen Widerklang, da der Mensch ‘ die Musik hat in sich

selbst.’ ”133 In a footnote in Rückblick Kandinsky discusses two branches of art: what he

calls “die virtuose Art” and “die kompositionelle.” The former branch includes any form

based on the imitation of the external dimension. The latter branch, in contrast, is

described as devoid of referential characteristics and instead as arising from within the

artist, a feature common to music:

Die andere Art ist die kompositionelle, bei der das Werk größtenteils oder
ausschließlich “aus dem Künstler” entsteht, so wie das in der Musik seit
Jahrhunderten der Fall ist. Die Malerei hat in dieser Beziehung die Musik
eingeholt, und beide bekommen eine immer wachsende Tendenz, “absolute”

131
Ibid., 18.
132
Ibid., 15.
133
Kandinsky, Über das Geistige in der Kunst: insbesondere in der Malerei, 66.

69
 Werke zu schaffen, d.h. vollkommen “objektive” Werke, die den Naturwerken
gleich rein gesetzmäßig als selbständige Wesen “von selbst” erwachsen.134

In addition to the way Kandinsky links non-representational visual art and music, this

quote is noteworthy for the assertion that artworks can gain the status of independent

subjects. As we have already seen in Imagination, Steiner postulates that spiritual beings

are present in Steiner’ s entire scheme of stages of higher spiritual experience. In Über

das Geistige in der Kunst, Kandinsky also discusses color in musical terms as displaying

his synesthetic orientation. He views the range of range of nuanced possibilities in one

color as akin to the range of sounds one hears on the same instrument when played in

different circumstances and by different players (he gives the examples of instruments

played outdoors, indoors, by a hunter, a soldier or a virtuoso).135

How Steiner and Kandinsky Diverge: the Question of Abstraction and Allegory

Despite a shared conviction that a departure from the physical plane is the

appropriate response to the materialism of the day, and the way each conceives of the

spiritual dimension in both visual and aural terms, ultimately, they differ greatly on the

question of abstraction. As seen in the above articulations on the concept of inner sound,

many of Kandinsky’ s concepts both spiritual and aesthetic, are formulated in language

that equates the spiritual dimension with abstraction. In contrast, Steiner never uses the

concept of abstraction as the aim of his aesthetics. As Ringbom clarifies, “the notion of

abstract art was foreign to Goethe, and to some extent this applies to his interpreter

134
Kandinsky, Rückblick, 50.
135
Kandinsky, Über das Geistige in der Kunst: insbesondere in der Malerei, 67.

70
[Steiner] too.”136 Long also draws a distinction between the aesthetics of Kandinsky and

Steiner regarding the issues of abstraction. Of the former, she says “abstraction provided

the basis for the evolution of a universal, transcendent expression.”137 Of the latter, in

contrast, she asserts that he did “not champion the concept of abstraction, even though his

anti-materialism led him to favour an anti-naturalistic style. Rather, Steiner insisted that

all art should begin with nature.”138 In the final section of this chapter I aim to show that

Steiner’ s model ultimately ends in a very different place than Kandinsky’ s: he

promotes a certain form of symbolism that requires a return to a deep, immersive

relationship with the forms of nature under the influence of Goetheanism.

Not only did Steiner not share Kandinsky’ s conception of the spiritual as

ultimately abstract, in the sense of being disembodied, but a central component of

Steiner’ s aesthetics is a critique of allegory, a trope Steiner views as overly abstract. A

significant target of Steiner’ s critique is the tendency he sees within spiritual

movements—most especially Theosophy—to resort to allegorical art. In Steiner’ s view,

such art errs by beginning with a theoretical concept of a spiritual element then trying to

convert this concept into artistic form. Steiner’ s critique of the allegorical is one of the

ways through which he seeks to distance himself from the Theosophical movement. I

aim to show that, though Kandinsky was never a member of the movement and by no

means a wholly uncritical follower, his theory and practice show more openness to what

Steiner views as Theosophy’ s abstract, allegorical tendencies. This is seen both in the

136
Ringbom, “Art in ‘ The Epoch of the Great Spiritual’ : Occult Elements in the Early
Theory of Abstract Painting,” 393. Ringbom goes on to say that Steiner’ s early graphic
work fits more clearly with Art nouveau symbolism than with abstraction.
137
Long, Kandinsky: The Development of an Abstract Style, 6.
138
Ibid., 34.

71
painter’ s broader theoretical understanding of the spiritual dimension as abstract and in

his paintings inspired by the Theosophical concepts of aura and so-called “thought

forms.”

Steiner’ s relationship with the Theosophical movement was for a time very

close—he was the Secretary General of the German chapter of the Theosophical Society

for a significant period from 1902 to 1913. Two of his works from this time have

explicitly Theosophical titles: Theosophie: Einführung in übersinnliche Welterkenntnis

und Menschenbestimmung (1904) and Die Geheimwissenschaft im Umriß (1910), which

is a counterpart to Blavatsky’ s Secret Doctrine. One result of this period of close

engagement with Theosophy, is that in a few of his early works Steiner adopts many of

the Sanskrit terms used by Theosophists: thus he uses the term “devachan” to describe the

period between earthly incarnations whereas in later works he uses different vocabulary

that speaks to “being” and “revelation.”139 The adoption of Theosophical language may

give the impression that Steiner aligned himself philosophically with this movement.

Yet, in fact, from the outset he made it clear that he would pursue his own spiritual

program. This group offered him the venue he failed to find elsewhere, but, as Ringbom

clarifies, “right from the beginning [Steiner] regarded the society as a vehicle for his own

purposes.”140 Wolfgang Zumdick argues that from the outset Steiner’ s broad knowledge

of contemporaneous thinkers and his independently minded form of philosophy placed

139
In his article marking one hundred fifty years since Steiner’ s birth, Fred Amrine
details how Steiner’ s time with the Theosophical movement resulted in the adoption of
Theosophical terminology that is often confusing. Amrine explains that “one result of
this episode is that the language of basic anthroposophy (before Steiner adopted that
name) is suffused with Sanskrit terms for theosophy like ‘ arupa,’ ‘ pralaya,’ and ‘
devachan.’ “Amrine, “Discovering a Genius: Rudolf Steiner at 150,” 8.
140
Ringbom, The Sounding Cosmos: a Study in the Spiritualism of Kandinsky and the
Genesis of Abstract Painting, 58.

72
him in a position of distance from the institutionalized Theosophy. He also points out

that after taking the post at the Theosophical Society Steiner still gave lectures to the

monistic Giordano-Bruno-Bund until the end of 1904 and to the Marxist-oriented worker’

s school in Berlin.141 One of the points of divergence between Steiner and the

Theosophical Society was the former’ s emphasis on a Western spiritual path.142 This

differed from the increasing emphasis on Eastern wisdom within the society.143 The

headquarters of the society were in Adyar, India. In 1910 a young Hindu man, Jidda

Krishnamurti, was appointed as the main spiritual leader, a decision Steiner opposed.

Partly in answer to this decision, Steiner gave a series of lectures that argued for the birth,

death and resurrection of Christ as a central event. This lecture series was one of

multiple motivations for the Theosophical Society to expel Steiner and his approximately

2,400 members of the German section of the Theosophical society in 1913. In the same

year Steiner founded his own movement of Anthroposophy.144

141
Zumdick argues that Steiner’ s very broad reading background is seen in his library
that contained approximately 9,000 volumes, nearly all of which are annotated. He notes
that his lectures include references to new developments in the fields of art, philosophy
and the natural sciences and included, among others, the names Edmund Husserl,
Wilhelm Dilthey, Ernst Mach, Ernst Cassirer, Franz Brentano, Albert Einstein and Max
Planck. See Wolfgang Zumdick, “Der heisse Kern der Anthroposophie: Anmerkungen
zu Rudolf Steiners Weltbegriff,” in Rudolf Steiner: Die Alchemie des Alltags, ed. Mateo
Kries (Ditingen: Vitra Design Museum und Autoren, 2010), 42.
142
In 1901 Steiner published Die Mystik im Aufgange des neuzeitlischen Geisteslebens
und ihr Verhältnis zu modernen Weltanschauungen (1901). This work is devoted
exclusively to Western mystics including, among others, Meister Eckhart, Johannes
Tauler and Heinrich Suso.
143
Ringbom also points out that it was in German Theosophical groups that “the
Bhagavad Gita, the classical text of Indian transcendentalism, was systematically collated
with classics of medieval mysticism as well as with writings by Meister Eckhart, Thomas
a Kempis, and such later teachers as Paracelsus and Böhme.”Ringbom, “Transcending
the Visible: The Generation of the Abstract Pioneers,” 134.
144
Zumdick, “Der heisse Kern der Anthroposophie: Anmerkungen zu Rudolf Steiners
Weltbegriff,” 42.

73
 Another of Steiner’ s lesser known, but for my purposes very important, points of

contention with Theosophy was what he regarded as its tendency toward preferring

abstract, allegorical art. In a 1920 lecture “Die den Baugedanken tragenden

künstlerischen Impulse” from the lecture series “Der Baugedanke von Dornach,” Steiner

explicitly faults the Theosophical Society with bringing into the Anthroposophical

Society a “false mysticism” that bypasses the genuinely artistic element by seeking to

express the spiritual dimension (“Geist”) only in an external, abstracted form. In the

following formulation Steiner conflates the terms “symbol” and “allegory,” a common

habit of Steiner’ s that we will see repeatedly in a number of the coming examples in this

section:

in eine solche Bewegung [Anthroposophie] kommen sehr leicht herein allerlei

mystizierende Element, die durch ein falsches Mystizieren gerade nach dem
Abstraken hingedrängt werden, und die eigentlich dann, weil ja das Künstlerische
in dem Äußeren, in dem Gestalten und Bilden sich darleben muß, an diesem
Künstlerischen vorbeigehen und nach dem Symbolischen, nach dem
Allegorischen hinstreben; die gewissermaßen den Geist in seiner abstrakten
Gestalt behalten möchten und an dem, was äußerlich gestaltet und gebildet wird,
nur eine symbolische Veranschaulichung des Geistigen haben möchen. Nach
dieser Richtung hat man ja, durch das Hereindringen falscher Mystik aus der
theosophischen in die anthroposophische Bewegung, alles mögliche erleben
müssen.145

Steiner then proceeds to give a number of examples from different mediums of those in a

spiritual movement, such as Theosophy or Anthroposophy, approaching art works with

what he views as a misguided eagerness to allegorize (“Eine Allegorisierung ohne Ende

ist vielfach vorhanden unter denen, die sich zu einer Geistesbewegung bekennen

möchen”).146 One example is the interpretation of various characters in Hamlet as

145
Rudolf Steiner, Der Baugedanke von Dornach (1920) (Dornach: Philosophisch-
Anthroposophischer Verlag, 1942), 16. Emphasis mine.
146
Ibid., 17.

74
representing the different spiritual bodies of man, such as the spirit and the astral body.

He also describes frequently seeing allegorical paintings and drawings in buildings that

host Anthroposophical events, and descries, for example, dreadful artistic renditions of

the Rosicrucian rose-cross, appreciated only because of the overt symbolism; this he

regards as insulting to all genuine artistic sensibility (“jedes künstlerische Gefühl [wird]

beleidigt durch das Malen eines scheußlichen Rosenkreuzes, wo es nur auf die Allegorie

ankommt, in sieben in einer gewissen Weise an ein Kreuz hingemalten Rosen irgend eine

Symbolik zu zeigen”).147 With the word “scheußlich” we sense how strongly Steiner

feels against this form of art. Steiner then makes a similar point about a common

tendency among those in his movement to try to apply Anthroposophical theory to his

plays, thus misconstruing the mystery plays as allegorical in nature (“in meinen

Mysteriendramen [ist] es ein Unfug, wenn man hineinallegorisiert, wenn man alles

mögliche, was schon eigentlich anthroposophische Theorie ist, nun in diese

Mysteriendramen hineinphantisiert”).148 The fault in this approach lies in approaching an

artwork theoretically.

If I now turn to Kandinsky in light of the question of abstraction and allegory, and

his relationship to Theosophy, I find that Kandinsky advocates the concept of the spiritual

dimension as fundamentally abstract. In terms of his theory of abstraction, we have

already seen myriad formulations that equate abstraction with the spiritual dimension. In

yet another example, Kandinsky characterizes the imminent, creative spirit of the times as

abstract in nature and as able to access the spiritual dimension, here called the soul (“Zur

bestimmten Zeit werden die Notwendigkeiten reif. D.h. der schaffende Geist (welchen

147
Ibid., 18.
148
Ibid.

75
man als den abstrakten Geist bezeichnen kann) findet einen Zugang zur Seele”).149 In

another example from the same essay Kandinsky defines the spiritual, here called the

“absolute” (“das Absolute”) as not existing within the material form: “So sieht man, daß

das Absolute nicht in der Form (Materialismus) zu suchen ist.”150 This formulation thus

implies that the spiritual dimension is present in an immaterial, abstract state. More of

Kandinsky’ s articulations on abstraction will be discussed in the next section on Steiner’

s Goethean symbolism and how both thinkers view the relation of art to the forms of

nature.

In terms of Kandinsky’ s stance toward Theosophy there is no scholarly

consensus on the degree of alignment Kandinsky had with Theosophical philosophy.151

What seems clear is that he had considerable interest in the subject while he also held

149
Kandinsky, “Über die Formfrage,” 140.
150
Ibid., 137.
151
For example, according to Will Grohmann, Steiner influenced Kandinsky’ s painting
only in the years before 1914. Ringbom quotes Grohmann from his work Kandinsky, Life
and Work (1959) as saying that Kandinsky’ s “interest in [spiritual] matters subsided as
he became clearer in his own mind about the role of rational elements in his art.”
Ringbom, “Art in ‘ The Epoch of the Great Spiritual’ : Occult Elements in the Early
Theory of Abstract Painting,” 386. Kenneth Lindsay and Peter Vergo argue in the
introduction to Kandinsky’ s Complete Writings that “Although Kandinsky appreciated
Steiner’ s methodology and the ways in which occult experimentation coincided with his
own interests in dematerialization, he maintained a skeptical distance: he was a painter,
not a theorist. Kandinsky, Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art, 123. Note that Lindsay
and Vergo use the term “dematerialization” and not “abstraction.” Ringbom, on the other
hand, argues that Kandinsky and Theosophy were eventually very closely aligned, though
Kandinsky never became an orthodox Theosophist. According to Ringbom, Kandinsky
appears early on and throughout his career to have selectively chosen aspects of the
Theosophical philosophy that resonated with his own beliefs and ignored some of the key
Theosophical tenets. Yet Ringbom concludes, “even such an attitude of picking and
choosing is capable of developing into a real commitment.” Ringbom, “Art in ‘ The
Epoch of the Great Spiritual’ : Occult Elements in the Early Theory of Abstract
Painting,” 396-97.

76
reservations. He clearly had extensive reading knowledge of Theosophical works.152

Über das Geistige in der Kunst also includes multiple references to Theosophists and

their works, to Steiner.

A number of passages in Über das Geistige in der Kunst address the question of

abstraction, in the sense of theoretical thought, and the relationship with Theosophy. In

the following two examples, Kandinsky shows his orientation as aligned with Steiner’ s

critique of the theoretical approach. As an introductory remark to a description of

Theosophy as a potent agent of spiritual transformation, Kandinsky interjects the critique

that the movement is over-eager desire to provide answers to what he calls the eternal,

great question mark (“Und jedenfalls, wenn auch die Neigung der Theosophen zur

Schaffung einer Theorie und die etwas voreilige Freude, bald Antwort auf die Stelle des

ewigen immensen Fragezeichens stellen zu können, leicht den Beobachter etwas

skeptisch stimmen kann…).153 Kandinsky’ s criticism of the Theosophical tendency to

produce theory (“die Neigung der Theosophen zur Schaffung einer Theorie”) is highly

resonant with Steiner’ s critique of Theosophy as overly theoretical. There are also other

152
Ringbom demonstrates that a notebook of Kandinsky’ s from 1908 includes
references to a significant number of Theosophical works including, among others, the
English original of Madame Blavatsky’ s Key to Theosophy; Katherine Tingley’ s
International Theosophical Chronicle; and to the German translation of Edouard Schuré’
s The Great Initiates. In addition, his library contains a copy of Gedankenformen by
Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater (the German version appeared in 1908). Ringbom
also argues it is highly likely that Kandinsky read Der sichtbare und der unsichtbare
Mensch (translated into German in 1908) as it is the companion book to Gedankenformen
and both books contain cross-references and was also referred to by Steiner in his articles
Von der Aura des Menschen to which Kandinsky referred in the same 1908 notebook.
Ringbom also adds that Kandinsky owned a number of other occult works that
incorporated Theosophical ideas in one form or another. Ringbom, The Sounding
Cosmos: a Study in the Spiritualism of Kandinsky and the Genesis of Abstract Painting,
61-64.
153
Kandinsky, Über das Geistige in der Kunst: insbesondere in der Malerei, 47.

77
passages in this work that demonstrate Kandinsky as a thinker who does not seek

definitive, theoretical answers to large, ontological questions. In one larger footnote, for

example, Kandinsky engages in the discussion of the relationship of the material to the

immaterial by posing a series of questions that he leaves open-ended:

Es ist hier oft die Rede vom Materiellen und Nichtmateriellen und von den
Zwischenzuständen, die “mehr oder weniger” materiell bezeichnet werden. Ist
alles Materie? Ist alles Geist? Können die Unterschiede, die wir zwischen
Materie und Geist legen, nicht nur Abstufungen nur der Materie sein oder nur des
Geistes? Der als Produkt des “Geistes” in positiver Wissenschaft bezeichnete
Gedanke ist auch Materie, die aber nicht groben, sondern feinen Sinnen fühlbar
ist. Was die körperliche Hand nicht betasten kann, ist das Geist? In dieser
kleinen Schrift kann nicht darüber weiter geredet werden, und es genügt, wenn
keine zu scharfen Grenzen gezogen werden.154

In the final line of the passage he more clearly shows his anti-theoretical stance by stating

that he prefers not to draw sharp boundaries between the categories of spirit (“Geist”) and

material.

Returning to Goethe to Tease Apart Steiner’ s Understanding of Symbol and

Allegory

Even once we have shed some light on links and divergences between the two

thinkers on the subject of abstraction and the theoretical, much more remains to be

illuminated regarding what Steiner viewed as erroneous in the abstract, allegorical

approach. To do this, however, requires an explication of Steiner’ s understanding of the

terms “allegory” and “symbol,” as they are often used synonymously. To help clear this

confusion, I return to Goethe’ s pioneering decoupling of the two terms and his

promotion of the symbolic and critique of the allegorical. For this I draw on the work of

Hazard Adams.

154
Ibid., 38.

78
 Strangely and surprisingly, though an avowed follower of Goethe, Steiner makes

no reference to his works when discussing allegory or symbolism and so appears to be

unaware of the pioneering work Geothe’ s distinctions. Thus, Steiner’ s critique of the

allegorical and promotion of the symbolic runs parallel to but appears to be not directly

derived from of Goethe. Steiner’ s muddling of the terms “symbol” and “allegory” poses

a significant and unfortunate hindrance to a clear understanding of his aesthetics. No less

surprising than Steiner’ s overlooking of Goethe’ s work is the way that his passionate

disavowal of symbolism ignores affinities with important Symbolists, including, among

others, Edouard Schuré and Andrei Bely.

Nearly any text or lecture by Steiner on aesthetics contains adamant claims to an

artistic practice devoid of both symbolism and allegory. As we have already seen

repeatedly, Steiner often uses the two terms synonymously as modes that rely too heavily

on mental abstraction. In one example Steiner characterizes the spiritual aim of his

Goetheanum building as a revelation of the spiritual (“Geistesleben”). He states that both

the symbolic and allegorical rely erroneously on abstraction: “ohne in das Abstrakt-

Symbolische oder in das Strohern-Allegorische zu verfallen, eine Offenbarung des

besonderen Geisteslebens ist, das hier sich verwirklichen will.155 From this quote one

can see that Steiner associates the abstract and the allegorical with a lack of vitality. In

contrast, for Steiner the mark of good art is that is serves as a revelation (“Offenbarung”)

of the spiritual life.

To illuminate where Steiner stands regarding allegory and symbol, we turn now to

how Goethe distinguished between the two terms. Interlaced in this examination, I

155
Steiner, Stilformen des Organisch-Lebendigen (1921), 10.

79
analyze how Steiner is in agreement with the conceptual distinction made by Goethe,

though Steiner does not explicitly engage in the linguistic decoupling Goethe seeks.

Hazard Adams argues that Goethe’ s challenge and quest—one that spanned his entire

career—was to try to illuminate how the concepts differed when sufficient terminology

was wholly lacking and the two terms were commonly used interchangeably during his

time.156

Goethe ultimately deems allegory the lowest form and symbol the highest form, a

judgment that Steiner echoes. Adams explicates how in the essay “Über die Gegenstände

der bildenden Kunst” (1798), Goethe distinguishes between three kinds of art: the first,

naturalist art that he terms “mechanical”; the second, what he calls “idealistic,” where the

subjects do not simply appear as they do in nature; and third, the allegorical which he

describes as abstract. The allegorical is deemed as the lowest form, worse even than the

first form of naturalism.157 It is worth noting that Steiner also discusses naturalist art not

in scathing, critical terms as the lowest form but instead as a tool, but a limited one.158

Adams finds that central to Goethe’ s distinction between the concepts is the

relationship of the particular to the universal. Adams guides us to maxim 751 in which

Goethe asserts that the approach that begins with the universal and moves to the

156
Hazard Adams, Philosophy of the Literary Symbolic (Tallahassee: University Presses
of Florida, 1983), 47.
157
Ibid., 48.
158
For example, in a lecture from the series “Der Dornacher Bau” (1914) Steiner
conceives of painting as comprised of the two poles of drawing and painting. The former
is characterized as unable to transcend the naturalistic. Yet, the naturalistic mode is not
vilified, instead it is articulated as a limited tool. In one short section of the lecture
Steiner uses the following terms to describe this idea: a surrogate for nature, a tool, and a
scaffolding to be eventually dismantled. See Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als
Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914),
287, 50-52.

80
particular is the allegorical. The converse approach—from the particular to the

universal—is what typifies Goethe’ s definition of the symbolic.

Es ist ein großer Unterschied, ob der Dichter zum Allgemeinen das Besondere
sucht oder im Besondern das Allgemeine schaut. Aus jener Art entsteht
Allegorie, wo das Besondere nur als Beispiel, als Exempel des Allgemeinen gilt;
die letztere aber ist eigentlich die Natur der Poesie, sie spricht ein Besonderes aus,
ohne ans Allgemeine zu denken oder darauf hinzuweisen.159

For Goethe only the symbolic has true poetic potential.160 Adams points out that

translation issues from German into English have sometimes caused a misconstrual of the

term universal to mean a kind of abstraction. He cites René Wellek who translates

“allgemein” as “general” which suggests the notion of forming generalizations from

sense data, that is, a mental action of abstraction. Adams argues that the better translation

is “universal,” but not in the sense of the Platonic idea or the general archetype but,

instead, “something more like the immanent spirit in nature.”161 Additionally, it is

interesting to note that the English verb which Adams uses to explain how the symbolic

operates is “speaks forth”: it “speaks forth” the particularity—a formulation highly

reminiscent of the way both Steiner and Kandinsky discuss artworks or spiritual essences

as expressing themselves in sound through a particular form or color.

In a number of striking examples, without ever mentioning Goethe, Steiner

specifically promotes his forefather’ s symbolic approach to the symbolic: starting from

the particular in order to arrive at the universal, as the former intrinsically contains within

159
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Goethes Werke. Schriften zur Kunst. Schriften zur
Literatur. Maximen und Reflexionen., ed. Erich Trunz, vol. 12, Werke Kommentare und
Register Hamburger Ausgabe in 14 Bänden (Munich: C.H. Beck, 2005), 471.
160
Adams makes the important point that with the reference to “poetry,” Goethe meant
this in a broader sense, as in the nineteenth century the term “poet” was connected more
broadly with “poetic mental activitiy” and not necessarily the actual production of poems.
See Adams, Philosophy of the Literary Symbolic, 55.
161
Ibid.

81
it the latter. The critique of proceeding from the universal is seen in the way Steiner

criticizes the artistic tendency within Theosophical and Anthroposophical circles to begin

with a theory or concept—intrinsically more general or universal in nature—and tries to

then give it artistic expression. In another example, Steiner advocates colored drawing

for its potential to operate this way. In the fifth lecture in the series “Der Dornacher Bau”

(1914), where Steiner discusses the poles of drawing and painting, the latter is regarded

as having non-mimetic potential that allows it to express the deeper reality of its aesthetic

object. Steiner gives the example of rendering one, particular cloud and thereby

expressing the whole world that was present in that moment:

Das, was man festhält, ist also etwas, was vorübergeht, was aber in den
Verhältnissen der ganzen Umgebung, des Kosmos, soweit er in Betracht
kommmt, begründet ist. Wenn wir eine richtig beleuchtete Wolke zu einer
bestimmten Tageszeit malen, malen wir im Grunde genommen die ganze Welt
mit, die zu der Tageszeit da ist.162

As seen in the above quote, a key to this symbolism is temporal specificity. In

another example Steiner describes what he considers an authentic painterly rendering of a

person at a particular moment. This description begins with a counter-example: a

painting that errs by not remaining with the particular but attempting to universalize, that

is to encapsulate the entire inner psyche of a person (“Wenn wir einen Menschen malen

und die ganze Konstitution seines Innern wiedergeben wollen, dann stehen wir, wie

gesagt, nicht in dem eigentlich Künstlerischen darinnen”).163 In contrast, Steiner argues

that a painting that shows a person with a physical attribute, here a reddened face, due to

a particular experience can transmit to the viewer the universality of that experience

162
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 63.
163
Ibid.

82
(“etwas, was nicht in dem einzelnen Wesen ist, sondern in der ganzen Umgebung, im

ganzen Kosmos”).164

Goethe’ s notion of symbolism is typified by a temporality that is dynamic and

fleeting. In another characterization of his symbolic, found in Maxim 314, Goethe

describes it as a lively and momentary revelation: “Das ist die wahre Symbolik, wo das

Besondere das Allgemeine repräsentiert, nicht als Traum und Schatten, sondern als

lebendig-augenblickliche Offenbarung des Unerforschlichen”.165 The importance of

manifesting the fleeting nature of life is shown in Goethe’ s neologism “lebendig-

augenblickliche.”

Regarding this quote from Goethe on his view of the nature of true symbolism,

Adams speaks not directly to the theme of temporality, but to the question of how the

Goethean symbolic stands in relation to the sensible world and to abstraction. Adams’

definition of Goethe’ s symbolic as representing an “immanent universality,” however,

does indeed touch on temporality. Adams argues that by “inscrutable” (“unerforschlich”)

Goethe does not mean an unapproachable entity beyond the sensible, the “Platonic” or

the “religious.” Goethe’ s symbolism is rather an artistic process that relies on abstract

thought construction: “Instead [Goethe] regards [the inscrutable] as approachable by the

process of art he advocates, which process he equates with the symbolic. The ‘

inscrutable’ is only that which is unapproachable by the understanding in the Kantian

sense. ‘ Scrutability’ is a word referring to the powers of the understanding.”166

Adams furthermore cites Karl Vietor as arguing that Goethe does not subscribe to the

164
Ibid.
165
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Goethe Werke, 14 vols., vol. 12, Hamburger Ausgabe
(München: Verlag C.H. Beck, 2005), 471.
166
Adams, Philosophy of the Literary Symbolic, 56.

83
idea of a theoretical absolute and believes in “no special essence or spiritual principle

apart from the phenomenon and capable of being abstracted from it.”167 Adams adds that

Goethe aimed “to distinguish his sense of immanent universality from abstract

generalization” but he lacked the appropriate terminology to impart this difference with

full clarity.168 By describing Goethe’ s universality as “immanent,” this links to our

discussion of Goethe’ s symbolism as taking place within the particular and immediate

moment.

Likewise, in Steiner’ s case a key aspect of the temporality that he seeks in his

aesthetics is that the artist works in such a way as to reveal the world as fluid and

fleeting, not fixed and stationary. In only a two-page section of the fifth lecture cited

above from 1914 Steiner repeatedly uses the verb to arrest or capture (“festhalten”) to

describe what is awry in mimetic art. Steiner asserts that even coloring, which he

promotes, involves a kind of artificial act of trying to arrest nature when nature is

intrinsically always in flux: “Da muss man bedenken, dass das Koloristische ein

Festhalten dessen ist, was im Grunde genommen in der Natur gar nicht da ist oder

wenigstens nur für den Augenblick festgehalten werden kann.”169 Steiner asserts that the

physical world is based in impermanence while the spiritual world is the more permanent

sphere. In one example Steiner makes this distinction when discussing an encounter with

an older gentleman on the banks of the Rhein river who uses the expression “the old

Rhein” (“der alte Rhein”). He remarks that this old saying has sentimental value but is

167
Karl Vietor, Goethe the Thinker (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1950),
63.
168
Adams, Philosophy of the Literary Symbolic, 56.
169
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 63.

84
not based in any physical reality. Sounding much like the ancient Greek philosopher

Heraclitus, Steiner elaborates that the water is constantly flowing and the water you

witness in one moment is already gone the next. He then asserts more generally that

nothing in the physical world is permanent and gives as example the human body: “Ihr

eigener Organismus ist fortwährend im Fluß; was Sie heute in sich haben als Fleisch und

Blut, das hatten Sie vor acht Jahren noch nicht. Nichts Reales ist bleibend im

Physischen, alles ist fließend.”170 Steiner then returns to the discussion of the saying “der

alte Rhein” and asserts that if anything about the Rhein can be said to be permanent it is

the elemental beings that live in the river (“Es hat nur einen Sinn, vom

‘ alten Rhein’ zu sprechen, wenn wir das Bleibende, das die Elementarwesen, die

wirklich in dem Rhein leben”).171 These images are quite Goethean in the way that they

are involved in constant metamorphosis.

Steiner understands the spiritual dimension not as more permanent than its

physical counterpart but as a set of archetypes that is manifested in a variety of

continually changing forms. As we recall, the imaginative pictures, spiritual in nature,

were described as possessing a vitality (“Lebhaftigkeit”) beyond that of the physical

world.172 Moreover, in order to perceive the spiritual dimension requires that one

develop a highly dynamic, fluid mode. In a discussion of color theory, for example,

Steiner characterizes the process of creating out of the colors as requiring a lively

170
Rudolf Steiner, Okkultes Lesen und okkultes Hören, vol. GA 156 (Dornach: Rudolf
Steiner Verlag, 1987), 29.
171
Ibid.
172
Steiner characterizes the pictures in Imagination in the following way: “die Bilder der
Imagination sind von einer Lebhaftigkeit und Inhaltsfülle, mit der sich nicht nur die
schattenhaften Erinnerungsbilder der Sinnenwelt nicht vergleichen lassen, sondern sogar
nicht einmal die ganze bunte, wechselreiche Sinnenwelt selbst.” See Steiner, Die Stufen
der höheren Erkenntnis, 5-6.

85
immersive engagement with the colors (“wenn man ganz lebendig sich hineinfühlt in das

Farbige, dann sprechen, ich möchte sagen, Rot und Blau und Gelb untereinander”).173

Goethe’ s color theory was also an important influence on Kandinsky’ s color theory, a

large subject worthy of its own study. Additionally, one of the fundamental exercises

Steiner suggests for the development of spiritual organs of perception is one in which one

observes and contemplates this kind of fluidly and constant state of flux within the

natural world as seen in its two, ever-present phases: growing and dying. Steiner says

that through this exercise a new form of thoughts and feelings arises that builds the

spiritual organs:

Je öfter man in einer solchen Weise die Aufmerksamkeit auf etwas Wachsendes,
Blühendes und Gedeihendes und damit abwechselnd auf etwas Welkendes,
Absterbendes lenkt, desto lebhafter werden diese Gefühle werden. Und aus den
Gefühlen und Gedanken, die so entstehen, bauen sich die Hellseherorgane ebenso
auf.174

Noteworthy is the way that engagement with the natural world provides the material for

spiritual training. This resonates with one of the fundamental points I make in this

chapter regarding the aesthetics of both Steiner and Kandinsky: though they involve a

departure from the physical plane, the departure is gradual in nature and at first is often

based in the physical world. To recall, Steiner’ s imaginative pictures are based in,

though not entirely, in copying, physical objects and, as Washton-Long has emphasized,

Kandinsky includes some recognizable images in his increasingly objectless veiled

paintings.

173
Rudolf Steiner, Der Baugedanke des Goetheanum. Einleitender Vortrag mit
Erklärungen zu den Bildern des Baus (1921), (Freie Verwaltung des Nachlasses Rudolf
Steiners, 1958), 95.
174
Steiner, Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten? 25.

86
 If we return to analyze Goethe we find that he distinguishes the allegorical from

the symbolic—and Steiner thinks along similar lines—is that the former is understood as

a direct approach and the latter an indirect approach. In an article that examines the art

theory of Goethe in relation to that of Hegel, Luke Fischer speaks to the rationale for

Goethe’ s privileging of an indirect mode: “the indirect symbolic approach of art and

religion is here regarded as better suited to communicate profound truths than the more

direct conceptual approach of philosophy.”175 In the first lecture from the 1918 series

“Kunst und Kunsterkenntnis,” Steiner remarks that a philosophical or academic approach

(what he calls “die ästhetisch-wissenschaftliche Betrachtung”), is the least suited to art:

“Wem die Kunst ihr Geheimnis zu enthüllen beginnt, der empfindet eine fast

unüberwindliche Abneigung gegen ihre unwürdigst Auslegerin, die ästhetisch-

wissenschaftliche Betrachtung.”176 Fischer additionally argues that Goethe’ s critique of

a direct approach stems not only from his distinction between a philosophical and an

artistic approach, but also has roots in iconoclasm. Fischer asserts that Goethe’ s

argument against a direct approach in representing the divine in artistic form is based in

“the logic of iconoclasm—to present the divine in art is to present it in imperfect and

inferior form […] for Goethe the work of art is an elevation or Steigerung of the

sensible.”177 With the word “Steigerung” Fischer points to Goethe’ s

Metamorphosenlehre, a subject that will be taken up in the final section of the chapter.

175
Luke Fischer, “Goethe contra Hegel: The Question of the End of Art,” Goethe
Yearbook 18 (2011): 138.
176
Rudolf Steiner, Kunst und Kunsterkenntnis. Grundlagen einer neuen Ästhetik, vol.
GA 271 (Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1985), 81. This remark is an alternation of one
from Goethe: “Wem die Natur ihr offenbares Geheimnis zu enthüllen anfängt, der
empfindet eine unwiderstehliche Sehnsucht nach ihrer würdigsten Auslegerin, der
Kunst.”
177
Fischer, “Goethe contra Hegel: The Question of the End of Art,” 156.

87
We see also that Fischer differs from Vietor in that the former has a religious reading

while the latter, as already seen, views Goethe as more of a secularist.

For Goethe true symbolic art cannot manifest the spiritual or divine element

through the direct transfer of this element into an artistic form. This is because there is

not a direct link from one sphere to the other. Instead, as the word “Steigerung” suggests,

a process of transformation is required. Fischer then leads us to a passage from Steiner’

s 1889 lecture in which, without using the term “allegory,” he argues against a direct,

allegorical approach. Steiner argues that art—in this case Steiner speaks of beauty (“das

Schöne”)—is not created by simply putting the godly into sensual form, but, conversely,

it entails a process whereby the sensual is transformed into a divine form.178

Das Schöne ist nicht das Göttliche in einem sinnlich-wirklichen Gewande;

nein, es ist das Sinnlich-Wirkliche in einem göttlichen Gewande. Der Künstler
bringt das Göttliche nicht dadurch auf die Erde, daß er es in die Welt einfließen
läßt, sondern dadurch, daß er die Welt in die Sphäre der Göttlichkeit erhebt.179

The verbs Steiner chooses in the above formulation suggest that another important

difference between symbol and allegory is whether the action is active or passive in

nature. The first approach, which Steiner critiques, looks to have the divine enter or flow

into (“einfließen”) the material plane. This verb has a passive connotation and the

formulation suggests that this approach—the unnamed allegorical—assumes that one can

move from the material to the spiritual realm without any change of mode. In contrast,

the opposite approach—the unnamed symbolic—involves the active action of raising

178
It should be noted that in this formulation Steiner chooses the term divine or godly
(“das Göttliche”) and does not use the term spiritual (“das Geistige”). This is yet another
example of how Steiner’ s terminology is generally fluid and it is not possible for this
writer to illuminate the subject of Steiner’ s aesthetics while trying to limit myself to one
term.
179
Steiner, “Goethe als Vater einer neuen Ästhetik,” 471.

88
(“erhebt”) the material world into a divine form. Also, in this second formulation Steiner

clearly discusses the divine and the material as two separate, though related, spheres.

This is seen in the wording of bringing the material world (“die Welt”) into the divine

sphere (“die Sphäre der Göttlichkeit”).

Adams finds that the dichotomy of active and passive likewise plays a central role

in Goethe’ s attempts to differentiate the allegorical from the symbolic. He portrays

Goethe as struggling to figure himself as an artist who does not resort to allegory.

Goethe asserts that Faust has no allegorical elements, for example, though he admits to

allegorical elements in shorter poems as well as in his novel Wahlverwandtschaften.180

Adams finds, however, that in arguing for an approach that is not allegorical or abstract,

Goethe in some instances inadvertently promotes a passive concept of the artist.181

Furthermore, Adams argues that the struggle to promote an active approach is a

fundamental challenge in the nineteenth century. More specifically, Adams finds that the

advocacy of an active approach can easily slip into the unwitting promotion of

abstraction, while the emphasis on particularity (thus the non-allegorical) can fall into the

promotion of passivity:

Goethe is on the horns of a dilemma by no means unique to him, for it keeps

reappearing in various forms throughout the nineteenth century. If in order to
preserve the particularity of experience he characterizes the artist’ s actions
as passive reception, he is in danger of giving such acts no creative power. If
he emphasizes the artist’ s activity as constitutive he begins to make the artist’ s
activity sound like that of a Kantian understanding, which produces abstract ideas,

180
As seen already in adamant statements from Steiner that his approach as in no way
abstract (though he often conflates the terms “symbol” and “allegory”), it was likewise
certainly important for Steiner to promote himself as one who operates with no trace of
the allegorical. It seems that Steiner tried to drive this point even harder than Goethe did,
as seen in the passionate tone of many of his assertions, a move that may not help his
case in the eyes of scholars.
181
Adams, Philosophy of the Literary Symbolic, 52.

89
 thereby losing the particularity of art and creating something like romantic
allegory.182

Since I am not offering a detailed explication of Goethe’ s thought, but instead, showing

how the way Goethe looked to differentiate symbol from allegory resonates strongly with

Steiner’ s thought, I cannot offer a thorough analysis of this claim. The one aspect of the

above formulation by Adams, however, that I would take issue with is that in Goethe’ s

model, the artist’ s activity is akin to the (Kantian) production of abstract ideas. As

already introduced, and further elaborated upon in the next section, Goethe’ s concept of

mental activity—from which Steiner draws heavily—is certainly active, but aims to be

the opposite of abstract thought formation.

The Relationship of Art and Nature: Steiner’ s Goethean Symbolism in Contrast to

Kandinsky’ s Notion of Abstraction

To review all of the salient elements of Goethe’ s symbolic, which resonate so

well with the ideas of Steiner, we found that the Goethean symbol operates from the

particular to the universal; it requires temporal specificity and expresses a dynamic and

fleeting, not ossified or arrested, temporality; and it proceeds in an indirect and not a

direct manner, that is, it entails a process of transformation and not a simple, direct

transfer from one state to another. While the last section considered Goethe’ s aesthetic

writings in his distinction between symbol and allegory, all of these elements are highly

pertinent to Goethe’ s understanding of nature, where the symbol ultimately originates.

In this final section I consider Steiner’ s aesthetic model as based in a Goethean

symbolic that arises from the interaction between art and nature, seen especially in

Goethe’ s Metamorphosenlehre. This return to a nature-based approach shows that

182
Ibid., 53.

90
Steiner’ s aesthetic-spiritual model begins by departing from the physical plane, akin to

Kandinsky; however, it ultimately ends by returning to a deep, immersive engagement

with the forms of nature. I draw from the work of Eckart Förster and Frederick Amrine

for insight into the form of mental activity developed by Goethe in the interaction with

the living plant. In the course of my illumination of Steiner’ s Goethean symbolic, I also

seek to show how in Kandinsky’ s model of abstract art, which was developed gradually

over time, nature is often conceived as the antithesis of and not the inspiration for art.

The prime focus of this section will be on Steiner’ s form of Goethean symbolism

that engages with nature in an immersive mode, but I begin by examining how

Kandinsky contrasts starkly in the way his notion of abstraction relies on the departure

from nature. Washton-Long explains that the painter’ s theory of abstraction developed

in a slow and gradual manner. It was a pace guided in part by the initial resistance, and

then gradual acceptance, of the public and fellow artists.183 As already discussed, one of

his primary aims early on was to retain his audience while experimenting with

increasingly abstract forms, and so the inclusion of veiled imagery, or the simplification

of images, was one technique that served both purposes. In one of her discussions of

veiled imagery, Washton-Long asserts that one of Kandinsky’ s goals was “the

separation of form and colour from nature.”184 She also points out that by 1913, when

writing in his autobiography, Kandinsky uses the term “gegenstandlos” (without object)

in reference to some of his works and meant this in the sense of “forms deriving mostly

183
Washton-Long also notes that Kandinsky’ s understanding of abstraction transformed
between 1913 and 1919 partly due to the great interest in the subject of abstraction in
Russia. See Long, Kandinsky: The Development of an Abstract Style, 3.
184
Ibid., 10.

91
or exclusively ‘ from within the artist’ as contrasted to forms originating in nature.”185

Writing in his memoir Rückblick, Kandinsky states that the aims and methods of art and

nature are described as equally important, but fundamentally different (“ wesentlich,

organisch und weltgeschichtlich verschieden […] und gleich groß und auch gleich

stark”).186 We also find a number of statements in Über das Geistige in der Kunst that

define abstraction as a departure from nature.187 In one example the development and

eventual dominance of abstraction is conceived as coinciding with the retreat of organic

form: “Und dieses Wachsen und schließlich Überwiegen des Abstrakten ist natürlich […]

da, je mehr die organische Form zurückgetrieben wird, desto mehr dieses Abstrakte von

selbst in den Vordergrund tritt und an Klang gewinnt.”188 In a section from the chapter

“Theorie,” Kandinsky argues that both in music and painting, the goal is never the simple

replication of nature’ s outward appearance. He argues that the creation of forms,

movement and colors should not be dictated by trying to stay true to natural appearances.

Then he says that the departure from nature is the easiest way to provide expression for

inner, spiritual meaning:

Deswegen muß eine Form gefunden werden […] die reine Farbenwirkung in
keiner Weise hemmt. Zu diesem Zweck müssen Form, Bewegung, Farbe, die aus
der Natur (realen oder nicht realen) geliehenen Gegenstände keine äußerliche und
äußerlich verbundene erzählerische Wirkung hervorrufen. Und je äußerlich

185
Ibid., 2-3.
186
Kandinsky, Rückblick, 12.
187
It is important to note that in the original version of this work, Kandinsky was not
proposing a complete or pure form of abstraction, as he argued that the times were not
ready for this art form. This assertion was modified in a later 1914 version, however, to
say that a few artists could produce pure abstraction, however, this change was not made
in the German or Russian editions prior to the First World War. See Long, Kandinsky:
The Development of an Abstract Style, 7.
188
Kandinsky, Über das Geistige in der Kunst: insbesondere in der Malerei, 77.

92
 unmotivierter z.B. die Bewegung ist, desto reiner, tiefer und innerlicher wirkt
sie.189

Also, in one long footnote from the same source, Kandinsky cites Goethe, Eugène

Delacroix and Oscar Wilde to substantiate his claim that art and nature are separate

realms and that the former is higher in the hierarchy than the latter. All three of these

thinkers talk explicitly about nature as the antithesis of art.190

In two examples from the essay “Über die Formfrage,” Kandinsky talks not about

nature, but about materiality as what he is seeking to overcome; in both cases he specifies

that the spiritual element does not manifest in material form. In the first example,

previously introduced, the term “the absolute” is used for the spiritual element: So sieht

man, daß das Absolute nicht in der Form (Materialismus) zu suchen ist.”191 In the second

example, the inner content—which is equated with spirit (“Geist”)—is privileged over

form: “nicht die Form (Materie) im allgemeinen ist das wichtigste, sondern der Inhalt

(Geist).”192 Some scholars have construed Kandinsky’ s conception of abstraction as

evidence of a clear orientation toward transcendence. Richard Sheppard argues, for

instance, that Kandinsky positions matter as distinctly apart from “transcendent Geist”:

“Kandinsky countered what he perceived as the despiritualization of the modern world by

driving, in a classically Gnostic manner, a wedge between matter and transcendent Geist.

He relegated the activity of that Geist to a realm behind the real world, and privileged

189
Ibid., 126.
190
Part of the quote from Goethe includes the following sentences: “Der Künstler will
zur Welt durch ein Ganzes sprechen: Dieses Ganze findet er aber nicht in der Natur,
sondern es ist die Frucht seines eigenen Geistes oder, wenn man will, des Anwehens
eines befruchtenden göttlichen Odems.” (Karl Heinemann, Goethe, 1899, S. 684).
191
Kandinsky, “Über die Formfrage,” 137.
192
Ibid., 140.

93
abstract art […] as a means of access to that realm.”193 As explained below, I consider

this an overly simplistic reading of Kandinsky’ s aesthetics as he clearly was a thinker

concerned with medium specificity and in this way showed an attention to materiality.

That Kandinsky’ s evolving concept of abstraction relied heavily on the notion of

a departure from nature and materiality is perhaps not surprising. It is also not the whole

story. As Ringbom, among others, has pointed out, over time and later than the writing

of Über das Geistige in der Kunst, Kandinsky began discussing the idea of art as guided

by the inner laws of nature, statements that are highly resonant with those of Steiner.194

Moreover, as previously discussed, with Kandinsky’ s notion of “inner sounds,” he

certainly espouses the idea of a spiritual reality immanent in the materiality of color, form

and line.

My point, however, in highlighting how Kandinsky’ s earlier theorization of the

relationship of art and nature contrasts with Steiner’ s understanding of this relationship

is to emphasize that Kandinsky’ s early concept of abstraction was inspired by only the

first phase of Steiner’ s aesthetic model that asked the meditant to depart from the

physical plane. Kandinsky remained engaged with theorizing what it means to express a

de-materialized state. He did not follow Steiner further in his spiritual-aesthetic model

that, in the end, returns to the material form to engage with the forces of nature and to

adopt the dynamic, living mode of nature for the purposes of art. Therefore, I see

193
Richard Sheppard, “Kandinsky’ s Oeuvre 1900-14: The Avant-Garde as Rear Guard,”
Word & Image 6 (1990): 44.
194
Ringbom says that, like Goethe, Kandinsky “believed that he was on the track of the
invariable laws of art. In the course of time he explicitly equated the inner necessity with
the ‘ laws of nature’ , an identity which is only tacitly assumed in Über das Geistige.”
Ringbom, “Art in ‘ The Epoch of the Great Spiritual’ : Occult Elements in the Early
Theory of Abstract Painting,” 392.

94
Kandinsky and Steiner as fundamentally divergent in their understanding of the

relationship between matter and spirit or between nature and art. Though not the topic of

this chapter, it is certainly striking that though Steiner so intensively engaged with mental

and spiritual exercises his oeuvre contains a number of highly practical initiatives, and

these are often better known to the greater public than his aesthetic thought. These

include, among others, a form of organic farming called Biodynamics, a branch of

medicine and Waldorf education along with a form of education for special-needs

children. I would argue that these initiatives are manifestations of the way Steiner’ s

thought is ultimately not de-materialized but of an embodied nature in the manner of the

Goethean symbolic, the topic that follows. In the very last section of this chapter, I

consider Steiner’ s theory that Eurythmy is a manifestation of the Goethean symbolic.

Steiner’ s Goethean Symbolic

In this section I argue that Steiner’ s spiritual and aesthetic model ends ultimately

in a deep, immersive engagement with form, including those that originate in nature. I

examine what Steiner held to be the primary contribution of Goethe’ s

Metamorphosenlehre: not the discovery of new natural phenomena, but a new form of

seeing the phenomena. This form of seeing Steiner regarded as a form of science.

Steiner highlighted the holism of Goethe’ s philosophy regarding plant metamorphosis in

the claim that all varied physical forms of the plant are manifestations of one, single

organism. The basis of this unifying organism is not a physical plant but an ideal, an

archetype, what Goethe calls the Urpflanze. This insight, Steiner emphasizes, is one that

can be reached only through mental exercise. Through the reiteration of the stages of

95
plant development in an inward, mental way, one develops new organs of perception that

are typically only dormant. For this discussion, I incorporate notes by Steiner in the

introduction and annotations he wrote to an edition of Goethe’ s Metamorphose der

Pflanzen, as well as excerpts from his article entitled “Goethe als Vater einer neuen

Ästhetik,” that was originally published in 1889.

In this important article, Steiner argues for a revival of interest in Goethe’ s

thought as essential to understanding contemporary culture and as a needed intervention

to contemporary scientific method. Steiner asserts that many of his contemporaries

consider Goethe’ s thought as outdated because they fail to understand the import of his

thought. Steiner views Goethe’ s greatest contribution as being the comprehensive

nature of his principles and his manner of seeing: “seine umfassenden Prinzipien, seine

großartige Art, die Dinge anzuschauen.”195 Steiner argues that Goethe promoted an

approach with which one could penetrate the external dimension to access the depth of

nature: “in die Tiefen der Natur zu bücken vermag [...] mehr zu sehen als die bloßen

äußeren Tatsachen.”196 Thus we see how Steiner works with the binaries of the external

facts in contrast to the inner depth of nature. In other instances, Steiner speaks against an

artistic or scientific approach that relies only on observation or what he describes as

slavish imitation: “der wahre Fortschritt in den Wissenschaften wie in der Kunst ist

niemals durch solches Beobachten oder sklavisches Nachahmen der Natur bewirkt

worden.”197 Steiner argues that his contemporaries regard Goethe as outdated due to the

195
Steiner, “Goethe als Vater einer neuen Ästhetik,” 2.
196
Ibid., 3.
197
Ibid.

96
dominance of positivistic scientific paradigmns. In his era, the role of the genius and his

productive spiritual mental powers is regarded as dispensible:

Aber unsere Zeit hat das Eigentümliche, dass ihr die produktive Geisteskraft des
Genies fast bedeutungslos erscheint. Wie sollte es auch anders sein in einer Zeit,
in der jedes Hinausgehen über die physische Erfahrung in der Wissenschaft wie in
der Kunst verpönt ist. Zum bloßen sinnlichen Beobachten braucht man weiter
nichts als gesunde Sinne, und Genie ist dazu ein recht entbehrliches Ding.198

While the word “Geisteskraft” is easy to translate as mental or intellectual powers, the

concept of genius (“Genie”) goes back to 18th century discourse of genius. Steiner

regards Goethe, as a figure purported to be able to see the whole, as one such genius

figure.

One Goethean concept that Steiner highlights as centrally important is that all of

the myriad plant elements are different manifestations of the same organ, namely the leaf.

In section 115 of Metamorphose der Pflanzen Goethe articulates this important concept:

“Es mag nun die Pflanze sprossen, blühen oder Früchte bringen, so sind es doch nur

immer dieselbigen Organe, welche in vielfältigen Bestimmungen und unter oft

veränderten Gestalten die Vorschrift der Natur erfüllen.”199 In another formulation,

Goethe explicitly names the leaf: “So wie wir nun die verschieden scheinenden Organe

der sprossenden und blühenden Pflanze alle aus einem einzigen, nämlich dem Blatte.”200

As we will see, this concept of a single organ that underlies all other diversity of formal

expression is a key idea in Steiner’ s theory of Eurythmy.

A second essential idea, according to Steiner, is the way that the

Metamorphosenlehre asks a person to mentally engage with the physical plant. Goethe

198
Ibid.
199
J.W. Goethe, Metamorphose der Pflanzen, ed. Rudolf Steiner (Stuttgart: Verlag
Freies Geistesleben, 1980), 78.
200
Ibid., 79.

97
suggests an exercise in which the subject pictures the process of plant growth, including

the transition from one to another plant stage, both forwards and backwards (here he calls

them the appearances, “die Erscheinungen”). Goethe states: “gegenwärtig müssen wir

uns damit begnügen, daß wir uns gewöhnen, die Erscheinungen vorwärts und rückwärts

gegeneinander zu halten.”201 If we recall, in the discussion of Steiner’ s stage of

Imagination, he describes the activity of mentally visualizing the progression of a seed

becoming a plant as a central, basic exercise. Under the section from which the above

quote by Goethe was excerpted, Steiner attached a note.202 In this note, he contends that

what Goethe was emphasizing should not be understood as one, physical organ that

underlies all others. Instead, the driving force is the idea of the plant. Steiner asserts:

Hier verwahrt sich Goethe gegen die Meinung, als ob er einem äußerlichen
Organe wie dem Laubblatte eine größere prinzipielle Ursprünglichkeit beilege als
anderen Organen. Ihm galt als das Ursprüngliche die Idee der Pflanze, von der
jedes äußere Organ, also auch das Blatt, schon eine besondere Gestaltung ist.203

As is so often the case, Steiner emphasizes that it is not the outer appearances

(“äußerlich”) that are essential; instead, all physical manifestations of the plant arise from

the original source of the “Idee.” Because this is the case, Steiner argues that one cannot

comprehend the magnitude of what Goethe is proposing without actually practicing these

mental exercises oneself. Thus, Steiner emphasizes the need for a shift from theory to

practice. Steiner contents, “Die Größe dieses Gedankens [...] geht einem nur dann auf,

201
Ibid.
202
In the version of Metamorphose der Pflanzen I use in this section, the introduction and
annotations are by Steiner, excerpted from writings by Steiner from his scholarly study of
Goethe in the works Goethes Naturwissenschaftliche Schriften. In Weimar between 1884
and 1897, Steiner published five volumes of Goethes Naturwissenschaftliche Schriften
for the Kürschner edition of “Deutsche National-Literatur.”
203
Rudolf Steiner, “Aus Rudolf Steiner’ s Einleitung in Goethes Naturwissenschaftliche
Schriften,” in Metamorphose der Pflanzen (Stuttgart: Verlag Freies Geistesleben, 1980),
79.

98
wenn man es unternimmt, ihn nachzudenken.”204 Steiner elaborates further in the same

passage that what is important is the mental construction of a vivid whole from which the

laws of growth and the individual stages of plant development arise:

Das Bedeutsame der Pflanzenmetamorphose liegt [...] in dem großartigen

gedanklichen Aufbau eines lebendigen Ganzen drucheinander wirkender
Bildungsgesetze, welcher daraus hervorgeht und der die Einzelheiten, die
einzelnen Stufen der Entwicklung, aus sich heraus bestimmt.205

Implicit in this concept from Goethe is the notion, thus, that the perceiver is actively

engaged in the construction of the appearances. Eckart Förster and Frederick Amrine

have both written about the active role of the perceiver in Goethe’ s

Metamorphosenlehre. In the article “Goethe on ‘ Das Auge des Geistes,’ ” Förster

argues that it is necessary to be able to inwardly visualize the plant and, in so doing, to

see what he calls, the “law,” “typus” or “archetype” of the plant. Previously, I quoted

Steiner calling this underlying agent the “Idee.” Förster states:

The demand [made by Goethe] that I should be able to produce the object in my
mind entails more than the ability to generate in intuition a copy of the living
plant: To really comprehend it, one might say, I must know the law underlying its
development, its typus or archetype, so that I can generate imaginatively a new
plant from it.206

In similar terms, Steiner describes the process of inner visualization as one that accesses

unchanging laws and what he calls the “Urbild,” a concept very similar to the archetype:

er [Goethe] vertieft sich in dieselbe [die Wirklichkeit], um in ihrem ewigen

Wandel, in ihrem Werden und Bewegen, ihre unwandelbaren Gesetze zu finden,
er stellt sich dem Individuum gegenüber, um in ihm das Urbild zu erschauen […]
Das sind keine leeren Allgemeinbegriffe, die einer grauen Theorie angehören, das
sind die wesentlichen Grundlagen der Organismen mit einem reichen, konkreten
Inhalt, lebensvoll und anschaulich. Anschaulich freilich nicht für die äußeren

204
Ibid., 6.
205
Ibid.
206
Förster, “Goethe on ‘ Das Auge des Geistes,’ “ 95.

99
 Sinne, sondern nur für jenes höhere Anschauungsvermögen, das Goethe in dem
Aufsatze über Anschauende Urteilskraft bespricht.207

Steiner talks of Goethe’ s thought as not consisting of empty general concepts and grey

theories and instead chooses adjectives that impart the notion of aliveness and tangibility

(“reich”, “konkret” and “lebensvoll”). Steiner’ s interpretation of Goethe’ s approach

has a clearly spiritual slant as seen when he talks of the metamorphosis of the plants as

involving an ability for higher intuition (“höhere Anschauungsvermögen”). Amrine

emphasizes the transformational nature of this mental activity proposed by Goethe. Not

only is the plant undergoing transformation, but Amrine contends that the subject also

undergoes transformation in observing the changing plant: “Goethe’ s scientific ideal is

to allow oneself to be transformed in following the transformations of the phenomena [...]

For Goethe, the hypothesis is not something abstracted from the phenomena, but rather

the pattern of the phenomena themselves.”208 Amrine goes on to clarify that when

Goethe used the term “theory,” he meant it in etymological terms, as a “way of seeing.”

In another related article, Amrine asserts that “Goethe has given us a kind of primer in

which we can learn to read forms.”209 In the following section, I will show how Steiner

attempted to make visible such forms through the art form of Eurythmy.

Visible Speech: Steiner’ s Theory of Eurythmy as an Expression of the Goethean

Metamorphosenlehre

In this final section of the chapter, I analyze how Steiner conceived of Eurythmy,

the dance form he created, as an expression, in movement form, of Goethe’ s

207
Steiner, “Goethe als Vater einer neuen Ästhetik,” 9.
208
Amrine, “The Metamorphosis of the Scientist,” 194.
209
Amrine, “Goethean Intuitions,” 47.

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Metamorphosenlehre. I will show how Steiner meant Eurythmy to be a participatory and

transformative art form that made visible inner phenomena. Steiner also highlighted the

concept of the transformation of a single organ; with Eurythmy, however, it was not the

Urpflanze, but the organ of the larynx (“Kehlkopf”) that is centrally at play. For this

discussion, I incorporate excerpts from the lecture series entitled “Eurythmie—die

Offenbarung der sprechenden Seele.” Most of this last section of the chapter has

emphasized important ways in which the thought of Steiner and Kandinsky differ. In my

consideration of Eurythmy, however, I show that the way Steiner emphasized the

potential of sound and recited speech to express an inner, spiritual dimension resonates

with Kandinsky’ s theorization of “innerer Klang” and his experimental use of speech

and sound.

Before I illuminate this theory by Steiner I will provide a little background on this

dance form. Eurythmy was created, between 1911 and 1925. Steiner’ s colleague and

later wife Marie von Sivers, who would take his name, worked intensively on the

development of this art form. It is an expressive, gestural dance form in which

movements are meant to express the sounds and rhythms of speech and music, and are

also meant to demonstrate mood or soul qualities. Eurythmy still exists today, though it

is not well known outside of Steinerian circles. It is taught in Waldorf schools,

performed very largely for Steinerian audiences and there is also a therapeutic form of

Eurythmy part of Anthroposophical medicine for both children and adults.

In the lecture series introduced above, Steiner distinguishes Eurythmy from the

contemporaneous movements of gymnastics (“Turnen”) and from what he calls

“Bühnentanzkunst,” meaning a dance form geared solely toward outward entertainment.

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He argues that both forms lack a spiritual basis. Turnen follows external, physical laws

but is, “ohne eigentlich seelisch-geistiges Element.”210 Similarly, “Bühnentanzkunst”

Steiner characterizes as a dance form that is oriented solely for performance (“zum

Anschauen”).211 Implicit in this criticism that this dance form is only created to be

watched is the assumption that the viewer should do more than passively watch and that

dance should not only be an external phenomenon. While rejecting linkages with Turnen

or “Bühnentanzkunst,” Steiner places Eurythmy in the tradition of temple dance. In the

third chapter, as we will see, Steiner likewise inscribes the first Goetheanum building into

the tradition of temple architecture. In both instances, however, Steiner asserts that his

artistic creations represent a renewal but also a modernization of the older ritual and

architectural forms associated with the temple. Regarding Eurythmy, Steiner argues that

it is “eine Erneuerung, aber in durchaus moderner Form, der alten Tempel-Tanzkunst.”212

What exactly Steiner meant by Eurythmy representing a more “modern” art form is not

clear from the assertion above. In the course of this whole lecture series, however, it

becomes more apparent that Steiner understands Eurythmy as “modern” in the sense that

it is meant to foster conscious awareness of spiritual realities—as opposed to what he

viewed as an ancient, unconscious spiritual experience. I elaborate further upon Steiner’

s concept of the development of self-conscious subject in my discussion in Chapter Two

of Steiner’ s “evolution of consciousness.” In Steiner’ s articulation of how Eurythmy

helps foster conscious awareness, he often speaks of this dance form as making spiritual

phenomena visible (“sichtbar”).

210
Rudolf Steiner, Eurythmie. Die Offenbarung der sprechenden Seele. (Dornach: Rudolf
Steiner Verlag, 1980), 58.
211
Ibid., 60.
212
Ibid., 30-31.

102
 In the lecture series “Eurythmie—die Offenbarung der sprechenden Seele,”

Steiner details how he envisions this dance form to be a manifestation of Goethe’ s

Metamorphosenlehre and a reworking of this theory so as to apply to human movement.

Steiner adopts Goethe’ s concept that each plant is a transformation of other plant

organs. Steiner argues that Eurythmy dancers become expressions of the organ of speech,

the larynx, “Der ganze Mensch soll zu einer Metamorphose eines einzelnen Organes,

eines allerdings hervorragenden, bedeutungsvollen Organes, des Kehlkopfes, werden.”213

The dancer dances to speech or music. The reason for the particular focus on the larynx

is that Steiner regarded speech as possessing especially spiritual qualities. In particular,

he theorized speech as expressing the soul (“die Seele”). Thus, Eurythmy is meant as a

means to make visible the “seelische” qualities of speech. In on formulation, Steiner

argues that what is expressed by speech is not only of sounds but the whole human soul

(“Seele):

Nun ist aber in der menschlichen Sprache nicht bloß das enthalten, was sonst in
Lauten und Lautfolgen zum Ausdrucke kommt, sondern es spricht sich das Ganze
der menschlichen Seele aus: Gefühl, innere Wärme, Empfindung, Stimmung und
so weiter.214

Steiner elaborates on what he means by “Seele,” including feeling, inner warmth,

sensation or perception (“Empfindung”) and mood (“Stimmung”). Eurythmy dancers

characteristically dance to recited speech—often poetry but also sometimes prose—or

live music.

An important aspect of Eurythmy is the theory and practice of recitation arts. In a

number of lectures given on Eurythmy, sometimes given as introductions to the

213
Ibid., 48.
214
Ibid., 54.

103
performances, Steiner argues for the revival of a form of spoken arts meant to facilitate a

deeper experience of the spiritual nature of language. In one such lecture, entitled

“Eurythmie, Was sie ist und wie sie enstanden ist” (1923), Steiner argues that in his era a

feeling for the recitation arts has been lost. He attributes the weakening of this art form

to loss of spiritual feeling for language. He laments that there are few who still know

how to flow into language with their souls: “wir reden, ohne daß wir eigentlich noch mit

unserer Seele in die Sprache selber hineinströmen.”215 In his theory of language, vowels

and consonants are conceived as derived from distinct sources—the former inner and the

latter outer—and as serving different functions. Vowels are theorized as originating from

an inner dimension and their aim is to express the soul. Consonants, contrastingly, are

understood as arising from interaction with external objects and are described, in a very

artistic mode, as drawing or painting the physical surroundings.216 When one does still

possess the ability to experience the inner qualities of language—or acquires such an

ability through meditative preparation—Steiner characterizes the experience in

enthusiastic terms as a nuanced and poly-sensual experience:

Wer fühlt denn noch diese Verwundern, dieses Erstaunen, dieses Perplexwerden,
dieses Sich-Aufbäumen bei den Vokalen! Wer fühlt das sanfte rundliche
Umwegen eines Dinges, das Gestoßenwerden eines Dinges, das Nachahmen des
Eckigen, das Ausgeschweifte, das Samtartige, das Stachelige bei den einzelnen
Konsonanten!217

215
Rudolf Steiner, Eurythmie als sichtbare Sprache (1922-1924) (Dornach: Verlag der
Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, 1968), 30.
216
Steiner says: “Der Vokal stammt aus dem Inneren, will das Innere, gewissermaßen die
volle Seele nach außen ergießen. Der Konsonant stammt aus dem Erfassen der Dinge
[…] [Er] malt, zeichnet die äußere Form der Dinge.” Ibid., 28.
217
Ibid., 30.

104
While the experience of hearing vowels is associated with an emotional, that is a soulful

response (“seelisch”), the experience of consonants is described, synesthetically, in

physical, specifically tactile terms.

It is important to recall that Kandinsky also privileged sound (“Klang”) for its

potential to express an inner, spiritual dimension. The approach of Kandinsky and

Steiner to spoken language in their arts, however, was quite different. While Steiner

emphasized the revival of an older tradition of recitative arts, Kandinsky worked with

sound in a much more experimental fashion. The latter was interested in the departure

from meaning-bound language to reach a purely emotional, and spiritual, experience of

sound. For instance, in Über das Geistige in der Kunst Kandinsky describes a certain

poetic and emotional style of linguistic delivery in which a word is repeated multiple

times such that the “inner sound” is developed:

Geschickte Anwendung (nach dichterischem Gefühl) eines Wortes, eine innerlich

nötige Wiederholung desselben zweimal, dreimal, mehrere Male nacheinander
kann nicht nur zum Wachsen des inneren Klanges führen, sondern noch andere
nicht geahnte geistige Eigenschaften des Wortes zutage bringen.218

In his play Der Gelbe Klang, much of the “dialogue” is made up of sounds and words

that together do not form a clear meaning but succeed in adding to the mood that

Kandinsky also fosters with use of color, instrumentalization and movement. In the

above formulation Kandinsky speaks of the “geistige” qualities, while Steiner often talks

of Eurythmy as expressing “seelische” characteristics. Nevertheless, both theorists are

united in the way they impart speech and sound with the potential for expressing some

form of inner, spiritual dimension.

218
Kandinsky, Über das Geistige in der Kunst: insbesondere in der Malerei, 45.

105
 Steiner held that Eurythmy could make speech visible. He asserts, “daher ist

unsere eurythmische Kunst auch bestrebt, dieses alles, was durch das Medium der

Sprache zur Anschaulichkeit kommt, zum Ausdruck kommt, auch sichtbarlich

darzustellen.”219 What Steiner meant to make visible (“sichtbarlich”), however, was not

the workings of the physical organ of the larynx itself. Instead, Steiner held that when a

person speaks the whole organism is active, not only the physical aspect: “Wenn der

Mensch spricht, ist die Tendenz vorhanden, daß der ganze Organismus des Menschen,

nicht nur der physische in Bewegung ist.”220 Steiner intended Eurythmy to give visible

expression to the movements of the whole human being, especially the movements of the

etheric body.221 As Steiner explains, “der ganze Ätherleib, Bildekräfteleib des Menschen

ist in Bewegung. [...] Die Kehlkopfbewegung ist eine organische Bewegung unseres

ganzen Ätherleibes.”222 Thus, Steiner meant for Eurythmy to be a moving display of the

formal language of the etheric dimension. This is a language, according to Steiner, that

typically remains unseen unless the viewer has developed the inner organ of perception,

what Steiner in one instance previously introduced called the “höhere

Anschauungsvermögen.” An important aspect of how Steiner understood Eurythmy as

able to make speech visible, was in the way it could demonstrate the lawfulness of human

speech and music. Steiner conceived of Eurythmy as posessing the same kind of

lawfulness as Goethe’ s Metamorphosenlehre. In one instance, Steiner describes the

219
Steiner, Eurythmie. Die Offenbarung der sprechenden Seele, 54.
220
Ibid., 24.
221
Ibid. Steiner speaks of the human being as comprised of a four-part nature: the
physical, the life or etheric body, the astral or emotional body, and the “I” or the Ego.
Regarding the etheric, Steiner posited that all living things have a life force that
distinguishes them from dead or inanimate things. Steiner often discusses the plant as the
embodiment of the etheric body.
222
Ibid.

106
way that the lawfulness of language can be made visible by, equally lawful, movement in

space:

wir [finden] die Möglichkeit, dasjenige, was in der Sprache liegt, ganz so
gesetzmäßig, wie es sich in der Sprache selber verhält, durch wirkliche sichtbare
Raumesbewegungen der einzelnen menschlichen Glieder oder des ganzen
Menschen im Raume zum Ausdruck zu bringen223

Also noteworthy is the way that Steiner so often speaks of Eurythmy as an art form that

unites perceptual modes or art medias. Eurythmy he describes as able to make music or

speech, aural phenomena, visually readable. Moreover, Steiner refers to Eurythmy as

moving sculpture, as seen, for instance, in the title of one lecture “Eurythmie als bewegte

Plastik,” given in December of 1923. Steiner’ s synesthetic and also multi-medial

understandings of Eurythmy certainly resonate with elements of the Expressionist

movement.

A lot more could be said about Eurythmy, but in the confines of this chapter I

want to end with a few more open questions about the medium. I wonder what the role

of the collective is meant to have as many Eurythmy performances involved groups of

dancers. It is also worth noting that most or all of the people most involved, along with

Steiner, in developing Eurythmy were women. I would be interested to know if Steiner

spoke about why he thought this was so. I also wonder how Steiner understood the

Eurythmic version of “making visible” of spiritual realities, or the expression of the

“etheric” body, differs from the way other art forms are meant to “make visible.” For

example, the carved motifs of the columns that I discuss in Chapter Three differ from

Eurythmy in that they are static. I wonder if Steiner understood the movement aspect of

Eurythmy as providing a more vivid and accessible way to understand spiritual forms.

223
Ibid., 26.

107
The flowing, silk costumes the dancers wear, for example, are meant to help emphasize

the forms of the physical movement and choreography. It also seems to have the

potential for an active engagement of the viewer as she follows the dancers’ movements

not only with her eyes, but also with her whole body. For all of his art forms, Steiner

meant the viewer to actively and inwardly follow the forms as a participant in the

process.

Conclusion

As I demonstrate in this chapter, during the prewar years and largely in Munich,

Kandinsky’ s theory of abstraction was formatively shaped by ideas of dematerialization

resonant with Steiner’ s aesthetic theory and the greater Theosophical movement. I

argue that despite important points of agreement between Kandinsky and Steiner, Steiner’

s aesthetics is not oriented toward abstraction. Steiner was highly critical of abstraction

in the sense of a theoretical or allegorical art form, and was also not interested, as

Kandinsky was, in theorizing and artistically expressing a dematerialized state. Though

he was surprisingly muddled about the distinction between ‘ symbol’ and ‘ allegory’

and often dismissed both vehemently, I contend that Steiner actually promoted a form of

symbolism similar to that of Goethe. In his version of Goethean symbolism, Steiner calls

for a return to nature in a deep and immersive way. In the final section, I analyze how

Steiner interpreted Goethe’ s Metamorphosenlehre. I find that he emphasized the way

Goethe talked of all plant forms as springing from the idea of a single organ, or the

Urpflanze. He also highlighted the centrality of an inner form of visualization of the

108
stages of plant growth; an exercise that Steiner contended helped develop an organ for

supersensory sight. I close the chapter by considering how Steiner conceived of

Eurythmy as an expression, in space and movement, of these key ideas of Goethe’ s

Metamorphosenlehre. In the following chapter, I continue the theme of Steiner’ s theory

in relation to abstraction. In this case, however, I analyze how Steiner, along with the

two other art historians Wilhelm Worringer and Alois Riegl, wrote grand art historical

narratives in which they located the origins of abstraction as far before their

contemporaneous, modernist period.

109
 CHAPTER 2

Against Mimesis: Steiner’s Theory of the Evolution of the Arts in

Dialogue with Wilhelm Worringer’s Abstraktion und Empathie and
Alois Riegl’s Kunstwollen

Während der Einfühlungsdrang ein glückliches pantheistisches

Vertraulicheitsverhältnis zwischen dem Menschen und den
Aussenwelterscheinungen zur Bedingung hat, ist der Abstraktionsdrang die Folge
einer grossen inneren Beunruhigung des Menschen durch die Erscheinungen der
Aussenwelt und korrespondiert in religiöser Beziehung mit einer starken
transzendenten Färbung aller Vorstellungen. Diesen Zustand möchten wir eine
ungeheure geistige Raumscheu nennen.
--Wilhelm Worringer224

Diese Zeit musste kommen. […] Mit dem Augenblicke, da er sein eigenes Selbst
in voller Klarheit erkannte, mit dem Augenblicke, als er einsah, dass in
seinem Innern ein jener Außenwelt mindestens ebenbürtiges
Reich lebt, da musste er sich losmachen von den Fesseln der Natur.
--Rudolf Steiner225

Introduction

In this chapter I examine Steiner’ s theory of the history of art as part of what

Owen Barfield termed Steiner’ s “evolution of consciousness.” In this model artistic

developments echo the spiritual stage of each epoch and are manifestations of an

evolving “consciousness” and subjectivity. I read Steiner’ s theory alongside art

historian Wilhelm Worringer’ s treatise Abstraktion und Einfühlung (1907). Both argue

224
Wilhelm Worringer, Abstraktion und Einfühlung: ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie,
(München: R. Piper 1919), http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b3151128.
225
Steiner, “Goethe als Vater einer neuen Ästhetik,” 6.

110
that abstraction predates the modern, though their ideas as to when and how abstraction

appears differ greatly. I also highlight that both thinkers regard the evolution of art as

having a pronounced spatial manifestation. Worringer posited that the earliest,

“primitive” artworks were abstract and arose out of a need to control the fearful,

unpredictable external world by creating static, two-dimensional, often geometric images.

Temporally, his history of art advances in a binary manner by fluctuations between the

two poles of abstraction and empathy: in the former case space is collapsed to assuage

fears and art is created out of a sense of confident belonging within the greater world.

Contrastingly, Steiner’ s history of art is dialectical in nature and can be summarized, as

Owen Barfield did, as being comprised of three phases: “original participation,”

“onlooker consciousness” and “final participation.” Steiner held that ancients

experienced themselves as united with an outside world and, moreover, that they

“participated” in the world’ s existence, including a greater cosmos. Abstraction, which

connotes distancing in the models of Worringer and Steiner, in the latter’ s case develops

in a very long, gradual process. It was not in antiquity but during the Renaissance that

Steiner locates a high degree of abstraction in the “onlooker consciousness.” At this

stage the development of rational thought and a more independent subjectivity led to the

subject/object split and an experience of being a distanced “onlooker” to phenomena.

Steiner’ s aesthetics strives toward the third stage when, dialectically, the subject will

retain its stronger sense of self and clear thought, but regain the experience of

111
“participation.” For this argument I rely not only on Owen Barfield but also on recent

work by Frederick Amrine.

In the second section of the chapter I consider Steiner’ s aesthetic theory in

dialogue with Austrian art historian Alois Riegl and early work Stilfragen:

Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik. I compare the theories of the two

on the origin of the acanthus motif, a vegetal ornament commonly adorning Corinthian

columns. I highlight this small example in order to illuminate larger questions: how the

critique of the standard interpretation of the motif is a critique of artistic naturalism and

how in Steiner’ s work there is an underlying notion of a force similar to Riegl’ s

Kunstwollen, a collective artistic will that helps shape the artistic production of a given

cultural period. I argue that while in Riegl’ s case the artistic will is divorced from the

subject and resides in the formal motifs, for Steiner the artistic will is inextricably linked

to the development of the subject. For Riegl a key moment in the genesis of the acanthus

motif was when the Hellenistic Greeks transcended mimesis and created the wholly

ornamental acanthus tendril. Contrastingly, Steiner understands the ancient Greeks as

“participating” their world, as Barfield would say, such that they did not experience

themselves as separate subjects or recognize the existence of an outside world to be

mimicked.

It is worth noting that my move of placing Steiner into dialogue with Worringer

and Riegl is one that neither Steiner nor his two interlocutors would likely endorse. Riegl

was a key influence on Worringer as seen in the ubiquitous references to the former in

Worringer’ s Abstraktion und Einfühlung. As we will see, in a lecture on antiquity and

112
the development of the acanthus leaf motif, Steiner explicitly references Alois Riegl’ s

work Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik (1893), but

there is no written evidence of intellectual exchange between Steiner and the other two

figures.226 Part of my task in this chapter is to bring Steiner’ s aesthetic theory into

dialogue with better-known contemporaneous art historians in order to demonstrate the

significant conceptual resonances among them.

This chapter is thus concerned with three thinkers for whom an encounter with a

contemporary, often Expressionist, art that countered naturalism led each to look

backward and to trace the long history of art. In differing ways, they subverted the

radical break that modernism was supposed to represent by tracing much earlier roots to

artistic abstraction, whether in the “primitive” period, antiquity or the Renaissance. A

deep engagement with the question of temporality is a key factor in the way each rewrites

the history of art. In all cases, a strictly progressive or teleological temporal model is

rejected in favor of other temporal configurations. Both Worringer and Riegl destabilize

the idea widely held in art history that classical antiquity or the high Renaissance

represent the pinnacle of art. Intimately related to this view, both assert that in the history

of art naturalism has been over emphasized at the expense of abstraction. Also, common

to the theories of all of these thinkers is the concept of a fundamental, internal and

immanent artistic force or will—what Riegl terms the Kunstwollen—that underlies

artistic production. In differing ways and to differing degrees all conceive of this will, as

well as the history of art and of abstraction more generally, as phenomena that stem from

or respond against a spiritual outlook. The aesthetic will is a force more fundamental to

226
Apart from referencing Riegl in the lecture on the acanthus motif, I could not find
other instances, such as book reviews, of Steiner writing about Riegl.

113
the way artistic epochs progress than subjectivity. In differing ways each thinker argues

that the subject is not stable and for Steiner there was a long period of cultural history in

which the individual subject with her own, private mental life as we know her today, had

not yet developed. For all thinkers the subject is in a continuous state of transformation

that is substantially shaped by the aesthetic will. Depending on which of the three

thinkers one examines, the aesthetic will is sometimes associated and in other cases not

linked, or only indirectly, with the spiritual.

I begin by examining Worringer’ s account of the history of art by making three

interrelated points. First, Worringer reads abstraction and empathy as spatial categories

underlying the progression of artistic epochs. Second, these spatial categories are linked

with a development in rationality. Abstraction first arises out of the “primitive”

experience of fear due to a lack of rational categories to understand the greater world.

Then it reappears at different moments in the course of art history, including in

Worringer’ s own “modern” epoch when people experience despondence in the face of

the limits of reason. For Worringer, empathy could only first arise in later classical

antiquity when people had a greater rational grasp of their world. Third, I show that

temporally this history of art largely operates in a binary fashion—back and forth

between empathy and abstraction—which is another way that Worringer refuted a

dominant narrative of a progressive, teleological art history that culminated in Greece or

the Renaissance.

114
Worringer’ s Abstraction and Empathy as Spatial Categories

Upon its publication in 1907, German art historian Wilhelm Worringer’ s

dissertation, Abstraktion und Einfühlung: Ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie, immediately

became the subject of intense debate by artists and critics, including members of the

Blaue Reiter group.227 The work was appealing to scholars from a wide range of fields as

well as to laypeople.228 The publication of Abstraktion und Einfühlung, as Geoffrey

Waite points out, was timely in terms of joining the burgeoning modernist and anti-

naturalist discourse. In the same year of 1907 two important works also appeared on the

art scene—Picasso’ s Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon and Schönberg’ s Second Quartet—

and less than four years later the Sonderbund Exhibition took place in Cologne, the first

significant European-wide exhibition of “antinaturalist” art.229 Hilton Kramer argues

that, though the content of Worringer’ s treatise did not focus on modern art, the work

“proved to be modernist in its assumptions.”230 Many artists and scholars, especially

those within Expressionist circles, applied Worringer’ s argument about past art epochs

227
Rose-Carol Washton-Long asserts that Kandinsky considered asking Worringer to
write an essay in the proposed second edition of Der Almanach der Blauen Reiter. See
Long, Kandinsky: The Development of an Abstract Style, 10.
228
Norberto Gramaccini and Johannes Rößler argue that the work attracted “Literaten,
Künstler und Wissenschaftler quer durch die Ideologien […]. Der antithetische Aufbau
der Argumentation wirkte auch für philosophisch oder kunsthistorisch ungeschulte Leser
eingängig und überzeugend.” These editors also point out that the work was likely the
most successful art historical dissertation in history and that to date there have been
twenty new editions and translation into nine languages. See Norberto and Johannes
Rössler Gramaccini, ed. Hundert Jahre “Abstraktion und Einfühlung”: Konstellationen
um Wilhelm Worringer (Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink, 2012), 10-11.
229
Neil H. Donahue, ed. Invisible Cathedrals: the Expressionist Art History of Wilhelm
Worringer (University Park: Pennsylvania State, 1995), 16.
230
Hilton Kramer, “Introduction,” in Abstraction and Empathy: a Contribution to the
Psychology of Style (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1997), xiii. He then highlights the way
Worringer called into question the Classical prejudice of the traditional European art
history.

115
to contemporary debates surrounding the definition of abstraction and used it to bolster

an antinaturalist program. One further reason why Abstraktion und Empathie has had

such an impact in art theory lies in the fact that it countered a long-held notion that the

arts enjoyed their pinnacle in Greek antiquity or the Renaissance.

The central assertion of Abstraktion und Einfühlung (1907) is that all artistic

movements arise out of one of two underlying psychic drives: the drive toward empathy

(“Einfühlungsdrang”) or toward abstraction (“Abstraktionsdrang”).231 Worringer

employs a number of terms to characterize the drive: it is variously referred to as the

“Wille zur Form,” the “Kunstwollen,” “Drang,” “Disposition” and “Bedürfnis.” The

drive toward empathy is associated with enjoyment in the organic and the feeling of

satisfaction derived in the identification with and immersion in an object. The latter,

conversely, is associated with the drive toward the inorganic, crystalline and measurable.

Early on Worringer draws the distinction between the drives in the following way:

Wie der Einfühlungsdrang als Voraussetzung des ästhetischen Erlebens seine

Befriedigung in der Schönheit des Organischen findet, so findet der
Abstraktionsdrang seine Schönheit im lebensverneinenden Anorganischen, im
Kristallnischen oder allgemein gesprochen in aller abstrakten Gesetzmässigkeit
und Notwendigkeit.232

Worringer argues that art historians have had a strong tendency to neglect the

important role of abstraction because of a historical overemphasis on Einfühlung. Early

in the text Worringer contends that all of art history has been under the spell of classical

antiquity and the Renaissance, both of which are eras of empathy (“Denn unter dem

231
Worringer’ s schema follows in the German academic tradition of dual-pronged
systems from Schiller’ s concepts of naïve and sentimental, Nietzsche’ s concepts of the
Dionysian and Apollonian forces to the notions of objective versus subjective culture
from Worringer’ s contemporary Georg Simmel.
232
Worringer, Abstraktion und Einfühlung: ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie. 4.

116
Banne dieser beiden Epochen stehen wir vollständig”).233 He makes the point early on in

the text. Worringer argues:

man [geht] von der naiven festeingewurzelten Voraussetzung [aus], dass das
Kunstwollen, d. h. der zweckbewusste Trieb, der der Entstehung des Kunstwerkes
vorangeht, zu allen Zeiten mit Vorbehalt gewisser Variationen, die man
stilistische Eigentümlichkeiten nennt, derselbe gewesen sei und soweit die
bildenden Künste in Betracht kommen, die Annäherung an das Naturvorbild zum
Ziel gehabt habe. 234

Instead of regarding empathy as the dominant, ubiquitous force, Worringer held that only

the art of classic antiquity and the Renaissance were periods of empathy. Importantly,

abstraction is understood as the originary artistic style of the “primitives” and ancients

and a style that recurs in later periods also: “Der Abstraktionsdrang steht also am

Anfange jeder Kunst und bleibt bei gewissen auf hoher Kulturstufe stehenden Völkern

der herrschende.”235 Claudia Öhlschläger argues that Worringer thereby distinguishes

himself from many of his contemporaries, including Kandinsky, Marx and Simmel,

because he does not equate the experience of alienation (or abstraction) as arising first

with the onset of modern civilization.236

A key aspect of the concepts of abstraction and empathy is the way that each

entails a kind of collective attitude toward space. Early in the text Worringer defines the

will to abstraction as a fear of space (“eine ungeheure geistige Raumscheu”):

Welches sind nun die psychischen Voraussetzungen des Abstraktionsdranges?

Wir haben sie im Weltgefühl jener Völker, in ihrem psychischen Verhalten dem

233
Ibid., 35.
234
See ibid., 4.
235
Ibid., 19.
236
Öhlschläger argues: “Die Entfremdungserfahrung ist für Worringer damit nicht, wie
noch bei Marx oder bei Simmel, Folge erst moderner Zivilisation.” Claudia Öhlschläger,
Abstraktionsdrang Wilhelm Worringer und der Geist der Moderne (München: Wilhelm
Fink Verlag, 2005), 17. As I show, Steiner also locates a form of abstraction or
alienation far before the twentieth century, namely in the Renaissance.

117
 Kosmos gegenüber zu suchen. Während der Einfühlungsdrang ein glückliches
pantheistisches Vertraulichkeitsverhältnis zwischen dem Menschen und den
Aussenwelterscheinungen zur Bedingung hat, ist der Abstraktionsdrang die Folge
einer grossen inneren Beunruhigung des Menschen durch die Erscheinungen der
Aussenwelt und korrespondiert in religiöser Beziehung mit einer starken
tranzendentalen Färbung aller Vorstellungen. Diesen Zustand möchten wir eine
ungeheure geistige Raumscheu nennen.237

The empathetic person feels a happy and trusting relationship between self and the outer

appearances. She feels comfortable and at home in space while the abstract type feels

overwhelmed, unsettled and fearful of greater space. The whole passage is written in

spatial terms. The psychic conditions of the will to abstraction are to be found in the

relationship to the greater cosmos (“Kosmos”) and both empathy and abstraction are

defined in terms of their attitude toward the outer events (“Aussenwelterscheinungen”

and “Aussenwelt”). Worringer also succinctly summarizes the two types, empathetic and

abstract, with a pair of spatial terms: “Diesseitsmenschen” and “Jenseitsmenschen,”

respectively.238 The former, empathetic type, which is linked with the ancient Greeks,

Pantheism and Naturalism, feels a great interest to merge with the given world as it is a

place where she feels a sense of belonging. In contrast, the latter type, represented by the

“Oriental” cultures, seeks an escape through religious transcendence or artistic

abstraction from the unsettling world.

The artist who creates abstract art responds to its fear of the world by removing

forms from the unifying, spatial context.239 In one example, Worringer says that the

237
Worringer, Abstraktion und Einfühlung: ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie. 19-20.
238
Ibid., 61-62.
239
Hannes Böhringer argues that Worringer’ s emphasis on the role of abstraction in
quelling fear has resonance with the thought of Aby Warburg. Böhringer asserts that
“Beide schreiben eine Geschichte der Entängstigung. Bei Warburg sind es die
Bildeindrücke, welche die Menschen verfolgen und nicht loslassen. Warburg ist
Ikonologe, Warringer Graphologe, ein Psycholog der Linie.” See Hannes Böhringer,

118
abstract artist seeks to remove the object from its connection with and dependence upon

other things:

Wie verhielt sich der Abstraktionsdrang den Dingen der Aussenwelt gegenüber?
[…]nicht der Nachahmungstrieb…Vielmehr sehen wir darin das Bestreben, das
einzelne Objekt der Aussenwelt, soweit es besonders das Interesse erweckte, aus
seiner Verbindung und Abhängigkeit von den anderen Dingen zu erlösen, es dem
Lauf des Geschehens zu entreissen, es absolut zu machen.240

Space is the condition that makes objects unpredictable, contingent and capricious. Thus,

repressing space and de-contextualizing objects makes them more manageable and less

fear-inducing. The will to abstraction is associated with the desire to create moments of

calm and certainty in a world experienced as overwhelming and arbitrary (“das

Bestreben, Ruhepunkte zu schaffen innerhalb der Flucht der Erscheinungen.

Notwendigkeiten innerhalb des Willkürlichen. Erlösung von der Qual der

Relativen?”).241 The way the world is rendered benign and ordered is to create static,

often crystalline and geometric forms. Worringer also sometimes discusses abstraction in

a second way, namely as the act of demarcating the borders of an object in order that it

becomes an autonomous entity that is independent from both surrounding objects and

from the error-prone perceiving subject.242

“Was zum Teufel war abstrakt? Ein Erinnerungsversuch nach hundert Jahren
Abstraktion und Einfühlung,” in Hundert Jahre “Abstraktion und Einfühlung”:
Konstellationen um Wilhelm Worringer, ed. Norberto and Johannes Rössler Gramaccini
(Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink, 2012), 41.
240
Worringer, Abstraktion und Einfühlung: ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie. 27.
241
Ibid., 134.
242
Worringer states: “Die Dinge künstlerisch zu fixieren, konnte für sie nur heissen, die
Dinge bis auf ein Mindestmass von der Bedingtheit ihrer Erscheinungsweise und von der
Verquickung mit dem äusseren unentwirrbaren Lebenszusammenhang zu entkleiden und
sie auf diese Weise von allen Täuschungen sinnlicher Wahrnehmung zu erlösen.” Ibid.,
177.

119
 Ancient Egyptian art and architecture is regarded as the preeminent example of

abstraction. In one example, Worringer details how he considers Egyptian pyramids the

exemplar par excellence for the abstract tendency, naming, among other things, a strict

adherence to geometric rules and the conversion of the cubic into the one-dimensional

surface. Worringer describes Egyptian pyramids in the following way:

Es leuchtet ein, warum wir die Pyramide als Musterbeispiel für alle abstrakten
Tendenzen nannten. An ihr kommen sie am reinsten zum Ausdruck. Soweit man
Kubisches in Abstraktion umwandeln kann, ist es hier geschehen. Klare
Wiedergabe der stofflichen Individualität, streng geometrische Gesetzmässigkeit,
Umsetzung des Kubischen in Flächeneindrücke: all die Forderungen eines
extremen Abstraktionsdranges sind hier erfüllt.243

Worringer characterizes the Egyptian abstract tendency as manifesting in the purest form

(“am reinsten”) and as representing an extreme drive toward abstraction (“die

Forderungen eines extremen Abstraktionsdranges”). Worringer also quotes Alois Riegl,

from the first chapter of Spätrömische Kunstindustrie, arguing that the primary impetus

for Egyptian architecture is the elimination of “Raumscheu” and that the myriad columns

are constructed in such a way as to obliterate the view of space. Worringer quotes Riegl

arguing the following:

Es sei in diesem Zusammenhang an die Raumscheu erinnert, die sich in der

ägyptischen Architektur deutlich manifestiert. Durch unzählige Säulen, denen
keine konstruktive Funktion zukommnt, suchte man den Eindruck des freien
Raumes zu zerstören und dem hilflosen Blick durch die Säulen
Stützversicherungen zu geben.244

In Riegl’ s wording one can see that he understands the Egyptian’ s particular propensity

toward abstraction as stemming from an emotional state that is especially fearful. He

theorizes it as operating out of “Raumscheu” and, consequently, as needing to alleviate

243
Ibid., 119.
244
Ibid., 20.

120
feelings of helplessness (“hilflos”) through not a lessening, but a destruction of the

appearance of free space (“den Eindruck des freien Raumes zu zerstören”).

Conversely, the artist creating out of empathy (Einfühlung) does not experience

the world as a threatening, unpredictable external space, but instead has a trusting attitude

toward it.245 In other words, while the abstract mentality approaches the outer world as a

fearsome unknown, the empathetic one feels at home in the world. As such, the subject

experiences no distance between the self and the external world. Instead of working to

extract objects from their spatial context, the empathetic act is one in which the subject

strives to unite with the object. This act is described as a complete liberation of the self:

“Indem wir aber diesen Tätigkeitswillen in ein anderes Objekt einfühlen, sind wir in dem

anderen Objekt. Wir sind von unserem individuellen Sein erlöst, solange wir mit

unserem inneren Erlebensdrange in ein äusseres Objekt, in einer äusseren Form

aufgehen.”246 In another instance, in describing classic antiquity as an empathetic

epoch, empathy is defined as a state in which the human being and the greater world were

merged into one unity (“wo Mensch und Welt in eins verschmolzen”).247

Another aspect of the way that space operates in Worringer’ s model is a

topographical dimension. This is seen in the way that Worringer constructs a duality

245
Juliet Koss explains that the concept of Einfühlung originated from late nineteenth
century Germany from the interrelated fields of philosophical aesthetics, perceptual
psychology optics, and art and architectural history. She argues that the early twentieth
century saw a dwindling of interest in aesthetic empathy coincident with the
establishment of the theory of psychological empathy. She asserts that a significant
factor in this shift was the laboratory research that undermined notions of universal
experience in favor of the recognition of perceptual difference. See Koss, “On the Limits
of Empathy.” In this area Steiner is more aligned with the older aesthetic form and
Worringer with the newer, psychological form of “Einfühlung.”
246
Worringer, Abstraktion und Einfühlung: ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie. 32.
247
Ibid., 169.

121
between East and West, namely between Egyptian and Greek art. I find that the binary

inherent in this topographical model is less flexible, and thus more essentialist, than the

temporal binary that will be discussed in the following. As we will see shortly, his

temporal model is not, ultimately, strictly binary in nature; Worringer theorizes a way

that the two opposing poles unite. In contrast, he does not talk about commonalities or a

shared, unifying drive as existing between ancient Greeks and ancient Egyptians.

Worringer’ s Binary Temporal Model and the Role of Rationalism in its

Progression

Worringer views the entire history of art as following a binary movement back

and forth between the poles of abstraction and empathy, and thus a movement between

two very different spatial outlooks. A significant aspect of what made his contribution

groundbreaking for art history was the claim that these underlying drives cut across art

history to unite temporally disparate epochs.248 Worringer champions abstraction as

neglected force in the history of art and posits that it is the reigning style in more epochs

than those that are dominated by empathy. Despite this fact however, Worringer’ s art

history operates in a binary system in which each pole can exist only if countered by the

opposing pole (“Zu einem umfassenden ästhetischen System wird

[dieEinfühlungsästhetik] sich erst dann gestalten, wenn sie sich mit den Linien, die

248
Oskar Bätschmann argues that Worringer was not unique in this atemporal approach.
He points out that the consideration of disparate epochs in parallel (what he calls
“Parallelisierung”) was also a strategy of the Blaue Reiter group and characteristic more
broadly for this time. See Oskar Bätschmann, “Worringer über zeitgenössische Kunst
und Künstler,” in Hundert Jahre “Abstraktion und Einfühlung”: Konstellationen um
Wilhelm Worringer, ed. Norberto and Johannes Rössler Gramaccini (Paderborn: Wilhelm
Fink, 2012), 123.

122
vomentgegengesetzen Pol herkommen, vereinigt hat.”).249 Worringer’ s art historical

model is ultimately one in which opposing poles unite, as indicated by his verb choice of

“vereinigen.”

It should be noted, however, that there is a more fundamental manner in which the

poles of abstraction and empathy are theorized as united in their aim for the same

aesthetic experience, namely self-relinquishment (“Selbstentäusserung”). Worringer

theorizes:

Dieser Dualismus des ästhetischen Erlebens, wie ihn die genannten beiden Pole
kennzeichnen, ist […] kein endgültiger. Jene beiden Pole sind nur
Gradabstufungen eines gemeinsamen Bedürfnisses, das sich uns als das tiefste
und letzte Wesen alles ästhetischen Erlebens offenbart: das ist das Bedürfnis nach
Selbstentäusserung.250

In other articulations Worringer describes empathy and abstraction as shaped by a

collective, spiritual outlook, a happy pantheism or a fearful existential and spatial dread,

respectively. In the formulation above, however, Worringer argues that the ultimate

motivation for both empathy and abstraction is not a collective spiritual perspective.

Instead, the driving force is feelings about the self and the desire to escape its confines.

In empathetic art the subject strives to transcend its own boundaries to unite with the

object. In abstract art, by contrast, the subject seeks to create static and clearly

demarcated boundaries between self and other as a way to render the world less fearful.

Thus, Worringer’ s binary model is not fully rigid so and simultaneously contains a

dialectical aspect in the way both poles ultimately have the same aim.

249
Worringer, Abstraktion und Einfühlung: ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie. 3.
250
See ibid., 31. It should be noted that Worringer uses the term “Dualismus” for what I
am calling a binary and in other cases speaks of two opposing poles.

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 According to Worringer’ s view of the history of art, in only the period of

classical antiquity and the Renaissance does empathy predominates. He argues that the

Kunstwollen of the empathetic art of both periods is concerned with organic form.

Instead of aiming for a verisimilar replication of nature’ s outer forms, however,

empathetic artists are described as paying attention to how the inner being of the organic

form expresses itself—its lines, forms, sounds and rhythms—in order to create a place for

a free experience of one’ s own vitality or feeling for life (“Lebensgefühl”) in the

interaction with the organic:

Das absolute Kunstwollen […] z.B. zur Zeit der Renaissance [besteht] darin, die
Linien und Formen des Organisch-Lebensvollen, den Wohllaut seiner Rhythmik
und sein ganzes innerliches Sein nach aussen in idealer Unabhängigkeit und
Vollkommenheit zu projizieren um in jeder Schöpfung gleichsam einen
Schauplatz zu schaffen für eine freie ungehemmte Betätigung des eignen
Lebensgefühles.251

It is important to note that Worringer’ s uses the term “Naturalismus” in describing

empathetic art and its orientation toward the organic, but he takes pains to clarify that he

does not use the term to mean the artistic mimesis of the outer forms of nature.

Worringer discusses what he means by “Naturalismus” in classical antiquity and in the

Renaissance:

die Annäherung an das Organisch-Lebenswahre, aber nicht, weil man ein

Naturobjekt lebenstreu in seiner Körperlichkeit darstellen wollte, nicht weil man
die Illusion des Lebendigen geben wollte, sondern weil das Gefühl für die
Schönheit organisch-lebenswahrer Form wach geworden war.252

Instead of an artistic interest in the faithful replication of external appearances, Worringer

asserts that it is an inner, emotional experience (“das Gefühl”) that inspires the subject

toward organicism at certain periods. The discussion of artistic naturalism and the

251
Ibid., 36.
252
Ibid.

124
critique of its strong influence on contemporaneous art is a topic I take up in the second

section on Alois Riegl and Steiner. As Riegl was one of the most important theorists for

Worringer, and his works are cited heavily in Abstraktion und Einfühlung, it follows that

Worringer takes this stance against the more common valence of “naturalism.” While

only classic antiquity and the Renaissance are included in the category of empathetic or

“naturalist” art, under the rubric of abstraction, Worringer includes a wealth of groups

spanning the entirety of art history: what he calls the “Naturvölker,” the “primitives,”

“oriental” art, including especially Egyptian and Byzantine art, and modern art.

An important element that drives the progression of Worringer’ s history of art,

including the transforming perception of space, is his account of the evolution of

rationalism.253 I highlight this aspect as Steiner has a starkly different view of the nature

of rationalism and its place in his dialectical art historical model. I demonstrate that the

narratives of Worringer and Steiner regarding space and rationalism stand in inverse

relationship to one another. Put schematically, Worringer views the “primitives” and

then “modern” people as seeking abstraction owing to their inability to rationally make

sense of the overwhelming outer world and form a comfortable relationship to it. In

contrast, Steiner views the ancient people of the classic period as possessing a

fundamentally different, pre-rational, more intuitive wisdom about their place in the

greater world and cosmos. Ultimately, he views it as the task of “modern” people to re-

gain this ancient wisdom, though while still retaining the important rational abilities that

were hard won and acquired at the expense of the original, intuitive understanding.

253
Worringer uses a number of terms to discuss rationalism, including “Verstand,”
“Wissen” and “Geist.”

125
 Worringer conceives of the history of art as a history of the struggle between

reason and instinct. The earliest, so-called “primitive” peoples are considered pre-

rational and their orientation toward abstraction is formulated as a kind of desperate

attempt to make an incomprehensible world manageable. In Worringer’ s view empathy

could only arise later in the course of world history, first in classical antiquity, when

people had acquired sufficient rational categories. It is a result of the requisite rational

abilities to make sense of, and to make friends with the world:

Je weniger sich die Menschheit kraft ihres geistigen Erkenntnis mit der
Erscheinung der Aussenwelt befreundet und zu ihr ein Vertraulichkeitsverhältnis
gewonnen hat, desto gewaltiger ist die Dynamik, aus der heraus jene höchste
abstrakte Schönheit erstrebt wird.254

It should also be noted that Worringer regards certain of the earliest cultures as well as

the Asian cultures as not fully registering in the history of art due to their lack of reason.

The “Naturvölker” are conceived of as only partially possessing a Kunstwollen of their

own (“das Kunstwollen der Naturvölker, soweit ein solches überhaupt bei ihnen

vorhanden ist”).255 Additionally, the early Asian cultures are regarded as supra-rational.

Worringer also defines “primitive” peoples in a way that strongly contrasts with

Steiner’ s view of ancient peoples as experiencing the world as imbued with spiritual

meaning. In a passage in which Worringer argues strongly against the Rousseauian

concept of an ideal state of nature, he argues that before sufficient reason developed,

people had to rely on the limited guidance of their bodies. In addition, it is feelings, or

Worringer speaks of an instinct, of fear and not of piety that moved the “primitive”

peoples.

254
Worringer, Abstraktion und Einfühlung: ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie. 23.
255
Ibid., 19.

126
 Dieser Idealzustand hat jedoch mit dem Urzustand nichts zu tun. […] Der
Instinkt des Menschen aber ist nicht Weltfrömmigkeit, sondern Furcht. […] Erst
die wachsende Sicherheit und Beweglichkeit des Verstandes, der die vagen
Eindrücke verknüpft und zu Erfahrungstatsachen verarbeitet, geben dem
Menschen ein Weltbild; vordem besitzt er nur ein ewig wechselndes und
ungewisses Augenbild, das kein pantheistisches Vertraulichkeitsverhältnis zur
Natur aufkommen lässt. Scheu und verloren steht er im Weltall.256

In Worringer’ s history of art it is reason, and not any kind of spiritual sensibility, that

allows the subject to link vague impressions and fashion them into a coherent

(Schopenhauerian) “Weltbild.”257 As we will see, in Steiner’ s history of art the ancient

cultures are regarded as experiencing the world as coherent and spiritually unified.

Steiner would not talk of a split between mind and body at this early juncture.

Importantly, however, Steiner describes the ancient mentality as not simply an anti- or

pre-rationality, but as of a fundamentally different nature.

The development of rationalism in Worringer’ s account is not progressive in

nature. Instead, just as abstraction is the originary and then, finally, the “modern”

orientation, Worringer argues that beginning and ending the history of art, like bookends,

are feelings of helplessness in the face of an ultimately incomprehensible world.

“Primitive” peoples felt overwhelmed and helpless as a result of their reliance on instinct

owing to the lack of ability to make rational sense of the dizzying world. In contrast,

modern people, full of acquired knowledge, return to a feeling of helplessness after

confronting what appear to be the limits of reason:

Erst nachdem der menschliche Geist in jahrtausendelanger Entwicklung die ganze

Bahn rationalistischer Erkenntnis durchlaufen hat, wird in ihm als letzte

256
Ibid., 170-71.
257
Just as Worringer was intimately familiar with Schopenhauer’ s work, Steiner had
likewise thoroughly read it. Between 1894-1896 Steiner published a twelve-volume
series on Schopenhauer’ s works in the Cotta’ schen Bibliothek der Weltliteratur. See
Kries, Rudolf Steiner: Die Alchemie des Alltags, 321.

127
 Resignation des Wissens das Gefühl für das “Ding an sich” wieder wach. Was
vorher Instinkt war, ist nun letztes Erkenntnisprodukt. Vom Hochmut des
Wissens herabgeschleudert steht der Mensch nun wieder ebenso verloren und
hilflos dem Weltbild gegenüber wie der primitive Mensch.258

Worringer argues that the reasons differ for the feelings of helplessness felt in “primitive”

versus “modern” times: at the beginning there is a lack of rationalism and, eventually, a

highly sophisticated rationalism develops that still confronts limits. Yet, the dominant

feeling, that of helplessness is essentially the same in two temporally very disparate

periods. As we will see, Steiner’ s theory of the development of rationalism starkly

contrasts with that of Worringer not least because Steiner regards the ancient Greek

people as having a fundamentally different experience of the world than modern people.

Dialectical not Binary: Steiner’ s History of Art as an “Evolution of Consciousness”

in Conversation with Worringer

In contrast to Worringer’ s dual-pronged model that unifies temporally disparate

epochs, Steiner’ s temporal model is dialectical in nature while also having some

progressive elements.259 It starts with an original state of unified experience, a concept of

258
Worringer, Abstraktion und Einfühlung: ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie. 23-24.
259
In my chapter I focus on the dialectical nature of Steiner’ s temporal model and not
on the progressivist nature as I consider the former more significant. As many of his
contemporaries in the German-speaking arena, Steiner privileges Greek antiquity and
refers the most frequently to this period in discussions of art and architecture. Steiner had
a broader theory, however, that undercuts a judgment of his thought as narrowly Greek-
or Euro-centric. His theory was that certain cultures, including non-Europeans like
Persians and Egyptians, were the leaders during specific past epochs. Steiner calls the
time of Greek antiquity the “Fourth Post-Atlantean Epoch.” Frederick Amrine explains
that Steiner borrowed this term from Theosophy and Steiner alternately uses the terms
“Greco-Roman Epoch” and the “Intellectual Soul Epoch.” Steiner regarded this period as
beginning in approximately 747 BCE and ending in approximately 1413 CE. According
to Amrine, “the name implies that Greece and Rome were the ‘ vanguard’ cultures
during the period, i.e. the loci of innovation and progress. He sees other cultures such as
those of ancient India, Persia, and Egypt having been the leaders during even earlier

128
prelapsarian unity essential to Judeo-Christian belief and incorporated into much of early

art history. The next phase consists of a long, gradual move towards abstraction, in the

sense of separation or alienation. Finally, Steiner’ s model implies a future state of re-

unified but more self-conscious experience.260 In the second of a total of ten lectures

given in Munich in 1911 under the title “Weltenwunder, Seelenprüfungen und

Geistesoffenbarungen” Steiner argues that the loss of original clairvoyant capacities, seen

in the ancient Greek culture, was necessary for the development of intellectualism. He

argues that what he is striving toward with Anthroposophy (here called

“Geisteswissenschaft”) is the re-awakening of a spiritual awareness that has been lost:

“wir [können] eine Empfindung davon erhalten, wie im alten Griechentum noch durchaus

die Überlieferung rege war und teilweise das unmittelbare Wissen von dem, was wir jetzt

wiederum anstreben durch unsere Geisteswissenschaft.”261 Thus, Steiner sees himself

and all in his era as at the beginning of this third stage in his dialectical model.

I argue that not only do the two histories of art differ in temporal terms, but that

spatially the two models have diametrically opposite views of when abstraction and

periods. Steiner’ s terminology is idiosyncratic here, but the underlying thoughts are
commonplaces of intellectual history.” See Amrine in Steiner, The First Goetheanum.
Architecture as Peacework, GA 287, 2.
260
Steiner’ s theory involves five main evolutionary epochs that map to some degree
onto standard geological epochs. They are called, chronologically, the Polarian,
Hyperborean, Lemurian, Atlantean and Post-Atlantean epochs. Steiner posits that
humans arose during the Atlantean epoch and that we are currently living in the Post-
Atlantean epoch, which itself is comprised of seven cultural ages. These ages, each
lasting approximately 2,160 years, are the following: Indian [7227-5067 BC]; Persian
[5067-2907 BC]; Egypto-Chaldean-Babylonian [2907 BC-747 AD]; Greco-Roman [747
AD-1413 AD]; Anglo-Saxon and Germanic [1413-3573 AD]; Russian-Slavic [3573-
5733] and American Age [5733-7893]. See Chapter Four in Rudolf Steiner, Die
Geheimwissenschaft im Umriss (1910), 4 ed., vol. GA 13 (Rudolf Steiner Online Archiv,
2010).
261
Rudolf Steiner, Weltenwunder, Seelenprüfungen und Geistesoffenbarungen (1911).
(Rudolf Steiner Online Archive, 2010), http://anthroposophie.byu.edu. 24.

129
empathy—the moves of distancing and uniting—arise. Viewed schematically, each

period that for Worringer is abstract is for Steiner empathetic.262 In this section I will

demonstrate how, in terms of space, Steiner’ s history of art is the inverse of Worringer’

s and how this contrast has significance in terms of both thinkers’ outlooks on the

evolution of rationalism and of spirituality. In discussing Steiner’ s history of art I draw

significantly from the work of Owen Barfield who, in his book Saving the Appearances:

A Study of Idolatry, posited that underlying Steiner’ s version of history is an “evolution

of consciousness.”263 I refer to Barfield’ s work for the succinctness with which he is

able to summarize the most salient aspects of Steiner’ s theory. Steiner’ s theory of the

“evolution of consciousness” is so central to his oeuvre that it is spread over dozens and

dozens of books and lecture series making it a very challenging and unwieldy task to

work solely with Steiner’ s works.

To provide a clear schema of the dialectical nature of Steiner’ s history of art I

refer to Barfield’ s description of Steiner’ s “evolution of consciousness” as unfolding in

three parts. In a book review entitled “Listening to Steiner,” Barfield discusses what he

means by this concept. He argues for the central role in Steiner’ s thought of an evolving

spatial relationship, what he calls “the relation between the inner and outer world”:

262
I am indebted to Frederick Amrine for first pointing out to me this inverse relationship
between the art histories of Worringer and Steiner. See Amrine, “Idea, Theory, Emotion,
Desire.”
263
I should clarify that I am placing his history in conversation with the same from
Worringer because I find that Worringer’ s concepts of abstraction and empathy, and
especially their fundamentally spatial nature, are resonant with Steiner’ s theory. It
should be noted, however, that while Steiner speaks of empathy (and often uses the term
“Einfühlung”), he expressly does not use the term abstraction, a key argument made in
my first chapter. Moreover, the term abstraction has certain connotations of
insubstantiality and subjectivity that do not apply to Steiner’ s aesthetic and spiritual
model wherein he aims for the substantial and objective.

130
 The evolution of the world is, and always has been, essentially an evolution of
consciousness […] In the course of that evolution matter has emerged from mind,
not mind from matter […] In its later stages evolution is coterminous with the
evolution of human perceiving and thinking. That does not mean a “history of
ideas” refracted from particular heads, but a progressive development of the
whole relation between the inner and outer world.264

The three phases Barfield identifies are “original participation,” which begins in ancient

times, “onlooker consciousness,” which begins roughly around the Renaissance and,

then, “final participation” which is only starting to emerge and began around the time of

Romanticism. The term “onlooker consciousness” is borrowed directly from Steiner, but

for the rest he is drawing on hints in Steiner’ s writings. For example, in a quite early

lecture from 1889 called “Goethe als Vater einer neuen Ästhetik,” where Steiner argues

that the fine arts or the science of art (“die Kunstwissenschaft”) could only arise in a third

stage. In Barfield’ s first stage mind or spirit (“der Geist”) was intimately linked with

nature; in the second then the two entities operated like irreconcilable opposites; and,

finally, in the third stage the subject reconnected with nature and could begin to see “den

Geist” with clarity:

In der Zeit, in der Geist und Natur so innig verbunden waren konnte die
Kunstwissenschaft nicht entstehen, sie konnte es aber auch nicht in jener, in der
sie sich als unversöhnte Gegensätze gegenüberstanden. Zur Entstehung der
Ästhetik war eine Zeit notwendig in der der Mensch frei und unabhängig von den
Fesseln der Natur den Geist in seiner ungetrübten Klarheit erblickte, in der aber
auch schon wieder ein Zusammenfließen mit der Natur möglich ist.265

Steiner’ s First Stage of “Original Participation”

Steiner’ s “original participation” Barfield describes as typified by a feeling that

one is intimately linked with, and moreover, constitutive to the way the world manifests.

In his book Saving the Appearances, Barfield reads the past 3,000 years of Western

264
Owen Barfield, “Listening to Steiner,” Parabola 9.4 (1984): 98.
265
Steiner, “Goethe als Vater einer neuen Ästhetik,” 7.

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history as an era that entailed the progressive decline in “participation.” He characterizes

the “primitive” consciousness of “original participation” as one in which the subject

believed (her)self and the external phenomena to be the same, the thought process being:

“there stands behind the phenomena, and on the other side of them from me, a

represented which is of the same nature as me.”266 In a recent article entitled “Idea,

Theory, Emotion, Desire,” in which Frederick Amrine implements Barfield’ s analysis,

he argues that the difference between the ancient and modern consciousness hinges on

whether the subject experiences what we might call the mental life as a phenomenon that

is part of the larger world or as internal, private experiences:

nearly all denizens of the modern world will experience ideas, theories, emotions,
and desires—thinking, feeling, and willing—as something individual, private, and
interior. We moderns draw a vertical line separating subject and object to the left
of our four words […] on the “subject” side of the divide. But the older
consciousness […] experiences [them] not as private, individualized, subjective
events but as events unfolding within the larger world […] as macrocosmic.267

Barfield cites many examples from etymology to argue that language contains

traces of the ancient “macrocosmic” experience of “original participation.” He asserts

specifically that the Greek language has indications of a participation in nature and in

particular in the processes of the physical body. In History in English Words Barfield

asserts that the earlier one traces language generally

the more poetical and animated do its sources appear, until it seems at last to
dissolve into a kind of mist of myth. The beneficence or malignance—which
might be called soul qualities—of natural phenomena, such as clouds, plants or
animals make a more vivid impression at this time than their outer shapes and
appearances.268

266
Barfield, Saving the Appearances: A Study of Idolatry, 122-23.
267
Amrine, “Idea, Theory, Emotion, Desire,” 31.
268
Owen Barfield, History in English Words (Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Books,
1967), 77.

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Barfield also argues that in the Middle Ages there was a tendency to experience “mind”

and “space” as linked and that traces of this connection are seen in Dante’ s Divine

Comedy.269 With the disappearance of “participation” he asserts that the link between

words connoting thinking and perceiving and words connected with movement and space

had been severed.270 For Barfield as for Steiner, the former’ s inspiration on the subject,

the underlying premise is that language contains traces of the felt experience of

“participation,” between humans and the outer world. Referring to Barfield’ s work,

Amrine discusses how the roots of the term “participation” trace back to Plato and later to

the anthropologists Lévy-Bruhl and Durkheim.271

In lectures in the series “Weltenwunder, Seelenprüfungen und

Geistesoffenbarungen” Steiner discusses modern language as containing traces of a much

earlier experience of the world as created out of a collaboration between humans and

spiritual beings. In one example, he describes this collaboration as between humans and

the “Sprachgenius, also einer höheren Wesenheit, als der Mensch ist, die mitschöpferisch

war.”272 He argues that the phrase meaning “to be born”, “jung geworden,” that

originated in medieval German and is used in the second part of Faust, stemmed from a

now lost awareness that between death and a new life a person carries forces with them

that help shape the new, young person. In this same passage Steiner argues that the

269
See Barfield, Saving the Appearances: A Study of Idolatry, 101. For a greater
treatment of the subject read Chapter XV “The Greco-Roman Age (Mind and Motion).”
270
Ibid. Barfield provides myriad linguistic examples.
271
Amrine explains that “participation” has a venerable pedigree, within both ancient and
modern thought. Participation (methexis) is Plato’ s way of explaining predication and
all other mental relations, and it is also the term used by the founders of modern
anthropology, Lévy-Bruhl and Durkheim, to explain “primitive” structures such as those
of shamanism and totemism.” Amrine, “Idea, Theory, Emotion, Desire,” 31.
272
Steiner, Weltenwunder, Seelenprüfungen und Geistesoffenbarungen (1911). 145.

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phrase “Nebelland,” used to denote Germany in the Middle Ages, also used in Faust, as

well as the better-known word “Dichtung,” reveal how the demarcations between inner

and outer world were formerly much more porous. In an eloquent passage, Steiner

describes the word “Dichtung” as resting on an underlying, older awareness of the world

as suffused with meaning, but in a diffuse way spread in the outer world. It was the role

of the “Dichter” to condense and “zusammendichten” this meaning into language:

Dass man von Dichtung in der deutschen Sprache spricht, dem liegt das
Bewusstsein zugrunde, dass der Dichter der Sinn, der sonst ausgebreitet liegt in
der Welt, zusammendichtet, dass er dasjenige, was sonst draußen in der Welt
verbreitet ist, kondensiert.273

Barfield also credits two key modern anthropologists, Emil Durkheim and Lucien

Lévy-Bruhl, for recognizing that, contrary to a dominant older view in Anthropology, so-

called primitive peoples perceived the world not as we do but in a fundamentally

different way that is described as prelogical and synthetic. This older mentality was

marked by what Lévy-Bruhl called “participation.” Lévy-Bruhl, according to Barfield’

s reading, characterized the primitive mindset as one in which “they are not detached, as

we are, from the representations.”274 As an example of this earlier mentality, Barfield

cites Durkheim’ s research into Totemism and explains that the identifications made in

this tradition, for example, the lack of class distinctions between animate or inanimate

objects, seem nonsensical to the modern mind because we are so removed from a mindset

of “original participation.” Barfield says that Durkheim’ s model is divided into the

three following stages: the first stage of symbiosis or active participation is where the

subject experiences oneself as the totem; the second stage is where one believes in

273
Ibid.
274
Barfield, Saving the Appearances: A Study of Idolatry, 31.

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collective representation, meaning in this case the ancestors were the totem; and, finally,

the subject experiences the world as a duality of ideas on one side and “numinous

religion” on the other. The last stage, clearly, is the contemporaneous, modern stage.275

When we compare how Steiner and Worringer characterize the first, ancient stage, we see

how starkly the two pictures differ. In fact, their respective accounts stand in inverse

relationship to one another. As noted above, Worringer argued that the earliest cultures

were drawn to abstraction as a way to assuage their great fear of an incomprehensible and

uncontrollable world. In other words, due to a lack of rational powers, ancient cultures

felt estranged from and threatened by the greater world and sought to increase and make

permanent this estrangement. Spatially speaking, the act of rendering abstract forms

entails creating greater distance between self and other. Steiner, in contrast, describes

ancient peoples not as anti- or pre-rational. Instead, Steiner describes ancient peoples as

possessing a sense, albeit murky or unconscious in nature, that they were intimately

connected with the greater world as an integral participant, to borrow the term from

Barfield. As the following passage shows, Steiner’ s theory of spatial evolution is quite

radical. For he theorized that the experience of the world as separate from and external to

the subject, and the existence of subjectivity at all, are altogether more modern

phenomena. In one passage about the people of ancient Greece that speaks in spatial

terms, Steiner argues that people of this period did not experience themselves as

individuals with isolated, demarcated boundaries separating them from an outer world.

275
See ibid., 32. These three stages of totemism resonate strongly with Steiner’ s account
of the origin and genealogy of the acanthus leaf motif, a central topic in this chapter’ s
section on Wilhelm Worringer in conversation with Steiner.

135
Thoughts, however, were experienced as external phenomena in the way that modern

people experience sensory impressions like color or sound:

Der Mensch ist eben in unserem heutigen Zeitalter mehr auf Verinnerlichung
angewiesen, als dies in früheren Zeitaltern der Fall war. Der Mensch hatte z.B.
noch in Griechenland ein Leben, das die Gedanken in der äußeren Welt so
wahrnahm, wie wir heute nur die Farben oder die Töne, überhaupt die
Sinneseindrücke wahrnehmen. So wie wir heute etwa rot sehen, so sah der
Grieche noch einen Gedanken sich äußern. Er hatte nicht das Gefühl, daß der
Gedanke etwas ist, das er in seinem Innern ausgestaltet, das er in seinem Innern
abgesondert von der äußeren Wirklichkeit erlebt.276

As we see, many of the terms are spatially inflected in their reference to an outer versus

an inner dimension, as when Steiner talks of internalization (“Verinnerlichung”), in the

outer world (“in der äußeren Welt”) and in his interior (“in seinem Innern”).

The psychologist Julian Jaynes, not a Steinerian, makes a surprisingly similar

argument about the nature of the psyche in ancient Greece in his book The Origin of

Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976). Amrine points out that

Jaynes advances the theory that what we know as modern, subjective consciousness is

only 3,000 years old; before then, a split (“bicameral”) consciousness akin to

schizophrenia was dominant. Just as Steiner says there was no distinction between inner

and outer realm for the ancient Greek, Jaynes argues that the characters of the Iliad “have

no conscious minds such as we say we have, and certainly no introspection. It is

impossible for us with our subjectivity to appreciate what it was like. […] In fact, the

gods take the place of consciousness.”277 Despite this strong resonance, the ultimate

conclusions of Jaynes on the nature and progression of human consciousness differ

greatly from Steiner. While Steiner held that ancient myths stemmed from a clairvoyant

276
Steiner, Stilformen des Organisch-Lebendigen (1921), 10.
277
Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1976), 72.

136
consciousness still unified with the greater world and cosmos, Jaynes asserted that these

myths were a form of mass hallucination, a sickness that afflicted all humans during this

period.

Another important aspect of the difference in how Steiner and Worringer consider

ancient cultures is their view of an ancient religious or spiritual outlook. As introduced,

Worringer held that those cultures, ancient or more modern, that were oriented toward

artistic abstraction tended toward religious transcendence (“der Abstraktionsdrang […]

korrespondiert in religiöser Beziehung mit einer starken transzendentalen Färbung aller

Vorstellungen”).278 What Worringer describes as a happy, trusting, pantheistic religious

attitude could only arrive later in the course of art history, for example in the

Renaissance, when developed reasoning powers allowed people to make more sense of

and feel a comfortable part of their world. In contrast, Steiner held that ancient cultures

were not driven by a desire to escape their existential fear through religious

transcendence, but by a confidence in their central place in a spiritually infused world. In

fact, Steiner held that in ancient Greece many people still had lingering clairvoyant

powers, powers that would fade entirely in later epochs:

Ein gewisses Bewußtsein, das vor den Pforten dieser historischen Entwicklung im
Menschen tätig war, und das noch ein Überbleibsel des alten Hellsehertums der
Menschheit war, das war etwas, was ebenso dem vierten nachatlantischen
Zeiträume angehörte.279

In another instance Steiner asserts that Homer is a transitional figure that bridges the

ancient, ways of seeing with the modern one that is totally devoid of clairvoyance. He

argues that in the character Agamemnon Homer aimed to portray someone who was still

278
Worringer, Abstraktion und Einfühlung: ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie. 19-20.
279
Rudolf Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch. (Dornach:
Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1982), 50.

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guided by clairvoyance.280 Steiner’ s more general narrative of the evolution of religion

or spirituality fits the dialectical schema of his history of art and should not be mistaken

for a simple decline narrative. Steiner held that ancient peoples experienced a direct,

though less conscious, link to the spiritual world. By his era, however, Steiner held that it

was a requirement for the development of individual freedom that this automatic tie be

severed. Modern people could find (re)connection with the spiritual dimension but only

through individual desire and effort.281 In a different example Steiner defines art as that

which should express the experience of the soul as a unified part of the greater world, as a

microcosm of the macrocosm.

Kunst soll das ausdrücken, was der Künstler in seine Gestalten hineinzulegen nur
dadurch imstande ist, dass seine Seele es im Zusammenhang mit der Welt erlebt,
dass sein Sein ein mikrokosmisches Abbild ist des ganzen Makrokosmos.282

As we will discuss in the final section on Steiner and Worringer’ s view of the modern

era, Steiner holds that a unified consciousness is not only the ancient nature, but, in a

transformed way, it is the goal of the modern era, including modern art. Worringer and

280
Steiner states: “Homer, der in einer Zeit sprach, als das alte atavistische Hellsehen
gerade verloren ging, wollte in Agamemnon einen Menschen schildern, der noch in, ich
möchte sagen «Lebensepisoden» das alte atavistische Hellsehen erleben konnte, der
selbst zu seinen Entschlüssen als Feldherr noch durch das alte Hellsehen, durch den
Traum geführt werden konnte.” See the first lecture in Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als
Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914),
287, 16. As we will see in the chapter’ s second main chapter on Steiner in conversation
with Riegl, Steiner viewed the origin of the acanthus leaf motif as stemming from an
ancient clairvoyant experience.
281
As one example, Steiner characterizes this shift from an ancient to a more modern
relationship with the spiritual world: “Diese Menschen der Vorzeit hatten noch andere
Hilfen als unser Zeitenzyklus sie hat; ihnen halfen die Götter, die, diesen Menschen
unbewußt, in deren Unterß oder Unbewußtsein ihre eigenen Kräfte einströmen ließen
[…] Unsere Zeit ist, nachdem die vierte nachatlantische Kulturperiode vorübergegangen
ist, der erste Zeitenzyklus, in welchem die Götter die Menschen auf ihre Freiheit hin
prüfen,” See Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch, 19.
282
Steiner, Kunst und Kunsterkenntnis. Grundlagen einer neuen Ästhetik, GA 271, 141.

138
Steiner do not only have greatly opposing views on ancient Greece but also regarding

ancient Egypt. As may be recalled, Worringer deemed the ancient Egyptians the

preeminent example of abstraction. Steiner, in contrast, regards this culture as oriented

toward connection and interaction with the outer world, and in particular with the greater

astronomical cosmos. In one instance Steiner characterizes the ancient Egyptians as

typified by a dedication to the stars and as holding the belief that through observing the

stars, one can obtain wisdom or secrets (“Geheimnis”) about the human. He argues that

the ancient Egyptians are characterized by

Ein Hingegebensein an die äußere Welt, wie es dem Charakter der

Emfindungsseele entspricht, ein Hingegebensein an die Sterne. […] Man
schaute hinaus in das Weltengebäude und fand in dem, was die Sterne
ausdrückten, dasjenige, was Geheimnis des seelisch-geistigen
Geschehens war.283

Steiner characterizes the age of the Egyptian pyramids as the time of the development of

the “Empfindungsseele,” one of whose hallmarks is the ability to experience the outer

world internally as one’ s inner life. Steiner argues that before the invention of modern

instruments, Egyptians had an innate, felt experience of the quantifiable nature of the

relationship between great astronomical entities and smaller, enclosed pyramid buildings.

The pyramid itself is described as a large, sensing organ (an “Empfindungsorgan”) that

picks up the relationship of the earth culture as a whole to the cosmos: “Wie die äußere

Wirklichkeit durch die Empfindungsseele im Innern des Menschen eine Art Repräsentanz

findet, so nimmt sich die Pyramide aus wie ein großes Empfindungsorgan der gesamten

283
See the second lecture of Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen
geschichtlichen Werdens und künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 23.

139
Erdenkultur gegenüber dem Kosmos.”284 Steiner’ s notion of pyramids as great sensing

organs in touch with the cosmos stands in sharp contrast to Worringer’ s idea that

Egyptians focused above all on the geometric regularity of artistic abstraction to order

their world.

Steiner’ s Second Stage of “Onlooker Consciousness”

The second of the three phases of Steiner’ s dialectical art historical schema is

called, both by Barfield and Steiner, the time of “onlooker consciousness.” Spatially the

shift from “original participation” to the second stage of “onlooker consciousness”

involves movement from feeling as if one is united with or inside the phenomena to a

feeling that one is, as a subject, a wholly separate entity from the phenomena. Barfield

describes this progression as one of moving from experiencing the phenomena as

representations to experiencing them as totally separate entities: “The earlier awareness

involved experiencing the phenomena as representations; the latter preoccupation

involves experiencing them, non-representationally, as objects in their own right, existing

independently of human consciousness.”285 This independent subject, according to

Steiner, evolves in tandem with the increase in reasoning powers. Steiner describes this

process as necessary and positive in some aspects, only that it necessitates the loss of a

previously given clairvoyant link with the spiritual dimension. In the second lecture of

the 1914 series “Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und

künstlerischer Umwandlungsimpulse” Steiner describes people of the fifth post-Atlantean

284
Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch, 33.
285
Barfield, Saving the Appearances: A Study of Idolatry, 142.

140
culture as typified by a perspective toward the world as that of an onlooker

(“Zuschauer”):

Wie muß sich diese Kultur der Außenwelt gegenüber verhalten? Der Mensch, der
auf sich selbst gestellt ist, wird Zuschauer […] Eine Zuschauerkultur, eine Kultur
des scharfsinnigen Zuschauens und Untertauchens in die Wesenheiten finden wir
da, so daß man schildert, wie wenn man den Zuschauerstandpunkt hat.286

A full twenty-five years earlier Steiner wrote about the necessity for separation, or we

can say alienation, of the subject from her surrounding world. In this work Steiner

describes the dichotomy as one between humans and nature:

Diese Zeit musste kommen. Sie war eine Notwendigkeit für die
sich zu immer höheren Stufen der Vollkommenheit fortentwickelnde Menschheit.
Der Mensch konnte sich nur so lange ganz innerhalb der Natur halten, solange er
sich dessen nicht bewusst war. Mit dem Augenblicke, da er sein eigenes Selbst in
voller Klarheit erkannte, mit dem Augenblicke, als er einsah, dass in seinem
Innern ein jener Außenwelt mindestens ebenbürtiges Reich lebt, da musste er sich
losmachen von den Fesseln der Natur […] Jetzt musste er [der Natur]
gegenübertreten, und damit hatte er sich faktisch von ihr losgelöst, hatte sich in
seinem Innern eine neue Welt erschaffen.287

Again, we see in this passage that Steiner thinks in spatial terms. The development of the

subject and its reasoning powers involves a growing awareness of a separate, interior

dimension that stands in opposition to an outer world. For Worringer the will to create

separate spaces, to bifurcate the world into subject and object is the originary impetus at

the outset of art history while for Steiner this act comes only much later in the second of

his three-stage dialectic.

It is striking how differently Steiner and Worringer regard the role of space in the

development of the subject. For Steiner the increase of spatial distance coincided with, or

better said, was propelled by the development of the modern, reasoning subject. In

286
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 28-29.
287
Steiner, “Goethe als Vater einer neuen Ästhetik,” 6.

141
Worringer’ s theory, by contrast, the nature of space is so compelled to link phenomena

and disallow insularity that individuation is not possible in a three-dimensional spatial

context. Worringer formulates this idea in the following way:

Der die Dinge verbindende und ihre individuelle Abgeschlossenheit vernichtende,

mit atmosphärischer Luft gefüllte Raum […] zieht [die Dingen] in das kosmische
Wechselspiel der Erscheinungen hinein und vor allen Dingen kommt die Tatsache
in Betracht, dass sich der Raum als solcher nicht individualisieren lässt.288

Thus, it follows that while Worringer defines agoraphobia (“geistige Raumscheu”) as a

formative and originary force, Steiner considers the fear of space as a much more modern

phenomenon. In an eight-part lecture series from 1920 entitled “Grenzen der

Naturerkenntnis,” Steiner argues that agoraphobia, among other phobias, is a

quintessentially modern malady:

da aus dem ganzen Chaos des gegenwärtigen Menschenlebens heraustreten

die andern Erscheinungen, die pathologisch uns ebenso entgegentreten […] die
nicht durch Zufall erst in den neueren Dezennien beschrieben werden. Es treten
uns auf der andern Seite, gegen die Bewußtseinsgrenze hin, ebenso die
Erscheinungen der Klaustrophobie, der Astraphobie, der Agoraphobie
entgegen.289

In this lecture Steiner goes on to argue that “Imagination” is the way to remedy the

tendency toward agoraphobia and other modern ills.

Steiner describes the Renaissance as a period in which the abstracted perspective

of “onlooker consciousness” had reached a very significant level. In the first book of the

work Die Rätsel der Philosophie in a chapter entitled “Das Weltanschauung des jüngsten

Zeitalters der Gedankenentwicklung,” Steiner argues that the experience of distance

between subject and object arose out of a centuries-long process that began in the eighth

288
Worringer, Abstraktion und Einfühlung: ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie. 51.
289
Rudolf Steiner, Grenzen der Naturerkenntnis, (Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1981),
http://anthroposophie.byu.edu/vortraege/322.pdf. 68.

142
and culminated in the fifteenth century. Thoughts changed from being experienced as

linked with nature to being experienced as stemming solely from the subject: “vom

achten bis zum fünfzehnten Jahrhundert kommt [der Gedanke] aus den Tiefen der Seele

herauf; der Mensch fühlt: In mir erzeugt sich der Gedanke. Bei den griechischen

Denkern erzeugt sich noch unmittelbar ein Verhältnis des Gedankens zu den

Naturvorgängen.”290 Steiner characterizes the state as one of an ever-widening abyss

between creations of the mind and observations of the natural world: “So stehen sich die

Schöpfungen des Selbstbewusstseins und die Naturbeobachtung immer schroffer, immer

mehr durch einen Abgrund getrennt gegenüber.”291 It is a great contrast indeed that

Steiner sees the spatial distance reaching the level of an abyss only in the Renaissance

while Worringer understood it the aim of the ancient, primitive people to create a chasm

between self and other.

Steiner’ s Third Stage of “Final Participation” in Conversation with Worringer

If we move to how both thinkers conceive of the modern era we see again the two

art historical visions standing in inverse relationship to one another. Steiner regards his

era as representing the beginning of the time when people can, in a conscious and active

manner befitting the modern subject, reclaim their connection to the spiritual world.

Conversely, Worringer views his era as the one in which the subject experiences

despondence and alienation at the recognition of the limits of reason for gaining

metaphysical insight. Ultimately, she feels equally as lost as primitive peoples in the

290
Rudolf Steiner, Die Rätsel der Philosophie (1914), (Rudolf Steiner Online Archive,
2010), http://anthroposophie.byu.edu. 86-87.
291
Ibid.

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quest for greater understanding.292 Seen in terms of our guiding spatial concepts of

abstraction and empathy, Worringer views the modern subject as resorting to abstraction

again whereas Steiner views the modern subject as aiming for a modern form of renewed

empathy.

In the following I first address Worringer and his view of the modern subject. In

a key quote from Worringer already introduced, he argues that the modern man

recognizes the limits of rationalism and this leads to a renewed interest in spiritual

matters (Worringer uses the Kantian term “Ding an sich”). Since there is no possibility

for penetrating metaphysical subjects, however, one feels as helpless as primitive peoples

did. Worringer says that it

wird in [dem modernen Mann] als letzte Resignation des Wissens das Gefühl für
das “Ding an sich” wieder wach. Was vorher Instinkt war, ist nun letztes
Erkenntnisprodukt. Vom Hochmut des Wissens herabgeschleudert steht der
Mensch nun wieder ebenso verloren und hilflos dem Weltbild gegenüber wie der
primitive Mensch.293

Thus, the advent of the modern age is for Worringer actually in some significant ways a

return to an original state.

It is worth noting that in a later lecture from 1921 on the subject of Expressionism

Worringer argues that there was an earlier time in art history when spiritual art could

flourish, an argument surprising when we look at his quite consistent rejection of spiritual

possibilities in Abstrakion und Empathie. In this lecture, however, he argues strongly

that this possibility closed during his era. Similar to Max Weber’ s concept of

disenchantment, Worringer regards his era as utterly without spiritual possibility. In his

essay of 1921, he argues that the parallels previously drawn between Expressionism and

292
Worringer, Abstraktion und Einfühlung: ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie. 24.
293
Ibid.

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Gothic, Baroque or primitive art are no longer valid as Expressionism in its current form

no longer stems from or expresses metaphysical needs. In a basic way, Steiner also

shares the view that Expressionism is lacking spiritually. As noted in a quote in the

introduction, Steiner argued that this movement was oriented in the right direction, but

that it did not penetrate deeply enough into spiritual realities and a spiritual form of

vision.294 The work is replete with language highly critical of Expressionism’ s claims to

metaphysical content. For example, in one section of only two pages Worringer calls the

notion of a spiritual Expressionism a “gespentische(s) Spiel mit leeren Gesten,”295 “eine

traurige Philosophie Als Ob”296 and the “kühnste Fiktion der Kunstgeschichte.”297

Despite such language, this lecture is ultimately, surprisingly, not a categorical rejection

of the possibility of spiritual art. Worringer argues that in the past there was indeed a

metaphysical strain of Expressionism (what he calls the “echte(r), metaphysich

legitimierter Expressionismus der Vergangenheit”).298 He argues that modern

Expressionism does not have spiritual potential and advocates instead for modern

philosophy, history and science as the paths toward insight in the modern world. As we

will shortly see, if for Worringer the opening for spiritually-infused art closes shut during

the modern era, Steiner understands the same era as representing the very beginning of

the re-opening toward spiritual connection and spiritually-inspired art, what Kandinsky in

the Blaue Reiter almanac famously called the “Epoche der Grossen Geistigen.”299

294
See the quote from Steiner on page thirty-two.
295
Wilhelm Worringer, Künstlerische Zeitfragen (München: H. Bruckmann, 1921), 9.
296
Ibid., 11.
297
Ibid., 11-12.
298
Ibid.
299
Wassily Kandinsky. Der blaue Reiter im Lenbachhaus München: Katalog der
Sammlung in der Städtischen Galerie. Eds. Rosel Gollek. München: Prestel, 1982, 313.

145
 Before discussing Steiner I will briefly explain how Barfield has theorized the

third stage of Steiner’ s dialectic as one of “final participation.” His characterization of

the third stage of the “evolution of consciousness” offer insights that prove useful in the

comparison of Steiner’ s and Worringer’ s views. Barfield argues that the modern,

rational subject’ s habit of what he terms “beta thinking,” that is, the self-conscious act

of contemplating our own thinking is a necessary and productive skill that has also led to

the elimination of “original participation.” He takes pains to emphasize that the goal of

Steiner’ s evolutionary schema is not to return to “original participation.”300 Instead,

Barfield argues that Steiner is calling for Imagination to lead us to a new stage of “final

participation.” Barfield summarizes what he means by “Imagination” in one sentence

that needs interpretation: “To be able to experience the representations as idols, and then

to be able also to perform the act of figuration consciously, so as to experience them as

participated that is imagination.”301 This means that in the stage of “final participation”

one grows aware that representations are idols, meaning representations are collectively

regarded as ultimate truths. Additionally, to consciously perform figuration means to be

aware that there is no given reality, but that the perceiver is a crucial participant in the act

of creating reality as we know it by actively combining and constructing perceptions.

300
Barfield asserts that the systematic use of imagination need not “involve any
relinquishment of the ability which we have won to experience and love nature as
objective and independent of ourselves. Indeed, it cannot involve that. For any such
relinquishment would mean that what was taking place was not an approach towards final
participation (which is the proper goal of imagination) but an attempt to revert to original
participation (which is the goal of pantheism, of mediumism and of much so-called
occultism).” See Barfield, Saving the Appearances: A Study of Idolatry, 147.
301
Ibid.

146
Examples Barfield gives of nascent “final participation” are Romanticism, German

Idealism, psychoanalysis and quantum mechanics.302

Whereas the modern era in Worringer’ s art historical model entails resigning to

the very set limitations in her/his ability to understand the world, Steiner, as Barfield has

demonstrated, sees the modern era as the dawning of new possibilities in knowledge,

especially of the spiritual nature. In the second lecture from a series on architecture from

1913 and 1914 entitled “Wege zu einem neuen Baustil” Steiner theorizes the history of

temple architecture that starts with ancient Persian structures, moves through Egyptian,

Greek and Gothic buildings and ends with Steiner’ s concept of the architecture of the

future. This architectural vision, which he would seek to materialize in his Goetheanum,

is very much in line with the way the third stage of “final participation” is meant as a

time for re-connection with the spiritual world. In this lecture Steiner describes his

architectural aim as creating a building in which the walls have a permeable quality,

partly enabled by multiple windows that allow in sunlight and offer many views of the

surroundings. This effect is also described as facilitated by what he calls as an artistic

manner that gives the walls the feeling as if they were transparent. In this lecture he

describes a coming spiritual shift in which one will move from an emphasis on the soul to

the spirit.303

302
See the chapter entitled “Final Participation” ibid., 133-42.
303
This shift is described as manifested in a structural openness of the building: “[…]
unser neuer Bau [öffnet] sich wie nach allen Seiten […], daß seine Wände nach allen
Seiten offen sind, allerdings nicht nach dem Materiellen, sondern offen sind hin nach
dem Geistigen.” Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch, 35. I
return to Steiner’ s focus on the dramatic openness of the building in the third chapter
when comparing theories of the virtues of transparent glass by the architect Bruno Taut
and the writer Paul Scheerbart in conversation with Steiner’ s notion of aesthetic
transparency.

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The anti-naturalistic Theories of Steiner and Riegl in the Example of the Acanthus
Leaf Motif and in Light of Riegl’ s Concept of Kunstwollen

Now I will turn to an examination of Steiner in dialogue with one of Worringer’ s

most important influences, Austrian art historian Alois Riegl and his work Stilfragen:

Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik (1893).304 In an instance from a

1914 Steiner lecture on architecture and the Goetheanum Steiner refers to Riegl. It is in

the context of discussing the derivation of the ancient Greek acanthus motif, a motif that

often adorns Corinthian columns. While ultimately critical of Riegl’ s failure to include

a spiritual dimension in his interpretation, Steiner finds common ground with his

contemporary. He refers to Riegl not because he is deeply invested in the subject of the

acanthus motif or the broader history of ornament, the subject of Riegl’ s early treatise

Stilfragen.305 Instead, he recruits Riegl because he views him as at least partially

cognizant that the traditional account of art is an erroneous projection of a modern

consciousness onto a categorically different experience. Both thinkers argue that the

mimesis of nature and the external world—the impetus behind contemporaneous

naturalistic art—was not the original inspiration for the acanthus motif. More broadly,

they hold the view that naturalism is only a recent phenomenon.306 As part of the critique

of naturalist art both fault the influence of a reductionist positivism seen in an

304
Riegl [1858-1905] was an important art theorist of his day and, as seen in the
extensive citations, one of the major influences on Worringer’ s Abstraktion und
Empathie. Now known as one of the founders of the Vienna school of art history, Riegl
wrote Stilfragen after serving as a curator of textiles at the Austrian Museum of Art and
Industry and pursued an academic career at the University of Vienna.
305
In his entire oeuvre I could not find any other instances of Steiner writing on Riegl.
306
As seen in the discussion of Worringer, he echoed Riegl’ s assertion that naturalism is
not an originary impetus for art. In Worringer’ s model of art history “Abstraktion,” an
anti-naturalist mode, is the originary style at the inception of art history.

148
oversimplified understanding of the theories of German architect and art historian

Gottfried Semper and those of the naturalist Charles Darwin.

The two theorists share some important similarities in their diagnosis of what is

awry in the modern aesthetic mentality, but in a broad sense I argue that Steiner’ s theory

of the evolution of the arts is shaped by forces that resonate with what Riegl calls the

“Kunstwollen.” In Stilfragen Riegl asserts that the “Kunstwollen,” an underlying,

collective artistic will that is prevalent in a given epoch, is instrumental in shaping the

artistic production of that epoch. In his 1914 lecture Steiner gives a clear nod to this

theory by using language strikingly similar to Riegl’ s “Kunstwollen.” I assert that the

concept of an underlying, collectively experienced, supra-individual force that guides art

history is a concept that links the two art theories. Additionally, both give a special status

to the artistic will they view as prevalent in ancient Greece.307

Despite the resonances between these two thinkers—the critique of naturalism

and positivism, the keen interest in the relationship of the aesthetic form and artistic will

and of the modern to the ancient and especially ancient Greek—I ultimately argue that

the two conceptualize this underlying, aesthetic will in fundamentally different ways.

This difference is tied to diverging theories of human subjectivity, its evolution and its

307
In the introduction to a translation of Stilfragen David Castriota evaluates Riegl’ s
preference for Greek antiquity and his concept of Kunstwollen as shaped by his times and
as anachronistic to a more modern sensibility. I think many scholars would deem this
judgment also applicable to Steiner. Castriota argues: “Riegl’ s frequent assertions
regarding the unparalleled aesthetic achievement of the Greeks, as opposed to those of
earlier cultures, are no less a product of his time as [..] his notion of Kunstwollen, a
pervasive spirit or impulse motivating and shaping the art of certain ethnic groups or
periods. Nowadays, one is prone to be a good deal more circumspect in attempting to
understand or explain the root causes of major stylistic trends and developments.” Alois
Riegl, Problems of Style: Foundations for a History of Ornament, ed. David Castriota,
trans. Evelyn Kain (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), 56.

149
relationship to art. I argue that Riegl’ s Kunstwollen is largely disconnected from human

subjectivity and agency and resides instead within the aesthetic motif and its complex

evolution. Riegl emphasizes how the artistic will propels epochs to have greater or lesser

degrees of liberation from the external constraints of materials and technique and

mimesis of nature. Riegl gives a highly detailed account of the evolution of stylistic

elements, but he does not speak directly to the internal character of, for example, the

Hellenistic Greek people as a factor in their artistic creations. What Riegl prizes about

Hellenistic artists was their ability to create a purely aesthetic motif, the acanthus tendril.

In contrast, Steiner’ s theory of the evolution of art is one in which artistic creations are

reflections of the human being and its spiritual stage. Steiner understands the origin and

evolution of the acanthus leaf motif as reflective of a “consciousness” or psyche

particular to the ancient Greeks. If Riegl’ s theory is largely disconnected from

subjectivity, Steiner’ s history of art is at its core a history of the gradual development of

human subjectivity, a subject that for Steiner is simultaneously one of spiritual evolution.

Riegl views the ancient Greeks as transcending mimesis to create a purely aesthetic

ornament. Contrastingly, Steiner held that people during this period did not yet

experience a fixed boundary between subject and object but, instead, experienced

themselves as in unison with the “outer” world, including the cosmic world. Therefore,

there was no external world to imitate or overcome or out of which to abstract an

ornament.

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Countering the Dominant Narrative of the Origin of the Acanthus Motif

This section begins with an examination of how Steiner and Riegl critiqued the

dominant account of the derivation of the acanthus from Vitruvius as an example of the

wider dominance during their period of “materialism,” positivism and artistic naturalism.

In Steiner’ s lecture about the first Goetheanum building entitled “Der gemeinsame

Ursprung der Dornacher Bauformen und des griechischen Akanthusornamentes” (1914),

he offers critique of what he regards as the “materialism” dominating contemporary art.

He faults this tendency for both the frequent misunderstanding of the Goetheanum

building as well as the uncritical acceptance by many scholars of the famous story from

ancient Roman architect Vitruvius [1st century BCE] of the derivation of the acanthus leaf

motif, the plant ornament that frequently adorns the Greek Corinthian column.308

Naturalistic mimesis is at the heart of this famous story: a chance sighting by the sculptor

Kallimachos of a basket surrounded by acanthus leaves led to the sculptured rendition of

the form. Steiner is highly critical of this interpretation, calling it the height of

materialism (“Das ist der reinste Materialismus, den man sich denken kann”).309

Riegl and Steiner after him, decries the dominance in art of “materialism” and the

privileging of a technical approach at the expense of the inner impetus, factors they link

with the influence of followers of Gottfried Semper.310 Riegl argues that a key factor in

308
The interest of Steiner and Riegl in the acanthus motif, a feature of Hellenistic art, was
part of the wider renewal of attention toward this period beginning in the 1880’ s. This
phenomenon was partly inspired by the arrival from Pergamom to Berlin of the recently
excavated Altar of Zeus and Athena.
309
Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch, 49.
310
Gottfried Semper (1803-1879) was a German architect and art historian and a
representative of historicism. Some of his largest projects were built in Vienna including
the imperial Baurat and the museum complex and Burgtheater co-created with Karl
Hasenauer. He also designed the Richard-Wagner-Festspielhaus in Munich. He was a

151
the widespread neglect by art historians of ornamental art and the failure to recognize its

long history is the over-emphasis on the role of the materials and these Semperians. He

argues the students have taken Semper’ s emphasis on the role of materials and

technique and reduced them to the two sole factors in art: “Wenn Semper sagte: beim

Werden einer Kunstform kämen auch Stoff und Technik in Betracht, so meinten die

Semperianer sofort schlechtweg: die Kunstform wäre eine Produkt aus Stoff und

Technik.”311 In the same passage Riegl states what for him has precedence over the

materials and the technique in art, namely the creative artistic will (Kunstwollen), a factor

Riegl says Semper himself recognizes.312 Riegl argues that not only do art historians

transfer an oversimplified version of Semper’ s theories, but also a misapplication of

Darwin’ s hypotheses, into art history. Riegl asserts that the “materialistische Strömung

in der Auffassung der Kunstanfänge [ist] nichts Anderes als so zu sagen die

Uebertragung des Darwinismus auf ein Gebiet des Geisteslebens.”313 Steiner agrees with

Riegl’ s judgment that art history has become, as Riegl put it, “versempert.”314 Steiner

professor of architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden until he went into exile
following participation in the failed republican uprising of 1849. He wrote the theoretical
text Der Stil in den technischen und tektonischen Künsten oder praktische Ästhetik: ein
Handbuch für Techniker, Künstler und Kunstfreunde (1860/1863).
311
Alois Riegl, Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik (Berlin:
Georg Siemens, 1893), VI.
312
Riegl argues that the equation of art with materials and technique is an unfair
simplification of Semper’ s theory. He says it is “nicht im Geiste Gottfried Sempers, der
wohl der Letzte gewesen wäre, an der Stelle des frei schöpferischen Kunstwollens einen
wesentlich mechanisch-materiellen Nachahmungstrieb hätte gesetzt wissen wollen.”
Ibid., VII.
313
Ibid., VI-VII. Emphasis mine
314
Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch, 56. It should be
noted that in Steiner’ s lecture on the acanthus motif, he briefly mentions how during his
student days in Vienna—where he attended courses at both the University of Vienna, like
Riegl, and the Technische Hochschule between 1879-1883—one of his teachers at the
latter institution was Joseph Bayer, a follower of Semper. Ibid., 46. On the same page

152
posits that in a materialistic age there is a trend to trace all artistic creations to the

techniques of craftsmanship. He gives the examples of weaving and wickerwork, saying

that students study fabric weaving and the plaiting of fences and, from this study alone,

look to deduce the origins of architectural forms. In this discussion Steiner likewise

speaks of “materialism” and “Darwinism,” as when he argues that a materialism akin to

materialistic Darwinism is seen in imitative art: “Dasjenige, was im materialistischen

Darwinismus nachwirkt als materialistische Auffassung das tritt auch im künstlerischen

Schaffen uns entgegen, indem man die Kunst immer mehr zur bloßen Nachahmung des

Natürlichen machen will.”315

It should be noted that, though both thinkers disavowed the influence of an

oversimplified, positivist interpretation of Semper and Darwin, each underwent intensive

scientific schooling and, in fact, respected and were indebted to Semper and Darwin.316

Margaret Iversen argues that Riegl and Semper both addressed the issues of style in the

nineteenth century and the apparent arbitrariness of style in architecture and design.317

Steiner describes how he was steeped in the Viennese architectural milieu during a time
when many of great architects were still living. He names (Theophil) Hansen, (Friedrich
von) Schmidt and Heinrich von Ferstel. Architectural historian Wolfgang Pehnt says that
Semper was an influence on generations of architects with his studies of the
“architectonischen Grundformen und Symbolen.” Pehnt notes that Steiner also listened
to lectures by Ferstel who taught at the Wiener Polytechnikum. See Wolfgang Pehnt,
“Etwas wie Morgenröte: Die Architektur von Rudolf Steiner,” in Rudolf Steiner: Die
Alchemie des Alltags (Ditzingen: Vitra Design Museum, 2010), 109.
315
Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch, 55.
316
Steiner worked intensively with Goethe’ s scientific work, including acting as editor
of his work. Beginning in 1882 until 1897 Steiner worked as the editor of Goethe’ s
natural scientific writings. He first worked under the auspices of Joseph Kürschners
Deutscher National-Literatur and then, from 1890 onward, he worked in the newly
founded Goethe and Schiller Archive. Additionally, Steiner was also an acquaintance of
the biologist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) and thoroughly familiar with Haeckel’ s work.
317
Iversen draws the parallel in the following way: “[Riegl’ s method was] to formulate
an aesthetic appropriate to the age within the context of a systematically elaborated

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Claire Zimmerman also finds linkages between the methodology of Semper and Riegl

and asserts that the methods of both “required intensive examination and close historical

analysis, and both were based on acute observation and deductive method.”318 Margaret

Olin emphasizes the empiricist training Riegl received at the Institute for Austrian

Historical Research and shows that he had a significant amount in common with

Semper.319 As a final example, in the preface to an English translation of Stilfragen,

Henri Zerner argues that Riegl’ s method in Stilfragen is reminiscent of Darwin’ s.320

I now turn to examine how Steiner’ s and Riegl’ s account of the origin of the

acanthus motif, and their broader histories of art, pivot around the rejection of naturalist

art. This will serve as a basis for examining how each thinker argues for the central

importance of an internal, immanent kind of aesthetic will. I compare the similarities but

emphasize the greater number of important disparities between the two conceptions of the

Kunstwollen. I begin with Riegl’ s account in Stilfragen zu einer Geschichte der

historical schema. Semper’ s solution was to refer to early prototypes and their
evolution, in the same way that one would evaluate the appropriateness of a particular
usage of a word by referring to its etymology.” Margaret Iversen, Alois Riegl: Art
History and Theory (Cambridge, Massahusetts: The MIT Press, 1993), 23.
318
Claire Zimmerman, “Siegfried Kracauer’ s Architectures,” in Culture in the
Anteroom: The Legacies of Siegfried Kracauer, ed. Gerd Gemünden & Johannes von
Moltke (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2012), 157.
319
In Margaret Olin’ s book Forms of Representation in Alois Riegl’ s Theory of Art she
aims to counter the dominant view of Riegl as a precursor to 20th-century formalism. She
deems Riegl a “radical conservative” who did not wish to depart from the concept of
representation. By drawing heavily on a wide range of published and unpublished
materials, she tells a narrative of the gradual change in Riegl’ s understanding of
representation. Margaret Olin, Forms of Representation in Alois Riegl’ s Theory of Art
(University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992).
320
Zerner asserts: “In the hands of a creative artist, traditional forms could also be
mutated to produce innovations as they were handed down or diffused transculturally. In
the spirit of Darwin, Riegl sought to trace, map, and classify this evolutionary process
and the phenomenal range of forms or styles that it could engender.” Henri Zerner,
“Preface,” in Problems of Style: Foundations for a History of Ornament, ed. David
Castriota (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), xxvii.

154
Ornamentik. This work advocates for more attention toward the neglected subject of the

history of ornament. It is comprised of an introduction and four chapters and I focus on

the third chapter for my analysis.321 The third chapter addresses the subject of plant

ornament and the development of the ornamental tendril. Through close observation of

the transformation of formal elements, Riegl makes the case for a continuous history of

plant ornamentation from ancient Egypt through late Roman art. One key part of his

narrative is the evolution of the Egyptian lotus motif in ancient cultures until it

culminates in the Greek acanthus motif and eventually changes into the arabesque.

In Riegl’ s theoretical work, cultural epochs move from one to the next by a

swing between anti-naturalism and naturalism. As Riegl was one of the primary thinkers

cited in Worringer’ s Abstraktion und Einfühlung one can see that Riegl’ s binary

temporal model helped to shape the likewise binary character of Worringer’ s model.

Importantly, in Riegl’ s history of art naturalism is conceived of as a less abiding and

influential force. For example, Riegl asserts that in the history of plant ornamentation

stylization has always been the dominant tendency interrupted by brief periods in which

forms become naturalized. Even in periods where artists devoted attention to realistic

321
The first two chapters are based in the refutation of the notion that style arose out of
technical factors. In the first chapter he focuses attention on the geometric ornament of
Stone Age art—inspired by the recent discoveries in Dordogne—to argue that geometric
ornament arose not from the processes of wickerwork and weaving but from an imminent
artistic drive. In the second chapter he discusses the subject of “the Heraldic Style,” a
motif of pairs of animals divided in the middle by a central piece. He argues that this
ornament preceded the invention of mechanical weaving and arose out of a desire for
symmetry and not out of the technical operation of weaving. Skipping to the final
chapter, it highlights the arabesque, theorized as a geometrized version of the tendril
motif, that begins in late antiquity, moves into early Byzantine and then finally into
Islamic art.

155
depictions of nature Riegl argues that the art of antiquity and the Middle Ages never

resorted to the sole mimesis of nature:

Zu wiederholten Malen begegnen wir in der Geschichte des Pflanzenornaments

einer Neigung zur Naturalisirung, zur Annäherung der Pflanzenornamente an die
reale perspektivische Erscheinung einer Pflanze und ihrer Theile. Ja, es hat in der
Antike ohne Zweifel sogar eine Zeit gegeben, wo man in der beregten
Annäherung bereits ziemlich weit vorgeschritten war; doch dies war nur eine
vorübergehende Episode, woneben und wonach die stilisierten traditionellen
Formen dauernd in Geltung geblieben sind. Im Allgemeinen lässt sich sagen,
dass die Naturalisierung des Pflanzenornaments im Alterthum und fast das ganze
Mittelalter hindurch niemals bis zur unmittelbaren Abschreibung der Natur
gegangen ist.322

As examples of the brief dominance of naturalism during antiquity, Riegl points to the

Monument of Lysikrates and the acroteria of grave stelai in the early decades of the

fourth century.323 Later Islamic art is conceived as dominated by anti-naturalistic,

abstract form. As the rationale for the preponderance of anti-naturalism, that is style, in

plant ornamentation, Riegl argues that art depicting plants, as opposed to humans or

animals, adhered much longer to rules of symmetry, because plants were considered

subordinate subject matter. He posits that for this reason, realistic depictions of flowers,

such are in fashion in his period, are a recent phenomenon.324

Thus it is precisely the acceptance of the naturalism at the heart of the Vitruvian

account of the derivation of the acanthus motif that Riegl finds so unacceptable.

Using language that shows Riegl’ s passion about the subject, he calls it incomparable

(“ohne Gleichen”) and absurd that many scholars have accepted uncritically the notion

that the acanthus motif was spontaneously generated when Kallimachos took the first

plant he saw and elevated it to an aesthetic motif (“An dem Unwahrscheinlichen des

322
Riegl, Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik, xiv-xv.
323
See ibid., xiv-xv215.
324
See the introduction, XIV.

156
Vorgangs, dass man ploetzlich das erste beste Unkraut zum kuenstlerischen Motiv

erhoben haben sollte […] erschien mir ein solcher Vorgang völlig neu, ohne Gleichen

und absurd”).325 Riegl critiques scholars who have concluded that differing renditions of

the acanthus motif are due to regional differences in the physical plant; they argue there

are sharp points in Athens and rounded edges in Italy. In one case he compares the

acanthus motifs on a Corinthian capital from the Choregic Monument of Lysicrates in

Athens to the acanthus motif on the stucco relief frieze on the Temple of Isis in Pompeii,

saying the latter ornament has a much softer and more rounded quality. Riegl argues that

the softer renditions of the Roman period are not due to differences in the plant, but

rather to a change in style that extended beyond Italy to other regions of the Roman

Empire, such as shown by the monuments in Asia Minor. Riegl finds theories that focus

on mimesis simplistic and wholly inartistic in nature (“Auch hiefür hat man eine

Erklärung gefunden, die an Einfachheit nichts zu wünschen übrig liesse, wenn sie sur

nicht so ganz und gar unkünstlerisch wäre”).326

A key piece of evidence for Riegl in his counter argument to the Vitruvian

interpretation and his argument for the centrality of an aesthetic process is his claim that

the Hellenistic ornamental connecting tendrils (“Rankenverbindung”) is a feature without

a counterpart in the physical world. He argues that the persistent power of the Vitruvian

story is such that people still believe that the acanthus motif stemmed from mimesis of

the plant model despite the recognition that the acanthus tendril does not exist in the

plant:

325
Riegl, Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik, XV.
326
Ibid., 251.

157
 Nichts ist bezeichnender für die Art und Weise wie man, beeinflusst durch
Vitruv’ s Erzählung jede bessere Einsicht in das wahre Wesen des
Akanthusornaments gewaltsam in sich niedergekämpft hat, als der Umstand dass
man längst ganz klar erkannt hat, dass die Akanthusranke in Wirklichkeit nicht
exisiert und eine blosse Erfindung des ornamentalen Schaffensgeistes der
Griechen gewesen ist, und dass man trotzdem an der Vorbildlichkeit der
Akanthuspflanze keine Zweifel hat aufkommen lassen wollen.327

Riegl argues that the oldest renditions of the acanthus motif are missing salient elements

of what later became known as the acanthus motif (“Der entwickelte Akanthus mit

fortgeschrittener Blattgliederung lässt sich also gerade auf den ältesten Denkmälern, die

hier in Betracht kommen, nirgends nachweisen”).328 Riegl conducts an analysis of how

plant motifs including the buds, leaves and blossoms, evolve from one cultural period to

another. He asserts that during the Hellenistic period the forms were brought to their

culmination.

Riegl posits that the acanthus motif went through stages of alternating more and

less naturalistic appearance throughout the centuries and continents to eventually evolve

into the form recognized today. In a very broad way Riegl argues that ancient Greece

was dominated, largely, by naturalism and the “Orient” by anti-naturalism.329 As we will

see, however, Riegl views the period of Hellenistic antiquity as significant for the way it

was able to break free of the naturalism that dominated greater antiquity. Within Greek

antiquity, however, Riegl argued that the Hellenistic period stood out for its ability to

transcend mimesis. Riegl, in brief, asserts that the flower motifs of early Greece were

more realistic in appearance, but, importantly, the connecting tendril is without a natural

model. The Egyptians Riegl regarded as second only to the Hellenistic Greeks in their

327
Ibid., 248-49.
328
Ibid., 232.
329
See the introduction of Stilfragen.

158
ability to reach a high degree of freedom from naturalism. They created palmettos with

stiff petals and used a geometric curved line to connect motifs in a row and to represent a

stem motif.330 Then the Mycenaeans took the geometric scroll pattern with lotus blossom

used to fill gaps and developed into a more plant-like form. By the second half of the

fifth century B.C.E. these stiff petals fall to the right and left. Hellenistic artists then

added branching tendrils in order to allow the connection of motifs over an entire surface.

Riegl argues that because in nature typically it is stems and not leaf tendrils that serve this

function, the ornamental tendril represents a clearly antinaturalistic tendency of the

Hellenist period.

Importantly, the impetus for Hellenistic artists in their creation of the acanthus

tendril was to fulfill an aesthetic need, namely a design problem, and not a desire to better

faithfully portray the plant. The acanthus motif was born out of a need to connect motifs

over a whole surface and also out of the transfer of this motif from painting to sculpture.

When it began to be rendered sculpturally on capitals of Corinthian columns, a three-

dimensional structure without corners, artists changed the form of the corner-filling half-

palmetto to serve the function of a hull or pod. In this case the deep division between

petals could not remain and the newer acanthus motif arose.331 Margaret Olin argues

330
In the third chapter discussing plant motifs Riegl says that the motifs of the ancient
Egyptians created stylized forms needed for the transfer onto a two-dimensional surface
and that symmetry was a guiding principle: “Dafür, dass die bezüglichen Pflanzenmotive
wenigstens zum überwiegenden Theile schon von Hausa us die Befähigung zu einer
künstlerischen Asgestaltung an sich trugen, war von der altegyptischen Kunst selbst
genügend vorgesort. Schon von Seiten dieser ersten pflanzenbildenden Kunst erhielten
die pflanzlichen Vorbilder bei der Übertragung auf die Fläche (mittels des Relief en
creux wie mittels der Malerei) die nothwendige Stilisierung.” Riegl, Stilfragen:
Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik, 44.
331
Thus Riegl’ s well-known summary of the origin of the acanthus motif: “Das
Akanthusornament ist meines Erachtens ursprünglich nichts anderes als eine in’ s

159
that, in Riegl’ s view, both artistic and natural laws shaped the genesis of the acanthus

motif. She says it arose out of “artistic development independent of nature and […] a

close study of natural laws […] by adaptation of the two-dimensional laws of art to the

three-dimensional laws of nature.”332 Riegl makes the case that the acanthus arose out of

what he considered purely aesthetic motivations and describes the Hellenist period as

preeminent for its powerful ability to transcend nature and be guided by wholly aesthetic

concerns.333

The Central Role of a Collective Will or Kunstwollen in the Art Histories of Riegl
and Steiner

Though Riegl only uses the term Kunstwollen a few times in this early work, a

key claim is that an underlying, immanent aesthetic will is the key force that allows

artists to transcend mimesis of nature.334 Using examples from greatly disparate time

periods, Riegl carries through the entire work the thesis of the Kunstwollen as a force

immanent to each cultural period that propels art to transcend the limitations of materials,

technique and reliance on nature as a model. Scholars have translated this term in a

variety of ways. In the preface to a translation of Stilfragen Henri Zerner states that

Kunstwollen has been translated as “artistic intention,” “intentionality,” and “will.”335

Claire Zimmerman uses the formulation “artistic desire” and characterizes it as a term

that “roughly subtends the idea of a core of artistic ideas of abiding communal interest

plastische Rundwerk übertragene Palmette, beziehungsweise Halbpalmette.” Olin,

Forms of Representation in Alois Riegl’ s Theory of Art, 218.
332
Ibid., 79.
333
It should be noted that for Riegl the nature of the aesthetic is transcending mimesis
while for other art theorists the concept of “aesthetic” includes a mimetic aspect.
334
Riegl elaborates upon this term further in Die spätrömische Kunstindustrie nach den
Funden in Österreich-Ungarn dargestellt (1901/1923).
335
See Zerner, “Preface,” xxii.

160
that coalesce at a given historical conjuncture.”336 Other scholars have used still other

translations and definitions.337

Quite early in the work the Kunstwollen is characterized as a force that can break

through technical barriers (“das menschliche Kunstwollen erscheint eben von Anbeginn

unablässig darauf gerichtet die technischen Schranken zu brechen”).338 In another

example from the first chapter “Der geometrische Stil” Riegl discusses a hilt made out of

bone and fashioned in the shape of a reindeer. He posits that above all it was the

immanent artistic will that led to these artistic choices (below he calls it both “ein

immanenter künstlerischer Trieb” and the Kunstwollen).

Das technische Moment spielt gewiss auch innerhalb des geschilderten Processes
eine Rolle, aber beiweitem nicht jene führende Rolle […] Der Anstoss ging
vielmehr nicht von der Technik, sondern von dem bestimmten Kunstwollen aus.
Man wollte das Abbild eines Naturwesens in todtem Material schaffen, und
erfand sich hierzu die nöthige Technik. Zum Zwecke des handsameren Greifens
war die Rundfigur eines Dolchgriff gewiss nicht nothwendig. Ein immenenter
künstlerischer Trieb, der im Menschen rege und nach Durchbruch ringend
vorhanden war […] musste ihn dazu geführt haben den beinernen Griff in Form
eines Rennthieres zu bilden.339

Though Riegl describes an artifact that imitates the natural form of an animal, he argues

that, because this formal choice serves no direct utilitarian purpose, the primary,

underlying factor that inspired the choice of the reindeer form was the Kunstwollen.

336
See Zimmerman, “Siegfried Kracauer’ s Architectures,” 156.
337
Margaret Olin argues that the term “Kunstwollen,” while it was used to counter the
“mechanical-materialist” view, was not his invention but a condensed form of
“künstlerisches Wollen,” a term that dates back to at least the time of Rumohr’ s
Italienische Forschungen. This assertion is part of her book’ s larger claim that Riegl
was a “radical conservative” who resisted giving up the concept of representation and
used this term as the promotion of a return to a former view of art that was under attack
from contemporaneous mechanistic theory. See Olin, Forms of Representation in Alois
Riegl’ s Theory of Art.
338
Riegl, Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik, 29.
339
Ibid., 20.

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In short, the Kunstwollen is the primary factor, and technique, or materials, always

secondary in nature. In the same chapter Riegl discusses weaving and asserts that it is the

Kunstwollen that allows artists to transcend the difficulties inherent to the mechanics of

weaving to allow the creation of rounded shapes.

Not only does Riegl conceive of the Kunstwollen as transcending the technique,

the materials and the need for mimesis of nature, but he sees it as divorced even from

subjectivity. I want to highlight this point as it contrasts starkly with Steiner’ s theory of

art and of the development of subjectivity. Scholars have noted this fact. For example,

Olin argues that certain aspects of Stilfragen are challenging for the modern reader to

accept, namely the autonomous nature of ornamental development:

Not only do ornamental motifs appear to develop on their own, with little relation
to other artistic forms (let alone to external cultural influences), they also appear
to develop independently of artists.[…] the motifs themselves seem to pursue
their own, predetermined goals.340

Margaret Iversen describes style for Riegl as “unmotivated”: “Riegl’ s insistence on the

“unmotivated” (as Saussure would say) character of the geometric style is another stick

with which to beat the hypothesis that geometric design is derived from techniques of

basketry and weaving.”341 Furthermore, in defining Kunstwollen Iversen argues that it

was created to counter “causal explanation” and “retrieve agency.” Notably, however,

Iversen does not say agency was given to artists. She defines this term as

an artistic will or urge or intent informing different period styles, [Kunstwollen]

was designed primarily to counter narrowly empiricist, determinist, functionalist,
materialist tendencies in art history and theory. Its emphasis on will was meant to
retrieve agency in artistic production from the domain of causal explanation.342

340
Olin, Forms of Representation in Alois Riegl’ s Theory of Art, 67.
341
Iversen, Alois Riegl: Art History and Theory, 56.
342
Ibid., 6

162
In freeing artistic creation from the sphere of causal explanation this liberating move

applies also to the artist. Thus, instead of residing within the artist the agency resides

within the ornamental process itself. Michael Gubser describes ornamental development

in Stilfragen as propelled by “an inner formal logic”: “a single, universal development

encompassed seemingly distinct motivic forms, and creative innovation was driven by an

inner formal logic.”343

When we examine Riegl’ s language in describing the Kunstwollen we find he

chooses words to emphasize its independent, free nature. In the introduction, as may be

recalled, he argues that Semper has been largely misunderstood and would not, in fact,

favor a mechanical-materialistic imitative drive in place of the “frei schöpferischen

Kunstwollens.”344 In two instances in his discussion of the acanthus motif, he emphasizes

that the process is entirely, or very largely, artistic in nature, which to him is equated with

a lack of mimesis. Riegl explains that he aims to convince at least a portion of his

colleagues that the acanthus motif arose through a purely artistic process that is wholly

independent of the imitation of nature (“infolge eines völlig künstlerischen,

ornamentgeschichtlichen Entwicklungsprocesses entstanden ist”).345 In a second

example soon after he tempers his claim somewhat by saying that the acanthus motif

arose out of a process of ornamental transformation that was, however, influenced to

some degree by naturalistic tendencies (“wie das Akanthusornament—weitab von

jeglicher unmittelbarer Naturnachahmung—aus rein ornamentalen Motiven heraus, wenn

343
Michael Gubser, “Time and History in Alois Riegl’ s Theory of Perception,” Journal
of the History of Ideas 66, no. 3 (2005): 452.
344
Riegl, Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik, VII.
345
Ibid., 214-15.

163
auch unter dem Einflusse naturalisierender Tendenz—entstanden sein dürfte”).346 With

the formulations “frei schöpferisch[]”, “völlig künstlerisch[]” and “aus rein ornamentalen

Motiven,” we see Riegl making the case for the autonomous nature of the ornamental

process and its underlying “Kunstwollen.” In addition, when talking about a particular

culture, for instance the Hellenistic Greeks, there is no discussion of the particular

psychological characteristics of people of this period. Instead, the Hellenistic

Kunstwollen is described as manifesting within their ornamental creations, especially the

tendril. In one passage the Hellenistic acanthus is described as the culmination of the

acanthus form in terms of formal beauty, its ability to connect motifs and the tendril.347

If we turn now to Steiner’ s theory of the derivation of the acanthus motif it is

very different in regards to subjectivity. The Kunstwollen for Riegl manifests outside of

the bounds of the subject and within the motifs and their transformations. In contrast,

Steiner’ s theory of the derivation of the acanthus motif, and his entire history of art, is a

history of the development of the subject, itself spiritual in nature. Thus, Steiner

understands the origin of the acanthus motif as intimately bound up with the particular

spiritual stage and “consciousness” of the ancient Greeks. Steiner is not opposed to

naturalism because he regards Greek artists as able to transcend mimesis but instead

holds that the period of Greek antiquity was part of the stage of “original participation,”

as Barfield called it. Steiner views artistic naturalism and ornament as artifacts of the

346
Ibid., 218.
347
Riegl states: “die [hellenistische] Griechen [haben] die Entwicklung zur Reife
gebracht: indem sie einerseits den einzelnen Theilmotiven den Charakter vollkommener
formaler Schönheit zu verleihen gewusst, anderseits—und das ist ihr besonderes
Verdienst—die gefälligste Art der Verbindung zwischen den einzelnen Motiven
geschaffen haben, nämlich die line of beauty, die rhythmisch bewegte Ranke. Ibid., 47.
Emphasis in original.

164
“onlooker consciousness.” The premise is that in Greek antiquity mimesis did not yet

exist at all as people in this period didn’ t experience themselves as separate from the

“outer” world.

In a few noteworthy formulations in the 1914 lecture “Der gemeinsame Ursprung

der Dornacher Bauformen und des griechischen Akanthusornamentes” Steiner uses

language strikingly similar to Riegl’ s “Kunstwollen.” He asserts that the Goetheanum

building aims to manifest forces that approximate the original forces of the artistic will,

something not present in most contemporaneous works:

Und das wird uns allmählich das Verständnis kommen, daß wir mit dem, was wir
hier wollen mit diesem Bau, den, ich möchte sagen, “Urkräften künstlerischen
Wollens” […] wenn man auf die Entstehung der Künste einmal das geistige Auge
lenkt—viel näher kommen als ihm dasjenige nahekommt, was so vielfach als
künstlerische Auffassung in der Gegenwart sich geltend macht.348

This and two other formulations on this first page alone contain terms very similar to

Riegl’ s Kunstwollen. In the other instance Steiner talks of his building as being in

unison with the genesis of the arts and with the original will (“wie unser Bau […] im

Einklang sein will mit dem Urwollen, mit der Entstehung der Künste”).349 In another

instance slightly later in the lecture Steiner argues that to understand each period a correct

understanding of the respective artistic will takes precedence over the attention toward

outward features of the plant like the flower or tendril (“für jene Zeiten [… war] einer,

ich möchte sagen, richtigen Auffassung des künstlerischen Wollens, viel wichtiger als die

Anschauung einer Blume oder einer Ranke”).350 As the lecture title reveals, Steiner

regards the Goetheanum and the acanthus motif as springing from the same aesthetic

348
Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch, 47.
349
Ibid. Emphasis mine.
350
Ibid., 50.

165
origins, namely what could be called the ancient Greek artistic will. Notably, both Riegl

and Steiner conceive of the ancient Greek Kunstwollen as supraindividual in nature. In

Riegl’ s case this is because the catalyst behind aesthetic evolution is the inner, formal

logic of the ornamental motif and not the subject. In Steiner’ s case, by contrast, it is

because in ancient Greece a clearly demarcated individual subject did not yet exist.

In contrast to Riegl, Steiner does not examine the acanthus motif as a series of

detailed formal shifts, but instead considers the issue of the origin and evolution of the

acanthus motif as inextricably linked with and arising from the distinct psychic outlook

and spiritual stage of the ancient Greeks. In this theory Steiner emphasizes three

elements of the ancient Greek soul experience or Kunstwollen. First, the acanthus motif

is said to stem from a lingering ancient, clairvoyant awareness, still present in ancient

Greece and Rome, of humans’ interconnectedness with the greater cosmos, a theory

already discussed in the Worringer section. Steiner regards the sculptor Kallimachos of

the Vitruvian story as possessing clairvoyant capacities. Second, the genesis of the

acanthus motif is linked with architectural developments, namely the invention of the

Corinthian column and the rendering of the palmetto motif in sculptural form,

transformations Riegl also describes. What distinguishes Steiner’ s theory, however, is

his argument that the changes in architecture came about through changes in the Greco-

Roman soul life when the so-called “Verstandesseele” or “Gemütsseele” came to fruition.

Third, Steiner asserts that ancient Greek art stemmed from an awareness of the etheric

body.351

351
Steiner speaks of the human being as comprised of a four-part nature: the physical, the
life or etheric body, the astral or emotional body and the “I” or the Ego. Regarding the
etheric, Steiner posited that all living things have a life force that distinguishes them from

166
 According to Steiner the original creative act that generated the eventual acanthus

form was a collective dance in an amphitheater in which the dancers used two leaves, the

lotus and the palm, as props to show the forces of the earth and the sun and their

interconnectedness with these greater cosmic forces.352 The dancers reached for leaves

not because they were interested in naturalistically depicting the leaves, but as an aid to

help manifest these greater forces (“diese Personen [stellen] etwas Wichtiges [dar] etwas,

was es […] nicht ausgebildet gibt auf der Erde, sondern wovon es auf der Erde nur

Analogien gibt”).353 The two leaf forms were chosen as their shapes echoed the shape of

the two respective forces: the palm, with its outward-reaching leaves, was analogous to

the sun’ s outward gesture and the lotus, rounded at the base and forming a point at the

top, stood for the earth forces. The dancers were arranged so that the leaf forms

alternated—lotus, palm, lotus and palm. This arrangement Steiner posits as the

progenitor of the “palm motif,” the motif of Mesopotamian and Greek art, which is the

precursor to the final acanthus motif form.

dead or inanimate things. Steiner often discusses the plant as the embodiment of the
etheric body.
352
Art historian Beat Wyss provides some historical context for Steiner’ s theory of
macrocosm and microcosm: “Der Mensch als mikrokosmisches Ebenbild der
Himmelssphären ist ein Topos der antiken Naturphilosophie, der in gnostischen Lehren
überliefert wurde, deren moderne Ausprägungen Theosophie und Anthroposophie sind.”
See Wyss, Der Wille zur Kunst: zur ästhetischen Mentalitat der Moderne, 146. In his
book Wyss discusses Steiner’ s first Goetheanum in a chapter in which he also examines
Wölfflin, Panofsky, Riegl, and the Blaue Reiter and Kandinsky. Wyss is generally quite
critical of Steiner’ s thought, deeming it obscurantist and part of a branch of anti-
modernist thinking within modernism.
353
Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch, 51. It is worth
pointing out that in this formulation with the verb “darstellen” we again encounter the
question of what Steiner means by representation and symbolism, a topic discussed in
depth in the first chapter. In this lecture Steiner takes pains to make the point that
representation of the leaves was never the aim.

167
 Steiner summarizes the process of transformation from the original dance to the

final ornamental acanthus form as a process of simplifying what was originally a direct

and lively experience.

Dasjenige, was sich nun damals den Menschen darbot, und was alles für die
Zuschauer ringherum dargestellt wurde und durchaus die Darstellung von
lebendigen kosmischen Kräften war, das wurde später vereinfacht zu jenem
Ornamente, in dessen Linie man zusammenfaßte dasjenige, was damals der
Mensch indem er diese Dinge darstellte, lebendig erfühlte.354

As seen in the repeated use of word lively (“lebendig”), also present in one of the quotes

above, Steiner emphasizes in his account that the origins were lived experience in

contrast to the final, fixed ornamental form. The shift from the medium of dance to the

later acanthus form in sculpture also shows the transition.355

Steiner posits that a key creation in the development of the acanthus motif was the

Corinthian column. This column is regarded as emblematic of the ancient Greek

emphasis on weight-bearing action and its spiritual counterpart of the bringing of the ego

into the physical body. More generally, Steiner conceives of the medium of architecture

in particular as linked with the soul (“Seele,” “Seelische”). In the lecture of 5 February

1913 in the same lecture cycle Steiner outlined the history of architecture as one of soul

354
Ibid., 52-53.
355
In the above quote Steiner’ s spiritual wording of cosmic forces (“kosmische Kräfte”)
is worth noting for its link with similar language from Worringer. As introduced early in
this chapter, Worringer also spoke of art as derived from a certain relationship with the
“cosmos.” He argues, for example, that empathy and abstraction differ “in ihrem
psychischen Verhalten dem Kosmos gegenüber.” Worringer, Abstraktion und
Einfühlung: ein Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie. 19-20. Steiner is clear that he believes that
art was produced in ancient times out of a direct experience of the workings of the
“cosmos.” With Worringer, in contrast, it is unclear to what extent he may be using this
term as a common turn of phrase, describing an older mentality he does personally
espouse or, in fact, describing a past stage of spiritual art that he argues was closed during
the modern period.

168
development.356 As opposed to ancient Egyptian architecture that reflects a reciprocal

relationship between self and world, Greek and Roman architecture is seen as a

manifestation of the “Verstandes-” or “Gemütsseele.”357 The attention at this stage turns

much toward a preoccupation with the rich, inner world and there is less interest in

expanding outward. People at this stage are understood as developing their independent

egos and their intellectual capacities. The architecture is described as reflecting this

inward-turning orientation in the way that buildings represent a totality unto themselves

and the strengthening, independent subject is manifested in the ancient Greek’ s ability

to bear weight.

Steiner describes this theory in the following way:

in Griechenland [kam] zunächst die Erfassung des Ich im menschlichen Leibe

in vollkommenster Weise zum Ausdruck []. Und deshalb war es in
Griechenland, wo ein solches Motiv zum Ausdruck kommen konnte: daß das Ich,
wenn es im Leibe ist, sich verstärken muß, wenn es eine Last trägt.358

Steiner argues that the volute is the element of the column that most expresses this

strengthening of the ego. During the process of the volute becoming a weight-bearing

feature Steiner argues that the Doric becomes an Ionic column. Then, when the volute is

lengthened further and the weight bearing character is fully expressed, the Corinthian

column arises. Along with the downward extension of the volute, there is a key change

in medium from painting to sculpture. When the “palm motif” is rendered in sculpture

and also made part of the weight-bearing character of the Corinthian column, this motif is

356
Steiner titles this lecture “Der Ursprung der Architektur aus dem Seelischen des
Menschen und im Zusammenhang mit dem Gang der Menschheitsentwickelung.”
357
Steiner has a complex theory of different “bodies” or “mentalities” and how the
development of certain ones is the focus of certain cultural periods. A detailed account of
this theory is not necessary for my project. For my purposes the term “mentalities” will
suffice.
358
Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch, 54.

169
now worked out in relief and palm leaves are likewise extended downward and depicted

as turned downward. Steiner argues moreover that ancient Greeks had a heightened

experience of their physicality and especially of bearing weight, which found its

expression in architectural developments. Steiner describes the Greek artistic will as

linked with the experience of weight bearing, and more specifically with an awareness of

the forces (“Kräften”) necessary to bear weight. In the following formulation Steiner

uses a term very close to Kunstwollen:

für jene Zeiten [ist] mit einer, ich möchte sagen, richtigen Auffassung des
künstlerischen Wollens, viel wichtiger als die Anschauung einer Blume oder einer
Ranke das Gefühl war: ich muß etwas tragen, schwer tragen; ich beuge den
Rücken und mache mit meiner menschlichen Figur die Kraftentwickelung, die
mich Menschen nötigt, mich so zu bilden, um die Last zu tragen.359

Not only is the ancient Greek subject described as especially aware of its newly

acquired weight-bearing powers due to its strengthening modern ego, but, at the same

time, it is described as retaining an awareness from ancient clairvoyance of the etheric

body. Steiner argues that an awareness of the etheric allowed Greek artists to directly

experience the archetype and thus avoid the need for external mimesis. In the lecture on

the acanthus leaf Steiner argues that, though Vitruvius prudently refrained from saying so

explicitly, the sculptor Kallimachos was a clairvoyant who saw not physical leaves in a

basket atop the grave but the movements of the etheric body of the girl below that was a

kind of struggle between the sun and the earth forces.360 In another passage from the

same lecture, Steiner argues that people during the ancient Greek period developed an

awareness of how their movements and gestures developed out of the etheric into the

physical dimension (“wie die Bewegung des Menschen, wie Haltung und Geste die

359
Ibid., 50.
360
Ibid., 56.

170
menschliche Form und die menschliche Figur herausentwickeln aus dem Ätherischen ins

Physische”).361 In the work Philosophie Kosmologie und Religion Steiner argues that

ancient Greeks did not think with their brains but with their bodies and therefore Platonic

philosophy is so qualitatively different from modern philosophy.

Clearly Riegl’ s reading of the origin of the acanthus motif has no such esoteric

dimension.362 For him the key moment in the evolution of the acanthus motif is the

Hellenistic invention of the purely ornamental tendril as a feat of non-mimetic formal

creativity. It is an accomplishment because of the way artists depart completely from the

physical model. In contrast, with Steiner’ s theory of the role of an awareness of the

etheric body he argues that non-mimetic art departs from physical nature as the source of

artistic inspiration. This happens, however, when ancient Greeks, with their developing,

modern subjectivity, draw on ancient, not modern, clairvoyant knowledge.

After hearing Steiner’ s theory of the role of the etheric body it can be easy to

forget the important resonances that I argue are there between the art theory of Riegl and

Steiner. To summarize, I argue that both thinkers take issue with the dominant,

naturalistic reading of the acanthus leaf because they see this reading as an instance of a

greater tendency in their era to project a modern consciousness unto fundamentally

different, older consciousness. Riegl posited that artistic styles of a given period are

shaped most crucially by a collective artistic will, the Kunstwollen, rather than by the

external factors of materials, technique and the mimesis of nature. I contend that Steiner

361
Ibid., 50.
362
In the introduction of Stilfragen Riegl critiques a religious-based argument made by
American art historian W.G. Goodyear. In his work Grammar of the Lotus Goodyear
asserts that the origins of the lotus motif were in a sun cult. Judging by Riegl’ s strong
criticism of this argument, we can infer what he would think of Steiner’ s reading of the
acanthus motif.

171
also thinks of art history as progressing through a transformation in “consciousness” or

Kunstwollen, but that, while Riegl’ s notion of artistic will is separate from subjectivity,

for Steiner the Kunstwollen is a reflection of the cultural and spiritual stage of the subject.

Conclusion

At the heart of this chapter are three, contemporaneous art historians who, at a

particular modernist moment in which both artistic naturalism and abstraction were

prominent, felt compelled to cast their gaze far back into history to rewrite the entire

history of art. While each respective history is unique on many counts, all three are

grand, fairly schematic art historical narratives that theorize a pre-modernist origin to

abstraction.

In this chapter I argue for specific links, and divergences, between Steiner and the

other two contemporaries. Regarding resonances between Steiner and Worringer, I

contend that in both histories of art spatial, temporal and spiritual categories formatively

shape the way that art progresses from one epoch to another. Spatially, Worringer’ s

model can be seen as an inverse of Steiner’ s such that an epoch that the former thinker

views as dominated by abstraction, the latter thinker understands as primarily oriented

toward empathy. Temporally, I show that Worringer’ s schema operates largely, though

not entirely, through a binary model between the poles of empathy and abstraction.

Steiner’ s schema, in contrast, works dialectically in the three-stage “evolution of

consciousness.” I also argue that both Steiner and Worringer view a spiritual outlook as

shaping spatial experience. For Steiner, the spatial experience undergoes a dialectical,

three-part progression. First, ancient people feel wholly united with the spiritual

172
dimension and experience no spatial distinction between inside or outside; then, as people

gain awareness of their own subjectivity, and its inner dimension, they feel alienated, or

spatially distanced; finally, in an age only starting to dawn, Steiner envisions people re-

connecting with the spiritual dimension while also retaining their self-aware subjectivity,

that is, their ability to experience an inside and an outside or a self and other. In

Worringer’ s case, though he personally voices skepticism or even disdain toward the

potential of spiritual art in the modernist period, he understands empathy and abstraction

as psychic dispositions that are integrally shaped by spiritual or religious outlook.

In my analysis of Steiner in dialogue with Riegl, I show the way that both thinkers

take on what seems a detail of art history—the origins of the Corinthian acanthus leaf

motif —as a way to establish larger claims about the history of abstraction and a

refutation of artistic naturalism. I assert that both thinkers conceive of the history of art

as shaped by what Riegl calls the Kunstwollen, a collective, internal, immanent artistic

will that shapes the artistic production of a given period. In Steiner’ s case I find the

Kunstwollen intimately linked with the “evolution of consciousness,” an evolution that

involves the development of subjectivity. In Riegl’ s case, by contrast, I argue that the

artistic motifs take center stage and there is little to no discussion of an evolving subject.

173
 CHAPTER 3

The first Goetheanum Building and Steiner’s Vision of Peace and

Internationalism

Introduction

In 1913 enthusiastic volunteers from seventeen countries helped to construct and

decorate the first Goetheanum building. When the war broke out in July of 1914, many

workers continued to work harmoniously beside people who had suddenly become war

enemies. Nevertheless, the nationalistic passions that ignited at the war’ s outbreak also

began to manifest themselves amongst the ranks of the community in Dornach. Andrei

Bely (1880-1934), Anthroposophist and author best known for the novel Petersburg, was

present during this time and describes a mood of fear when soldiers would loiter around

immediately outside the Goetheanum. At the beginning of the war it seemed very

possible that German cannons in Baden could be pointed toward nearby Dornach. Bely

describes the eruption of national partisanship at the Goetheanum throughout September

and October of 1914 in the following way:

the British and the Russians gathered together in little groups, the Germans often
insisted very tactlessly that the war had been instigated by the provocative attitude
of England; the Russians countered with the statement that a breach of neutrality
amounts to barbarism. Soon, theoretical debates changed to concrete incidents
and endangered the whole life of Dornach.363

363
Andrei Belyi, Aasya Turgenieff, Margarita Woloschin, Reminiscences of Rudolf
Steiner (Ghent, NY: Adonis Press, 1987), 55.

174
 In response to the outburst of nationalism both within and far beyond Dornach

Steiner gave a number of lectures in which he spoke about the need for peace and

intercultural harmony. For example, two weeks after the outbreak of the war Steiner held

a seven-part lecture series in the Goetheanum that included hands-on first aid instruction

entitled “Das Geheimnis der Wunde” or sometimes referred to as the “Samariterkurs.” In

the first lecture Steiner calls on his fellow Anthroposophists to strive to be a cohort that

brings peace and harmony in the devastating times: “In diesen Zeiten, wo alles erschüttert

zu sein scheint, wollen wir uns doch bestreben, eine Schar zu sein, die Frieden und

Harmonie in eines jeden Herzen hegt und pflegt.”364 Steiner also delivered five lectures

over three weekends in October of 1914, ten to twelve weeks after the war’ s outbreak

with the title “Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens.” In this

series Steiner speaks repeatedly of the great need for cultural collaboration. For instance,

Steiner calls on his fellow Anthroposophists to help foster what he terms an “energetic

culture of peace” (“energische Friedenskultur”).365 In one key analogy he exhorts those

from different cultural groups to collaborate and sound together as in a single, great

chorus.

During the time just preceding and during the early days of the First World War

many German-speaking artists and thinkers were swept up, at least initially, in the

collective mood of nationalistic fervor that inspired young men across Europe to

364
Rudolf Steiner, Das Geheimnis der Wunde. Aufzeichnungen zum sogenannten
Samariterkurs gehalten von Rudolf Steiner in Dornach vom 13-16 August 1914, ed.
Walter Kugler, vol. Hft Nr. 108, Beiträge zur Rudolf Steiner Gesamtausgabe.
Veröffentlichungen aus dem Archiv der Rudolf Steiner-Nachlassverwaltung (1992), 7.
365
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 31.

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volunteer for military service.366 At a time when nationalism was the rule, Rudolf Steiner

was part of the small minority of artists and intellectuals who spoke out against the war

from its inception. Examples of other artists and writers notable for their early stance

against the war include the following artists, all of whom are German: Käthe Kollwitz

(1867-1945), the novelist Heinrich Mann (1871-1950), writer and publicist Kurt Hiller

(1885-1972), and artist and prominent member of the Berlin Dada and Neue Sachlichkeit

groups George Grosz (1893-1959).

In this chapter, I focus attention on how during the First World War Steiner

conceived of the first Goetheanum as promoting peace and internationalism. By

highlighting how Steiner conceived of the Goetheanum as an aesthetic response to the

war, I show that his spiritually-inspired aesthetics were far from divorced from

contemporary political issues. I demonstrate that Steiner’ s spiritual thought was very

much grounded in both aesthetics and politics, a dual interest he shared with other

contemporary Expressionists. Indeed, the Goetheanum building, both the first and

second version, has been recognized by many scholars as part of the canon of

Expressionist architecture. I also show that the way Steiner’ s architectural theory is

informed by spiritual ideas resonates with a number of Expressionists and “spiritual

366
Famous examples of artists include the German writer Thomas Mann (1875-1955)
with his nationalistic and jingoistic work “Betrachtungen eines Unpolitischen” (1915-
1918); in later editions Mann edited and tempered the most extreme passages. Franz
Marc (1880-1916), German artist and co-founder with Kandinsky of the Blaue Reiter
group, saw the war as a way to renew Europe; he died in the war in 1916. The German
philosopher and sociologist Georg Simmel (1858-1918) argued that the war was creating
a new sense of community in the 1914 essay “Deutschlands innere Wandlung.” The
German architect Adolf Behne, who contributed to Taut’ s work Die Stadtkrone (1919)
wrote in an article in 1915 of the German war effort as a new, revolutionary force in
Europe.

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modernists” in whose circles Steiner more and less directly moved. This focus on the

spiritual, but also the “worldly” nature of Steiner’ s thought, harks back to a key

argument made in Chapter One where I discussed the aesthetic programs of Steiner and

Kandinsky. I argue that though Steiner influenced Kandinsky’ s theory of abstraction, he

was not ultimately oriented toward abstraction but, instead, aimed for a symbolism

reminiscent of Goethe that immerses deeply into the material and formal dimension.

In this chapter I place particular focus upon Steiner as an architectural historian

and, for the first time, as a practitioner, that is, as an architect, artist and designer and not

only a theorist, thinker and lecturer.367 In addition, for the first time one sees Steiner as

someone who took a political stance in his promotion of pacifism and internationalism in

the face of the ubiquitous fervent nationalism of the time. As part of his cultural and

political theory, he thinks in geopolitical categories by highlighting the special role of

Central Europe (“Mitteleuropa”) in overcoming nationalism.

I conclude the chapter with a consideration of how two artistic aspects of the

Goetheanum were meant to both express and facilitate intercultural understanding. First

is the series of carved columns each with a different motif meant to express one of seven

cultures that Steiner identified in the history of cultural evolution. Second are the painted

motifs adorning the smaller cupola, which contain archetypal figures from different

367
Steiner was not a trained architect and was largely self-taught, though he considered
Austrian architect Josef Bayer (1889-1979), a student of Gottfried Semper, as his teacher.
Wolfgang Pehnt argues that Steiner was influenced by Wiener Historismus. Steiner
studied at the Technische Hochschule Wien (1879-1883). For more information on
Semper, see footnote 83 in the second chapter. Steiner was acquainted with Otto Wagner
and Heinrich von Ferstel, famous for his Votivkirche in Vienna, lectured at the
Technische Hochschule. In addition, Pehnt argues that Steiner must have been
influenced by the palatial structures of Alois Bastl and Otto Schönthal. Pehnt, “Etwas
wie Morgenröte: Die Architektur von Rudolf Steiner,” 109.

177
cultures. Steiner held that aesthetic contemplation of forms that express the evolution of

culture would ignite recognition of this shared cultural and spiritual history.

While Steiner has received significant attention within scholarship on the history

of architecture, a consideration of Steiner’ s architectural theory as a project for peace

and internationalism and the linkages with contemporaneous architects and thinkers has

been almost entirely neglected.368 Among other sources, I focus especially on the

analysis of the lectures given only weeks after the outbreak of war in 1914. I bring these

theories by Steiner into conversation with those of a number of his contemporaries who,

like Steiner, engaged with aspects of both Expressionism and what I call “spiritual

modernism” and who were dismayed at the war. I first read Steiner’ s wartime thought

alongside Sigmund Freud’ s set of essays entitled “Zeitgemäßes über Krieg und Tod” of

1915. While both figures reject the nationalistic fervor of the time, they differ on what

they think of the viability of internationalism and the potential for transforming human

nature through art. In addition, I show that particularly resonant with Steiner’ s wartime

architectural theory are the highly imaginative, and at times fantastical, theoretical

writings and drawings of two Expressionists who identified as pacifist: the architect

Bruno Taut (1880-1938) and his close friend and colleague the science fiction writer,

368
There is a forthcoming new English translation and annotated edition of this lecture
cycle by Frederick Amrine and John Kettle. They give the cycle the title “The First
Goetheanum. Architecture as Peacework.” The original title was “Der Dornacher Bau als
Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse.” I am
indebted to Amrine and Kettle for alerting me to the topic of Steiner’ s architecture as
aiming to foster peace.

178
poet and illustrator Paul Scheerbart (1863-1915).369 As part of the 1914 Werkbund

exhibit in Cologne Taut created the Glashaus, a prismatic glass pavilion. On the frieze of

this structure were written aphorisms from Scheerbart on the virtues of colored glass and

the pacifying potential of the medium, including one aphorism that declared “Das bunte

Glas/ Zerstört den Haß.” Taut drew much inspiration for this structure from Scheerbart’

s treatise Glasarchitektur (1914) in which he envisioned a world adorned with structures

of colored glass that facilitate cultural harmony.370 The manner in which Scheerbart

discusses the nature of colored, transparent glass, as able to transcend the boundaries

between architecture and nature, and between humans and the greater cosmos,

reminiscent of the ways in which Steiner conceived of the painted walls of the

Goetheanum as spiritually and aesthetically transparent to wider nature. Another link I

show between Steiner and Taut, and his greater circle, including other members of the

Arbeitsrat für Kunst, an association of artists and architects in existence between 1918

and 1921, is that they were not solely architects and theorists but made attempts to affect

political change. Sadly, the Glashaus did not survive the war and Taut was forced to

suspend his architectural work until after the war. Scheerbart died of a sudden heart

attack in the fall of 1915, bringing a too early death for this author and architectural

theorist. The period of creative and visionary architectural ideas by Scheerbart and Taut

was quite brief indeed.

369
As will be discussed, Scheerbart was an admirer and student of Steiner. Two
members of the Gläserne Kette (1919), a group started by Taut to foster the exchange of
architectural ideas, were Anthroposophists: Paul Goesch and Hermann Finsterlin.
370
As indication of the close partnership between the two friends, Scheerbart dedicates
this work to Taut.

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Steiner’ s Wartime Thought in Conversation with Sigmund Freud’ s “Zeitgemäßes

über Krieg und Tod”

As a foray into my discussion of Steiner’ s cultural and architectural theory and

how these informed his response to the First World War, I would like to bring Steiner’ s

thought briefly into conversation with his contemporary Sigmund Freud and Freud’ s set

of essays “Zeitgemäßes über Krieg und Tod.” They were written in 1915 six months

after the outbreak of war and are a critical reaction to the patriotism and nationalism that

erupted at this time. Steiner shares with Freud the fundamental denunciation of

nationalism during this time. In other ways, however, the two responses to the war are

quite different.

In his essay, Freud argues that the war revealed a crisis of civilization in that the

brutal killing, aided by modern, advanced technology, was equally if not more barbaric as

past “primitive” wars. From Freud’ s perspective, the war exposed the concepts of

internationalism, cosmopolitanism and civilization to be illusions. In the first section

entitled “Die Enttäuschung des Krieges,” Freud argues that while the assumption

remained that wars between “primitive” and more “civilized” peoples would continue,

many had placed hope in the idea that the dominant European nations who led the world

in their artistic and scientific innovations could overcome the need for war.371 He

advances the idea that the painful disappointment felt by many about the war was a sign

371
Freud argues: “Von den großen weltbeherrschenden Nationen weißer Rasse, denen die
Führung des Menschengeschlechtes zugefallen ist, die man mit der Pflege
weltumspannender Interessen beschäftigt wußte, deren Schöpfungen die technischen
Fortschritte in der Beherrschung der Natur wie die künstlerischen und wissenschaftlichen
Kulturwerte sind, von diesen Völkern hatte man erwartet, daß sie es verstehen würden,
Mißhelligkeiten und Interessenkonflikte auf anderem Wege zum Austrag zu bringen.”
Sigmund Freud, Zeitgemäßes über Krieg und Tod (1915), (Projekt Gutenberg, 2009),
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29941/29941-h/29941-h.htm.

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of how captive all were to this illusion: “unsere Kränkung und schmerzliche

Enttäuschung […] beruhten auf einer Illusion, der wir uns gefangen gaben.” Freud

characterizes the fundamental nature of human beings, in psychological terms, as

compelled by impulses and primitive needs: “Die psychologische […] Untersuchung

zeigt vielmehr, daß das tiefste Wesen des Menschen in Triebregungen besteht, die

elementarer Natur, bei allen Menschen gleichartig sind und auf die Befriedigung gewisser

ursprünglicher Bedürfnisse zielen.”372 He argues further that the high standard of good

conduct required by “civilized” society compells a person to try to suppress or renounce

these primitive impulses. The outbreak of the war, however, with its great cruelty and

lawlessness proved to Freud that such attempts at suppression are ultimately futile. The

war was a significant factor in Freud’ s devotion in his following work to the theme of

the destructive drive within humans.

In great contrast to Freud’ s appraisal of the war as revealing the illusory nature

of concepts of internationalism and civilization, Steiner ardently believes in these

concepts as still attainable despite the devastation of the war. Freud concludes in this set

of essays that war cannot be abolished for the foreseeable future: “Der Krieg ist aber

nicht abzuschaffen; solange die Existenzbedingungen der Völker so verschieden und die

Abstoßungen unter ihnen so heftig sind, wird es Kriege geben müssen.”373 Steiner, on

the other hand, believes that a certain kind of spiritual art can help unite clashing cultures

to bring about a harmony between all cultural groups (“Harmonie aller

Kulturgemeinschaften”). He argues that if people recognize how all diverse cultures

have in common a single, shared cultural history, then hatred between groups will

372
Ibid.
373
Ibid.

181
disappear. Steiner asks, rhetorically, if everyone learns what he views as these truths,

then, “Wie könnte der Angehörige der einen Kulturgemeinschaft den Angehörigen einer

anderen Kulturgemeinschaft einfach hassen und über ihn schimpfen?”).374

As discussed later in the chapter, in “Gedanken während der Zeit des Krieges”

Steiner bases his claim that Germany is inherently less bellicose than many of its

European peers by portraying Germany as a Kulturnation, that is, a society that reached a

great level of civilization. Also, while Freud thinks of human nature in terms of

underlying drives Steiner conceives of human nature as including a spiritual dimension

with a set of higher, spiritual sheaths. Art, for Steiner, contains the potential to transform

human nature by helping people recognize the universally shared spiritual make-up. As

will be discussed in the final section of the chapter, a number of Steiner’ s art works in

the first Goetheaum portray or express the history of cultural evolution and the seven

main cultural groups that comprise Steiner’ s schema. An aesthetic encounter with these

forms is meant to awaken the knowledge of this shared evolutionary history, a process

meant to help people overcome difference and achieve inter-cultural unity.

The First Goetheanum in the Context of Contemporaneous Movements

Before I critically engage with Steiner’ s architectural theory, I will describe the

first Goetheanum and provide a history of its inception. As it is still a relatively little

known building, I also touch on the major building types with which it intersects,

including: ancient temple architecture and the Gothic cathedral, and movements to which

it participated, notably Organicism. I also note the link with Gesamtkunstwerk, a form of

374
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 55.

182
artwork that seeks to incorporate many media into a single work and thereby transcends

the traditional boundaries between genres. All of these are elements in the greater

Expressionism movement into which the Goetheanum fits.

Two important events, both of them in Munich, which predated and inspired the

ultimate erection of the Goetheanum building in Dornach. As noted in the first chapter,

Munich was a vital center in the pre-war years when Steiner and for Kandinsky and the

Blaue Reiter were active there. One of the earliest events that sparked desire to erect the

Goetheanum was the world conference of the European section of the Theosophical

Society that was held in the Tonhalle in Türkenstrasse in Munich in 1907, discussed in

the introduction and also in Chapter One. A mystery play was performed here, but the

audience noticed that the venue did not provide the necessary space for the full aesthetic

effect; and, after this event, participants felt a need for their own architectural space.375

In 1911 and 1912, Steiner had plans drawn up for a large building in the Schwabing

district of Munich near Münchener Freiheit and land was even purchased. At this time

the proposed structure was not yet called the Goetheanum but the Johannesbau.376 The

building had a pentagonal ground plan, and the second plan, produced in 1912, had the

outer buildings positioned closely around the central building, as well as a foyer, that

shielded it from plain view. This was done in part as an effort to not offend local

planning authorities and the local community, including the Catholic church next door,

the Erlöserkirche. The effort proved unsuccessful, however, as a negative report by an

375
See the section entitled “The Munich Moment” in Chapter One for more details on
this conference.
376
The name stems from Johannes Thomasius, the central protagonist of Steiner’ s four
Mystery Dramas, performed in Munich from 1910-1913.

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advisor for the Erlöserkirche led to the rejection of planning permission for the

Johannesbau.377 When the plan for building in Munich failed, a dentist named Emil

Grosheintz offered a building plot in Dornach, a small city located near Basel. Dornach,

unlike Munich, did not yet have a development plan and, as a result, the plan was

approved rather quickly.378 Construction began in September of 1913 and the official

opening celebration was held in 1920 though the adornment was not fully finished.379

The first Goetheanum did not exist very long at all as it burned down during the night of

New Year’ s 1922/1923 due to suspected arson. The second Goetheanum was opened in

1928, three years after Steiner’ s death.380

377
Wolfgang Pehnt quotes this advisor, Theodor Fischer, as being perturbed by the
building and finding all of its parts “so sonderbar vergriffene Formen, daß der Betrachter
von einem Staunen ins andere fällt.” Pehnt, Rudolf Steiner, Goetheanum, Dornach, 40.
378
The site location in Dornach caused great controversy locally. This was because the
hill slope, also called the “Bluthügel” and the Burgruine Dorneck were national
memorials where in 1499 the Schwäbische Bund and the Eidgenossenschaft had their
battles. See Pehnt, “Etwas wie Morgenröte: Die Architektur von Rudolf Steiner,” 108. It
is noteworthy in light of the topic of this chapter that disturbing a war memorial site was
of no concern to Steiner.
379
Another link with the Munich area is the founding of the first Waldorf school, built
not far from Munich in Stuttgart in 1919. Emil Molt, the director of the Waldorf-Astoria
cigarette factory, invited Steiner and provided financial backing to start the school. This
school served the children of the workers at the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory along
with other local children. Now there is a worldwide Waldorf school movement with over
1,000 independent Waldorf schools in thirty countries.
380
Steiner was the leading architect of the major buildings of the Goetheanum before his
death in 1925. Before his death, Steiner had provided the general direction for this second
structure with a set of working drawings, sketches and a 1/100th scale plasticine model of
the building’ s exterior. See Sharp, Modern Architecture and Expressionism, 156. The
second Goetheanum is much larger (110,000 instead of 66,000 cubic meters of enclosed
space) and constructed of reinforced concrete to avoid a future catastrophic fire. Inside,
and under one roof, are lecture rooms, editorial offices, a 1,000-seat auditorium, a stage
and a library. A very significant difference is that in this second version it was not
possible to re-enlist the same kind of voluntary craftsmanship and artistic help that went
into the creation of the first Goetheanum. Thus, in the second building there is not the
level of detail in elements like hand carvings and there was also less attention given

184
 The first Goetheanum was an enormous building that measured 272 feet in length,

243 feet in width. The floor plan was axial, running east-west, and the building was

comprised of two large domes covered in slate; the height to the top of the largest of the

two domes was 111 feet. It was constructed entirely of timber with the exception of the

foundation made of reinforced concrete. Built on a ridge of one of the smaller foothills

of the Jura mountain range, it overlooked the city of Basel. The domes stood high and

could be seen for miles, in stark contrast to the hidden nature of the original plans for the

Munich building.

toward complex measurements and proportions. Though one would assume much was
lost in terms of the sculptural quality with the shift from wood to stone and the loss of
individual craftsmanship Wolfgang Pehnt has very high praise for this later building and
asserts that its merit lies in the feat of creating the impression of movement and sculpture
out of reinforced concrete. Pehnt calls the second Goetheanum “in actual fact one of the
most magnificent pieces of sculptural architecture of the twentieth century.” See Pehnt,
Expressionist Architecture, 148. The architect Hans Scharoun, designer of the Berlin
Philharmonic, visited the second Goetheanum in 1962 and declared it “the most
important building of the first half of the [20th] century.” See Rex Raab, Eloquent
Concrete: How Rudolf Steiner Employed Reinforced Concrete (London: Rudolf Steiner
Press, 1979), 18. For information on how Steiner’ s architectural theory and particularly
how his organicist style was among important influences on Frank Lloyd Wright, see the
introduction by John Kettle in Rudolf Steiner, The First Goetheanum: Towards a New
Theory of Architecture, ed. Frederick Amrine and John Kettle, vol. GA 289-290 (Great
Barrington, MA: SteinerBooks, forthcoming).

185
 Figure 1: The first Gotheanum
The domed shape of first Goetheanum gave it a temple-like appearance and it has been

understood by some scholars as part of the renewal of a secular form of temple within

modernism.381 Steiner rejected the characterization by some contemporaries of the

Goetheanum as a temple as he conceived of it as a structure that did not adhere to any

historical model. In a lecture from 1920, Steiner argues that people call the Goetheanum

a temple because they lack the vocabulary to describe such a new kind of building: “Man

sagt vielfach, nur weil man, ich möchte sagen, zu arm ist, um Worte für das Neue zu

381
Wolfgang Pehnt inscribes Steiner’ s Goetheanum into the greater modernist interest
in creating new temples (“Das Verlangen nach neuen Tempeln”). In this movement he
includes the glass temples of the Romantics; the work of Peter Behrens; Hendrik Petrus
Berlages; the crystal houses and city crowns of the Expressionist generation; the
Bayreuth Festspielhaus; the Ernst-Ludwig-Haus on the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt and
the Festspielhaus in Hellerau near Dresden. Pehnt also notes that Hugo Höppener (1868-
1948), known as Fidus, was a temple artist and Lebensreformer who designed temples as
early as 1892. He read Steiner’ s work and heard him lecture and was apparently upset
that he was never summoned by Steiner to help work on the Goetheanum. Pehnt, Rudolf
Steiner, Goetheanum, Dornach, 30.

186
finden, das sei ein Tempelbau. Aber der ganze Charakter widerspricht dem alten

Tempelbau-Charakter.”382 In other lectures he did, however, describe his building as

arising after a long line of temple structures. In a different lecture series he discusses the

Goetheanum as part of a long history of temple structures that includes, chronologically,

the Persian, Egyptian, Greek temples, Christian churches and then the Gothic

cathedral.383

The first Goetheanum clearly takes inspiration from the Gothic cathedral, an

architectural form that was of interest to myriad modernist architects and artists during

the era of “spiritual modernism.”384 In Paul Scheerbart’ s treatise Glasarchitektur (1914)

he argues that glass architecture would be inconceivable without Gothic architecture

(“Die Glasarchitektur ist nicht ohne die Gotik zu denken”).385 In the final section of

Abstraktion und Einfühlung (1907) and in Formprobleme der Gothik (1911), Wilhelm

Worringer had already written about the Gothic style. These theories were influential on

the reception of the Gothic style within modernism. In Formprobleme der Gothik,

Worringer contrasted the urge toward stylization of the Gothic with the Mediterranean

interest in verisimilitude.386 As I will briefly explain below, Steiner does not speak about

382
Steiner, Der Baugedanke von Dornach (1920), 148.
383
See the first lecture in Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird
Mensch, 19-29.
384
Iain Boyd Whyte argues that in the Arbeitsrat für kunst and in the Gläserne Kette
group that followed, “the cathedral, temple or cult building symbolized both the infinite
totality of humankind and the benevolent domination of architecture over the new world
of social harmony and equality.” Iain Boyd Whyte, “The Expressionist Sublime,” in
Expressionist Utopias. Paradise, Metropolis, Architectural Fantasy, ed. Timothy O.
Benson (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), 132.
385
Paul Scheerbart, Glasarchitektur (Berlin: Verlag der Sturm, 1914), 30.
386
In a famous later example, Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956) chose a Gothic cathedral to
symbolize the unity of the arts in a woodcut for the founding manifesto of Walter
Gropius’ s Bauhaus in 1919 to mark the opening of the new school in Weimar.

187
the Gothic style in the same terms as Worringer, but both esteem this period highly and,

broadly speaking, both regard its strength as lying in its ability to transcend form. For

Worringer, Gothic architecture transcends the need for naturalistic imitation; for Steiner,

Gothic forms overcome the need for spatial enclosure. In the same lecture in which

Steiner outlines a history of temple architecture, he is especially effusive in his praise of

the Gothic cathedral. He praises its physical openness and outward-oriented nature. He

argues that this openness marks a great departure from earlier temples whose structure

was meant to keep enclosed within its walls the spiritual dimension, which in this

instance Steiner calls God (“Der Gott”). In theorizing the ancient Greek temples—

Steiner specifically names those to Athena, Apollo or Zeus—he argues that no

congregation is needed within as God (him)self lives within these buildings: “Der Gott

wohnt in ihm, und dieses Wohnen des Gottes in ihm bildet seine in sich abgeschlossene

Unendlichkeit.”387 In contrast, Steiner understands the Gothic cathedral as aiming to

transcend all barriers: “Überall strebt die gotische Form über sich selbst hinaus, überall

strebt sie darnach [sic], etwas auszudrücken, was sich in dem Räume [sic], in dem man

ist, wie etwas Suchendes ausnimmt, wie etwas, das die Grenzen durchdringen und ins All

sich verweben will.”388 His description of the cathedral as seeking to penetrate the

physical boundaries and to reach into outer space resonates with Steiner’ s concept of the

permeability of matter and immateriality that influenced Kandinsky’ s artistic theories,

as discussed in the first chapter. Steiner’ s discussion of reaching beyond the confines of

physical space also resonates with how Taut and Scheerbart envisioned translucent

buildings on mountaintops or even on distant planets.

387
Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch, 21.
388
Ibid.

188
 The first Goetheanum was conceived as a performance space for Eurythmy,

Anthroposophic mystery plays and other performances. The space beneath the larger

dome held spectators and the small dome held the stage. Already present in the Munich

building plan was a key idea that materialized in the first Goetheanum: two domes fused

together.389 There was additionally a more esoteric concept underlying the double-

domes: the larger dome suspended over the audience was meant to express the “physical”

and the smaller dome the “spiritual-supersensory.” The main area was linked to three

smaller roofs that covered the accommodation and the entrance hall. The other buildings

on the site were grouped in a loose circle around the main building. The main façade of

each building faces toward the main building. The subsidiary buildings include, among a

few others, the Glashaus, a workshop with two independent semicircular domes and

windows similar to those of the Goetheanum; the boilerhouse (Heizhaus) with a large

chimney adorned by protruding forms meant to echo the shape of rising smoke and Haus

Duldeck, a concrete private home.

Considering the fusion of influences and functions noted above, the Goetheanum

should also be regarded as an example of Gesamtkunstwerk.390 While the idea of the

389
Wolfgang Pehnt explains that at the turn of the century centrally planned buildings on
a circular ground plan with a dome were built. Aside from Steiner, however, there is no
contemporaneous example of a larger and smaller dome combined and it was not until the
architecture of the Russian Revolution when cylindrical and sometimes domed spaces
were combined. Pehnt, Rudolf Steiner, Goetheanum, Dornach, 10.
390
Thomas Anz cites the Reallexicon der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft for a definition
of the term Gesamtkunstwerk as a phenomenon “based on the principle of crossing
boundaries between different media, thereby revoking the autonomy of individual art
forms and seeking to reintegrate the representational means of poetry, music, theater,
dance, and visual art into a complex whole.” Also, the societal factors that Anz describes
the Gesamtkunstwerk as countering are also those that inspired many what I call
“spiritual modernists.” Anz characterizes these factors as “ processes of social and
cultural modernization marked by specialization, differentiation and competition.”

189
Gesamtkunstwerk goes back to Richard Wagner, Kandinsky’ s and Taut’ s writings

about the topic may have been more potent to Steiner at the time. Central to Kandinsky’

s concept of “stage composition” was the idea of a synthesis of the arts; instead of a

simple fusion of art forms Kandinsky argues that the power of their interaction lay in the

tension between their “concordance” and “discordance.” In the so-called “color tone

dramas,” his four abstract, Expressionist plays written between 1909 and 1914, the

formal plot gives way to an experimental interplay of color, form and sound. The plays

are entitled “Der gelbe Klang,” “Grüner Klang oder Stimme,” “Schwarz und Weiß” and

“Schwarze Figur.” Der gelbe Klang was the only one of the four plays to be performed

in Kandinsky’ s lifetime and appeared in the Blaue Reiter almanac, itself a form of total

artwork with its mixture of images, literary texts, song scores and theoretical writing. In

his essay “Eine Notwendigkeit” (1914), Bruno Taut argues for a new form of architecture

that entails a unity of different art forms: “Es liegt eine Notwendigkeit in der neuen

Kunst, daß sich dieser Zusammenschluß von Architektur, Malerei und Plastik vollziehen

soll”).391 In 1914, Kandinsky and Hugo Ball (1886-1927), German author and one of the

Thomas Anz, “Setting the Soul in Vibration! Expressionist Concepts of the Total
Artwork,” in The Total Artwork in Expressionism: Art, Film, Literature, Theater, Dance,
and Architecture, 1905-25, ed. Ralf and Claudia Dillmann Beil (Mathildenhöhe
Darmstadt: Hatje Cantz), 52. This anthology from 2011 misses the opportunity to
substantively discuss Steiner in the context of Gesamtkunstwerk and only briefly
mentions his influence on Arnold Schönberg and Johannes Itten. In the one brief
discussion the second Goetheanum is called “one of the most curious architectural
sculptures of the time” and it is argued that Steiner loved the “odd novels” of the science
fiction writer Paul Scheerbart. To say that Steiner “loved” any of Scheerbart’ s writings
is inaccurate. As I mention later, it is well documented that Steiner felt sympathetic
toward Scheerbart but also found his science fiction odd and his spirituality superficial.
Ralf and Claudia Dillmann Beil, ed. The Total Artwork in Expressionism: Art, Film,
Literature, Theater, Dance, and Architecture 1905-1925 (Berlin, Germany: Hatje Cantz,
2011), 379. See my footnote on page 20 and 21.
391
Bruno Taut, “Eine Notwendigkeit,” Der Sturm 4, no. 196-197 (1914): 174-75.

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founders of the Dada movement and pioneer of the genre Lautgedicht, had drawn up

plans and publicized a festival theatre based on, among other things, Steiner’ s first

Goetheanum.392 In 1919, in his famous Theatermanifest Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948),

the painter, poet and member of the Dada movement, called for a unification oft the arts:

“Ich fordere die restlose Zusammenfassung aller künstlerischen Kräfte zur Erlangung des

Gesamtkunstwerks. Ich fordere die prinzipielle Gleichberechtigung aller Materialien.”393

Wolfgang Pehnt argues that in the first Goetheanum Steiner realized the dream of

the unity of the arts that was longed for by the revolutionary circle of architects in Berlin:

Die in den Entstehungsjahren der Goetheanum-Bauten oft beschworene

Gemeinde aller Bauenden, im Kreise um die Berliner Revolutionsarchitekten oder
im frühen Weimarer Bauhaus herbeigesehnt—auf dem Dornacher Hügel war sie
ebenso Wirklichkeit geworden wie die Vereinigung der Künste.394

In this article Taut also cites Kandinsky as a model for an artist who combined all
pictorial forms and says architects must likewise use all available architectural forms.
Scheerbart and Taut first became acquainted in 1912 through the circle of artists and
intellectuals around Herwarth Walden’ s journal Der Sturm.
392
Andreas Kramer, “Goethe and the Cultural Project of German Modernism: Steiner,
Kandinsky, Friedlaender, Schwitters and Benjamin,” Publications of the English Goethe
Society 71 (2001): 27.
393
From Schwitter’ s work “An alle Bühnen der Welt” quoted in Christoph
Kleinschmidt, Intermaterialität: zum Verhältnis von Schrift, Bild, Film und Bühne im
Expressionismus, Lettre (Bielefeld: Transcript, 2012), 121.
394
Pehnt, Rudolf Steiner, Goetheanum, Dornach, 26. Immediately following this quote,
Pehnt refers to Peter Behrens’ writing about a project for an ideal theatre that sounds
similar to Steiner’ s Goetheanum. This work includes many photographs and
architectural sketches and models of both Goetheanum buildings and also discusses the
building plans that preceded the first Goetheanum. Pehnt considers both versions of the
building, including the smaller surrounding buildings, in the context of Organicism,
Gesamtkunstwerk and the revival of temple architecture. He finds parallels between the
Haus Duldeck, a concrete private house, and Antoni Gaudí’ s Casa Mila and echoes with
Erich Mendelsohn’ s Einsteinturm (1917-1921). The last section considers the influence
of Steiner’ s architecture on future structures. It is noteworthy that an architectural
historian of Pehnt’ s stature devoted an entire book to the Goetheanum buildings. Pehnt’
s assessment of the importance of Steiner’ s contribution within architecture, however,
changed significantly over time. In the Encyclopedia of Modern Architecture (1964),
edited by Pehnt, there is no entry on Steiner. In Expressionist Architecture (1973), there

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In an earlier essay, Pehnt also argued that Steiner realized a dream of many Expressionist

architects in setting the stage for a drama festival with a residential community that

resided in a complex with a building at its center that was in some respects a religious

building.395 Andrew Beard also considered Steiner’ s architecture an example of a

modern Gesamtkunstwerk and linked the design of the two Goetheanum buildings with

the work of well-known Expressionist architects — Antonio Gaudi, Saint Elia, Herman

Finsterlin, Hans Scharoun, Eero Saarinen, and Erich Mendelsohn.396

The first Goetheanum exhibited a variety of artistic forms. In the auditorium

there were fourteen columns and each was made from a different kind of wood. There

were carved bases, capitals and architraves on the inner ring of columns; the forms were

meant to express the seven “Post-Atlantean” epochs of cultural evolution. There were

ceiling paintings in the domes that depicted archetypal figures across Steiner’ s cultural

epochs. There were also stained-glass windows. The large wooden sculpture carved by

Steiner, called “Die Gruppe” and measuring ten meters or over thirty-two feet, was

is a chapter devoted to Steiner in which Pehnt emphasizes the spiritual background of

Steiner’ s theories and the link with a number of contemporary architects.
395
Pehnt argues that the Goetheanum brought to reality “the idea of a hilltop drama
festival combined with that of a residential and social community lying in the shadow of
the dominant theatre, which would have almost the character of a religious building. The
ideal of the Expressionist architects—the abode of man surmounted by the sacred—never
came so close to realization as here in this swiss village.” Pehnt, Expressionist
Architecture, 141. Beat Wyss links Steiner with Richard Wagner due to their aim to
build a stage for their Gesamtkunstwerk. Wyss notes that the two projects were
temporally close: the Richtfest was celebrated in 1914 and in 1916 the first Goetheanum
was finished. Both also initially planned their stages to be located in Munich and both
ultimately ended up in the more provincial locations of Dornach and Bayreuth,
respectively. Wyss has a generally critical view of Steiner as seen, as one example, in the
derogatory and inaccurate description of him as an “unermüdlicher Prediger.” Wyss, Der
Wille zur Kunst: zur ästhetischen Mentalitat der Moderne, 142.
396
Andrew Beard, ed. Steiner, Architecture: An Introductory Reader (Forest Row:
Sophia Books, 2003), 2.

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located where the symmetrical axis met the back circle of pillars. The central figure in

this sculpture is the Representative of Humanity, a kind of Christ figure that maintains

balance. In the lecture series “Der Baugedanke des Goetheanums,” Steiner described the

various arts that were performed in that space and the active interaction meant to

transpire between the various arts and the viewer:

Alles dasjenige, was man in Worten vorführt, was man eurythmisch aufgeführt
sieht, was man in den Mysterienspielen aufgeführt sehen wird und was sonst
vorgeführt wird, das muß so durch den Saal klingen und gesehen werden, daß die
Wände mit ihren Formen, daß die Malereien, die da sind, wie selbstverständlich
dazu Ja sagen; daß die Augen gewissermaßen sie aufnehmen wie etwas, woran sie
unmittelbar teilhaben.397

Steiner talks anthropomorphically and spiritually when he speaks of the adorned walls

and paintings speaking and affirming the collective aesthetic experience. This vision also

echoes with the way Kandinsky theorized spirit (“der Geist”) speaking through form in

the essay “Über die Formfrage”: “Wenn der Inhalt, der Geist, welcher sich nur durch

diese scheintote Form offenbaren kann, reif wird, wenn die Stunde seiner Materialisation

geschlagen hat, so tritt er in diese Form und wird durch sie sprechen.”398

Within Steiner’ s artistic program there is often a close integration of different

media. For example, Steiner often described the aim of Eurythmy dance in synaesthetic

terms as a form of visible speech (“Das Sichtbarwerden der Sprache”).399 Also, one of

the architectural features of the Goetheanum highlighted by scholars is the sculptural

quality of the buildings surfaces—that is, the integrating of the media of sculpture and

architecture. Dennis Sharp argues that Steiner “married his sense of movement to the

397
Steiner, Der Baugedanke des Goetheanum. Einleitender Vortrag mit Erklärungen zu
den Bildern des Baus (1921), 23-24.
398
Kandinsky, “Über die Formfrage,” 174.
399
Steiner, Eurythmie. Die Offenbarung der sprechenden Seele, 66.

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[…] characteristic of sculptural form, so that the buildings are molded en masse and

made to appear almost pliable.”400

Another modernist movement with which the first Goetheanum strongly

resonated is Organicism. Contemporaries in this tradition include the Catalan architect

Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), whose best known work is the cathedral Sagrada Familia

whose forms evoke plants and trees. A later member of the tradition is Frank Lloyd

Wright (1867-1959). Dennis Sharp finds a parallel between the architecture of both

Goetheanum buildings and the Berlin Utopians regarding the concept “that a building

should be a living organism.”401 He names in particular Hermann Finsterlin’ s many

drawings and articles of architectural form. Sharp argues, however, that in Finsterlin’ s

art the organic quality exists in the architectural space while Steiner emphasized organic

surface areas.402 In one instance Steiner talks of the Goetheanum as a living organism

with living walls: “...hier wurde die Wand lebendig, ließ wie ein lebendiger Organismus

Erhöhungen und Vertiefungen gegliedert aus sich herauswachsen.”403 In Christa

400
Sharp, Modern Architecture and Expressionism, 148. This now classic study of
Expressionism does devote attention to Steiner, including many excellent photos and a
discussion of the Goetheanum in the Expressionist context, and the influence of Goethe’
s scientific work on Steiner. Despite Sharp’ s insight into Steiner’ s architectural
program, however, he also makes a number of odd and critical associations. For
example, he deems the building’ s forms “powerfully erotic” and “perhaps unconscious
fertility symbols.” Ibid., 147. Sharp also asserts that the roof of the first Goetheanum
“bore an uncanny resemblance to German military headgear,” a particularly inappropriate
appraisal considering how Steiner conceived of the Goetheanum as fostering peace. Ibid.,
152. Also, worth noting is the more recent anthology Expressionism Reassessed, edited
by Shulamith Behr, David Fanning and Douglas Jarman, ed. Expressionism Reassessed
(Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1993). The architecture of
Swedish Anthroposophist Erik Asmussen is considered and Steiner’ s second
Goetheanum is linked to Mendelsohn’ s Einstein Tower (1919).
401
Sharp, Modern Architecture and Expressionism, 151.
402
Ibid.
403
Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch, 14.

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Lichtenstern’ s book on the influence of Goethe’ s theory of metamorphosis on

contemporaneous and later artists, she devotes a chapter to the first Goetheanum.404

Caroline van Eck in her book on Organicism in the nineteenth century includes Steiner as

one exemplar of organic architecture of the twentieth century. Van Eck argues that, “‘

organic architecture’ in the twentieth century became the name of particular styles of

building, such as those of Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto or Rudolf Steiner.”405 While

she acknowledges Steiner in this later temporal context, she marginalizes Steiner’ s

contribution by arguing for a sharp distinction between nineteenth-century organicism

and “it’ s very distant relative, twentieth-century organic architecture, which was often

inspired by pseudo-philosophies such as theosophy or Rudolf Steiner’ s anthroposophy.”

As I demonstrated in my first chapter, Steiner’ s aesthetics are deeply linked with a form

of nineteenth century organicism via Goethean metamorphosis. Van Eck’ s need to

downplay and dismiss Steiner’ s thought as a “pseudo-philosoph[y]”—despite how his

thought is so significantly shaped by the nineteenth century thinker Goethe—is another

instance of a strong tendency by mainstream scholars to marginalize Steiner.

In the lecture series “Stilformen des Organisch-Lebendigen” (1921), Steiner

discusses his architecture in organicist terms. As already noted in the first chapter

regarding his argument against naturalist art, Steiner repeatedly articulates that his aim is

404
Lichtenstern argues that—unlike, for example, with the architect Karl Friedrich
Schinkel (1781-1841) where the concept of metamorphosis remains at the level of
decoration—in Steiner’ s case, the concept is part of the very structure of the building
and helps determine its sculptural quality. See chapter six of Christa Lichtenstern, Die
Wirkungsgeschichte der Metamorphosenlehre Goethes: von Philipp Otto Runge bis
Joseph Beuys, vol. 1, Metamorphose in der Kunst des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts
(Weinheim: VCH, 1990).
405
Caroline van Eck, Organicism in Nineteenth-Century Architecture: an Inquiry into its
Theoretical and Philosophical Background (Amsterdam: Architectura & Natura Press,
1994), 28.

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not to imitate the external forms of nature but to access the organic creative principle. In

one example, he contrasts his approach with a naturalistic one and argues that:

Man kann nicht, wie bloße Naturalisten tun, eine Stilform dadurch
herausbekommen, daß man Blattartiges oder Blütenartiges oder Hornartiges oder
Augenartiges nachahmt, sondern dadurch, daß man mit seinem eigenen
Seelenleben in eine solche innere Bewegung sich versetzt, wie es dem Schaffen
des Organischen entspricht.406

While Steiner rejects a simple imitation of outward appearances, he promotes a kind of

inner mimicry in which the soul (“Seelenleben”) follows, through a form of inward

movement, the organic creative forces. In another example, Steiner describes the style of

the boiler room (“Heizhaus”), which has protruding forms on the chimney that liken

smoke or perhaps leaf forms, as not expressing a plant or animal but the force of organic

growth.407 In the lecture series “Der Baugedanke von Dornach” (1920), Steiner uses

organic analogies to describe the building’ s walls as integrated into the building like

fingers on a hand and, more generally, argues that the way that the parts relate to the

whole building is analogous to the earlobe on the head.408 Steiner’ s organicist theory,

like that of a number of his contemporaries, has spiritual underpinnings as it fits within

406
Steiner, Stilformen des Organisch-Lebendigen (1921), 12. Van Eck argues that
“Organicism is based on the conviction, generally held in artistic theory from antiquity to
the end of the nineteenth century, that art should imitate nature, not with the aim of
producing perfectly faithful copies but […] conferring the qualities of living nature upon
the products of man.” Eck, Organicism in Nineteenth-Century Architecture: an Inquiry
into its Theoretical and Philosophical Background, 18. In the above quote from Steiner
he expresses this same idea though in the overtly spiritual terms of accessing the creative,
organic force through the soul.
407
Steiner, Stilformen des Organisch-Lebendigen (1921), 12.
408
Ibid.

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his broader concept of the human being and nature as echoing of one another and as

microcosms of the greater, spiritual macrocosm.409

Theories of Social Transformation through Architecture by Rudolf Steiner, Bruno

Taut and Paul Scheerbart in the Context of Their Times

In 1914, as part of the Werkbund exhibit in Cologne, Taut created the Glashaus,

a polygonal prismatic glass pavilion, sometimes also called a temple.410 It is Taut’ s

best-known work and caused a sensation at the time. The structure had fourteen sides

filled with glass bricks. On top of a concrete plinth was prismatic dome with a double

409
Beat Wyss argues that the notion of man as a microcosmic version of the
heavenly realm is a topos from ancient Naturphilosophie that was carried over by Gnostic
teachings and taken up Steiner: “Der Mensch als mikrokosmisches Ebenbild der
Himmelssphären ist ein Topos der antiken Naturphilosophie, der in gnostischen Lehren
überliefert wurde, deren moderne Ausprägungen Theosophie und Anthroposophie
sind.” Wyss, Der Wille zur Kunst: zur ästhetischen Mentalitat der Moderne, 146.
Iain Boyd argues that there is an inherent spirituality to many Organicist theories of the
time. Hermann Finsterlin, a member of the Gläserne Kette group, drew myriad organic
forms as prototypes for the new glass architecture. Boyd explains “the monist belief in
the single, irreducible law uniting all matter, all faith and all belief” was part of Taut’ s
inspiration. Whyte, “The Expressionist Sublime,” 134.
410
The Deutscher Werkbund was an association of architects, artists and industrialists
founded in 1907 in Munich by the German architect Hermann Muthesius (1861-1927),
the Belgian painter, architect and interior designer Henry van de Velde (1863-1957) and
the politician Friedrich Naumann. Its goal was to bring together traditional crafts with
the art of mass industry and develop Germany’ s status among its European peers. It was
important in the history of Modernist architecture and a precursor to the Bauhaus.

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skin of glass supported by a lattice of concrete ribs. On the lower level was a water

cascade, and the upper level showed prisms and colored glass. The natural effects of the

light on glass were accentuated by the use of a mechanical kaleidoscope. On the frieze of

this structure were written aphorisms from Scheerbart on the virtues of glass. Sadly, this

building was the first and last example of glass architecture as the war prevented further

projects from manifesting.411 As the war forced Taut into inactivity as an architect, he

devoted his attention to creating theoretical and highly imaginative architectural

drawings.412 In 1917, Taut wrote Alpine Architektur (published in 1919) that includes

thirty illustrations. In this work Taut combined his interests in pacifism, urban planning,

communal ideals and spiritual interests to envision utopian images of glass cathedrals

high in the Alps and structures made of colored glass. Notably, in this work Taut

envisioned a city built by the community, an aim that was realized in Steiner’ s first

Goetheanum as it was built by the volunteers and the help of many Anthroposophists,

some of who took up residence there. Iain Boyd Whyte argues that the images in Alpine

Architektur were “conceived both as a protest against the insanity of the war and as a

pointer to a better society, which would devote its energies to peace and understanding

411
Another noteworthy building constructed for this exhibition was the theatre
constructed by Belgian architect Henry van de Velde. It was made of reinforced concrete
and was well received by the public. Because of the war, van de Velde required special
allowance by Konrad Adenauer, the mayor of Cologne, to take part in the exhibition.
There is link with Steiner’ s second Goetheanum in the creation of a theater from
reinforced concrete. Van de Velde’ s theater was closed permanently only three months
after it’ s opening with the start of the war and he had to leave Germany.
412
Whyte narrates that while there is little known about Taut’ s thoughts and activities
during the war as most of Taut’ s private and business papers were destroyed in 1933.
One can read from his letters that, after briefly being caught up in the feelings of elation
in Germany at the war’ s outbreak, Taut became increasingly against the war. In letters
he greatly lamented the death of talented artists from all countries. Whyte states that Taut
starved himself so as to avoid conscription. Iain Boyd Whyte, Bruno Taut and the
Architecture of Activism (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 44.

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rather than self destruction.”413 In Die Stadtkrone (1919), an anthology including

contributions by Scheerbart, Erich Baron and Adolf Behne, Taut re-envisioned the

European city by emphasizing a communal center modeled after the medieval cathedral

or temple that was meant to transcend national and social differences. The work is

dedicated to people of peace (“Den Friedfertigen”). A later important architectural

initiative by Taut was the so-called Glass Chain (“Gläserne Kette”) group.414

Steiner shares with Taut and Scheerbart a conception of architecture as the prime

medium able to facilitate the coming of a new era in which humans will find peace and

harmony through a larger act of re-connection between humans, nature and the greater

cosmos. It is important to note that there is a direct link between Steiner and Scheerbart

413
Whyte, “The Expressionist Sublime,” 118. This folio of drawings was also created as
a homage to Scheerbart who had died of a sudden stroke in the fall of 1915.
414
The Gläserne Kette (1919-1920), sometimes called the “Utopian Correspondence,”
was a chain-letter style correspondence initiated by Bruno Taut to circulate architectural
ideas. The impetus for this correspondence was the German revolution of November
1918 and the hopes for political and cultural change that arose out of this event. In the
early days of the revolution, Taut founded the Arbeitsrat für kunst with the aim that a
group comprised of workers’ and soldiers’ councils could take power in the
decentralized government. When this plan failed, Taut resigned as chairman of this
group and was replaced by Walter Gropius. This group then merged with the larger
Novembergruppe. Taut became later more critical of the potential of his art for societal
change. Taut’ s shift in attitude is seen in the fact that, in 1920, Taut added to the title
page Die Auflösung der Städte: “Nur eine Utopie und eine kleine Unterhaltung.” When
the Spartacist Revolt in 1919 was suppressed the Arbeitsrat für Kunst ended its overtly
political activities and turned instead to writing a series of letters. It involved fourteen
people all of whom used pseudonyms to keep the correspondence out of the spotlight.
For example, Taut called himself Glas and Gropius Mass. In addition to these two
figures, other notable members included Bruno Taut’ s brother Max, the brothers Hans
and Wassili Luckhardt, Hans Scharoun, Hermann Finsterlin and Paul Goesch. The latter
two are Anthroposophists. The activities of this group culminated in a 1920 exhibition
called Neues Bauen under the auspices of the Arbeitsrat at Neumann’ s Graphisches
Kabinett. Many of the drawings that originated with this group were later published by
Taut in his magazine Frühlicht (1920-1922). The attempts by Taut to have a more direct
political impact have parallels with Steiner’ s attempts to influence political efforts to
bring a speedier end to the war and the Versailles Treaty negotiations. These will be
discussed in the final section of the chapter.

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as the latter was an admirer and student of Steiner’ s work and the two had met. It

appears that the admiration was significantly more in the direction from Scheerbart

toward Steiner. Steiner met with Scheerbart in 1899.415 In his autobiography Mein

Lebensgang (1925), Steiner describes Scheerbart as someone toward whom he felt

affection but who was also a highly unusual person (“eine der eigenartigsten

Persönlichkeiten”).416 Steiner deems Scheerbart’ s literary work as too focused on the

grotesque and the fantastical and his spiritual understanding as caricaturing instead of

penetrating spiritual realities. In one succinct formulation Steiner argues that Scheerbart

did not develop “Phantasie” (or Imagination in the Steinerian sense of Anschauung) as

Scheerbart “tat auch keinen Schritt von der Phantastik zur Phantasie.”417 Nevertheless,

Scheerbart drew inspiration from Steiner’ s thought.

In Scheerbart’ s fiction Glasarchitektur (1914), a text from which Taut drew

heavily for inspiration for the Glashaus, a world full of crystal cities and floating

continents of colored glass is inhabited by peaceful people. In the very first aphorism

entitled “Das Milieu und sein Einfluß auf die Entwicklung der Kultur,” Scheerbart argues

that cultural transformation requires architecture to change as well: “Wollen wir unsre

[sic] Kultur auf ein höheres Niveau bringen, so sind wir wohl oder übel gezwungen,

415
In the same year, he also met with Else Lasker-Schüler, Stefan Zweig, Käthe Kollwitz
and Frank Wedekind, as well as members of the Friedrichhagener Dichterkreis,
including Bruno Wille and Wilhelm Bölsche. See Kries, Rudolf Steiner: Die Alchemie
des Alltags, 322.
416
Steiner, Mein Lebensgang. Eine Autobiographie. 348. Steiner’ s autobiography was
left unfinished and published by Marie von Sivers in 1925.
417
Ibid., 349. Steiner does mention Scheerbart’ s novel Tarub, Bagdads berühmte
Köchin, so presumably Steiner read at least part of this work. There are no reviews of
other works by Scheerbart among the many literary reviews in Steiner’ s early Magazin
für Literatur though contemporaneous writers such as Hermann Bahr are included.

200
unsre [sic] Architektur umzuwandeln.”418 In a similar way to how Kandinsky

ambitiously understood his art as helping to usher in a new, spiritual age, Steiner held the

belief that architectural innovations, including his own, furthered the development of

human evolution.419 Steiner argues that the groundbreaking nature of his architecture lies

in the way it draws from the spiritual dimension, yet in a manner fit for modern times,

that is in a more conscious and active manner. In the following quote, the spiritual is

formulated as that which comes from the soul (“aus den menschlichen Seelen”). Steiner

argues that:

Etwas Neues haben wir auch zu schaffen in dem Sinne, daß wir in ganz anderem
Stile noch als es in den verflossenen Zeiten der Fall war, in freier Selbsttätigkeit
aus den menschlichen Seelen heraus schaffen müssen. Bewußtsein, das geboren
ist mit der Bewußtseinsseele, welche das Charakteristikon unseres Zeitenkyklus
ist, das ist die Signatur unserer Zeit.420

With this somewhat abstruse formulation of creating out of the soul and “in freier

Selbsttätigkeit” Steiner alludes to a key idea of his theory of modern culture. As already

touched upon in the discussion of Steiner’ s dialectical theory of the “evolution of

consciousness” in the second chapter, Steiner asserted that in ancient times people had a

direct, and more immediate but also less conscious link with the spiritual dimension.

Steiner held that in modern times, the third stage of the dialectic, people are divorced

from this dimension but can learn to access it through active, self-motivated initiative.

This idea is expressed in the following quote about the task of Anthroposophy: “wir

[können] eine Empfindung davon erhalten, wie im alten Griechentum noch durchaus die

418
Scheerbart, Glasarchitektur, 11.
419
Steiner asserts: “Würde man so etwas nicht zu verschiedenen Zeitpunkten gewagt
haben, so gäbe es keinen Fortschritt in der Entwickelung der Menschheit.” Steiner, Der
Baugedanke von Dornach (1920), 149.
420
Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch, 19.

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Überlieferung rege war und teilweise das unmittelbare Wissen von dem, was wir jetzt

wiederum anstreben durch unsere Geisteswissenschaft.”421 Steiner held that architecture

was one of the best media for this kind of modern, active re-uniting with the spiritual

dimension.

In the lecture series held twelve weeks after the outbreak of the war, Steiner

argues, in a highly idealistic way, that the contemplation of artistic forms, such as the

series of columns, will facilitate recognition of shared humanity and hate will turn into

mutual understanding: “die Menschen aller Kulturgemeinschaften [werden] sich

gegenseitig verstehen, sich gegenseitig liebevoll umschließen.”422 In his short story “Das

Neue Leben. Architektonische Apokalypse” found in Taut’ s anthology Die Stadtkrone

Scheerbart tells of a new, colorful and classless world that arises from a dark, frozen

Earth when angels take glistening, bejeweled palaces from their backpacks and place

them all over its surface. The palaces emit colorful light all over the snowy earth. The

transformation is described in religious terms, as when Scheerbart talks of those buried in

the ground coming back to eternal life, an allusion to resurrection: “durch die nagende

Schwermut des kalten Erdballs ringt sich ein neues Leben durch—das ewige Leben! Die

Toten stehen auf.”423 The transformation also entails a leveling of all class differences:

“Die Bettler gehen neben den Königen, die Priester neben den Kriegern, die Handwerker

neben den Gelehrten.”424 In Alpine Architektur, Taut expresses an equally dramatic

architectural fantasy with a clear pacifist message when he proposes the construction of a

421
Steiner, Weltenwunder, Seelenprüfungen und Geistesoffenbarungen (1911). 24.
422
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 56.
423
Bruno Taut, Die Stadtkrone (Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 2002), 11.
424
Ibid.

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building on top of Montblanc, the highest of the Alpine peaks. He argues that its

impracticality is its key virtue as a focus on utility has led to technological advancement

but also war: “Ja, unpraktisch u./ ohne Nutzen!Aber/sind wir vom Nütz-/lichen glücklich

ge-/worden?-Immer/Nutzen und Nutzen:/Comfort, Bequemlich-/keit, gutes

Essen,/Building-Messer,/Gabel, Eisenbah-/nen, Closets und/ doch auch—/Kanonen,

Bomben/ Mordgeräte!”425

Scheerbart conceived of colored, transparent glass as a medium especially

conducive to creating a harmonious relationship between humans and nature. In the first

aphorism from this work, Scheerbart argues that transparent glass allows the overcoming

of the enclosed quality so that the building is open and can interact with nature:

Und dieses wird uns nur dann möglich sein, wenn wir den Räumen, in denen
wir leben, das Geschlossene nehmen. Das aber können wir nur durch
Einführung der Glasarchitektur, die das Sonnenlicht und das Licht des Mondes
and der Sterne nicht nur durch ein paar Fenster in die Räume läßt—sondern
gleich durch möglichst viele Wände, die ganz aus Glas sind—aus farbigen
Gläsern.426

Steiner did not have a theory of glass, and the first Goetheanum was noteworthy

for its nearly complete reliance on wood.427 Steiner did, however, argue for a form of

transparency. Instead of transparency derived through medium, he argues for a form of

artistic and spiritual transparency that was enacted through the painted motifs on the

walls and also through the colored stained glass windows. The effect allowed the

425
This is an excerpt from an aphorism by Taut entitled “Aufruf an die Europäer.” See
Matthias Schirren, Alpine Architektur. Eine Utopie (Munich: Prestel, 2004), 72.
426
Scheerbart, Glasarchitektur, 11.
427
In the twenty-first aphorism of Glasarchitektur Scheerbart argues that all materials are
justified if they are durable but deems wood and brick as not justified as the former can
be destroyed by fire and the latter by an explosive device, a consideration clearly incited
by wartimes. Ibid., 32.

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building to transcend its physical boundaries and feel open to the greater world. The

quote below bears striking resemblance to the previous one from Taut:

die Wände sind in Dornach so gestaltet, daß sie gewissermaßen künstlerisch

durchsichtig sind, daß man also, indem man in dem Bau drinnen ist, sich nicht
abgeschlossen fühlt. Es öffnen sich gewissermaßen alle Wände durch die
künstlerischen Motive nach der ganzen großen Welt, und man tritt in diesen Bau
mit dem Bewußtsein ein, daß man nicht in einem Bau, sondern in der Welt ist: die
Wände sind durchsichtig. Und das ist in diesen Glasfenstern bis zum Physischen
hinein durchgeführt: sie sind erst ein Kunstwerk, wenn die Sonne
hindurchscheint. Mit dem Sonnenstrahl zusammen gibt das, was der Künstler
geschaffen hat, erst das Künstlerische.428

With the description of the interplay of the artist and the sun, we see Steiner’ s greater

vision of the unity between microcosm and macrocosm, and between the human realm

and nature, expressed artistically. It is also notable that twice in the above quote Steiner

mentions the necessity of the presence of the human being in the building in order to

realize the aesthetic effect. This suggests a difference in how Steiner conceptualizes the

relationship of human to nature to the views Taut and Scheerbart put forward in their

writings. For the latter two artists, it seems the media alone—glass and color—are seen

as possessing artistically and culturally transformative power. This is why palaces and

other structures of colored, translucent glass can be envisioned on mountain peaks or in

locations that would be difficult or impossible for humans to access. In Steiner’ s theory,

in contrast, the transparency of the walls and windows is an aesthetic and spiritual

experience that transpires when a person enters the building with a certain aesthetic

consciousness (“mit dem Bewußtsein”).

A final link between Steiner and Taut I would like to illuminate before I discuss

Steiner’ s theory of cultural harmony, what he sometimes called the “Harmonie aller

428
Steiner, Der Baugedanke von Dornach (1920), 101.

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Kulturgemeinschaften,” is the emphasis on residential communities. As already

mentioned above, Wolfgang Pehnt pointed out that the first Goetheanum realized the

vision of the Gesamtkunstwerk dreamed of by the group of revolutionary architects in

Berlin, which included Scheerbart and Taut. Furthermore, Pehnt also asserted that the

first Goetheanum manifested the Expressionist vision of combining a drama festival with

a residential community and religious building. I would like to show a further link in the

way that both Steiner and Taut envisioned their buildings as serving those wounded or

killed in the war and in housing the disabled, a focus that shows deep concern for the

consequences of war and, more generally, for those less able.

In the early weeks of the war, Steiner gave a series of lectures that included first

aid training to prepare the Goetheanum inhabitants to tend to the war wounded. Cots

were set up in the Goetheanum.429 In an article entitled “Die Vererdung” (1917), Taut

proposed eschewing traditional coffins or cremation and instead allowing bodies to

decompose in the earth. This earth would then be used for special gardens, without

names, in which exotic flowers would take the place of plaques, headstones or

monuments. In an article “Krieger-Ehrung” (1915), Taut proposed homes for the

wounded that would be in a public park and called the complex “Gartenstadt

Falkenberg.”430 Taut imagined it surrounded by museums and theaters and containing

workshops, libraries and common rooms so that the inhabitants would be connected with

greater society and also have productive activities. This housing complex for the

429
See the following lecture series for more information. Steiner, Das Geheimnis der
Wunde. Aufzeichnungen zum sogenannten Samariterkurs gehalten von Rudolf Steiner in
Dornach vom 13-16 August 1914, Hft Nr. 108.
430
For further discussion of these initiatives by Taut and a drawing of the Gartenstadt
Falkenberg see the chapter “Regeneration” in Whyte, Bruno Taut and the Architecture of
Activism, 49-51.

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wounded and disabled showed resonances with the Camphill community, a residential

program for the mentally handicapped and others with special needs, begun in 1939 in

Aberdeen, Scotland by the Austrian pediatrician and Anthroposophist Karl König. It is

now a worldwide movement with over 100 communities in over twenty countries,

including Europe, North America, southern Africa and India.

Steiner’ s architectural theory also resonates with that of Scheerbart and Taut

because of the way all three understood the medium of architecture as able to foster peace

and due to Scheerbart’ s strong interest in Steiner. I would argue, however, that in

another fundamental way Steiner’ s architectural oeuvre is quite different from that of

the others: he does not emphasize the transcendent aspect nearly as much. Scheerbart,

Taut and their circle created myriad architectural visions that were not realized and often

times unrealizable, as in the case of visions of cathedrals transcending physical

boundaries to sit atop mountain peaks. Without the ability to create habitable spaces, due

to the stark restrictions on building during the war in Germany, Taut and Scheerbart

created architectural fantasies that allowed them to transcend all limits to express their

visions of a world made peaceful again through dramatic aesthetic interventions.

In Switzerland, by contrast, Steiner had the freedom to bring his building to

fruition, though the war did compel him to greatly reduce his lecturing. Steiner’ s theory

of evolution has aspects that seem similar the fantastical ideas of Scheerbart. These

include the way Steiner’ s theory of the evolution of human history entails a dramatically

long understanding of time and space—in far earlier epochs Steiner envisioned world

development transpiring on other planets. Also, as we saw, Steiner greatly admired the

Gothic cathedral for the way it was able to move dramatically outward and he understood

206
the painted walls of the Goetheanum as artistically transparent and open to nature and the

cosmos. Steiner did not, however, create such architectural visions of buildings atop

mountains and it also fits that he found Scheerbart’ s work too fantastical.

Transcendence was not the ultimate goal of Steiner’ s architecture. A small structural

detail of the first Goetheanum is indicative of his point: the two domes of the first

Goetheanum—one expressing the earthly and the other the spiritual—are

interpenetrating.431 As I argue in my first chapter, it was important in Steiner’ s vision

that the spiritual finds its way back to the earthly.

Steiner’ s Theory of his Architecture as Promoting Peace and the Special Role of
Central Europe

Steiner envisioned the first Goetheanum as promoting peace and intercultural

understanding. A central aspect of this theory is the notion that intercultural

understanding is reached through recognition of both the distinct nature and task of each

cultural group, but also how each group is interwoven to create a shared history. Clearly,

the notion that each culture has a distinct nature and task can be read as normative in

nature. Key to this sense of shared history for Steiner is an understanding of the

“evolution of consciousness,” and the way that each culture led a specific epoch and

helped the development of one of the spiritual sheaths that together comprise the spiritual

431
See Pehnt’ s description of the importance Steiner expressed on having the two
domes penetrate one another: “A greater distance between the two domes would have
meant their isolation from one another and hence of the ‘ physical’ from the ‘ spiritual’
; any closer and they would have lost their identity: the ‘ physical’ would have been
swallowed up in the ‘ spiritual.’ “ Pehnt, Expressionist Architecture, 139.

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makeup of each human being. 432 I argue that the framework of Steiner’ s theory

involves a process of layering of different forms of history—cultural history, art and

architectural history and spiritual or psychic history.

A central part of Steiner’ s theory is the argument that Central Europe had a

special role in helping to overcome nationalism. This theory is not fully fleshed out and

contains inner contradictions; however, it shows Steiner’ s attempts to reconcile his

belief in internationalism coupled with his advocacy of Central Europe as part of the

vanguard of the modern period. I also touch upon the practical, political attempts Steiner

made to hasten a swifter end to the war and to influence peace negotiations at Versailles.

The last section of the chapter concerns how Steiner as an artist created forms that were

meant to express, and even help facilitate his vision of internationalism and cultural

harmony. I introduce two art forms: the series of carved columns each with a different

motif meant to represent one of the seven cultures important in Steiner’ s history of

cultural evolution and the painted motifs adorning the smaller cupola that contain

archetypal figures from different cultures. Steiner held that aesthetic contemplation of

forms that express the evolution of culture would ignite recognition of this shared cultural

and spiritual history.

432
Steiner speaks of the human being as composed of many sheaths. In addition to the
tripartite division of body, soul and spirit that Steiner borrows from early Christianity, he
conceived of further subcomponents. These include three sheaths more linked with the
earth and three higher principles that are only in their nascent state. The “I” is in the
center. The “I” eventually disappears and is substituted by the three soul types known as
the sentient soul, the intellectual soul and the consciousness soul. Particular cultures are
understood as more connected with these sheaths. The Spanish and Italian culture is
linked with the sentient soul, the French culture with the intellectual soul and the British
culture with the consciousness soul. For more details on Steiner’ s complex schema of
the spiritual makeup of the human being see the first chapter of Rudolf Steiner,
Theosophie: Einführung in übersinnliche Welterkenntnis und Menschenbestimmung., vol.
GA 09 (2010) (Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Online Archiv, 1904), 7-36.

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 In my analysis, I note that there is an abiding tension, especially for the twenty-

first century reader, in Steiner’ s cultural outlook. This is due to the fact that he is

oriented toward peace and internationalism and yet still thinks in certain essentializing

ways. On the one hand, Steiner is part of a small minority in the early years of the war to

speak against nationalism and to conceive of his architecture as promoting this goal.

Also, he often had a very inclusive definition of what comprises the central European

culture. In his later attempts to influence political decisions for peace, we see how

earnestly invested he was in this aim. In addition, Steiner’ s history of culture cannot be

deemed Euro-centric as the cultures of ancient Persia, India and Egypt comprise three of

the seven main “post-Atlantean” epochs. Also, the trajectory of Steiner’ s cultural

evolution does not simply move from East to West as it advances over time because

Steiner envisions a coming epoch after the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic period in which

the Slavic peoples will be the vanguard culture.433

On the other hand, especially from the vantage point of the twenty-first century,

Steiner’ s approach has essentializing and elitist qualities. Similar to other

contemporaneous theories of cultural evolution by German philosopher of history Oswald

Spengler (1880-1936) and Karl August Wittfogel (1896-1988), Steiner’ s understanding

of the history of culture rests on the assumption that there is universal consensus that

each culture has one, distinct nature and that cultures rise and fall as part of a process

433
See the first chapter for a discussion of the interest of many Russian symbolists in
Theosophy and in Steiner in particular as one of multiple thinkers who discussed
the Apocalypse in the Revelation to John as an important document in modern times.
Steiner gave lectures to a group of Russian expats, a number of whom lived in Germany
and in Munich in particular and many of whom also intersected with Kandinsky. A
number of Russians, including the author Andrei Bely, wrote memoirs of their time in
Dornach.

209
akin to the human stages of youth, maturity and old age. In addition, while he does

include non-Western cultures into his far-reaching history of culture, the three non-

Western cultures of Persia, India and Egypt all are seen as representing leading

civilizations in the distant past.434 Steiner ignores the rest of Africa and any area of Asia,

though as he only chooses seven cultural groups one can argue much of the Western

world is also ignored. The way Steiner uses quite broad strokes to create a schematic and

very long history of art and culture has echoes with the art historical approach of

Wilhelm Worringer. The latter, for example, constructed the following expansive

categories of people who relied on “abstract” art: “Naturvölker,” “primitive,” and

“Oriental” people. Also, as was often the case with German-speaking thinkers of his

time, Steiner holds classical antiquity and Gothic architecture in especially high esteem

and there is an implicit appraisal that these periods represent the pinnacle of aesthetic

achievement.435

In response to nationalistic outbursts from outside of and within Dornach, Steiner

held the lecture cycle entitled “Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen

Werdens” in which he speaks of the great need for cultural collaboration. He draws the

434
In one instance from the 1914 lecture series called the “Samariterkurs,” Steiner speaks
of folk spirits (“Volksgeister”) and argues that some are more mature than others. He
gives the analogy of a family for the way the cultures interrelate. To speak of one culture
as the father and another as the child, and to identify the German folk spirit as older than
the Russian, will certainly have a patronizing ring to many twenty-first century ears.
Steiner asserts that “[g]ewisse Volksgeister sind älter als andere, die jünger sind (zum
Beispiel der russische Volksgeist ist der jüngste, der deutsche älter und so weiter). Aber
wir wissen, daß zum Beispiel in einer Familie der Vater, die Mutter und die Kinder
verschiedenen Alters sind, und doch herrscht in der Familie Harmonie und Frieden.” See
Steiner, Das Geheimnis der Wunde. Aufzeichnungen zum sogenannten Samariterkurs
gehalten von Rudolf Steiner in Dornach vom 13-16 August 1914, Hft Nr. 108, 23.
435
See the second chapter for Steiner’ s especially glowing formulations about classical
antiquity.

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analogy between the different European cultures relating to one another as members of a

great chorus: “das Zusammenklingen der nachatlantischen Kulturen wie in einem

Chore.”436 Instead of exhorting countries to unify by forgetting their differences,

however, Steiner argues that each culture has a distinct role in the larger evolution of

humankind. He holds that it is the recognition of the nature of one’ s own cultural group

and its place within the greater progression of cultural history that helps to overcome

nationalism. Thus, Steiner argues that intercultural unity happens through the perception

of the singularity of each culture.

Steiner’ s cultural history is linked to his concept of the “evolution of

consciousness.” According to this theory, during each of the large historical epochs a

certain part of the soul is developed. Each of the soul bodies Steiner conceived of as an

individual entity within each person; at the same time, all of the bodies are understood as

universally, or collectively, shared among all of humanity. In each epoch a certain

culture represents the vanguard of this soul stage.437 Thus, in the lecture series “Wege zu

einem neuen Baustil ‘ Und der der Bau wird Mensch,’ ” given between 1911 and 1914,
436
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 30-31.
437
The second lecture of “Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch”
contains a helpful summary of Steiner’ s “evolution of consciousness,” as Owen Barfield
called it. See Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch. As
already introduced in chapter two, Steiner’ s cultural theory is based on the idea that
there were five main evolutionary epochs that map to some degree onto standard
geological epochs. They are called, chronologically, the Polarian, Hyperborean,
Lemurian, Atlantean and Post-Atlantean epochs. Steiner asserted that we are currently
living in the Post-Atlantean epoch, which itself is comprised of seven cultural ages.
These ages, each lasting approximately 2,160 years, are the following: Indian [7227-
5067 BC]; Persian [5067-2907 BC]; Egypto-Chaldean-Babylonian [2907 BC-747 AD];
Greco-Roman [747 AD-1413 AD]; Anglo-Saxon and Germanic [1413-3573 AD];
Russian-Slavic [3573-5733] and American Age [5733-7893]. See Chapter Four, “Die
Weltentwicklung und der Mensch” in Steiner, Die Geheimwissenschaft im Umriss
(1910), GA 13.

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Steiner argues that the history of architecture expresses the soul’ s evolution. In the

second lecture great architectural structures are conceived as manifestations of their

spiritual epoch. To cite two examples, the Egyptian pyramids are regarded as an outward

expression of the Egyptian culture of the sentient soul (“Ausdruck der ägyptischen

Empfindungsseelenkultur”) and the Gothic dome is called a representation of the culture

of the consciousness soul (“Der gotische Dom als Repräsentant der

Bewußtseinsseelenkultur”).438 To summarize the difference between the

“Empfindungsseele” and the “Bewußtseinsseele,” one can say that in the former case

consciousness is more open to the world and actually experiences the ideal more

externally in a perceptual manner while, in contrast, in the latter case consciousness is

more internalized and the ideal is experienced as an idea.

Steiner speaks in analogous way about well-known literary figures embodying the

culmination, the example par excellence, of the soul stage of that epoch. In the second

lecture from the series held only weeks after the outbreak of war, Molière, Shakespeare,

Tolstoy and Dostoevsky and Dante are discussed. By lauding the French playwright

Molière, to cite one example, Steiner argues that Molière is sui generis and attributes his

unique contribution to the fact that it is a manifestation of the intellectual or “mind” soul

that reached maturity during this period (“Da ist der Gipfel des Wesens derjenigen
438
Steiner, Wege zu einem neuen Baustil: und der Bau wird Mensch, 7. For a helpful
summary of Steiner’ s theory of soul evolution, see especially the first and second
lectures in this cycle. Steiner says that the “Empfindungsleib ganz besonders seine
Entwickelung erfahren hat in der urpersischen Kultur, die Empfindungsseele in der
ägyptisch-chaldäischen Kultur, die Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele in der griechisch-
römischen Zeit, die Bewußtseinsseele in der Zeit, in der wir selbst leben, und daß wir den
nächsten Zeitraum sozusagen als in seiner Entstehung schon jetzt herankommen sehen,
ja, daß wir selber mit dem, was wir als Anthroposophie, Theosophie wollen, an dem
Herankommen dieses nächsten Zeitraumes arbeiten, der uns in einer gewissen Weise den
Zusammenhang von Bewußtseinsseele und Geistselbst oder Manas zeigen soll. Ibid., 31.

212
Kultur, die aus der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele herausquillt”).439 In the first lecture of

this same cycle, Steiner discusses Homer as representing, in the character of

Agamemnon, the soul transition in ancient Greece between knowledge gained through

atavistic clairvoyance to the epoch where people draw on their own human intelligence,

using the “Verstandesseele” or Gemütsseele.”440 Considering the timing soon after the

war’ s outbreak, it was a bold move by Steiner to extoll great authors who hailed from

then enemy countries.441

Thus the underlying framework of Steiner’ s theory involves a process of

bringing together a number of layers of history such that they map onto one another.

These separate but highly interconnected layers include cultural history, art and

architectural history, and spiritual or psychic history with the development of the

different stages of the soul. Often Steiner’ s art is meant to express the evolution of

organic growth. As we will see in the last section with the discussion of the carved

motifs adorning the series of columns, Steiner also conceives of each column as

representing one of the seven main cultural epochs and, simultaneously, each column also

is meant to manifest a stage in the Goethean process of the metamorphosis of the plant.

Depending on the subject he is addressing in a given instance, Steiner may argue from the

perspective of an art historian, an architectural historian or historian of the psyche, as

when discussing the stages of the soul. Yet, within Steiner’ s theoretical apparatus, it is

439
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 30-31.
440
See the first lecture ibid., 9-19.
441
It should also be noted that there is a certain elitism inherent in the way Steiner’ s
version of history chooses a few, best-known and male figures stand as the
representatives of a whole cultural at a certain time period. This is part of the tension
within Steiner’ s outlook that can take this historical approach and, at the same time,
argue for intercultural understanding at a time when few were doing so.

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not accurate to say these layers are ever separate. Ultimately, all of these layers co-exist

and develop simultaneously. If one layer stands in the foreground that is human

consciousness. For Steiner, as discussed at some length in Chapter Two, human

consciousness and its development is never separate from but, in fact, drives all other

forms of history, whether cultural or artistic. Thus, I do not understand Steiner as

exhibiting a combinatory logic, as that would mean that the layers are at some point

separate and then later combined. It can also be said that there is a way in which Steiner’

s layering approach involves a conflation of the different forms of history. That is,

because spiritual development or the “evolution of consciousness” is the guiding

principle underlying how all other forms of history progress, disparate forms of history—

whether art history, architectural history or cultural history—Steiner looks at all of these

forms as reflections of the “evolution of consciousness” and not as separate disciplines in

their own right. Steiner is, at his core, a synthetic thinker. When he speaks in terms of

art history or cultural history, for example, he has to tease apart these layers of history

that for him ultimately belong together. We can picture his theory as involving multiple,

translucent layers that are mapped on to one another such that all can be seen at the same

time, and yet each layer is also perceptible individually.

Steiner’ s Concept of the Modern Central European Cultural Mission as both

Distinct and Inherently Internationalist

In the lecture series from 1914 “Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen

geschichtlichen Werdens und künstlerischer Umwandlungsimpulse,” Steiner talks of

Germany as part of a much greater Central European culture. He argues that, due to its

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inherently culturally heterogeneous and changing nature, Central Europeans cannot be

nationalistic. In the third lecture of this series, Steiner speaks of a central European

culture (“mitteleuropäische Kultur”) that encompasses many more cultures beyond the

geographical confines of Germany, including Czech, Slowenian and Polish, as seen in a

quote on the following page:

In dieser mitteleuropäischen nachatlantischen Kulturepoche schließen sich ja seit

vielen Jahrhunderten die verschiedensten nationalen Elemente zusammen, und
[...] macht es unmöglich, bei dieser mitteleuropäischen Kultur in demselben Sinne
von einer “nationalen” Kultur zu sprechen, wie gesprochen werden muß von einer
nationalen Kultur bei den südlichen und westlichen Völkern Europas.442

In another example from the third lecture, Steiner speaks of a central European

culture (“die mitteleuropäische Kultur”) that replaces a single nationality to include a

whole host of different people who Steiner all views as typified by a striving for

individuality:

Wenn wir für die mitteleuropäische Kultur nach einem Worte suchen, das wir an
die Stelle des Wortes ‘ Nationalität’ setzen müssen, so finden wir, schon rein
angesichts der geographischen Notwendigkeit, das Wort ‘ Streben nach
Individualität’ . Und mit diesem Wort ‘ Streben nach Individualität’ können wir
nicht etwa bloß die Deutschen charakterisieren, sondern da müssen wir noch eine
ganze Anzahl von anderen Völkern zu Mitteleuropa rechnen. Dieses Streben nach
Individualität haben sie alle in allerhöchstem Maße. Wir finden es - trotz allem,
was diese Völker äußerlich verschiedenes haben - bei den Tschechen, bei den
Ruthenen, bei den Slowaken, bei den Magyaren, und wir finden es endlich in dem
anderen Pole des Deutschtums, bei den Polen.443

The argument that a cultural orientation toward individuality acts as a buffer against

442
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 9-19.
443
Ibid., 38. Note that Frederick Amrine helps illuminate the puzzling comment in this
quote arguing that Poland represents the opposite pole of Germany. Amrine says that this
comment is a “confusing aside, given that this paragraph otherwise argues for a shared
Central European identity. Steiner may be referring obliquely here to the Polish
Messianism discussed in the following paragraph.” Steiner, The First Goetheanum.
Architecture as Peacework, GA 287, 10.

215
nationalism is not a case that all would make. One could argue, for example, that

contemporary United States politics emphasizes both individuality and a love of country,

a sentiment clearly tinged with nationalism. Steiner’ s claim, however, rests on the

idea that the geographical closeness of all of the central European countries and the

way cultures are so robustly intermixed means the identification with an individual nation

is not possible. Though not stated explicitly in this passage, another reason beyond

geography that caused Steiner to view Central Europeans as inherently oriented toward

individuality is that he understands this as a central aim of the current, modern epoch

with the development of the “Ego.” In addition, the notion of striving (“Streben”), which

recurs repeatedly in this lecture as an inherently central European trait, implies an

existential state that is always in process and never reaches its goal, a form of perpetual

becoming. Steiner chooses to argue for a striving nature instead of positing that other

more fixed traits distinguish and separate Central Europe from its neighbors. The

following is another example of how Steiner emphasizes the act of striving itself as

particularly Central European. Steiner characterizes this culture as being particularly

fluid and resistant to classification and any fixed concepts. Clearly, in these examples

Steiner is arguing strongly against the power of nationalism:

Es liegt in dem Streben der Bewohner Mitteleuropas etwas, was eben durchaus als
“Streben etwas zu werden” bezeichnet werden muß, und nicht schon als ein
“Streben etwas zu sein.” […]in diesem Mitteleuropa der Mensch, der sich selbst
versteht, sich eigentlich auflehnen müßte dagegen, jemals unter irgendeinen
Begriff notifiziert zu werden.444

Immediately following the above quote, Steiner argues that Goethe’ s Faust is the

quintessential Central European figure. Steiner quotes multiple passages from Faust that
444
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287.

216
talk about the virtue of constant striving.445 He argues that Faust is the embodiment of

the fluid and ever-striving nature of the Central European, but that it would be incorrect

to call Faust “German” (“Daher wäre es auch lächerlich, den “Faust” einen “Deutschen”

zu nennen, obwohl er nur in Mitteleuropa entstehen konnte”).446 This is an important

assertion not only for the focus on the unfinished, fluid nature of “striving” but also

because it is an example of Steiner reading the Faustian figure, often thought of as

quintessentially German, as not German(ic) but as Central European.

Steiner not only evokes literary associations in characterizing the Central

European character, but also details the historical emigration of different German-

speaking exile communities who moved from west to east within the large geographic

area that is Central Europe. Steiner shows deep historical knowledge of the many ethnic

groups.447 He argues that many groups that moved to other regions brought their German

language and thought but were willing to give up a tight hold on their German identity.

In one example, Steiner talks of the Carpathians in northern Hungary who have largely

been assimilated by Magyar culture, though their culture still lives on significantly within

the Magyar culture. What Steiner holds as important is that such cultures did not resist

giving up their “Germanness” (“Deutschtum”): “ Sie haben keine Anspruch erhoben,

445
One of multiple quotes Steiner cites is from Faust, Part II. These are lines said by the
Angels after Faust’ s death: “Wer immer strebend sich bemüht, den können wir
erlösen.”
446
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 36-37.
447
Steiner’ s work Zeitgeschichtliche Betrachtungen. Das Karma der Unwahrhaftigkeit.
Teil I (1916), also shows Steiner’ s deep historical understanding of the region. See
especially Lecture Three where he discusses the complex ethnic makeup of the Austro-
Hungarian Empire and the myriad types of Slavic groups that co-existed in this region.
See Rudolf Steiner, Zeitgeschichtliche Betrachtungen. Das Karma der Unwahrhaftigkeit.
Teil I (1916), vol. 173, Kosmische und Menschliche Geschichte (Dornach: Rudolf Steiner
Verlag, 1978).

217
etwas Besonderes zu sein neben den umwohnenden Völkerschaften, sie haben sich im

Grunde genommen nicht gewehrt gegen die Hinopferung des Deutschtums.”448 Steiner

interprets this cultural assimilation as a move that transcends nationalism and accesses a

more fundamental human state: “Es ist in Mitteleuropa durchaus alles darauf angelegt,

den Menschen aus dem Nationalen herauszuholen, den “Menschen an sich” geltend zu

machen.”449 The argument for an underlying universal experience, here formulated as the

recognition of the “Menschen an sich” is key to Steiner’ s cultural theory.

The concept that the Central European culture is inherently anti-nationalist is not

one that Steiner suddenly developed at the start of the war but instead has much older

roots. For example, in a piece written in 1888 in Die Deutsche Wochenschrift Steiner

argues that Germans have a cultural task that is the antithesis of national chauvinism:

“Die Deutschen kämpfen für eine Kulturaufgabe, die ihnen durch ihre nationale

Entwicklung aufgegeben wurde, und was ihnen in diesem Kampfe gegenübersteht, ist

nationaler Chauvinismus.”450 More broadly, in early writings before 1900, one also finds

Steiner concerned with international issues and showing strong support of non-Germanic

issues. For example, in an article in an issue of the Magazin für Literatur from 1898,

Steiner praises journalist Émile Zola for his work to defend Alfred Dreyfus. Steiner has

high praise for what he calls, “die Seele des großen Schriftstellers, des tapferen,

bewundernswerten Kämpfers für Wahrheit und Rechtlichkeit.”451 As another link

448
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 36.
449
Ibid.
450
Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Kultur- und Zeitgeschichte 1887-1901, vol. 31 (Dornach:
Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1989), 116.
451
See Rudolf Steiner, “Zolas Schwur und die Wahrheit über Dreyfus (1898),” in
Magazin für Literatur (Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1989), 230.

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between Steiner and his anti-war contemporaries, Heinrich Mann wrote the famous essay

“Zola” (1915) in which he praised Zola for the defense of Dreyfus. Mann also argues for

the superiority of French over German values and that the forces of capitalism and

industrialism helped to create the conditions for the First World War.452

In a different example from Steiner, he makes the case that based on his personal

biography he is naturally oriented away from nationalism and toward what he calls

homelessness (“Heimatlosigkeit”). Steiner argues that his childhood experience of living

in Austria and experiencing first-hand the hostility toward non-native Austrians afforded

him a measure of objectivity regarding this topic.

Geboren bin ich ja in demjenigen Reiche, von dem man sagt, daß es so viel
beigetragen habe zu dem Völkerkriege; aber herangewachsen, sehe ich, daß ich
schon in der Kindheit zur Heimatlosigkeit bestimmt war. Ich hatte keine
Gelegenheit, die eigentümlichen Gefühle des Zusammenhangs mit den Land- und
Volksgenossen selbst zu erleben. Außerdem fiel meine Kindheit in die Zeit, wo
ich in Österreich selbst den Deutschenhaß kennenlernte, wo Deutsch-Österreich
noch stand unter dem Eindruck der Siege Preußens, wo auch die Deutschen in
Österreich die Reichsdeutschen haßten. Eine Voreingenommenheit für
Deutschland in mir zu erzeugen, war keine Gelegenheit. Diese
Heimatlosigkeit, die mir durch mein Karma gegeben worden ist, berechtigt mich,
objektiv zu sprechen[…].453

452
Heinrich Mann, Zola (1915) (Leipzig: Insel-Verlag, 1962).
453
Rudolf Steiner, Die geistigen Hintergründe des Ersten Weltkrieges (1914-1921), vol.
174b (Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1992), 16. Also, in the introduction to the new
English translation of Steiner’ s GA 287, John Kettle provides more detail into Steiner’
s childhood in ethnically diverse areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his
experience being regarded as a foreigner by Hungarian-speaking classmates. Kettle
describes, “Steiner was born in Kraljevec and raised until age eight there and in other
villages in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, a nominally autonomous, ethnically
Croatian and Serbian kingdom within the empire. When he was eight, his father’ s
promotion to stationmaster took the family to Neudörfl in Hungary, where as a German-
speaking Austrian he was again regarded as a foreigner, this time by his Hungarian-
speaking school fellows. Treated as an outsider, he knew at first-hand the resentment that
citizens who didn’ t speak German felt for the co-governing Austrians.” Steiner, The
First Goetheanum. Architecture as Peacework, GA 287, 4.

219
Also related to the topic of “Heimatlosigkeit,” Steiner made the argument that in many

occult traditions there is a stage of the homeless man in which the person rids herself of

all national associations in order to connect with universal laws.454

Beginning in 1915, Steiner held another series of lectures in which he continues to

argue for internationalism, but in this case, suddenly speaks of the German, and not

Central European culture as central to this mission. In some ways, this is a surprising and

problematic lecture series, not least because Steiner repeatedly references Fichte’ s

“Reden an die deutsche Nation” (1808) to proffer his idea on transcending national

boundaries, without ever acknowledging that Fichte’ s essay has been widely read as a

nationalistic tract. Some of the formulations are also jarring in the way that Steiner

speaks in essentializing ways of a quintessentially German spirit, but at the same time

understands this spirit as facilitating internationalism. These lectures to give a fuller

picture of Steiner’ s thought during the time of war. Despite its inner contradictions,

Steiner never spoke in a jingoistic manner of some of his contemporaries, such as

Thomas Mann with his early work “Betrachtungen eines Unpolitischen” (1915-1918).

Steiner’ s lectures also show that his dedication to theorizing a concept of

internationalism continued beyond the earliest days of the war. A central argument

advanced in this lecture series is that Germany is a Kulturnation, a category that Steiner

places in direct opposition to a militaristic country. Steiner is far from unique in calling

Germany a Kulturnation and there are some clear shortcomings in the way he makes this

454
See the first lecture, “Die Mission einzelner Volksseelen im Zusammenhange mit der
Germanisch-Nordischen Mythologie” in the 1910 lecture cycle held in present-day Oslo,
Norway Rudolf Steiner, Die Mission einzelner Volksseelen im Zusammenhange mit der
germanisch-nordisch Mythologie (Rudolf Steiner Online Archive, 2010),
http://anthroposophie.byu.edu.

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case. For example, in characterizing the Kulturnation we see Steiner again choose a few

select male great writers as the examples par excellence of their cultural group, as he did

in the 1914 lectures soon after the war’ s outbreak.455 In this case Steiner highlights only

a few, male philosophical thinkers as representing an essential German identity. It is

important to point out, however, that a central, greater aim of this chapter is to show

Steiner as a thinker who did not seek to divorce culture and politics. This is seen clearly

in the multiple attempts Steiner made to help bring a swifter end to the war, detailed later

in the chapter. More generally, though beyond the scope of this project, Steiner was

actively involved in the creation of a new political and cultural model called the three-

fold social order. This was a concept Steiner developed as a response to the politically

chaotic situation in Europe after the end of the First World War. At its core, this theory is

based on the premise of a society organized around three basic, autonomous spheres:

economic, political and cultural. Part of his motivation to try to restructure society was to

curtail the power of the military and to give more strength to culturally based initiatives.

Thus, I would argue that, though Steiner makes a case for the importance of Germany’ s

artistic and cultural contribution, it would be unfair and inaccurate to deem him as

belonging among a group of German-speaking thinkers who argued for the importance of

culture above or even to the exclusion of politics.456

455
As discussed in this same lecture series, Steiner bases his praise of neighboring
countries, including France, England and Russia, also on its cultural achievements by
highlighting some of the most famous writers. Thus Steiner’ s notion of Kulturnation is
not one he applies only to Germany.
456
See, for example, Wolf Lepenies, The Seduction of Culture in German History
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006). In this work, Lepenies argues that it is a
particularly German habit to value cultural achievement first and foremost and to see it as
a substitute for politics. Lepenies argues that the privileging of art over politics has been

221
 A key reason for Steiner’ s sudden switch to focusing on Germany is due to his

perception that as the war progressed, Germans were being increasingly vilified. In

wartime lectures, Steiner repeatedly criticizes the press, the governments and authors of

other European countries for their eagerness to deride German culture. For instance,

Steiner describes working on a section of the second volume of Rätsel der Philosophie in

which he was trying to do justice to the French philosophers Henri Bergson and Émile

Boutroux. Simultaneous to this effort, Steiner reads derision and name-calling of

German culture by the French: “damals kamen verschiedene Stimmen von jenseits des

Rheins. […] Da sprach man von deutscher Barbarei und dergleichen und warf die

gehässigsten Beschuldigungen und Verleumdungen gegen uns auf.”457 This perspective

is seen clearly in the work’ s subtitle: “Für Deutsche und diejenigen, die nicht glauben,

sie hassen zu müssen.” Steiner paints thinkers of other European nations as aggressively

anti-German.458 Steiner quotes Ernest Renan (1823-1892) in 1870 during the German-

French war speaking of a war to obliterate the Germans and draws parallels between this

bellicose thinker and French politicians during the First World War. Steiner also argues

that Germany, counter to the prevailing thought of the time, unlike France and Russia,

did not incite the start of the First World War. Steiner asserts: “Man wird bei den

Deutschen vergeblich nach solchen Triebfedern suchen, die zum gegenwärtigen Kriege in

a notable tendency from the late eighteenth century to today and is key to understanding
the Nazi ideology.
457
Steiner, Die geistigen Hintergründe des Ersten Weltkrieges (1914-1921), 174b, 14.
458
Rudolf Steiner, Gedanken während der Zeit des Krieges. Für Deutsche und
diejenigen, die nicht glauben, sie hassen zu müssen., vol. GA 24, Aufsätze über die
Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus und zur Zeitlage 1915-1921 (Dornach: Rudolf
Steiner Verlag, 1982), 304. Also discussed are Russians Chomiakow, Danilweski and
Solowieff who talked of Russia’ s global mission and whom Steiner characterizes as
representing a will to war. Ibid., 310 ff.

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ähnlicher Art führen mußten wie die von Solowieff bei den Russen [...] von Renan für die

Franzosen vorausverkündeten.”459 To paint Germany as the one non-aggressive country

from amongst its European peers is certainly a case of Steiner over-reaching and glossing

over Germany’ s complicity in the war. Steiner is even willing to view the war as a

necessary step that enables the development of humankind. In addressing the family

members of the military, Steiner asserts that all must learn to see the personal sacrifice as

part of the greater development of humanity: “[Sie] müssen aus dem persönlichen Leide

heraus sich finden in der Idee, daß aus Blut und Tod die Entwickelung der Menschheit

sich erheben werde zu Zielen, denen die Opfer notwendig waren und die sie rechtfertigen

werden.”460 The concept that the development of humankind could arise from blood and

death is a surprising one to hear from Steiner. This is especially so when we compare it

to his exhortations to peace and international brotherhood made only a year earlier and

the attempts to bring a speedy end to the war we see again starting only a year after this

work in 1916. To some degree, though not entirely, the above quoted sentiment from

Steiner can be seen as an attempt to comfort family members by telling them the death of

their sons is toward a higher purpose. Seen in the context of the times, it is also worth

remembering that people of many nationalities expected a much shorter and far less

459
Ibid., 320-21. For more of Steiner’ s arguments that Germany was not the primary
aggressor see also Steiner, Zeitgeschichtliche Betrachtungen. Das Karma der
Unwahrhaftigkeit. Teil I (1916), 173. This work is an example of the great mix of
subjects that Steiner covered in many of his wartime works. In this work Steiner quotes
international newspapers, British parliamentary proceedings and authors of multiple
nationalities. He covers topics such as free trade, the Paris economic conference and
European colonies. At the same time that Steiner was clearly reading very widely to
follow international events, Steiner also claims to have obtained other insight in this work
through clairvoyance.
460
Steiner, Gedanken während der Zeit des Krieges. Für Deutsche und diejenigen, die
nicht glauben, sie hassen zu müssen., GA 24, 279.

223
brutal war than the First World War ultimately was. Yet, even with the context of the

time taken into consideration, it is fair to conclude that Steiner in the historical moment

of 1915 let his great concern for the role of the German culture and its task, as he saw it,

in world evolution overshadow his ideal of internationalism.461

In this lecture series, Steiner makes the case that Hermann Grimm and Johann

Fichte, among others, are representatives of a quintessential German intellectual spirit

that is both oriented toward the development of the “Ich,” one of the spiritual sheaths,

and toward facilitating international understanding. Steiner quotes Grimm calling for a

spirit of community (“Gemeinschaft”) that is ethically linked and that transcends national

boundaries. He ends the quote with the assertion that peace is the highest aim:

Im deutschen Geiste ruht Europas Ich. […] [Grimm] lebte im deutschen Geiste
um zu charakterisieren, wozu die Gesinnung des Ich es gebracht hatte. Ich weiß,
daß dies nicht die Gesinnung eines einzelnen Menschen ist. Es ist die Herman
Grimms der noch im geistigen Sinne Goetheblut in seinen Adern hatte. Er spricht
die wunderbaren Worte: “Die Solidarität der sittlichen Überzeugungen aller
Menschen ist heute die uns alle verbindende Kirche. Wir suchen
leidenschaftlicher als jemals nach einem sichtbaren Ausdrucke dieser
Gemeinschaft. Alle wirklich ernsten Bestrebungen der Massen kennen nur dies
eine Ziel. Die Trennung der Nationen existiert hier bereits nicht mehr. Wir
fühlen, daß der ethischen Weltanschauung gegenüber kein nationaler Unterschied
walte. […] Die Versicherung, daß Friede zu halten unser aller heiligster Wunsch
sei, ist keine Lüge.”462

In this passage, we see the call for transcending national boundaries. This language also

includes the notion that Grimm is connected to Goethe by blood, “Goetheblut,” though

461
As a reminder, Steiner understood the Germanic or Central European cultures as the
vanguard of cultural revolution during the current fifth epoch out of a total of seven
“post-Atlantean” epochs. Following the Germanic epoch comes a Russian and then an
American epoch.
462
Steiner, Gedanken während der Zeit des Krieges. Für Deutsche und diejenigen, die
nicht glauben, sie hassen zu müssen., GA 24, 281.

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Steiner qualifies this by saying he means this in is a spiritual sense (“im geistigen

Sinne”).

Of all the figures discussed in this work, Johann Fichte receives the most

attention. Steiner understands Fichte as a philosopher who was able to access

supersensory experience through the power of his thinking and who was also oriented

toward internationalism. Steiner relates the biography and key ideas from Fichte and

argues that he experienced life as stemming from the supersensory world. As part of his

esoteric reading of Fichte, Steiner argues that Fichte discusses the soul as separate from

the body and also the notion of life after death. Furthermore, Steiner asserts excitedly

that Fichte was able to access the inner, spiritual dimension of life: “Wie steht doch

dieser Mann mit seiner ganzen Seele in dem Anschauen des geistigen Wesens der Welt

darinnen! Wie ist für ihn dieses Drinnenstehen in der geistigen Welt mit seiner Seele

eine so unmittelbare Wirklichkeit wie für den äußeren Menschen das Drinnenstehen in

der stofflichen Welt durch die Sinne!”463 In another instance, here referencing “Reden an

die deutsche Nation,” Steiner argues that it is the especially energetic nature of Fichte’ s

thinking combined with the warmth of his personality, that makes him the embodiment of

Germanness (below he speaks of a German “Wesen”):

Die Wärme in Fichtes “Reden an die deutsche Nation” ist eins mit dem Lichte,
das ihm in seiner energischen arbeit leuchtete. Und die Verbindung dieses
Lichtes mit dieser Wärme erscheint in Fichtes Persönlichkeit als das,
wodurch er eine der echtesten Verkörperungen deutschen Wesens ist.464
Certainly, Steiner’ s characterization of Fichte as an especially warm personality is a

surprising reading of this figure. Steiner emphasizes the “warmth” of Fichte’ s speech

but never qualifies his praise with the acknowledgment that, in this text, Fichte was

463
Ibid., 294.
464
Ibid., 291.

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aiming to inspire a German national feeling that would help establish the German state.

As when discussing Grimm, Steiner characterizes the essence of Germanness as

inherently internationalist. In the following example, Steiner argues further that it is in

the nature of the “true German” to gain an understanding of all greater humanity. He

further asserts that running through Fichte’ s “Reden an die deutsche Nation” is one

message like a keynote (“Grundton”): “So jemand nur ein wahrer Deutscher ist, wird er

aus seiner Deutschheit heraus den Weg finden, auf dem ein Verständnis aller

menschlichen Wirklichkeit reifen kann.”465 Here we see one example of a concept

Steiner repeatedly espouses in this work: the German spirit or nature is at once distinct

from other cultures and simultaneously united with the greater world by an inherently

internationalist orientation. That is, because of their specific gift for gaining a large and

deep perspective through its power of thinking, Steiner argues that the “true” Germans

can see beyond the boundaries of themselves and develop understanding for all humanity.

Even though Steiner argues for the importance of internationalism, there is a certain ring

of superiority to Steiner’ s wording when he speaks of the “true German” (“ein wahrer

Deutscher”) and his ability to understand all of humanity.

Before I discuss scholarly critique of Steiner regarding the work “Gedanken

während der Zeit des Krieges,” it is illuminating to return briefly to Freud’ s essays

“Zeitgemäßes über Krieg und Tod.” Both texts were written in 1915. I do this in order to

note similarities and divergences in how Freud talked about the vilification of Germany

and its status as a “Kulturnation,” a term Freud uses in the following quote. Freud argues

against the construal of Germany as “barbaric” and gives as justification that this country

465
Ibid., 300-01.

226
has proven its place in civilized society by its great cultural achievements. He also says

that he hopes that Germany demonstrates itself to be the most civilized, implying the

least violent. Freud asserts:

Ja daß eine der großen Kulturnationen so allgemein mißliebig ist, daß der Versuch
gewagt werden kann, sie als “barbarisch” von der Kulturgemeinschaft
auszuschließen, obwohl sie ihre Eignung durch die großartigsten
Beitragsleistungen längst erwiesen hat. Wir leben der Hoffnung, [sic] eine
unparteiische Geschichtsschreibung werde den Nachweis erbringen, daß gerade
diese Nation, die, in deren Sprache wir schreiben, für deren Sieg unsere Lieben
kämpfen, sich am wenigsten gegen die Gesetze der menschlichen Gesittung
vergangen habe, aber wer darf in solcher Zeit als Richter auftreten in eigener
Sache?466

Like Steiner, Freud speaks of Germany as one of the great “Kulturnationen.” As opposed

to Steiner who claimed to know the truth that Germans were less jingoistic than their

European counterparts, however, Freud talks of possessing hope that Germany is more

civilized in the war (“wir leben der Hoffnung”). Also, by leaving the ultimate judgment

to others (“wer darf [...] als Richter auftreten in eigener Sache?”) Freud takes a

considerably more restrained tone than the strident-sounding Steiner in “Gedanken” who

over-reaches in his strong desire to portray Germany as untainted by jingoism.

Steiner was deemed a nationalist by certain contemporaries and has been so

characterized by scholars as well due to passages in “Gedanken während der Zeit des

Krieges.” French Theosophical writer Edouard Schuré (1841-1929), who up until the

First World War was close to Steiner, denounced Steiner as a German chauvinist after the

publication of this text.467 In recent times, Peter Staudenmaier deems Steiner a “pro-war”

466
Freud, Zeitgemäßes über Krieg und Tod (1915).
467
See the introduction by Robert Friedenthal in Das Karma der Unwahrhaftigkeit.
Steiner, Zeitgeschichtliche Betrachtungen. Das Karma der Unwahrhaftigkeit. Teil I
(1916), 173. Steiner produced Schuré’ s mystery play Die Kinder des Luzifer in Munich

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thinker, and cites solely the title as evidence in a footnote without citing a single passage.

He thereby completely ignores the fact that Steiner was advancing a theory that Germans

should be leaders in internationalism.468 Criticism of the problematic elements of

Steiner’ s writings during the war is certainly justified. I argue, however, that Steiner’ s

wartime thought, taken as a whole, combined with his later political efforts shows a

thinker strongly committed to internationalism, albeit in a form that has essentializing

traits. As I tried to show, even in this flawed text, Steiner promotes internationalism. In

contrast to Staudenmaier, Christoph Lindenberg supports my own reading as he asserts

that Steiner distinguished himself from other contemporaries in the early years of the war

by not inscribing his thought as part of the German military tradition.469

The essay “Gedanken während der Zeit des Krieges” represents Steiner likely at

his most antagonistic and, in certain instances, most partisan toward Germany for reasons

discussed. If Steiner’ s thoughts about the war had not evolved from his perspective in

in 1909, one year before the premiere of Steiner’ s first mystery play. Steiner and
Schuré reconciled after the war.
468
Staudenmaier asserts that “among German theosophists and anthroposophists, from
Hübbe-Schleiden to Steiner, Blavatsky’ s message of a ‘ universal brotherhood’
degenerated into a pro-war stance based on a program of cultural imperialism.”
Staudenmaier, “Esoteric Alternatives in Imperial Germany: Science, Spirit, and the
Modern Occult Revival,” 232. I find Staudenmaier’ s arguments an example of the
laziness of some scholars critical of Steiner. Staudenmaier paints with very broad strokes
when he puts multiple figures and movements all in one sentence and deems them all
“pro-war.” Also, in deciding simply to name this work without discussion it in any detail
and while also ignoring all other articulations on internationalism within this text and
others during wartimes is a highly superficial approach that assumes many readers will
not question the assumption that Steiner’ s thought is pro-war without looking into any
details.
469
Lindenberg argues: “Die Vorträge Steiners in den ersten Jahren des Krieges
unterschieden sich von anderen Vorträgen deutscher Gelehrte dadurch, daß er an eine
bestimmte Tradition des Deutschtums, die man durch die Namen Friedrich der Große,
Blücher, Scharnhort oder Clausewity umreißen kann, nicht anknüpfte. “Christoph
Lindenberg, “Rudolf Steiner und die geistige Aufgabe Deutschlands,” Die Drei:
Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft, Kunst, und soziales Leben, no. 12 (1989): 890.

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this text from 1915, then scholars like Staudenmaier could be taken more seriously. In

his biography of Steiner, however, Christoph Lindenberg demonstrates that between 1915

and 1916 Steiner’ s tone changes such that he no longer defends Germany or speaks of a

specifically German spirit.470 To cite a few examples of Steiner’ s changed perspective,

just one year after this work, in 1916, in the work “Das Karma der Unwahrhaftigkeit,”

Steiner is discussing British intellectuals and argues that everyone should turn their

attention away from the question of culpability for the war to the question of how to get

out of the horrific war.471

Much more telling than citing disparate comments Steiner made in the later years
of the war, however, is to introduce the initiatives Steiner took to affect political
decision-making and bring a swifter end to the war.472

Though none of these initiatives had the degree of influence Steiner had ardently hoped

for, they reveal Steiner as a thinker deeply invested in developing an alternative to

Germany’ s reliance on militaristic solutions and concerned about a peaceful and

flourishing Europe, far beyond Germany’ s borders. In the case of the document “An

das deutsche Volk und an die Kulturwelt” (1919), Steiner’ s thoughts were endorsed by

470
See Lindenberg, Rudolf Steiner. A Biography, 437. For a detailed account of the
development of Steiner’ s political awareness and self-identify see also: Lindenberg, C.
(1989). “Rudolf Steiner und die geistige Aufgabe Deutschlands.”Die Drei: Zeitschrift für
Wissenschaft, Kunst, und soziales Leben(12): 880-905.
471
Steiner argues one should: “sich lieber der einzig wichtigen und entscheidenden Frage
zuwenden, nämlich, wie man den Ausweg aus dieser Hölle finde, von der man in
Wahrheit sagen kann, wie es in Macbeth heißt: O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor
heart Cannot conceive nor name thee…[…] So soll den die Tollheit nie ein End nehmen?
Steiner, Zeitgeschichtliche Betrachtungen. Das Karma der Unwahrhaftigkeit. Teil I
(1916), 173, 41. From his wording one can detect just how passionately Steiner wished
for an end to the war.
472
I only summarize these important efforts by Steiner, as an in-depth analysis of these
political actions oversteps the bounds of this chapter and my greater project, both of
which are focused more toward Steiner’ s cultural and aesthetic thought. I cite important
titles for readers who want to delve more deeply into this subject.

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some very well-known figures of the day such as the Austrian Expressionist playwright,

essayist and critic Hermann Bahr (1863-1934), the German author of Jewish descent

Jakob Wassermann (1873-1934) and German author Hermann Hesse (1877-1962).

In the summer of 1917, Steiner wrote two memoranda on the subject of a possible

end to the war, an option that looked viable at this juncture. In Germany, in response to a

request from the Count Otto von Lerchenfeld, he began working on his ideas about the

three-fold social order. Steiner held that the only path toward peace was to create a

political system based on a three-branch government in which the political, economic and

cultural arenas are balanced in terms of power and largely autonomous. He wrote a

memorandum that reached the German Staatssekretär Kühlmann. The second

memorandum was given to Count Ludwig von Poltzer-Hoditz in order to reach the

Austrian government. The document actually reached Kaiser Karl I via the count’ s

brother. According to Hans Kühn, Karl I read the document and first sent it to the

Staatsarchiv. He requested to see it again, however, right when a revolution in Austria

seemed imminent. The timing was too late though as the following day Karl I was

deposed. Kühn also describes that Prinz Max von Baden wanted to meet Steiner. At the

end of January 1918, Baden received the Memorandum and the lecture cycle “Die

Mission einzelner Volksseelen.” In October 1918 when Baden became Reichskanzler

there was the possibility of a truce. Steiner was expecting that Baden would express the

ideas of three-fold social order as part of his message that Germany was ready for peace.

Steiner was therefore very disappointed when Baden’ s speech contained no mention of

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his societal model, and it was later revealed that Baden was given a second version of the

speech that edited out this message.473

On Februrary 2, 1919, Steiner wrote a text entitled “An das deutsche Volk und an

die Kulturwelt.” He deems the war a tragic mistake (“die kriegerische Katastrophe”)474

that demands critical self-reflection from the German people on how to progress

differently: “Selbstbesinnung muß nach solchem Erlebnis eintreten. Denn dieses

Erlebnis hat die Meinung eines halben Jahrhunders, hat insbesondere die herrschenden

Gedanken der Kriegsjahre als einen tragisch wirkenden Irrtum erwiesen.”475 Steiner

argues that the way to prevent such future catastrophes is to change the governmental

structure into a three-fold social order. With such a system, Steiner asserts, Germany can

live harmoniously with its neighbors: “Mit einer solchen Politik hätte das deutsche Volk

mit den außerdeutschen Völkern zusammenleben können.”476 This document was signed

by people from all walks of life including academics, artists, writers, architects, pastors,

medical doctors, businessmen and government officials hailing from Germany, Austria

and Switzerland.

473
As reported by Kühn: “So tief erschüttert sah ich Rudolf Steiner niemals wieder als
bei dieser Enttäuschung. […]Der Prinz hatte sich noch zu sehr an die parlamentarischen
Gebräuche gehalten und nicht erkannt, dass es auf die Tat des Augenblicks angekommen
war, den er jetzt verpasste.”.”Hans Kühn, Dreigliederungs Zeit. Rudolf Steiners Kampf
für die Gesellschaftsordnung der Zukunft (Dornach, Switzerland: Philosophisch-
Anthroposophischer Verlag, 1978), 20.
Steiner gave the text of the speech An das deutsche Volk und an die Kulturwelt to Hans
Kühn, along with German businessman Emil Molt (1876-1936) and Swiss lawyer and
Anthroposophist Roman Boos (1889-1952). Kühn’ s description of Steiner’ s reaction
here is an eye-witness account.
474
Ibid., 162.
475
Ibid.
476
Ibid., 163.

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 It is important to note that also in this time period, in 1921, Steiner encountered

nearly disastrous consequences for his political work: the Alldeutsch Alliance, the same

group that backed Hitler’ s putsch attempt in Munich, attempted to assassinate Steiner in

1921 while he was lecturing in Munich.477 The attempted Hitler-Ludendorff putsch two

years later in 1923 convinced Steiner to close his Berlin apartment and to move the

Anthroposophical press out of Germany to Dornach, Switzerland.478 Moreover, the Nazis

closed all of his institutions, including the Waldorf schools, when they came to power.479

Steiner’ s Theories of Art as Fostering Cross-Cultural Understanding

In this last section, the topic changes substantially from a focus on Steiner’ s

political engagement to his artistic works created during the time of the First World War.

In this section, Steiner sought to make visual and tangible his aesthetic and cultural

theory with artistic works in that adorned the Goetheanum. In particular I look at two of

the artistic works created by Steiner, the painted motifs on the cupola and the series of

carved wooden columns. In addition to describing these works and providing images I

present Steiner’ s theory on how an aesthetic and spiritual encounter with artistic

477
The deemed Steiner a traitor against his country due to his efforts to support the
people of Upper Silesia in northeastern Germany who, through the new doctrine of “self-
determination of nations,” would decide through a referendum whether they belonged to
Poland or Germany. In collaboration with members of the local section of the Association
for the Threefold Organism in Breslau, Steiner worked to offer an alternative to the
either/or situation in which cultural groups would have the freedom to form their own
spiritual and cultural associations. They held meetings and gave speeches amid a mood
of dangerous tension and mounting threat of violence. As Helmuth Woitinas, a member,
recalls: “Often, by the skin of our teeth, we escaped having the speaker arrested and a
shoot-out.” See Henry Barnes, A Life for the Spirit. Rudolf Steiner in the Crosscurrent of
Our Time. (Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press, 1997), 141-143.
478
See Mateo Kries and Julia Althaus, eds. Rudolf Steiner. Die Alchemie des Alltags.
GZD. (Ditzingen: Vitra Design Museum, 2010), 329.
479
See the chronology at the back of the book: Mateo Kries and Julia Althaus, eds.
Rudolf Steiner. Die Alchemie des Alltags. (GZD Ditzingen: Vitra Design Museum,
2010), 320-329.

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elements is meant to foster cross-cultural understanding. As previously discussed, the

concept that all cultures together contribute to the evolution of the world is central to

Steiner’ s theory of cultural history and his aesthetic theory. Steiner’ s artistic works are

meant to express the collectively shared history of cultural evolution, which develops in

tandem with the “evolution of consciousness.”

I will first describe briefly the painted motifs that adorned the smaller of the two

cupolas as they appear in photographs and drawings still remaining after the first

Goetheanum burned down. It was located above the sculpture of the Representative of

Humanity, a carved wooden human figure that measured over thirty-one feet and Steiner

referred to it sometimes as a Christ figure meant as a kind of balancing force. The

figures, all painted in vibrant color, included, among other figures, a Faust figure, an

Egyptian initiate, a Persian initiate, an Athena figure, a Germanic initiate and a Slavic

figure described as representing a coming age.480 All figures were facing forward or seen

in profile. They were surrounded by colorful, rounded shading whose many, translucent

layers suggest that these spiritual figures are in motion. The nature of the colorful

shading that surrounds the figures separates one figure from the next. At the same time,

as all the colors mix one into the next to create one, multicolored panel, the shading also

seems to reinforce the idea of a unified cultural history. Apart from the painting of the

Representative of Humanity that is larger than the rest, all the figures are also united in

their similar size. It is worth noting that Steiner displayed his view of the significance of

480
Steiner posited that a Russian-Slavic epoch [3573-5733] would be the vanguard of the
coming epoch following the present Anglo-Saxon and Germanic age [1413-3573 AD].
Of this former epoch Steiner said, “es liegt tatsächlich in dem Russischen der Keim für
etwas Zukünftiges [...] Aber auf dem Grunde des russischen Volkstums liegt etwas
Zukunftssicheres.”Steiner, Der Baugedanke des Goetheanum. Einleitender Vortrag mit
Erklärungen zu den Bildern des Baus (1921), 114.

233
the Central European culture in this painting by choosing to paint two figures from this

culture: first, the Faust figure, that he describes as a person of the sixteenth century and,

second, a “Germanic” initiate (“der germanische Eingeweihte, der germanische

Erkennende”).481

481
Ibid. This series of lectures was held in 1921 and we see that Steiner’ s tendency to
vacillate between terms remains. As discussed, in the 1915 lecture series given weeks
after the outbreak of the war Steiner often used the term”Mitteleuropäisch.” Then he
switched to speaking of “Deutsch” in the 1915 essay “Gedanken während der Zeit des
Krieges.” In this 1921 lecture series Steiner talks of “Germanisch.”

234
 Figure 2: Steiner’ s painted motifs of the archetypal figures of the seven post-
Atlantean cultures with a series of columns and the large carved wooden sculpture
Der Menschheitsrepräsentant below. Colored drawing by van Bemmelen.
As with the column motifs, these painted motifs were meant to depict

simultaneously the history of culture as well as the interplay of the different soul bodies

within the human body. Steiner asserts that a dome should be build on which forms are

painted “die aus dem Verfolgen der Menschheitsevolution an unsere Seele herantreten,

die uns zeigt, wie die Menschen, wie die Völker zusammenwirken, und wie das ein Bild

235
ist wieder des Zusammenwirkens der Seelenkräfte im Menschen selber.”482 Steiner says

that the evolution of humanity should approach our soul (“an unsere Seele herantreten”).

These paintings are meant to provide a picture of the interworkings of the cultural groups

and the spiritual bodies not through an intellectual approach but through a spiritual or

“soulful” one. Also, relatedly, implicit in this formulation is the assertion that in order to

gain cross-cultural understanding, what Steiner refers to above as the cooperation of the

cultures, one must gain supersensible abilities to see the interworkings of the various

spiritual bodies.

It would seem that these painted motifs represent a clear demonstration of Steiner’

s desire to artistically portray his vision of the unified history of culture. In fact,

however, Steiner did not talk at any length about these painted motifs and thus I cannot

analyze his theory in this regard. Instead, he sought to deflect any assumption by the

viewer that his primary aim with these painted images was the figures themselves. He

argued that his primary focus with this set of motifs was not the depiction of cultural

evolution but the creation of forms out of engagement with color:

man täusche sich nicht, weil Motive, weil da allerlei Figuren darauf sind, sogar
kulturhistorische Figuren. Mir kam es beim Ausmalen dieser kleinen Kuppel
nicht darauf an, diese oder jene Motive zu zeichnen [...] mir kam es darauf an, daß
zum Beispiel hier ein Orangefleck in verschiedenen Nuancen des Orange ist: aus
diesen Farbennuancen ergab sich die Gestalt.483

The concept of artistic creation out of an engagement with the (inner) qualities of a

medium, instead of a focus on realistic imitation of external appearances, also has clear

echoes with much of Expressionist thought, including Kandinsky’ s concept of “innerer

482
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 31.
483
Steiner, Der Baugedanke des Goetheanum. Einleitender Vortrag mit Erklärungen zu
den Bildern des Baus (1921), 95.

236
Klang” and its relation to color. The claim is also consistent with Steiner’ s stance,

discussed in Chapter One, against allegory and his rejection of an overly literalist

approach. Regardless of Steiner’ s protestations, of course, he did set out to portray the

evolution of culture because he created a whole series of archetypal figures meant to

represent each epoch. Implicit, however, in his insistence that the interaction with color

is primary and that the figures arose in an organic way out of this interaction is the way

Steiner priveleges practice over theory. In addition, an important part of the argument is

that these figures should not be understood as overly literal or limiting encapsulations of

each culture. This argument, only stated implicitly here, is one articulated more

explicitly in the essay “Gedanken während der Zeit des Krieges” regarding Steiner’ s

case that the central European culture is typified by a heterogeneous and constantly

“striving” nature that cannot be accurately categorized with the limiting qualified

“Deutsch.” Steiner does not theorize in any extensive way about these motifs, and thus I

will move on to how he theorized the carved motifs of the columns, a subject Steiner

addresses in greater depth.

As introduced, Steiner’ s theoretical apparatus operates via a layering process.

Thus, in addition to how the forms express the evolution of cultural history they are also

meant to express other forms of evolution, including that of the different spiritual sheaths,

as during each historical epoch the development of a particular sheath is emphasized.484

In the case of the series of columns, they are also meant to echo the stages of

484
As a reminder, in Steiner’ s theory of cultural evolution different cultural groups have
the task of developing the different spiritual sheaths, a task that is the focus of each
cultural epoch.For example, the Italian and Spanish peoples developed the Sentient Soul,
the French the Intellectual Soul, the English speaking peoples the Consciousness Soul.
But each human being is understood as containing all of these sheaths.

237
transformation in the sense of the Goethean plant metamorphosis. Thus, we see the way

that the link between the human being and nature, an outlook that Steiner had in common

with Scheerbart and Taut, is at play in the artistic forms. Regarding the columns, Steiner

asserts that when one enters the building from the west side the view of the motifs

adorning the columns, both of their capitals and architraves, gives one a feeling of unity

with all of humanity: “Wir haben gesehen, daß für denjenigen, der von Westen aus den

Bau betritt, die Möglichkeit besteht, sich in diesem Bau ganz innerhalb der Menschheit

zu fühlen.”485 Steiner depicted “humanity” in the series of carved motifs on the column

capitals and architraves. He asserted that the capitals expressed the individual cultural

groups and the architraves expressed the mutual relationships between the different

cultural groups: “die Kräfte der einzelnen Kulturgemeinschaften [werden]

gewissermaßen ausgedrückt […] durch die Kapitellzeichen, und die gegenseitigen

Beziehungen der einzelnen europäischen Kulturen durch dasjenige, was in den

485
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 50.

238
Architraven dargestellt ist.”486 The way that the relationships

Figure 3: Cross-section of domes from a model.

between individual cultures are meant to be expressed by the motifs on the architraves is

seen in the placement of the motifs between each pair of columns as opposed to directly

above a single column.

486
Ibid. Steiner also discusses each culture as linked with particular planets, a subject I
do not address in this chapter.

239
Figure 4: The main hall with the audience area below and three of the columns with
their capitals.

In lectures given in 1921 Steiner describes the forms more in organic rather than

cultural terms and repeatedly emphasizes that the series of columns must be considered

not in isolation but taken as a whole. In other instances, Steiner talks about the

relationship of the smaller buildings to the central Goetheanum building also as all part of

one, organic whole. Steiner argues that “[es] wird hier ganz besonders darauf

240
hingewiesen, daß im Grunde genommen die einzelne Säule für sich gar nicht beurteilt

werden kann, sondern nur die ganze Folge der Säulen in ihrer aufeinanderfolgenden

Form.”487 The reason for the insistence on the interconnectedness of all of the elements

is that the artistic forms are meant to echo what Steiner understands as the unified nature

of organic evolution. Steiner describes the progression of the columns from one to the

next as echoing metamorphosis such that no two columns are the same. Instead, each

column represents a stage in the continuous process of growth:

tatsächlich alle diese sieben Säulenkapitäle aus einander hervorgeholt sind,

metamorphosisch aus einander hervorwachsen, wie die Formen der Blätter, die
auf einander sich bilden im Werden der Pflanze, metamorphosisch sich bilden. Es
ist dadurch ein wirkliches Nachschaffen dem organischen Naturschaffen in diesen
nicht einfach dasselbe wiederholenden Kapitälen, sondern es sind die Kapitäle in
fortdauerndem Wachstum, vom ersten bis zum siebenten.488

487
Steiner, Der Baugedanke des Goetheanum. Einleitender Vortrag mit Erklärungen zu
den Bildern des Baus (1921), 60.
488
Ibid., 28.

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 It should also be noted that Steiner’ s choice of the number seven, as with his broader

theory of the meaning of numbers, is a large subject. Steiner contended that certain

numbers were especially potent for the way they reappear in myriad areas of life,

including botany, astronomy, the human body and music, among other areas. The motifs

Figure 5: A close-up of the second column

themselves are comprised of organic-looking forms some of which echo leaves or

perhaps water droplets, and some of which are more angular and geometric. The forms

on column four look as if they could be depicting a moment during the process of cell

division. Other forms are reminiscent of non-organic entities, such as one in the

architrave above the third and fourth column that looks similar to a caduceus. In line

with how Steiner remained adamant in his claim that his art avoided symbolism of any

kind, he argues that the caduceus-like form happened organically, and not through

mimesis.

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 Figure 6: A close-up of the third column
The aesthetic process required to experience the evolutionary or metamorphic

nature of the progression from one column to the next Steiner describes, in one instance,

as a merging process in which the viewer unites with the forces involved in plant

metamorphosis: “Man muß gewissermaßen sich hineinversetzt empfinden in die Kräfte,

die tätig sind, wenn ein oberes Pflanzenblatt, in seiner Form metamorphosiert, gegen-

über dem unteren entsteht.”489 This form of aesthetic process sounds very much akin to

Einfühlung. In another formulation from the same lecture, Steiner describes the process

as entering into the evolutionary impulse with an artistic sensibility (“Wenn man sich nun

recht in die Entwickelungsimpulse hineinversetzt mit der künstlerischen

Empfindung”).490 Thus we see implicit in the aesthetic process proposed by Steiner a

melding of nature and art in the assertion that the processes of evolution—understood as

simultaneously cultural and organic phenomena—should be approached artistically.

489
Ibid., 30.
490
Ibid., 71.

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 Figure 7: The third and fourth columns

This process of empathetic immersion applies also, importantly, to how the

viewer is meant to identify with the disparate cultures such that each culture, typically

seen as distinct from each other, is experienced as a part of oneself. Steiner describes this

aesthetic process as facilitating cross-cultural understanding. In one succinct formulation

he summarizes the idea that one should experience the individual cultural groups as one

experiences the different parts of one’ s own soul: “Und die einzelnen

Kulturgemeinschaften empfinden wir wie unsere eigenen Seelenglieder in unserem

eigenen Inneren.”491 In both examples, we see an intentional mapping of the cultural

layers onto the spiritual layers. Thus, Steiner’ s proposed remedy—to cure the feelings

of animosity toward those from other nations—is a form of aesthetic engagement, both

artistic and contemplative, that asks the viewer to treat the other as part of the self. There

is a clear impediment to understanding precisely how this is meant to work: the carved

motifs of the columns are quite esoteric and what some would call abstract. Indeed,

491
Steiner, Der Dornacher Bau als Wahrzeichen geschichtlichen Werdens und
künstlerischer Unwandlungsimpulse (1914), 287, 56.

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Steiner held that, in order to see how the motifs expressed particular stages of cultural

and organic evolution one needed a developed form of spiritual sight or clairvoyance.

The fact that full comprehension of the motifs is only possible for the viewer capable of

supersensible sight also means that Steiner’ s wish to help effect peace on a society-side

basis would have a modest potential for success—that is, until and unless people

developed the spiritual capacities that Steiner claimed to be possible. Nevertheless, it is

important to point out that it is possible for any careful viewer of the carved motifs to

ascertain that Steiner had an attention to detail. He likewise understood each cultural

stage as distinct from another. While Steiner did not seek to conflate cultures, however,

his artistic creations ultimately seek cross-cultural unity. This is seen in the way that the

painted figures stand together as a unified group and in the manner in which the carved

motifs together comprise a long, single evolutionary process. Equally clear is that

underlying Steiner’ s often esoteric aesthetic theory and artistic creations, and despite the

essentializing strain already discussed, is a simple and earnest—even utopian—desire to

help European society overcome nationalistic hatred and gain cross-cultural

understanding and sympathy:

Wie könnte der Angehörige der einen Kulturgemeinschaft den Angehörigen einer
anderen Kulturgemeinschaft einfach hassen und über ihn schimpfen [...] Man
denke nur, wie unendlich vieles beigetragen werden könnte, daß die Menschen
aller Kulturgemeinschaften sich gegenseiting verstehen, sich gegenseitig liebevoll
umschließen [...].492

Steiner argues that the insights he tries to impart about how all people share one, long

cultural history can transcend hatred and bring about mutual understanding and love.

492
Ibid., 55.

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 Conclusion

As demonstrated in this chapter, the multifaceted nature of Steiner’ s response to

the outbreak of the First World War reveals him as a thinker for whom aesthetic, cultural

and political issues were integrally intertwined. Steiner’ s theoretical response to the war

was to articulate a concept of how the recognition of a single, shared cultural history

would help people overcome nationalistic tendencies. In addition to a shared history,

Steiner asserted that each culture had a distinct task, and he highlighted a special role for

the central European culture in facillitating internationalism. I argued that inherent in

Steiner’ s thought is a tension between, on the one hand, his earnest aim for

internationalism and peace and, on the other, a tendency toward essentialism and elitism

regarding the concept of culture. In addition to further illumination of Steiner’ s

aesthetic and cultural theory, this chapter focused on how Steiner put his theory into

practice as an architect, painter and sculptor. I also showed Steiner as part of a small

group of European contemporaries who took a stance against the war from its inception.

I demonstrated how the Goetheanum building has links with many contemporaneous

architectural innovations and, above all, with the Expressionist movement. In particular,

I revealed resonances between Steiner’ s architectural theory and the pacifist,

Expressionist and spiritually-inspired architectural thought of architect Bruno Taut and

writer Paul Scheerbart.

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 CONCLUSION

My project comes more than a century after Kandinsky optimistically predicted

the imminent arrival of the epoch of the great spiritual (“die Epoche des großen

Geistigen”).493 At that time, Rudolf Steiner enjoyed a level of prominence that led

hundreds and even thousands of people to attend public lectures. I begin my conclusion

by raising the question of what has happened in the intervening years to the status, and

viability, of spiritual art, of “spiritual modernism” and of Rudolf Steiner in particular?

Does their greatest contribution lie behind us, at the turn of the twentieth century? Or can

I—like Kandinsky before me—predict a coming age when spiritual art, and spiritual

thought, in particular Rudolf Steiner’ s might gain renewed prominence? I find mixed

answers to such questions. In some ways, western culture in the 2010s seems more

“materialistic” than ever: everyday life has been hyper commodified and the sciences and

the academy seem in many ways ever oriented toward specialization. On the other hand,

the emphasis upon interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity and transnationalism is now the

norm within the academic humanities in ways that would seem to have appealed to the

Expressionist interests in the intermixing of media, in Gesamtkunstwerk, even in

synesthesia.

493
Wassily Kandinsky.Der blaue Reiter im Lenbachhaus München: Katalog der
Sammlung in der Städtischen Galerie. Eds. Rosel Gollek. München: Prestel, 1982, 313.

247
 There are also certain, more recent developments that link with key ideas of my

project. For instance, the field of network theory and speculative poetics both are based

on the contention that there is no stark demarcation between subject and object. As I

sought to show in my dissertation, a key concept on which Steiner’ s “evolution of

consciousness” is based is that the very nature of human consciousness—the relationship

of subject to object and the experience of an “inner” and an “outer” dimension— has

evolved greatly and continuously over the course of human history. In addition, as

illuminated by Mike King in the article “Concerning the Spiritual in Twentieth-Century

Art and Science” (1998), there have been a number of relatively recent publications on

spiritual subjects by scientists. He elaborates how quantum theory has been a launching

point for a number of physicists to write about religious or spiritual ideas.494 King

contends that these developments suggest the time could be ripe for a reevaluation of the

meaning of the spiritual in twentieth-century art, science and culture and he casts his

critical eye upon Kandinsky and the Bauhaus school, abstract Expressionists and the

contemporary electronic arts. There are parallels between the insights of quantum theory

and those of Steiner. As I demonstrated in Chapter Two with the discussion of the

“evolution of consciousness,” and also in the discussion of Eurythmy in Chapter One,

Steiner followed Goethe in emphasizing the extremely central role of the perceiver in

how the world is experienced. More broadly, there has been in recent years a great

growth of research within neuroscience that point to the beneficial affects of meditation,

most often in the Buddhist tradition.

494
King cites in particular the following works: The Mind of God (Paul Davies) and The
God Particle (Leon Lederman), along with other works.

248
 Then there is the question of whether Steiner’ s thought will break into the

academic mainstream. My quick answer would be: not likely, or at least not anytime in

the near future. There have been a few more recent events that might suggest a

breakthrough moment, including the large, retrospective Exhibit “Rudolf Steiner: Die

Alchemie des Alltags” (2010) and the exhibition “Hilma af Klint: Eine Pionierin der

Abstraktion” (2013) that highlighted the influence of Steiner’ s philosophy on this

pioneering abstract artist. Yet, the pattern seems to be that a few such events may

happen, but there are never enough at a given time to create critical numbers of attendees.

The annual conference of the German Studies Association has not included a panel on

any aspect of Steiner’ s thought since I began my doctoral studies. Even in the field of

Expressionist architecture where Steiner’ s work is best recognized, there are very few

scholars who have engaged critically and extensively with Steiner’ s spiritually based

thought. Factors that contribute toward Steiner’ s marginalization, discussed in the

introduction, still have a strong affect. Yet, while Steiner remains largely peripherally

known within academic circles, a number of his initiatives have now clearly entered the

mainstream. Waldorf education is a world-wide movement; biodynamic farming is now

practiced in thirty US states and the increasingly popular community supported

agriculture movement, begun in the United States in the 1980s, was influenced directly

by Biodynamics; beauty products such as those by the Anthroposophist Dr. Hauschka are

also found in stores around the country and Europe. If Steiner’ s place within academic

scholarship is tenuous, his presence in the wider world is not.

One issue not covered in the introduction regarding reasons for Steiner’ s neglect

is the subject of practice. I find this key to understanding his thought. Steiner’ s

249
aesthetic and spiritual theory, following his reading of Goethe, rests on the claim that it is

possible, and necessary, to develop supersensible organs of perception. The development

of such supersensory capacities, however, requires practice in the form of spiritual

exercises. This is an idea that is sometimes overlooked by scholars, especially those

critical of Steiner. In one such instance, art historian Beat Wyss argues that Steiner

claimed the forms of the Goetheanum building to be not only non-representational, but

also that they could be apprehended in an immediate, unmediated manner (Wyss uses the

wording, “unmittelbar [...] als sichtbar”).495 Steiner does, in fact, speak often of his art as

both non- representational and as able to be accessed in an immediate way. Yet, what a

scholar like Wyss misses is that Steiner makes these assertions with the assumption that

one also understands the critical role of practice. In her work A Science for the Soul,

Corinna Treitel argues for the importance of practice, though she has her own

understanding of the meaning of this term. Treitel expounds upon “the absolutely central

importance of practice to the appeal and dynamic of the German occult movement.”496

With the term “practice” she includes popular activities within the “occult sciences” such

as automatic writing, knot experiments and spirit photography. Steiner held that one

must first hone the perceptive abilities, through repeated practice, that could allow an

immediate understanding of his art. If we do not accept this idea on faith, or reject it

categorically as irrational, then the third option available is to experiment with the

practices ourselves. Certainly, this would not be a traditionally academic approach. The

well-known Goethe scholar Eckart Förster, however, makes a surprising case for practice

at the end of the article “Goethe and the ‘ Auge des Geistes.’ ” He argues that the only

495
Wyss, Der Wille zur Kunst: zur ästhetischen Mentalitat der Moderne, 143.
496
Treitel, A Science for the Soul: Occultism and the Genesis of the German Modern, 24.

250
way to assess claims by both Goethe and Fichte about the existence of the “Auge des

Geistes” is to try the exercises described. Förster contends that Goethe and Fichte

“insiste[d] that continuous effort and ongoing mental concentration are the prerequisites

for acquiring such evidence. So I think we must withhold judgment on this matter until

we have undertaken the required exercises.”497 It may be that Steiner’ s thought may

remain largely marginal within academic scholarship until or unless there is shift toward

an approach that integrates theory and practice.

At the heart of my project is the examination of the thought of Rudolf Steiner in

the relation to art—visual arts, architecture and art history—and the resurgence of interest

in spiritual subjects in the period between 1890 to the 1920s. I argue that Steiner was one

important figure in a larger movement I term “spiritual modernism” made up of artists

and theorists who drew on past traditions—including different spiritual streams,

humanistic theories and sometimes religious traditions—not as a means to restore an

older world order but as a way to create innovative, culturally transformative art and new

theoretical perspectives on aesthetics and art history. Thus, a key intervention of my

dissertation is to destabilize the notion of aesthetic modernism or abstraction as

representing a rupture with the past.

A key goal of the project is to bring Steiner into dialogue with multiple, better

known contemporaries to show how Steiner shared an interest in many of the key debates

of the day. Sometimes these dialogues were explicit, as in the case with the Expressionist

painter Kandinsky whose theory of abstraction was formatively shaped through intensive

study of Steiner’ s aesthetic and spiritual theory or the writer Paul Scheerbart, who

497
Förster, “Goethe on ‘ Das AugeGeistes,’ “ 100-01.

251
studied Steiner and was in turn a close collaborator with the Expressionist architect

Bruno Taut. In other cases, Steiner had only a minimal or no dialogue at all with

contemporaries, such as was the case with art historians Alois Riegl and Wilhelm

Worringer, respectively. Yet, in all cases I seek to show how Steiner shared an interest

with contemporaries in many of the most pressing issues of the day. These included: the

meaning of “geistige Kunst” and the potential of art to transform culture; alternatives to

artistic naturalism; the meaning of their contemporaneous period in the larger history of

art; the definition and origins of artistic abstraction; the relationship of the “spiritual” to

the worldly; the link between Expressionist architecture, pacifism and anti-war sentiment

to the First World War and, more broadly, the relationship of art to politics.

I also seek to show how Steiner’ s thought contributed to a number of modernist

movements. These include Organicism, an important element both in Expressionist

architecture and in the art historical theory of Worringer and Riegl, as well as

Expressionism, specifically the concept that art expresses an inner dimension to life. At

this point, both versions of the Goetheanum building have been accepted as belonging

within the cannon of Expressionist architecture.

In Chapter One, I show how Munich was an important center for Steiner and a

location where he intermingled with Kandinsky and the Blaue Reiter group and other

Expressionists and Russian symbolists. I examine how Steiner’ s aesthetic and spiritual

thought, in particular his concept of dematerialization, contributed significantly to

Kandinsky’ s theory of artistic abstraction. Despite important points of connection,

however, I argue that ultimately Steiner’ s aesthetics contrasts significantly. Steiner, as I

argue, does not aim for abstraction, but instead for a return to the phenomenological

252
world in an immersive mode reminiscent of Goethean symbolism. With this argument I

distinguish my thought from that of Sixten Ringbom. For Steiner, the supersensible is

located in the sensible. I end the chapter with a discussion of how Steiner conceived of

Eurythmy as an art form that expresses Goethe’ s morphology in movement. This first

chapter raises questions that carry through the whole dissertation: the relationship of

abstraction and spirituality to materialism or de-materialism, embodiment or

disembodiment and contributes to the theory of abstraction within modernism.

In Chapter Two, I bring Steiner’ s art historical theory into dialogue with the

writings of the German art theorist Wilhelm Worringer and the Austrian art historian

Alois Riegl. I argue that both Steiner and Riegl conceive of the history of art as the

expression of a collective aesthetic drive, what Riegl calls Kunstwollen, and that

Worringer and Steiner understand “abstraction” in philosophical rather than periodic

terms. This chapter is concerned with three thinkers for whom an encounter with

contemporary, abstract art led each to cast their gaze much farther back in art history. In

differing ways, they subverted the radical break that modernism was supposed to

represent by tracing much earlier roots to artistic abstraction, whether in the “primitive”

period, antiquity or the Renaissance. In addition, I show that, in differing ways, each

understood art history as progressing in response to transformations in spatial experience

and in spiritual or religious outlook. In the case of Steiner and Worringer, I focus also on

the differing ways that temporality and subjectivity operate in their art historical

accounts. This chapter furthers the consideration of “spiritual modernism” by examining

a group of art historians who, though they differed in whether they themselves were

253
oriented toward spirituality, all held that spiritual or religious outlook formatively shaped

the kind of art works created in each historical epoch.

In Chapter Three Steiner I examine Steiner for the first time not only as an art

theorist and art historian, but as a practicing artist in his own right, specifically as a

painter and sculptor and most especially as an Expressionist architect. Another key focus

of this chapter is Steiner as a politically engaged figure that was among a minority of

Europeans to take a stance against the First World War from very early on. I read

Steiner’ s theory of the first Goetheanum as an art form meant to promote peace and

internationalism alongside the architectural theory of the pacific and Expressionist

architect Bruno Taut and his Glashaus Pavilion from 1914 and the architecturally

inspired fiction of Paul Scheerbart. In particular, I show that as part of Steiner’ s cultural

and political theory, he thinks in geopolitical categories by highlighting the special role of

Central Europe (“Mitteleuropa”) in overcoming nationalism. In this chapter I also point

out the elitist and essentializing tendencies in Steiner’ s cultural thought, despite the fact

that he was sincerely interested in promoting internationalism and peace. By highlighting

how Steiner conceived of the Goetheanum as an aesthetic response to the war, I show that

his spiritually inspired aesthetics were far from divorced from contemporary political

issues. The intertwining of art and politics is key to Steiner’ s thought and an important

way that his thought resonates with many fellow Expressionist thinkers.

There is a broad link between Chapter Three and Chapter One that should be

emphasized. In this last chapter I am arguing that Steiner’ s spiritual thought was not

divorced from his aesthetics and politics. In a similar way, in the first chapter I show that

Steiner was not interested in remaining in a spiritual, dematerialized or “abstract” state,

254
but, instead, aimed to create art forms that involved a return to the phenomenological and

to the forms of nature. It is also important to emphasize that my project demonstrates

Steiner, like other “spiritual modernists,” as someone interested both in calling on past

traditions but also as a figure oriented toward the creation of new forms, such as his

architecture and Eurythmy. He believed that his modern epoch represented a time of

unprecedented self-awareness in which people could consciously re-unite with the

spiritual dimension.

More broadly, my dissertation intervenes in the interdisciplinary field of

modernism studies in three ways. First, it contributes to the neglected subfield of what I

call “spiritual modernism” by demonstrating that those artists and theorists whose work

was shaped by an interest in the spiritual were engaging with modernity in their efforts to

transform it, not transcend it. Second, by considering the place of Steiner’ s architectural

theory and practice within Expressionism, my project calls attention to the heterogeneity

of this movement. Third, my project seeks to expand our understanding of modernism by

complicating traditional binaries that still frequently inform the field, including

religious/secular, pre-modern/modern and non-political/political.

255
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