Marianne Schubert steps down as section leader
Marianne Schubert has led the Visual Arts Section for almost six years, but she has known the Goetheanum for much longer as a member of the campus team and of the construction office. Her approach as section leader was integrative and she introduced special events such as picture contemplations, workshops and exhibitions.
Marianne Schubert was appointed head of the Visual Arts Section in March 2014 but in her profession as architect and landscape designer she had already worked with the Goetheanum Campus Team and for the construction office in the 1990s.
Marianne Schubert saw leadership above all as a serving and mediating role and was therefore most active in the background. Her selfless and integrative influence often helped to calm the waves between the painters, sculptors, and architects who constitute the Section. She did not shy back from bringing artists from the most diverse orientations together in conferences, colloquia and exhibitions. She honoured the painter Hannes Weigert as much as the sculptor and architect Christian Hitsch, who was himself quite influential in the Section for many years and who has left many traces of his activity at the Goetheanum.
Workshop discussions – artists’ workshops
Together with Alexander Schaumann, Marianne Schubert organized a cycle of seven workshop discussions on the architecture of the second Goetheanum. The last one took place in February 2019 and was devoted to Rudolf Steiner as a landscape designer. Exploring the Goetheanum campus as an experiential space and studying its historical evolution as well as Rudolf Steiner’s impulse for the campus design are themes that are close to Marianne’s heart and that she will continue to pursue, with a book publication in mind.
During Marianne’s leadership regular artists’ workshops took place, for instance with Hannes Weigert, Claudia Schlürmann and Dorothea Templeton. Together with Ronald Templeton, she also organized sessions of contemplation in front of original art works by Rudolf Steiner. As a member of the Goetheanum Leadership she often inspired her colleagues to a deeper perception of Rudolf Steiner’s artistic work, for instance when they were working together on the Foundation Stone Meditation.
Important events in recent years were devoted to the ‹sources of art›, the dealing with new media and materials, the small cupola of the First Goetheanum or the relevance of organic architecture in our time (with Douglas Cardinal among others).
In connection with the sales exhibition 250 Works by 120 Artists in early December 2018, of which Marianne Schubert was the initiator and curator, a much-noticed panel discussion took place in the Schreinerei on the question «Is there such a thing as anthroposophical art?»
A variety of exhibitions
Exhibitions curated by Marianne Schubert were almost permanently on show on the first floor of the Goetheanum. They included artists such as the South African painter Igor Sturmheit and the photographer Duilio A. Martins,the early work of Gerard Wagner, Edith Maryon’s eurythmy figures, Rudolf Steiner’s art and contemporary art from Tbilisi (GE). Marianne Schubert also headed the group that is in charge of graphic design at the Goetheanum and of the General Anthroposophical Society.
It is astonishing how much Marianne Schubert achieved in almost six years as Section leader, without any permanent staff. Only Thorwald Tiersch, who is now over 80, always faithfully supported her wherever he could.
At the end of the year, shortly after her 64th birthday, Marianne Schubert stepped down as head of the Visual Arts Section, handing over the leadership to Christiane Haid.