Edith Maryon

Edith Maryon (1872 - 1924)

Edith Maryon (Edith Louisa M., * 9 February 1872 in London; † 2 May 1924 Dornach/Switzerland) was an English sculptress. Along with Ita Wegman, she belonged to the inner circle around the founder of anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner.

Life and work

Edith Maryon grew up as the second of six children of the wealthy tailor John Simeon Maryon and his wife Louisa Church in central London. She attended a girls' school, later a boarding school in Geneva, Switzerland. In the 1890s she studied sculpture in London at the Central School of Design, and from 1896 at the Royal College of Arts, which made her an 'Associate' in 1904. She entered the public eye with full-length portraits and created reliefs in a classically inspired, traditionalist style.

After her first meetings with Rudolf Steiner in 1912/13, she moved to Dornach in the summer of 1914 and worked decisively on the construction of the first Goetheanum. Together with Steiner she was largely responsible for the design of the well-known large sculpture The Representative of Humanity between Lucifer and Ahriman as well as coloured eurythmy sculptures, which she also executed in wood. These works are stylistically close to Expressionism. While many people demanded that the Representative of Humanity be erected as soon as possible, Edith Maryon opposed any haste. For this reason the work was not destroyed in the fire of the first Goetheanum New Year's Eve 1922/23, but has been preserved and is still on display in the (second) Goetheanum.

When there was a housing shortage in Switzerland, Edith Maryon - together with Paul Johann Bay - designed three houses for staff members on Dornach Hill in 1920-22. Then called "English Houses", they are now called Eurythmy Houses.

Edith Maryon was in constant contact with her teacher, Dr Steiner, either in person or by letter, especially in the last years of her life. He confided a great deal to her in a brotherly way and dedicated some of his texts to her. While working in the sculptor's studio around 1916, she once saved him from a serious, perhaps fatal fall. In 1923, Edith Maryon fell seriously ill. At the end of the year she was appointed head of the Section for Fine Arts at the Goetheanum (without being able to hold office) and died the following year as a result of tuberculosis.

Literature

• Rex Raab: Edith Maryon. Bildhauerin und Mitarbeiterin Rudolf Steiners; eine Biographie [...]. Dornach : Philosophisch-anthroposophischer Verl. am Goetheanum, Dornach 1993. ISBN 3-7235-0648-8
• Rembert Biemond: Edith Maryon. In: Anthroposophie im 20. Jahrhundert : e. Kulturimpuls in biografischen Porträts. Hrsg. von Bodo von Plato. Dornach : Verl. am Goetheanum, 2003. ISBN 3-7235-1199-6
• Peter Selg: Edith Maryon - Rudolf Steiner und die Dornacher Christus-Plastik, Vlg. am Goetheanum, Dornach 2006, ISBN 978-3-7235-1286-9
• Judith von Halle: «Das Christliche aus dem Holze herausschlagen...» Rudolf Steiner, Edith Maryon und die Christus-Plastik. Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2007, ISBN 978-3-7235-1296-8