A Short History of Eurythmy
Rudolf Steiner invented Eurythmy starting in 1913. He wanted a new movement art that would represent in movement the experience of sound, both speech and musical. He trained a number of performers, and eventually established a travelling troupe. They would perform to the recitation of poetry and the performance musical pieces from the classical canon–usually works for piano or string quartet. Originally developed as a stage art, Steiner subsequently worked out an adaption for use in schools, as well as for medical therapies.
History of the Eurythmy Figures
Edith Maryon, a sculptor and collaborator of Steiner’s, having observed many of the early Eurythmy performances, made several attempts to represent the gestures in sculpture. Steiner liked the idea, but suggested a different approach: stylized paintings on two-dimensional cutouts. Some time in late 1922 he made a series of sketches for what these should look like. Maryon and others worked to produce the figures based on Steiner’s sketches. They eventually produced the full series of 35 figures. Steiner advised and likely touched up the paint on a few of the early figures. The figures of the set were eventually sold in Dornach.
Steiner on his Eurythmy Figures
Steiner mentioned the Eurythmy Figures in several of his lectures around the time he was working on them. Here are a few excerpts.
One should not believe that eurythmy is something so easy that one can teach it in a few hours. Eurythmy really has to be learned thoroughly; but such eurythmy figures can also serve as repetition for those who are striving for eurythmy as an art, for further immersion.
If you have seen the eurythmy figures, you will have noticed that we distinguish between movement, feeling and character. With movement and feeling, which up to now is almost the only thing taken into account, it works quite well. But of the nature of character in a eurythmic movement, that has not yet been penetrated.
Waldorf teachers should occupy themselves with these figures in general for a knowledge of the human organism. Waldorf teachers should study them. It is at the same time a basis for a general artistic feeling, for a knowledge of the inner human organism; that is something you can learn from these figures.
You must not see these eurythmy figures as sculptural replicas of the human form or the like. That belongs to sculpture, to painting. Here, in these eurythmy figures, only that which works eurythmically in the human being should really be represented. Therefore, it could not be a matter of expressing the resting human figure in a beautiful sculptoral way.
Approaching the Task in the 21st Century
Some blog posts discussing the challenges of making the Eurythmy Figures in 2020:
Producing Eurythmy Figures – How and why.
Ink and Wood – on picking a medium to apply the color.
Artistic Choices – some of the decisions in how to interpret the sketches.
Coloring the Eurythmy Figures – which blue is blue?