A Life with Colour is the first complete survey of Gerard Wagner's biography and his artistic intentions, featuring dozens of illustrations and more than 120 colour plates. The life and work of Gerard Wagner (1906-1999) were closely aligned to the artistic-spiritual stream connected with the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. He first heard of the Goetheanum - and of its destruction by fire at New Year 1922/23 - whilst still a youth. In 1926, he made his first visit to Dornach, but his intended stay of a week turned into a lifelong sojourn of over 73 years. He found there an active, striving community with which he felt intimately connected. From the start, Gerard Wagner immersed himself in the various artistic impulses that Rudolf Steiner had instigated. This, together with an intensive study of anthroposophy, formed the basis upon which he forged his own approach to painting. The many years he spent in colour experimentation led him to discover objective principles within the language of colour and form that are an inspiration to many today. His paintings, first shown at the Goetheanum in the early 1940s, were exhibited internationally, most notably at the Menshikov Palace, Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia, in 1997. '[Wagner's] whole being bowed before the mystery of colour in a loving, joyful yet serious way, full of devotion and dignity. His life and work itself became a living metaphor of the creative power of colour.' - Christian Hitsch 'Caroline Chanter has not only accomplished a great and seminal study that illuminates the life and work of Gerard Wagner, but has done a great service also to the Goetheanum and its School of Spiritual Science.' - Peter Selg '[Gerard Wagner was] a soul which on earth was devoted so selflessly and in such purity to the beings that are revealed... in forms and colours. He helped them to utterance and manifestation in this world of ours.' - Sergei O. Prokofieff

About the Author
CAROLINE CHANTER was born in 1950 in Singapore and was educated in England. After schooling at Michael Hall, Sussex, she studied art at Exeter Art College in Devon and afterwards at Leeds Polytechnic in Yorkshire. Later, she graduated from the Margarethe Hauschka School for Artistic Therapy in Germany and, in 1983, joined the Anthroposophical Medical Practice in Forest Row, concurrently teaching at Tobias School of Art in East Grinstead, Sussex. Between 1993 and 1999 she was one of Gerard Wagner's pupils at the Goetheanum Painting School. She now teaches at the Rudolf Steiner Painting School in Dornach, Switzerland, and at Swaasthyakala Niketan, a painting therapy school in Bangalore, India.


Book Information
ISBN 9781855845954
Author Caroline Chanter
Format Hardback
Page Count 644
Imprint Rudolf Steiner Press
Publisher Rudolf Steiner Press