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Wassily Kandinsky, 1866-1944: The Journey to Abstraction
"A man who can move mountains." Thus Franz Marc described his friend and colleague Wassily Kandinsky, who revolutionized the art of our century with his ideas of a new pictorial language.
For as founder of abstract painting Kandinsky released art from its traditional duty—namely, to provide a copy of the visible world. Although, in the early years of the twentieth century, there were other artists similarly experimenting with the dissolution of the object and the promotion of color and form to means of expression in their own right, Kandinsky was the most logical and consistent in his pursuit of abstract means of expression. He made it his life's work to carry painting up to and over the threshold of abstraction, whereby his artistic activities were always accompanied by theoretical reflections and insights.
For as founder of abstract painting Kandinsky released art from its traditional duty—namely, to provide a copy of the visible world. Although, in the early years of the twentieth century, there were other artists similarly experimenting with the dissolution of the object and the promotion of color and form to means of expression in their own right, Kandinsky was the most logical and consistent in his pursuit of abstract means of expression. He made it his life's work to carry painting up to and over the threshold of abstraction, whereby his artistic activities were always accompanied by theoretical reflections and insights.
196 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 19, 2023
Some artists translate well into photographic plates, I don't think Kadinsky does. Having seen an exhibition of his works with their glowing colours and the sense of depth in his abstracts, I think that the art and architectural publisher Taschen has nevertheless done a very good job indeed. A beautiful book to own.
Since I've been in Miami, I've been going to all the art museums and their (overpriced) shops. Everywhere I go I see these wonderful art books but mostly $60+, I lust for them and will buy the ones I can get at a discount from a distributor. I honestly don't see how any ebook could replace these large-format art books with their beautiful bindings.
I can see the pics online, I can see them on my phone, but they don't have the power to attract me to study them for more than a moment or too. The art books I own, I often look through, yes they sit on my coffee table, but if I had them as ebooks, I'd probably never glance at them after the first time.
The ones I want most right now are Jean-Michel Basquiat which is $200. Basquiat was a street artist who spent all his money on drugs and paint. Discovered, famous, exhibited world-wide he... killed himself on drugs. I also want Leandro Erlich's Liminal at 'only' $65. He does mind-bending installations. You think you are looking in mirrors but you are looking at a real mirror image. You see a box on the floor and you look in and it's an elevator shaft. My bookshop is on its last legs so I would never be able to sell the books, but I might just get them anyway.
Since I've been in Miami, I've been going to all the art museums and their (overpriced) shops. Everywhere I go I see these wonderful art books but mostly $60+, I lust for them and will buy the ones I can get at a discount from a distributor. I honestly don't see how any ebook could replace these large-format art books with their beautiful bindings.
I can see the pics online, I can see them on my phone, but they don't have the power to attract me to study them for more than a moment or too. The art books I own, I often look through, yes they sit on my coffee table, but if I had them as ebooks, I'd probably never glance at them after the first time.
The ones I want most right now are Jean-Michel Basquiat which is $200. Basquiat was a street artist who spent all his money on drugs and paint. Discovered, famous, exhibited world-wide he... killed himself on drugs. I also want Leandro Erlich's Liminal at 'only' $65. He does mind-bending installations. You think you are looking in mirrors but you are looking at a real mirror image. You see a box on the floor and you look in and it's an elevator shaft. My bookshop is on its last legs so I would never be able to sell the books, but I might just get them anyway.
March 19, 2010
I read this book for a book challenge... read a book by/about your favorite artist. And Kandinsky is mine... I love
Composition VIII
... :) It makes me happy.
So this book really interested me, because it chronicles his journey from art that mimicked nature (like Old Town II (1902)) to works that are totally abstract, like Composition VIII (1923), Several Circles (1926), or Two Green Points (1935), and beyond. (I'm not as fond of his later Parisian stuff, though Two Green Points is lovely...)
I was thinking about how to describe his journey in terms that make more sense than the book (which was interesting, but obviously translated from another language...). I think of it like music today. There are a lot of songs on the radio today that are very emotionally packed (the entire emo genre, for example)... Many of those songs are very nice, and all, but they're very lyric-driven. Would people have the same emotional response to those songs without the lyrics? Likely NOT, especially since the actual MUSIC part of so many pop-type songs is pretty generic these days. Imagine if you decided to try and create a piece of music that evoked the same emotional response but without the lyrics. That's pretty much what Kandinsky was trying to do.
So much of the art of the early 1900s was based on the artist trying to portray nature in various ways, which evoked an emotional response because the viewer related to the subject. But he wanted to be able to create that same kind of emotional response (or even the type of emotional response one can obtain from music) with art that did not have objects that were recognizable. He was especially driven by color. He believed that certain colors could create certain emotions in a viewer and thus much of his early-ish works had very very intense colors (like Munich—Schwabing with St. Ursula's Church (1908)) , where the color was even more important than the objects being portrayed. And then later to color-driven paintings with no discernible objects, like Composition IV (1910).
He went through a few phases of abstraction until he got to the completely clean lines of works like Composition VIII, where he really played with color and the emotions it can evoke even in simple geometric shapes, he began to take that basis and play with form. One painting that is pretty crazy is Composition IX (1936)... Holy colors and amorphous objects, Batman! :) And then there were the Egyptian-like paintings such as Tender Ascent (1934)... And cool ones that have objects that almost look like things you'd see under a microscope, like Succession (1935).
Anyway... It wasn't an easy read... like I said, it was pretty obvious to me the book had been translated into English... It didn't flow super-well... But it was really interesting—full of really cool information. And I feel like I understand Kandinsky better than I ever thought I would! ;)
So this book really interested me, because it chronicles his journey from art that mimicked nature (like Old Town II (1902)) to works that are totally abstract, like Composition VIII (1923), Several Circles (1926), or Two Green Points (1935), and beyond. (I'm not as fond of his later Parisian stuff, though Two Green Points is lovely...)
I was thinking about how to describe his journey in terms that make more sense than the book (which was interesting, but obviously translated from another language...). I think of it like music today. There are a lot of songs on the radio today that are very emotionally packed (the entire emo genre, for example)... Many of those songs are very nice, and all, but they're very lyric-driven. Would people have the same emotional response to those songs without the lyrics? Likely NOT, especially since the actual MUSIC part of so many pop-type songs is pretty generic these days. Imagine if you decided to try and create a piece of music that evoked the same emotional response but without the lyrics. That's pretty much what Kandinsky was trying to do.
So much of the art of the early 1900s was based on the artist trying to portray nature in various ways, which evoked an emotional response because the viewer related to the subject. But he wanted to be able to create that same kind of emotional response (or even the type of emotional response one can obtain from music) with art that did not have objects that were recognizable. He was especially driven by color. He believed that certain colors could create certain emotions in a viewer and thus much of his early-ish works had very very intense colors (like Munich—Schwabing with St. Ursula's Church (1908)) , where the color was even more important than the objects being portrayed. And then later to color-driven paintings with no discernible objects, like Composition IV (1910).
He went through a few phases of abstraction until he got to the completely clean lines of works like Composition VIII, where he really played with color and the emotions it can evoke even in simple geometric shapes, he began to take that basis and play with form. One painting that is pretty crazy is Composition IX (1936)... Holy colors and amorphous objects, Batman! :) And then there were the Egyptian-like paintings such as Tender Ascent (1934)... And cool ones that have objects that almost look like things you'd see under a microscope, like Succession (1935).
Anyway... It wasn't an easy read... like I said, it was pretty obvious to me the book had been translated into English... It didn't flow super-well... But it was really interesting—full of really cool information. And I feel like I understand Kandinsky better than I ever thought I would! ;)
April 15, 2018
Mooi en behoorlijk compleet boek over Kandinsky, zijn leven en zijn schilderijen.
Mooie kleurenfoto's.
Mooie kleurenfoto's.
May 16, 2019
A comprehensive analysis of Kandinsky's work, beautifully illustrated.
January 14, 2022
El trabajo de Kandinsky llena el espíritu, inunda los sentidos, es genial.
December 21, 2011
I decided to read this book because Kandinsky was, is and will be one of the many exponents of abstract art and some of my works are inspired by his art. Also, I wanted to know more of his wonderful works. I recommend it if you would like to know about Kandinsky's evolution because it shows every period of his transformation.
September 4, 2010
The photographs were well done, in terms of lighting to capture the intense colors in most of the work :) The writing was about as comprehensible as possible when talking about a painter whose art was largely inspired by synaesthesia. Good value too.
October 15, 2010
Kandinsky was possessed by the need to express himself through art. I wanted to know more about him because one of my favorite artists, G. O'Keefe, was influenced by him. It was inspirational to understand more about both of these artists.
December 11, 2012
The best Artist ever. I've always loved his work but with this book everything became clear. New paintigs, new facts, new passions. I just simply love Wassily Kandinsky :D
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews