Vasily Kandinsky

Edited by Neue Galerie New YorkTexts by Vivian Endicott Barnett, Shulamith Behr, Christian Derouet, Reinhold Heller, Jill Lloyd, Peter Vergo, Rose-Carol Washton LongThe evolution of the Gesamtkunstwerk in the artist’s work from the Blaue Reiter to the Bauhaus yearsAlongside his development of a revolutionary abstract style, Vasily Kandinsky (1866–1944) demonstrated an ambition to go beyond conventional easel painting. His famous large paintings with musical and theatrical associations transformed into veritable environments. The catalog explores the evolution of a Gesamtkunstwerk in the work of Kandinsky including essays by leading Kandinsky scholars on painting as a total work of art, or the artist’s interest in music and theatre. Separated into three sections, it illustrates how Kandinsky’s fascination for the Wagnerian concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk and the principles of synesthesia developed into large-scale painting within the context of the two highly significant artistic groups Blaue Reiter and Bauhaus, as well as in response to the changing historical circumstances, last but not least, culminating in his large-scale decorative utopian murals and installations. Please note that Rare/Out-of-Print titles are very limited in stock.Hardcover208 pages | 192 black-and-white and color illustrationsNeue Galerie New YorkHatje Cantz, 201323.50 x 28.50 cmISBN 9783775737340Neue Galerie Exhibition Catalogue, Art History, Essays, Movements

Vasily Kandinsky: From Blaue Reiter to the Bauhaus, 1910-1925 Exhibition Catalogue

By Hajo DüchtingOver the course of his artistic career, Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) transformed not only his own style, but the course of art history. From early figurative and landscape painting, he went on to pioneer a spiritual, emotive, rhythmic use of color and line and is today credited with creating the first purely abstract work.As much a teacher and theorist as he was a practicing artist, Kandinsky's interests in music, theater, poetry, philosophy, ethnology, myth, and the occult, were all essential components to his painting and engraving. He was involved with both the influential Blaue Reiter and Bauhaus groups and left a legacy not only of dazzling visual work, but also of highly influential treatises such as Concerning the Spiritual In Art. Key tenets included the connections between painting, music and mystical experience, and the purification of art away from material realism and towards an emotional expression, condensed in particular by color.This book presents key Kandinsky works to introduce his repertoire of vivid colors, forms, and feelings. Tracing the artist's radical stylistic development, it shows how one painter's progression paved the way for generations of abstract expression to come.Hardcover96 pagesTaschen, 20158.4 x 0.5 x 10.4 inchesISBN 9783836507462Artist Monograph, Painting, Abstraction

Kandinsky (Basic Art Series 2.0)

Original Price: $25.00 UP TO 20% ADDITIONAL SAVINGS FOR MEMBERS By Wassily KandinskyTranslated by Elizabeth R. Napier“I remember buying a copy of Sounds when it was first published in English, and the thrill of discovering this work, page by page. Kandinsky’s synthesis of abstraction and representation, of sound and meaning, remains an exciting challenge for artists and poets today. Sounds is unlike any other book. It belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in abstract art, poetry, and the unpredictable cavorting of the two.”—John Yau, author of Bijoux in the Dark“Possibly the most beautiful, innovative, and influential artist’s book of the twentieth century. A landmark that synthesizes Kandinsky’s pioneering abstractions with his radical sound poems and experimental typography.”—Starr Figura, The Museum of Modern Art, New YorkA dazzling yet little-known artist’s book that distills the painter’s seminal interests in abstraction and the unity of the artsWassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) was a Russian pioneer of abstract painting whose work has influenced generations of artists. His Sounds (Klänge) of 1912 is one of the earliest, most beautiful examples of a 20th-century artist’s book. Its “sound poems” are alternately narrative and expressive, witty and simple in form. They treat questions of space, color, physical design, and the act of seeing in a world that offers multiple and often contradictory possibilities. The woodcut illustrations that accompany the poems range from representational designs to abstract vignettes. In its fusion of image and word, Sounds epitomizes the artist’s move toward abstraction and his aspiration to a synthesis of the arts. This updated edition of Sounds includes all of the book’s poems in English and German and its woodcuts, twelve of which appear in color for greater fidelity to the original. The translator’s introduction offers close formal examination of the poems and situates Sounds in the context of Kandinsky’s oeuvre. Although it was prized by prominent 20th-century artists, Sounds is one of the least known of Kandinsky’s major writings, and this remains the most authoritative English version.Paperback152 pagesYale University Press, 2019Originally published in 19137.4 x 0.3 x 8.2 inchesISBN 9780300238495Artist Monographs, Poetry, Printmaking, Woodcuts

Sounds

Edited by Tracey Bashkoff and Megan FontanellaContributions by Mark Antliff, Annegret Hoberg, Patricia Leighten, and George E. Lewis One of the foremost artistic innovators of abstraction in the 20th century, Vasily Kandinsky sought to liberate painting from its ties to the natural world and promote the spiritual in art. This richly illustrated publication looks at Kandinsky anew, through a critical lens, reframing our understanding of this vital figure of European modernism, who was also a prolific aesthetic theorist and writer. A series of multidisciplinary essays considers his nuanced relationships with the avant-garde artistic communities in which he lived and made art; the influence of anarchism and radical ecology; experimental methods of improvisation exploring the interplay between sight and sound; his place among Bauhaus peers whose contributions have been underrecognized; and his return, toward the end of his life, to long-held cultural interests that date back to his early years in Russia. Tracing Kandinsky’s life and work through his years in Moscow, several cities in Germany, and Paris, the texts offer striking new insights into an artist whose creative production and style were intimately tied to a sense of place—and displacement—and evolved amid the political and social upheavals catalyzed by the Russian Revolution and World Wars I and II. Kandinsky’s history is closely linked to that of the Guggenheim Museum. Solomon R. Guggenheim began collecting the artist’s work in 1929; a year later, they would meet at the Bauhaus, in Dessau. This book highlights more than ninety works from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s preeminent Kandinsky holdings, presenting the full arc of his artistic development and career. Included are paintings in oil and oil with sand, reverse-glass paintings, as well as woodcuts, watercolors, and drawings on paper. An illustrated chronicle of Kandinsky’s life and career, including selected exhibitions and publications, rounds out the volume.Hardcover196 pages | 125 color images, 55 black-and-white imagesGuggenheim Museum, 20218.74 x 10 inchesISBN 9780892075591Exhibition Catalogue, Avant-Garde

Vasily Kandinsky: Around the Circle

Edited by Hajo Düchting Vasily Kandinsky was one of the first painters of abstract art and a founding member of the Blue Rider movement. Although he trained as a lawyer, Kandinsky abandoned this career path to devote himself to art, both as a creator and an influential teacher and theorist at the Bauhaus. Over time, Kandinsky’s works grew more abstract, and he is best known for large, expressive paintings that free color from form and line. The book covers the entire span of his career, focuses in particular on his time at the Bauhaus, where he collaborated with Lyonel Feininger and Paul Klee.Lively, accessible, and lavishly illustrated, this new book offers a concise introduction to the life and work of this great master of art. Hardcover80 pagesHirmer Publishers, 20175.5 x 0.5 x 8 inchesISBN 9783777427591Artist Monograph, Painting, Abstraction, Bauhaus, Blue Rider

Vasily Kandinsky (The Great Masters of Art)

Portrait of Vasily Kandinsky, 1933, gelatin silver print. Photo by: Hugh Erfurth (1874-1948).

Portrait of Vasily Kandinsky [Postcard]

By Barbara Hess, Cathrin Klingsöhr-Leroy,Karin H. Grimme, Klaus Honnef, and Norbert Wolf “This comprehensive overview incorporates an impressive range of reproductions.”-The Independent Explore five movements that revolutionized art: Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art. From Monet’s shimmering water lilies and the wild dreams of Dalí to Lichtenstein’s high-impact comic-book aesthetics, this collection unpacks the rebellious ideas and works that reframed how the world views art itself. A comprehensive volume covering five seminal genres that shaped art, from the late 19th century and well into the 20th: Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. Each approach was distinct in aesthetic and philosophy, but all had immediate impact and enduring influence. Many great names were indelibly associated with one, some explored several during their careers. Impressionism, led by Monet and Renoir, focused on light and color, capturing fleeting moments and challenging academic art's rigidity. Expressionism was driven by artists like Edvard Munch and Wassily Kandinsky to convey raw emotion, distorting reality to reflect the angst of human experience. Surrealists, like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, explored the subconscious, dreams, and the irrational, blending reality with fantasy across art, literature, and film. With Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko leading the charge, Abstract Expressionism emphasized spontaneity and emotion through bold, gestural brushstrokes, and established New York as the post-war art world’s new Mecca. Finally, artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol gained fame and dominated the zeitgeist by synthesizing advertising, pop culture, and high art into Pop Art. Though diverse, these movements collectively pushed the boundaries of creativity, redefined artistic expression, and altered the trajectory of contemporary art. This lavish edition celebrates their stories, featuring more than 250 high-quality reproductions and texts, exploring how each movement's ideas and innovations transformed art forever. Hardcover504 pagesTaschen, 20266.7 x 1.5 x 9.5 inchesISBN 9783754401453Movements, Expressonism

Art for All: Art History

Edited by Larry Warsh and Dieter Buchhart A revelatory collection of the artist’s sketches and preparatory drawings, featuring many that have never been published before The great Russian modernist painter and theorist Wassily Kandinsky was one of the pioneers of abstraction in Western art. Few documents provide more insight into his evolution from figural to abstract art—or into the development of abstraction in the early twentieth century—than the pages of his sketchbooks. Featuring previously unpublished drawings, Wassily Kandinsky: The Sketchbooks is a comprehensive selection of hundreds of sketches from twelve notebooks Kandinsky kept between 1889 and 1935. Beginning with early figure studies, architectural sketches, and landscapes, the notebooks reveal a process of exploration that would lead Kandinsky from his first experiments in geometric abstraction to paintings that reshaped modernism. Demonstrating Kandinsky’s mastery of color, line, shape, composition, and movement, the book includes notes and preparatory studies for major paintings, such as the “analytical drawing” for Composition VII (1913), the first study for Several Circles (1926), and Study for Composition IX, a preliminary working of his 1936 masterpiece. Visually stunning, the book offers a remarkable, intimate look at how Kandinsky sought to discover nothing less than a spiritually transcendent form of art. Hardcover224 pages | 245 color illustrationsPrinceton University Press, 20258 x 10 inchesISBN 9780691268507Art History

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