9 lectures in various cities, April 1915-June 1920 (CW 288)
The planning, construction, and execution of the functional work of art
that was the First Goetheanum was an endeavor that occupied Rudolf
Steiner for the better part of seven years. Every detail, from the
seemingly small--such as the shape and feel of the door handles--to the
grand motifs of the paintings on the ceilings of the cupolas and the
building's intended sculptural centerpiece, was lovingly designed to
meet and inspire the individual human beings who would some day
encounter it, not with didactic symbolism, but with the transparent
reality of the spiritual foundation of humanity and the world, and the
open possibility to both know this spiritual foundation and to work with
it practically and artistically for the good of all.
The lectures in this volume--accompanied by reproductions of more than a
hundred slides--were heard by various audiences as the building neared
completion and before it was destroyed by fire. The text is complemented
with a foreword by the esteemed architect Douglas J. Cardinal, as well
as an important and revelatory Introductory essay by David Adams: "The
Form-Function Relationship in Architecture and Nature: Organic and
Inorganic Functionalism."
This volume of The Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner is essential
reading for anyone who wants to gain a deeper understanding of the
artistic motivation of Rudolf Steiner as an artist and architect, while
also clearing up many of the misunderstandings that the building and its
sculptural and painted components have inevitably given rise to, both
then and now.
This book is translated from the German edition Architektur, Plastik
und Malerei des ersten Goetheanum: Neun Vorträge, gehalten an
verschiedenen Orten zwischen dem 10. April 1915 und dem 12. Juni 1920,
herausgegeben aufgrund von stenographischen, teilweise von Rudolf
Steiner korrigierten Nachschriften.
