The Archetypal Human-Animal

Rudolf Steiner’s watercolor “The Archetypal Human-Animal” presents the enigmatic image of a strange creature apparently swimming in water. It has a human profile, showing a clearly outlined nose and slightly opened mouth, with a mysterious eye nearly concealed in its greenish hair. It has appendages similar to hands and feet, with dark-blue, plantlike forms floating about in the water below the creature’s bright red-and-yellow body. Only the title provides us with a clue to its meaning—it is an “archetypal human-animal” form. But even this is enigmatic. What is this strange, unusual creature, this archetypal human-animal? We are presented with a perplexing image and a puzzling description.

In this original work—illustrated throughout with full-color paintings and images, many by the author—Angela Lord takes us on a journey of discovery toward realizing the meaning of Steiner’s painting. With Goethe’s theory of metamorphosis in nature, we are introduced to Steiner’s ideas of human evolution, from the primal beginnings of the archetypal human-animal on “Ancient Moon.” 

Lord recounts myths and legends from numerous cultures that speak of human-animal forms and reflects on the meaning of the fish in Christianity. She takes us through a series of color “sequences” for repainting Steiner’s human-animal motif. The book also includes appendices that summarize evolutionary phases of earth and humanity from a spiritual-scientific perspective.

The Archetypal Human-Animal is both a valuable workbook for painters and a fascinating insight into hidden aspects of human evolution.

Fully illustrated in color.