Exhibition of Rudolf Steiner’s Blackboard Drawings

What are the Black board Drawings?

Rudolf Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, clairvoyant and man of many abilities who was born in 1861 in what is now Croatia. He died in 1925, shortly after refounding the Anthroposophical Society. He was architect of many buildings in Dornach (Switzerland) where he lives for many years. His principle building was the first Goetheanum, a total work of art, which burned down in 1922 and was replaced by a second building which still stands. He gave advice on how to develop an art, agriculture, medicine and other disciplines as a total approach to life, in harmony with the earth and cosmos. He saw the human being in its entirety as composed of body, soul and spirit, something reflected in humanities social life in the form of economic, social/legal and cultural activity. Many people around the world have taken up the indications and have founded schools, hospitals and farms and work in the field of architecture, visual and performing arts, therapy and business consultancy, among other activities.

Lecturing was Rudolf Steiner’s primary activity and he used blackboards from the beginning to illustrate his talks. In 1916 artist Emma Stolle had the idea of using black paper on the boards. Some may have been destroyed, because there are only boards from 1919. Over 1000 were saved and still exist in rolls in Haus Duldeck, Dornach, Switzerland, home of the Nachlass-Verwaltung, Rudolf Steiner’s publishers. In 1959, fellow artist Assia Turgeniev put on an exhibition in Dornach. She and Emma Stolle saw the artistic value of the drawings.

In the mid eighties, the Nachlass began to take photographs of all the Drawings. They are almost completely published in 28 volumes. Walter Kugler is curator of the exhibitions. He was a friend of Joseph Beuys in the 70’s and 80’s, up to the time of Beuys’ death. He showed the drawings to Johannes Stüttgen and Walter Dahn, students of Joseph Beuys, and they were amazed by them. This led to the publication of a book and then an exhibition at a private gallery in Germany. This was a great success, particularly with avant-garde artists. More exhibitions followed in the German speaking world until 1996 when they went to Japan and Berkley in California. In 1999 they moved to another category of galleries when they were exhibited at the Kunsthaus, Zurich, a major gallery on the world stage. In three months, 40,000 people saw them. In Buenos Aires, 2,000 people attended the opening and 50,000 people visited. Discussions are taking place with the Modern Art Gallery in Oxford and Tate Modern to exhibit them in a few years time.

People form their own connections to the drawings, whether as students of Rudolf Steiner’s work, avant-garde artists or students of Joseph Beuys, but they tend to make a strong impression on the people who encounter them. It is a rare opportunity to have the drawings here in this country, something that many people have been working on for years. In addition, there will be an exhibition of Rudolf Steiner’s notebooks containing drawings and notes relating to lectures and other activities, opening as part of the Rudolf Steiner House Michaelmas celebration with a talk on the drawings and notebooks by Walter Kugler.

Specification:

The drawings are chalk on black paper. They are framed in glass and hung with screws at two points on the left and right side or with metal lines suspended from a hook at the point where the wall meets the ceiling. The boards are 1.5x1.0 metres in size. The exhibition space should be locked at night. There are 40 blackboards to be distributed between four proposed venues. Walter Kugler is curator and will transport the blackboards and set up the exhibition, in co-operation with the gallery. The blackboard drawings are owned by the Nachlass, a private publishing company responsible for all books, lectures and drawings of Rudolf Steiner.