Handwork and Handicrafts - Waldorf Research Institute

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Displays of Work Done by Students
Dr. Steiner: “The exhibiting of students’ work is pointless except on occasions when
courses are arranged in which the entire framework, content, and structure of the Waldorf
school are discussed. But if you only exhibit work, the people who will come to see it, while
they have no clear understanding of the aims of the Waldorf school, will not know what
they are supposed to think, It would be the same as taking the pictures out of a storybook
and giving them to the children without telling them the stories; the children would not
understand the pictures ...”
On another occasion, Dr. Steiner said: “We consider it unpedagogical to exhibit the
children’s paintings alone ...” 13
Photographing the Works of Art in Dornach
Dr. Steiner: “All that has been painted out of color in the cupola can be understood
only if the fact is appreciated that it has been painted out of the color. If you tried to
reproduce it photographically it would be worthless unless you make it as big as it is in the
cupola. We do not wish to merely reproduce something. The less these pictures correspond
to those in the cupola the better. Black and white only gives an indication of it; it cries out
for color. The making of reproductions is quite inartistic and is only a makeshift. I should
not like to have colored photographs taken of the painting in the cupola. What is really
wanted is that the essential be given. It is the same with the windows. I should oppose any
attempt to achieve something by means of reproductions. One should not try to reproduce
these things as faithfully as possible. In a similar way it is not desirable for a piece of music to
be deceptively imitated by a gramophone record. In the form in which these reproductions
appear, what is reproduced is the most trivial, the least essential thing. You have the feeling
that this color or that ought to be there.
“It is similar to what I said in The Education of the Child in the Light of Anthroposophy
about giving a child a beautifully finished doll. You should really give him one made out of a
handkerchief.” 14
Photographing of Plastic Art: Steiner’s Drawing of The Kabiri (Plate 15)
Just as Dr. Steiner opposed the photographing of the cupola painting and of the
windows of the first Goetheanum, he once spoke against the photographing of plastic
forms—for instance, of The Kabiri, which he had modeled in clay for a performance of
Goethe’s Faust, part II. He said that plastic works of art could not be rendered satisfactorily
by means of photography. One would have to recreate them in the form of a drawing, which
could then be reproduced. Steiner made a drawing of The Kabiri to experiment with the
techniques. He wanted to see whether plastic forms could be rendered adequately in a shaded
drawing. The experiment proved to him that they could. He therefore recommended this
drawing of The Kabiri as a technical guide for the work of other artists. The windows of the
second Goetheanum were later drawn in the way indicated by Dr. Steiner.