Art and Human Consciousness (eBook)

Art and Human Consciousness

This survey of Western art from ancient Egypt to Picasso looks at visual art in a completely new and imaginative way. The lively and penetrating obser­vations will inspire and enthuse the novice, while breathing new life into the thinking of art critics and historians.

Gottfried Richter concerns himself broadly with architecture, sculpture, and painting―as well as mythology and legend―in pre­senting the creations of artist and architect as an expression of the evolution of human consciousness. In vivid images he offers the reader interpretive keys to under­stand this process in all areas of art history.

With many examples the author illustrates how human life has undergone a qualitative transfor­mation as humanity has gradually freed itself from a life determined by spiritual guidance in order to take hold of the sensory world and experience free individuality.

C O N T E N T S: 

Preface by Konrad Oberhuber
Introduction
Translator’s Comments

1. On the Meaning of History
2. The Sun-Word: The Nature of Egyptian Art
3. The Death of Osiris: The History of Egyptian Art
4. The Message of Man: The Mission of Greece
5. The Triumphal Arch
6. The Cathedral: On the History of Medieval Art
7. The Sunrise: Art at the Dawn of the New Age
8. The Mystery of the Earth: From the Baroque to Modern Times

Appendix

About the Author

Gottfried Richter (1901-1980) served as a priest in the Christian Community in Breslau before World War II and then for the congregation in Ulm from 1945 until his death. He was also a talented musician and a religion teacher in the Ulm Waldorf School. In addition to Art and Human Consciousness and The Isenheim Altar: Suffering and Salvation in the Art of Grunewald, he is the author of books on Goethe’s Faust, Chartres Cathedral, Romanesque art in Burgundy, plus numerous articles on art, religion, and literature.