DOCSLIB.ORG

The Aesthetics of Rudolf Steiner and Spiritual Modernism

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Aesthetics of Rudolf Steiner and Spiritual Modernism 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”).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Checklist of Publications and Discoveries in 2013
    ARTICLE Part II: Reproductions of Drawings and Paintings Section A: Illustrations of Individual Authors Section B: Collections and Selections Part III: Commercial Engravings Section A: Illustrations of Individual Authors William Blake and His Circle: Part IV: Catalogues and Bibliographies A Checklist of Publications and Section A: Individual Catalogues Section B: Collections and Selections Discoveries in 2013 Part V: Books Owned by William Blake the Poet Part VI: Criticism, Biography, and Scholarly Studies By G. E. Bentley, Jr. Division II: Blake’s Circle Blake Publications and Discoveries in 2013 with the assistance of Hikari Sato for Japanese publications and of Fernando 1 The checklist of Blake publications recorded in 2013 in- Castanedo for Spanish publications cludes works in French, German, Japanese, Russian, Span- ish, and Ukrainian, and there are doctoral dissertations G. E. Bentley, Jr. ([email protected]) is try- from Birmingham, Cambridge, City University of New ing to learn how to recognize the many styles of hand- York, Florida State, Hiroshima, Maryland, Northwestern, writing of a professional calligrapher like Blake, who Oxford, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Voronezh used four distinct hands in The Four Zoas. State, and Wrocław. The Folio Society facsimile of Blake’s designs for Gray’s Poems and the detailed records of “Sale Editors’ notes: Catalogues of Blake’s Works 1791-2013” are likely to prove The invaluable Bentley checklist has grown to the point to be among the most lastingly valuable of the works listed. where we are unable to publish it in its entirety. All the material will be incorporated into the cumulative Gallica “William Blake and His Circle” and “Sale Catalogues of William Blake’s Works” on the Bentley Blake Collection 2 A wonderful resource new to me is Gallica <http://gallica.
    [Show full text]
  • Frankfurt Und Der Aufbruch in Die Ungegenständlichkeit
    Originalveröffentlichung in: Freigang, Christian (Hrsg.): Das "neue" Frankfurt : Innovationen in der Frankfurter Kunst vom Mittelalter bis heute ; Vorträge der 1. Frankfurter Bürger-Universität, Wiesbaden 2010, S. 74-86 Frankfurt und der Aufbruch in die Ungegenständlichkeit Thomas Kirchner auf sich, da es ihr nicht oder nicht ausreichend gelungen war, sich einem breiten Publikum Frankfurt und die Malerei der Moderne: Da­ verständlich zu machen, dabei aber - und dies bei denkt man vielleicht zunächst an die späten unterschied die Situation in Deutschland von 20er Jahre, in denen die Stadt durch kommuna­ den übrigen westlichen Ländern - eine große le Kulturpolitik und privates Mäzenatentum zu Sichtbarkeit besaß, hatten sich doch hier die einem Ort künstlerischer Innovation avancierte Museen und die privaten Sammlungen in einem und u.a. so bedeutenden Vertreter der Moderne hohen Maße der Moderne geöffnet. Dabei hatte wie Max Beckmann oder Willi Baumeister für zumindest ein Teil der Moderne anfangs durch­ die Kunstschule des Städel gewonnen werden aus mit den Ideen der Nationalsozialisten ge­ konnten. Weniger bekannt ist die zentrale Rolle liebäugelt. Emil Noldes Parteimitgliedschaft in der Mainmetropole für die Kunst nach dem 2. der NSDAP ist bekannt, auch Ernst Ludwig Weltkrieg. Um sie besser einschätzen zu können, Kirchners tiefe Enttäuschung, von den neu­ scheint es indes hilfreich, ein wenig auszuho­ en Machthabern nicht als Repräsentant einer len. Die Ausführungen nehmen ihren Ausgang neuen, dezidiert .deutschen' Kunst anerkannt von dem Versuch einer Neuorientierung der zu werden. Und ein Teil der Nationalsozialis­ Kunst nach dem Niedergang des Dritten Rei­ ten - unter ihnen der Propagandaminister Jo­ ches, wie man ihn mit besonderem Nachdruck seph Goebbels - war eine Zeitlang durchaus in Berlin und im Osten Deutschlands beobach­ gewillt, das Angebot anzunehmen und den ten kann, um sich schrittweise dem Südwesten deutschen Expressionismus als die Kunst der des Landes und Frankfurt zu nähern.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter Three a Call to Mindful Action
    Chapter Three A seed is planted … A Call to Mindful Action In this chapter I will trace the origins of Steiner Education in Europe, its context and its emergence in Australia. From out of the ash destructive fires, sprouting seeds and green shoots emerge. (Korobacz 1988:1) I gaze out onto the street. It is unusually empty and quiet. Nothing is happening. Not even the dogs are barking. I am in Ubud and its Nyepi day on the Balinese religious calendar. On Nyepi the world expected to be clean and everything starts anew, with human beings demonstrating their symbolic control over themselves and the life force of the world. I had arrived on the eve of the festival unprepared. Even the automatic tellers were closed and there was nothing to eat. Fortunately food had been prepared the previous day and a simple nasi goreng (fried rice) was brought up to me for breakfast. What to do? I organise my writing table, I may as well commence work. I look out over the straw-coloured rice fields. Not a working duck in sight! A breeze ripples over the stooped and heavy-laden heads of rice. Over and against this peaceful scene I contemplate the chaos and turmoil in the Europe at the time my parents were born. Following the Armistice of November 11 1918 and the ensuing collapse of the Central Powers and with the Allied blockade still in effect, economic and social chaos ensued. In Germany, the growing ranks of the unemployed were swelled by the return of disgruntled soldiers from the Western Front and because of hunger and destitution, 114 many were driven to join active revolutionaries of many persuasions, of the right and left.
    [Show full text]
  • Sergei Prokofieff the Threshold for More Than a Hundred Years
    General Anthroposophical Society Annual Report 2001 Contents General Anthroposophical Society The General Anthroposophical Society ................................................................................................... 3 The Society World-wide ........................................................................................................................ 3 The Annual Theme for 2002/03 ............................................................................................................. 4 School of Spiritual Science The Sections General Anthroposophical Section.......................................................................................................... 5 Section for Mathematics and Astronomy ................................................................................................ 6 Medical Section .................................................................................................................................... 6 Science Section and Agriculture Department .......................................................................................... 7 Pedagogical Section.............................................................................................................................. 9 Art Section ..........................................................................................................................................10 Section for the Spiritual Striving of Youth ..............................................................................................11
    [Show full text]
  • Bohemians: Greenwich Village and the Masses Joanna Levin Chapman University, [email protected]
    Chapman University Chapman University Digital Commons English Faculty Books and Book Chapters English 12-2017 Bohemians: Greenwich Village and The Masses Joanna Levin Chapman University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/english_books Part of the American Popular Culture Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Other American Studies Commons, and the Other English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Levin, Joanna. "Bohemians: Greenwich Village and The Masses." American Literature in Transition,1910–1920. Edited by Mark W. Van Wienen, Cambridge University Press, 2018, pp. 117-130. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the English at Chapman University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Faculty Books and Book Chapters by an authorized administrator of Chapman University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CHAPTER 8 Bohemians Greenwich Village and The Masses Joanna Levin Ever since Rodolphe, Henri Murger's prototypical struggling writer, stood before the grave of Mimi, his lost love and partner in the romance of bohemia, crying, "Oh my youth, it is you that is being buried," la vie boheme has represented a fabled transitional period between youth and mature adulthood in many an individual life, memoir, and Bildungsroman (Seigel 45). Similarly, ever since its inception in the wake of the 1830 Rev­ olution in France, bohemianism - as a larger subcultural movement has flourished during periods of historical transition. It was in the tumultuous lead-up to the Civil War that la vie boheme first took root in the United States (in a basement beer hall beneath the sidewalks of Broadway and Bleecker and on the pages of the New York Saturday Press), but it was dur­ ing the 1910s, the decade known for ushering in a host of radical and mod­ ernist movements, that bohemia assumed its most famous American form in New York City's Greenwich Village.
    [Show full text]
  • Marie Emily Kulms Thesis-1
    The Art of Writing a Life: Heimatsuche and Bohemianism in the Poetry of Lasker-Schüler by Marie Emily Kulms A thesis submitted to the Department of German In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (December, 2010) Copyright © Marie Emily Kulms, 2010 Abstract This study explores how the poetry of Else Lasker-Schüler (1869-1945) creates a personal space—a Heimat—through the poetic process. Through close readings of a selection of the poet’s works, I demonstrate the paradoxical relationship between physical structures and emotional or psychic freedom. I show how this association between form and fluidity reflects the poetic genre itself, while also drawing parallels to Lasker-Schüler’s biography and her relationships with the Berliner Bohème. Lasker-Schüler’s work has been viewed through many different lenses: Expressionism, Judaism, and feminism. Such interpretations can be problematic, as they impose limitations on the poet’s work and are thereby contradictory to the fluid qualities conveyed in her poems. Through close analysis of the formal and aesthetic aspects of Lasker-Schüler’s poetry, I illuminate this often neglected, but most important aspect of the fluctuating, creative space. Lasker-Schüler’s life circumstances forced her to live an unsettled life, but poetry seems to have functioned as a means of accessing the internal Heimat or Seelenlandschaft. The lyrical “I” of Lasker-Schüler’s poetry wanders throughout the poet’s collective works, her voice undergoing metamorphoses, leaving the reader to question this elusive poetic identity. The bohemians, who offered Lasker-Schüler an inspiring creative community, mirror this internal poetic world externally, as they embraced art and performance to create their chameleon-like identities.
    [Show full text]
  • John Cage's Entanglement with the Ideas Of
    JOHN CAGE’S ENTANGLEMENT WITH THE IDEAS OF COOMARASWAMY Edward James Crooks PhD University of York Music July 2011 John Cage’s Entanglement with the Ideas of Coomaraswamy by Edward Crooks Abstract The American composer John Cage was famous for the expansiveness of his thought. In particular, his borrowings from ‘Oriental philosophy’ have directed the critical and popular reception of his works. But what is the reality of such claims? In the twenty years since his death, Cage scholars have started to discover the significant gap between Cage’s presentation of theories he claimed he borrowed from India, China, and Japan, and the presentation of the same theories in the sources he referenced. The present study delves into the circumstances and contexts of Cage’s Asian influences, specifically as related to Cage’s borrowings from the British-Ceylonese art historian and metaphysician Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. In addition, Cage’s friendship with the Jungian mythologist Joseph Campbell is detailed, as are Cage’s borrowings from the theories of Jung. Particular attention is paid to the conservative ideology integral to the theories of all three thinkers. After a new analysis of the life and work of Coomaraswamy, the investigation focuses on the metaphysics of Coomaraswamy’s philosophy of art. The phrase ‘art is the imitation of nature in her manner of operation’ opens the doors to a wide- ranging exploration of the mimesis of intelligible and sensible forms. Comparing Coomaraswamy’s ‘Traditional’ idealism to Cage’s radical epistemological realism demonstrates the extent of the lack of congruity between the two thinkers. In a second chapter on Coomaraswamy, the extent of the differences between Cage and Coomaraswamy are revealed through investigating their differing approaches to rasa , the Renaissance, tradition, ‘art and life’, and museums.
    [Show full text]
  • Sustainability Report 2011
    Profile of SEKEM’s Report on Sustainable Development 2011 The reporting period of the Report on Sustainable well, the hard facts in the Performance Report will update Development 2011 is January to December 2011 and thus them on the newest developments. continues the Sustainable Development story of the 2010 If not otherwise stated, the scope includes all SEKEM report that had been published at the end of August 2011. companies as of page 18-19, excluding SEKEM Europe SEKEM uses the report for communicating on all four and Predators. Where stated, the SEKEM Development dimensions of the Sustainable Development Flower including Foundation was included into the data. The basis for this the financial statement. report is mainly deduced from certified management and In this fifth Report on Sustainable Development, some changes quality management systems. We aimed to ensure that the were made regarding the structure. We have separated the data and information provided in this report is as accurate descriptive part of our approach to sustainable development as possible. Wherever data is based on estimations and/or from the annual hard facts. This was done to make the other limitations apply, this is indicated. In cases of significant information more accessible for all readers. For those just changes, these are described directly in the context. getting to know what SEKEM is all about, reading the first part A detailed index of the information requested by the GRI will be a good start. For those who already know SEKEM quite 3 and the Communication on Progress (CoP) of the UN Global Compact is provided at page 84 to 92.
    [Show full text]
  • COMPLETE BACKLIST and ORDER FORM January 2013 Backlist By
    COMPLETE BACKLIST and ORDER FORM January 2013 Oliphant, Laurence and Meyer, T.H. (Ed) When a Stone Begins to Roll: Notes Backlist by of an Adventurer, Diplomat & Mystic: Contents Extracts from Episodes in a Life of Backlist by subject subject Adventure 2011 | 204 x 126 mm | 160pp | LIN Non-Fiction 978-158420-091-8 | paperback | £9.99 Mind Body Spirit 1 NON-FICTION Ouspensky, P. D. Holistic Health 2 Strange Life of Ivan Osokin: A Novel MIND BODY SPIRIT 2002 | 220 x 140 mm | 192pp | LIN Organics, Biodynamics 3 978-158420-005-5 | paperback | £12.99 Christian Spirituality 3 Allen, Jim Bible 4 Atlantis: Lost Kingdom of the Andes Pogacnik, Marko 2009 | 240 x 208 mm | 100 colour illustrations | 240pp | FLO Gaia’s Quantum Leap: A Guide to Living World Spirituality 5 978-086315-697-7 | paperback | £16.99 through the Coming Earth Changes Celtic Spirituality 5 2011 | 215 x 234 mm | 228pp | LIN Baum, John 978-158420-089-5 | paperback | £12.99 Science & Spirituality 5 When Death Enters Life Steiner-Waldorf Education 7 2003 | 216 x 138 mm | 144pp | FLO Pogacnik, Marko and Pogacnik, Ana Steiner-Waldorf 978-086315-389-1 | paperback | £9.99 How Wide the Heart: The Roots of Peace Drake, Stanley and van Breda, Peter (Ed) in Palestine and Israel Teacher Resources 7 2007 | 256 x 134 mm | 60 b/w photographs | 216pp | LIN Special Needs Education 8 Though You Die: Death and 978-158420-039-0 | paperback | £14.99 Life Beyond Death Karl König Archive 8 2002 | 198 x 128 mm | 4th ed | 128pp | FLO Pogacnik, Marko Art & Architecture 8 978-086315-369-3 | paperback | £6.99 Sacred Geography: Geomancy: Language & Literature 8 Elsaesser-Valarino, Evelyn Co-creating the Earth Cosmos 2008 | 234 x 156 mm | 194 b/w illustrations | 248pp | LIN Philosophy 8 Talking with Angel: About Illness, 978-158420-054-3 | paperback | £14.99 Child Health & Development 13 Death and Survival 2005 | 216 x 138 mm | 208pp | FLO Pogacnik, Marko Children’s Books 978-086315-492-8 | paperback | £9.99 Turned Upside Down: A Workbook Picture & Board Books 14 Finser, Siegfried E.
    [Show full text]
  • THE PRESENCE of SAND in WASSILY KANDINSKY's PARISIAN PAINTINGS by ASHLEY DENISE MILLWOOD DR. LUCY CURZON, COMMITTEE CHAIR
    THE PRESENCE OF SAND IN WASSILY KANDINSKY’S PARISIAN PAINTINGS by ASHLEY DENISE MILLWOOD DR. LUCY CURZON, COMMITTEE CHAIR DR. MINDY NANCARROW DR. JESSICA DALLOW A THESIS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Joint Program in Art History in the Graduate Schools of The University of Alabama at Birmingham and The University of Alabama TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA 2013 Copyright Ashley Denise Millwood 2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT Despite the extensive research that has been done on Wassily Kandinsky, little has been said about his use of sand during the decade that he spent in Paris. During this time, Kandinsky’s work shows a significant shift in both style and technique. One particular innovation was the addition of sand, and I find it interesting that this aspect of Kandinsky’s career has not been fully explored. I saw Kandinsky’s use of sand as an interesting addition to his work, and I questioned his use of this material. The lack of research in this area gave me the opportunity to formulate a theory as to why Kandinsky used sand and no other extraneous material. This examination of Kandinsky’s use of sand will contribute to the overall understanding that we have of his work by providing us with a theory and a purpose behind his use of sand. The purpose was to underscore the spirituality that can be found in his artworks. ii DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this thesis to everyone who helped me in both my research and my writing.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 1 Waldorf Teacher Education
    Chapter 1 Waldorf Teacher Education: Methodology of the Study Section 1 Introduction 1. Background information The primary focus of most of the literature on Steiner or Waldorf Education ~ whether couched in ways variously intending to theorise, compare, inform, expound, or extol ~ has been on the question of how children (whether of early childhood, primary or high school years) should be educated. The main aim of this thesis is to explore the question of how Waldorf teachers should be educated. In order to begin to tackle this seemingly straightforward question it seemed logical to begin at the beginning, that is, with the theory underlying what Waldorf teachers were being educated for. Steiner’s educational theory is explicit in maintaining that education is about facilitating the process of becoming more human. But aren’t we human enough already? What does it mean to become more human? How are human beings (for so long referred to as ‘Man’) constituted? What is ‘Man’? In some ways the trend of the questioning is reminiscent of, and inevitably leads to, the Classical Greek injunction “O Man. Know Thyself”1. It was in contemplating these questions that the realisation came of what the underlying core of the thesis would be. Something had to be said about what Steiner believed the human being to be, and therefore how the education of the human being should proceed. More specifically still, how the teachers who were to implement the 1 This injunction was engraved above the portal of the temple of Apollo at Delphi. 2 educational ideas would themselves be educated.
    [Show full text]
  • Dossiê Kandinsky Kandinsky Beyond Painting: New Perspectives
    dossiê kandinsky kandinsky beyond painting: new perspectives Lissa Tyler Renaud Guest Editor DOI: https://doi.org/10.26512/dramaturgias.v0i9.24910 issn: 2525-9105 introduction This Special Issue on Kandinsky is dedicated to exchanges between Theatre and Music, artists and researchers, practitioners and close observers. The Contents were also selected to interest and surprise the general public’s multitudes of Kandinsky aficionados. Since Dr. Marcus Mota’s invitation in 2017, I have been gathering scholarly, professional, and other thoughtful writings, to make of the issue a lively, expansive, and challenging inquiry into Kandinsky’s works, activities, and thinking — especially those beyond painting. “Especially those beyond painting.” Indeed, the conceit of this issue, Kandinsky Beyond Painting, is that there is more than enough of Kandinsky’s life in art for discussion in the fields of Theatre, Poetry, Music, Dance and Architecture, without even broaching the field he is best known for working in. You will find a wide-ranging collection of essays and articles organized under these headings. Over the years, Kandinsky studies have thrived under the care of a tight- knit group of intrepid scholars who publish and confer. But Kandinsky seems to me to be everywhere. In my reading, for example, his name appears unexpectedly in books on a wide range of topics: philosophy, popular science, physics, neuroscience, history, Asian studies, in personal memoirs of people in far-flung places, and more. Then, too, I know more than a few people who are not currently scholars or publishing authors evoking Kandinsky’s name, but who nevertheless have important Further Perspectives, being among the most interesting thinkers on Kandinsky, having dedicated much rumination to the deeper meanings of his life and work.
    [Show full text]