Kandinsky

Page 1



KANDINSKY



KANDINSKY LIFE

CAREER

LEGACY

Stephanie Schlim & Juillet Press Typography II 2011


Copyright Š 2011 Stephanie Schlim & Juillet Press. Printed and bound at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the creators. All rights reserved.


TABLE OF CONTENTS 7 life 12 career 18 legacy 20 bibliography 21 colophon


ON WHITE II 1923, Oil on canvas Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris


KANDINSKY • 7

ly assi W , ily edam r. ss f a mix othe a l c m n i r d e d gran ssia. s upp aise and was r nts and w, Ru ere hi d o y h te e osc par uca insk a, w a l-ed Kand ith his 6 in M Odess his te ong l e t l 6 w h a n w 8 c i a 1 t b t vi his into assilye onmen er 16, s spen er’s jo egan sky n r h b Bo ly” W envir cemb od wa is fat l and andin o the e o d o si K fh et “Va groun n on D childh ause o r scho g age, ely du n a k o r s c k n i c o i e m a l u h b b b diti o h t f was rity o 1871 ed gram At a y s, mos is con , whic e o . n r d H j i d Th n o a n l n t . o m ti n’ ia ou co tte ved The ly mo e he a educa s and esthes t and s ple do ing n t i r d o h y id e n e n m g v S e , ll si fa ou ro tp .H ory n exce d by s dition is case h mos k by p king t c a n a e f in h ic and tloo d co , th rigu in t wh d to roa me int ly-base sense, onse tive ou ky said rawing e l a s a d sp bec ologica of the lor re his cre andin r that ity.” H as l o e K y r a c d b . u n e e e s e r a h w n s ag e em on ain olve a cert encour ng less “I rem t of th e when turn v n i ’t i s g , ger father draw essons me ou ung a y didn . e l trig o t y s d k i y a s e d r t v i n a i o H i if r h t see. with p hildho ting l usic at . Kand e of t c s in ag him on his ter pa with m lesson e late a k l g o h kin d cell ntil t bac le bit u n wor tt a li began iano a singly, p i r o n s p i al d ur g, s olle enr aintin to p

E F I L

1

tm // ily.h ttp: w. 0. h - wa ss o k s . ” /ww y 201 o tp:/ insk . ht s, B ry.” Sto and ting Books ain Ar t , st -k . i P t , r he y ngs 011 ) . “T rg/a graph Painti 1, 2 Ev e o ry.o , h2 fin, artsto ky - Bi raphy arc Grif e s dM og w.th Kandin y - Bi ccesse ww ily insk / (A a ss and ky.net 2 “W yK ss i l a n d i n s Wa k sily wa s


8 • LIFE

1

2

Griffin, Eve. “The Art Story.” 2010. http://www.theartstory.org/ artist-kandinsky-wassily.htm

“Wassily Kandinsky - Biography, Paintings, Books.” Wassily Kandinsky - Biography, Paintings, Books. http://www.wassily kandinsky.net/ (Accessed March 21, 2011).

While his parents encouraged his artistic and musical interests, they also pushed him to pursue law. Because of this influence, the intelligent, young Kandinsky entered the University of Moscow to study law and economics. His success in law was evident as he was soon offered a professorship in Roman law. In 1893, at the age of twenty five, he entered the Law Faculty of Moscow as a Docent and began his career as a professor. This was also the year that he married his cousin Anna Chimyakina. During his tenure at the Law Faculty of Moscow, Kandinsky was appointed professor to the department of Law at Derpt University in Tartu. This position was highly regarded, and he would have taken it, except it was at this point in his life that he turned to painting. After viewing a gallery of Impressionists, including work by Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Paul Cezanne, Kandinsky was significantly motivated by the new art movement. He also had influences from fauvism and pointillism, both of which were new and mysterious forms of art at the time. He took this opportunity to rewrite his life’s path and left his law successes behind him for a new career in fine arts. Kandinsky’s rash judgment and quick change of pace is based on his passion for the arts and his ability to express freely, as he once said, “There is no must in art, because art is free.” His first step in a new direction was to find a school worthy of teaching him how to express himself spiritually and through painting. This he found at Anton Azbe’s private and prestigious painting school. He attended this school for a few years, but soon grew tired and felt he needed more experience. He left in 1900 for the Munich Academy of the Arts, where he studied under Franz Stuck alongside other famous artists of the time such as Paul Klee, who would go on to teach at the Bauhaus alongside Kandinsky. While attending school in Munich, Kandinsky founded the avant-garde Phalanx School for the arts and became director. He used his previously attained teaching skills in law to become a regular professor at the art school.

i


“Th e no re is m in a ust rt, b e AR cau TI s SF e LIFE • 4

RE

E.




12 • CAREER

ent tud s a et ey ym nsk ter. Th rried i d n a n a u lm ,K ool riele M as stil to h c e S ed ab yw lanx ed G dinsk decid riele. Th a h he g nam Kan Gab he P at t ainter ough r when with plorin ey g 0. 1 n h g x i 0 e h t p t e 2 n k i a ” r t l n . s l l o ti t is ry tel r ar ve Sto r tis ile w ression ship, e a yea in trav five ye ons, un u, g/a Ar t r h m e o t . h y .h i W exp ry T a sily beg e. “ ar tsto hen : onl ent tion ibit urn wa s , Ev e aus and n a rela It was na, and but sp in exh led M 914, w e ffin ww.th insky- Bauh : Y Gri d e N 1 , l . a h g n ://w kan ry . Th York, beg e time ife, A arried ipatin wn ca r until se of t t apart http 8. Bar .. New 198 o c e w h m u i t t d., h . t an, a s s t r l t pli s t r i c l L m t s u e e n d a de an opi eh ev nd pa ma re tog ny be , but o his c Frie n s : r Stu riedm ter Gr Y o e a d n l F ,N div coupl ting a 8 in the rs a Barry nd Wa ork rma land ver, ky t ste 75. wY a in 90 y lived ee Ge witzer ndins howe w Ma a 1 . Ne Art, 19 us, e i p 8 p n a , , 2 n fl S ro 19 rn ni to to The e ater dK ope 17. se G 19 - f Mode rt, I us: 19 Eur ed dow varia. pelled moved ich an years l ya, th of 19 rbe mo a e u h a a y e H n l u t s er, Ba Mu sett ed in B elt com . They to Mu o shor reevsk ebruar B ay I d f t F w loca insky ld War d back ssia. T ina An ed in d w r ve , Ru n N o y o a e, W le m K the wif t of ie nd scow star Gabr of Mo future eral, a n n s whe e town et hi sian ge m s m u y sk ho eR din f th Kan hter o g dau 1

3

ER RE CA

4


ON POINTS 1928, Oil on canvas Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris PREVIOUS: DOMINANT CURVE 1936, Oil on canvas The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York


“Tal e nt c gre at h the arrie eigh art s i t wit s st to hp o and wer DIR THE spe e EC d A . R TS TIS But H T 14 • CAREER

IS TA LE N

T.


CAREER • 15

Before returning to Russia, Kandinsky, while still teaching at the Phalanx School, wanted to delve deeper into the world of an artist. He began the successful organization “Der Blaue Reiter” (The Blue Rider) in 1911. Along with artists such as Paul Klee, August Macke, and Frantsem Marc, Kandinsky began this group with the intention of coming together on the common grounds of modern art, spiritual expressionism, and the recognized relationships between music and art. They facilitated exhibitions and released an almanac, Der Blaue Reiter Almanac. Kandinsky also focused partly on his writing at this time, as he released his own book, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, among other contributions to literature. When World War I began, The Blue Rider dissolved, along with Kandinsky’s relationship with Munter and his attachment to travel.

Griffin, Eve. “The Art Story.” 2010. http://www.theartstory.org/ artist-kandinsky-wassily.htm 3 Friedman, Barry . The Bauhaus: Masters and Students.. New York, NY: Barry Friedman Ltd., 1988. 4 Bayer, Herbert, Ise Gropius, and Walter Gropius. Bauhaus: 1919 - 1928. New York, NY: Museum of Modern Art, 1975. 1

His career was only slowed for a small amount of time by the war, because in 1912 Kandinsky was invited by Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus school, to join alongside the other talented artists and designers. He began his next teaching career at the prestigious architecture school, beginning with classes focusing on geometric elements and composition. Kandinsky’s paintings took an obvious shift from his previously gestural, romantic abstractions to a more mathematical, reasoned approach. This shift can also be understood in his second writing, On Point and Line to Plane, published in 1926. Unfortunately, the Weimar Bauhaus was closed due to Nazi control in 1933, so Kandinsky moved to France, where he lived the last eleven years of his life. During this period, his style of painting reversed as he experimented more with elements of his past paintings. His work was collected eventually, mainly by Solomon R. Guggenheim. Because of this collection, Kandinsky would later be known as the “patron saint of the Guggenheim.” His quiet death in December of 1944 at the age of 78 was a devastation to fellow artists and the art movements of his time.




LE GA CY

18 • CAREER

Wa ss to s ily Kan om d beg any insky ww i Gri n was a w.t r f fin, hea is st explo tists , Ev e r and and s r i . “T l Frie tstory i Stu l n h t g . o rg dm eA den h H a t e r h is p an /a rt t m till is, ts.. “f e New , Barr r tist -k Stor y rep erson ather” realms ovem a sign .” 2 y.T and Yor 0 al re ins he 1 0. ifi k, N e o o Ba ky B h Gro fina sentat evolu f abst f pain nts. E cant i piu yer, H Y: Bar auhau -wass ttp:// ven tion r s. B ract e ion nflu s ting lly a i auh rbert, y Fried : Mas ly.htm th imp e u reso al exp as an exp t Ise aus ma n L ers an Gro : 19 ress ntil h ough nce r l e r v t a d s e 1 p d e 9 s r s ., 19 ius i d f i h i t s Mu s - 19 o r v i i e o s , c o t e n 88. tf and hi seu m om 28. n d is f mo Wa wor learn eat for binat ism to rom im m and rties, h idn’t f M New Y lter ode o ing ion kp e c o p m o rn A rk , NY n ode e in and osit arti of a mple ressio : rt, 1 rn d iv st 975 n l t t . Imp s. Wh ely an eachin ividua l of his e abstr ism to art. l. H d re g at acti ile h ress kno is k on, infi info ion wle the e to n n is d a r o and itely t ts, he k his ced hi Bauha owled ge is a nd h u insp g n s w plan r e s i o o d teac es a ugh a uld la iratio eas in influe acqui h r and ers, a re still bstrac ter go n from othe nced h ed r n ti v i o go o the un d desi aluabl on.Hi n to c music impor s gn e s iq tan h and t pai n to sp ue rel ers al today writin ange the the nte and ike. atio go ark r n a s, s Jack n s h H r u s s t i hip h g ch uc s s be is view hly re ape, l world of M on Po h as M large gard in twe s of l m l o o a ed b e, spir cou dern ck. K rk R ovem en so y i ntle u o t e ss a Art an andins thko, nts as nd an ualism artists , rtis ts fo d Abst ky’s w and A the C d colo olo ork rw ctio r de ract r o it n E uld F cad es, a xpress self be Paint ield ers, ion gan nd is st ism suc a re th h ill b v eing at wo olutio as n disc uld i usse nflu d to ence day . 1

3

4

3


PLATE IX 1922, Lithograph Museum of Modern Art, New York PREVIOUS: COMPOSITION IX 1936, Oil on canvas National Musuem of Modern Art, Paris, France


20 • BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bayer, Herbert, Ise Gropius, and Walter Gropius. Bauhaus: 1919 - 1928. New York, NY: Museum of Modern Art, 1975. Friedman, Barry . The Bauhaus: Masters and Students. New York, NY: Barry Friedman Ltd., 1988. Griffin, Eve. “The Art Story.” 2010. http://www.theartstory.org/artist-kandinsky-wassily.htm Naylor, Gillian. “Claims for Art.” In The Bauhaus Reassessed: Sources and Design Theory. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1985. 83-102. “Wassily Kandinsky - Biography, Paintings, Books.” Wassily Kandinsky - Biography, Paintings, Books. http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/ (Accessed March 21, 2011).


COLOPHON • 21

COLOPHON Typefaces used in order of appearance: Knockout, Adobe Garamond Pro. Printing methods not yet determined. Thank you to Katherine Hughes’ Typography II Class for helping with the production of this book.



Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.