How Rudolf Steiner’s Personal Practice of the Arts and Skilled Craftsmanship Inspired the Creativity of His Students

How Rudolf Steiner’s personal practice of the arts and skilled craftsmanship inspired the creativity of his students.

The paper's title indicates an answer to the panel's question on Steiner’s Aesthetics, Modern Art, and Organic Architecture: How did Steiner’s personal practice of the arts and skilled craftsmanship inspire or constrain the creativity of his students? 
Anyone who studies the art history of the anthroposophical movement, which has been around for over a hundred years, can understand the justification for the polarized question, because one can perceive phenomena in both directions: "inspired" and seemingly "constrained" creativity of Steiner's followers in the areas mentioned. My paper focuses on the pole of inspired students in the fields of painting, sculpture and Studio Furniture (as an integral part of organic architecture) who did not learn about Steiner's artistic impulses through later anthroposophical art schools. The paper will show numerous early examples from both areas – exemplary works of art, many of which have not yet been published – to provide ample evidence of inspired creativity. 
The theme of the panel includes the question of Steiner's aesthetics, which provides a framework for any anthroposophically inspired art production, whether judged as inspired or limited. Each judgment should reflect its own aesthetic presuppositions and be adapted to the particular aesthetic goals an artist wishes to pursue. Steiner's aesthetics deals with the apparent paradox of unrestricted artistic freedom and the simultaneous creation of a New Style that spiritually encompasses all the arts. A brief reflection on Steiner's aesthetics will therefore be integrated into the lecture.