Editing Rudolf Steiner (section)

=== Architecture and visual arts ===
{{gallery|align=right
|File:First Goetheanum.jpg|[[First Goetheanum]]
|File:Dornach - Goetheanum1a.jpg|[[Second Goetheanum]]
|File:Representative of humanity.gif|Detail of ''The Representative of Humanity''
}}
[[File:Edith Maryon.jpg|thumb|left|upright|English sculptor [[Edith Maryon]] belonged to the innermost circle of founders of anthroposophy and was appointed to head the Section of Sculptural Arts at the Goetheanum.]]

Steiner designed 17 buildings, including the [[Goetheanum|First and Second Goetheanums]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Terranova |first1=Charissa N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=klPUDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT144 |title=The Routledge Companion to Biology in Art and Architecture |last2=Tromble |first2=Meredith |date=2016-08-12 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-41950-1 |language=en}}</ref> These two buildings, built in Dornach, Switzerland, were intended to house significant theater spaces as well as a "school for spiritual science".<ref>Sokolina, Anna. Architecture and Anthroposophy. [Arkhitektura i Antroposofiia.] Editor, co-author, transl., photogr. 2 editions. 268p. 348 ills. Moscow: KMK, 2001 {{ISBN|5873170746}}; 2010 {{ISBN|5873176604}}. (In Russian with the summary in English) [www.iartforum.com]</ref> Three of Steiner's buildings have been listed amongst the most significant works of modern architecture.<ref>Goulet, P: "Les Temps Modernes?", ''L'Architecture D'Aujourd'hui'', December 1982, pp. 8–17.</ref><ref>Sokolina, Anna. "Modernist Topologies: The Goetheanum in Building." In ''Modernity and Construction of Sacred Space'', edited by Aaron French and Katharina Waldner, 149–168. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2024. ISBN 9783111061382 and 9783111062624. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111062624-008.</ref>

His primary sculptural work is ''The Representative of Humanity'' (1922), a nine-meter high wood sculpture executed as a joint project with the sculptor [[Edith Maryon]]. This was intended to be placed in the first Goetheanum. It shows a central human figure, the "Representative of Humanity," holding a balance between opposing tendencies of expansion and contraction personified as the beings of [[Lucifer]] and [[Ahriman]].<ref>''Art as Spiritual Activity: Rudolf Steiner's Contribution to the Visual Arts''. (1998) Intro. Michael Howard, p.50. {{ISBN|0 88010 396 5}}</ref><ref>''The Representative of Humanity Between Lucifer and Ahriman, The Wooden Model at the Goetheanum'', Judith von Halle, John Wilkes (2010) {{ISBN|9781855842397}} from the German ''Die Holzplastik des Goetheanum'' (2008) [http://www.rudolfsteinerpress.com/pages/viewbook.php?isbn_in=9781855842397] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502235547/http://www.rudolfsteinerpress.com/pages/viewbook.php?isbn_in=9781855842397|date=2 May 2014}}</ref><ref>Rudolf Steiner ''Christ in Relation to Lucifer and Ahriman'', lecture May, 1915 [http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/19150518p01.html]</ref> It was intended to show, in conscious contrast to Michelangelo's ''[[The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)|Last Judgment]]'', Christ as mute and impersonal such that the beings that approach him must judge themselves.<ref>Rudolf Steiner, ''The Etheric Body as a Reflexion of the Universe'' lecture, June 1915 [http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/19150613p01.html]</ref> The sculpture is now on permanent display at the Goetheanum.

Steiner's blackboard drawings were unique at the time and almost certainly not originally intended as art works.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thought-Pictures - Rudolf Steiner's Blackboard Drawings |url=http://www.anthromedia.net/en/themes/anthroposophy/rudolf-steiner-life-and-work/black-board-drawings/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504002748/http://www.anthromedia.net/en/themes/anthroposophy/rudolf-steiner-life-and-work/black-board-drawings/ |archive-date=4 May 2014}}</ref> [[Joseph Beuys]]' work, itself heavily influenced by Steiner, has led to the modern understanding of Steiner's drawings as artistic objects.<ref>Lawrence Rinder, [http://antroposofi.org/blackboard/steineressay.html Rudolf Steiner: An Aesthetic Perspective] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828133012/http://antroposofi.org/blackboard/steineressay.html |date=28 August 2008 }}</ref>