Drawings go beyond the classroom

Professors use blackboards all the time to teach, to demonstrate and to illustrate, but would one go so far as to call the hastily marked scribbles and words on a chalkboard -art?

The Rudolf Steiner Exhibition, "Knowledge of Higher Worlds," premiering this month at the School of Art and Design, says "yes."

Just a five-minute bus ride from Central Campus, lie 40 of these blackboard drawings. Although they were created more than 75 years ago, still prove influential in many fields of study today.

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), an Austrian born philosopher, educator and mystic, gave various lectures between the years 1919-1924 that focused on his Anthroposophical Credo. These beliefs held by Steiner proposed to revitalize society by integrating rationalism and mysticism. He suggested this could reconcile the increasingly divergent trends of technological progress and spiritual enlightenment.

Courtesy of the School of Art and Design Rudolf Steiner's blackboard drawings teach more than the standard ABCs.

Each lecture that Steiner gave was accompanied by an abstract drawing. Fortunately for today's students, these were preserved by one of his students, Emma Stolle. Stolle placed sheets of black paper over the chalkboard prior to Steiner's lectures and following the lecture she stored and dated them.

These drawings remained undiscovered, aside from a brief showing in a 1958 exhibition, until 1990, when the current archivist of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dr. Walter Kugler, began publishing the entire collection of more than 1,000 drawings. Kugler, sensing their relevance within a contemporary art context, helped organize a series of exhibitions in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Japan.

The Slusser Gallery exhibit is the only stop in the Midwest, and part of this exhibit's first American tour. It is accompanied by an opening reception and lecture by art historian Michael Howard on Sept. 13, and a related exhibit on Steiner's other work on differing subjects in the Rackham Building.

Currently, the Slusser Gallery drawings are viewed as works of art, but questions still remain about how Steiner himself viewed his drawings.

Curator Lawrence Rinder of the University of California Berkeley Art Museum feels it is likely that "in making these drawings Steiner was highly conscious of the meaning, emotional impact and spiritual resonance of the colors he chose." Steiner's philosophy dictated that art, religion and science are three essential aspects of the spiritual evolutionary path.

Steiner's drawings and color theories influenced painters such as Kandinsky and Mondrian, both of whom attended his lectures. Artist Joseph Beuys, also a great Steiner admirer, produced a series of chalkboard drawings that may have been inspired by Steiner's sketches.

Art was not his only field of influence, however, his ideas on education (in the international Waldorf Schools), on dance (eurythmy) and on agriculture (the Ann Arbor Community farm is a Steiner-based cooperative) are still applied today.

Rudolf Steiner's diverse range of influence make the University an ideal place for his exhibits. Todd Cashbaugh, the Slusser Gallery coordinator, said, "We decided that it would be a really good show to reach all audiences. Steiner was mainly a philosopher but a scholar in all areas and he influenced all fields."

Students, faculty and all other exhibit-goers should not be numbed by the traditional appearance of white markings on a blackboard-like background, but should look a little deeper. The abstract colors and shapes are worthy of admiration and reflection.

But if that is not sufficient, a look at the text accompanying the drawings reveal mere brilliance and are extremely thought-provoking.

09-08-98