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 Rose-Carol Washton Long "An indispensable anthology that immediately renders its predecessors obsolete. With its gathering of public and private documents, it carries us through the rise and fall of one of the great upheavals of modern art." —Robert Rosenblum, New York University"These essays, including many previously unavailable in English, are rich with startling new insights into the German Expressionist psyche. Elucidating the artists' view of government, the role of women in modern society, and their own ambivalence about the effectiveness of abstract art, this anthology is essential reading for all scholars and students of twentieth-century art." —Joan Marter, author of Alexander CalderGerman Expressionism, one of the most significant movements of early European modernism, was an enormously powerful element in Germany's cultural life from the end of the Wilhelmkine Empire to the Third Reich. While the movement embraced such diverse artists as E. L. Kirchner, Wassily Kandinsky, Käthe Kollwitz, and George Grosz, all the participants shared an almost messianic belief in the power of art to change society. Rose-Carol Washton Long has drawn together over eighty documents crucial to the understanding of German Expressionism, many of them translated for the first time into English. Rose-Carol Washton Long is Professor of Art History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Among her books is Kandinsky: The Development of an Abstract Style. Paperback 370 pagesUniversity of California Press, 19955.9 x 1 x 8.9 inchesISBN 9780520202641Art History, Expressionism

German Expressionism: Documents from the End of the Wilhelmine Empire to the Rise of National Socialism

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

By Barb RosenstockIllustrated by Mary GrandPré A Caldecott Honor Book “GrandPré employs muted purples and blues to depict Vasya’s dull childhood world. Once he starts painting, the pages come alive with bright swirls of color that fly around his head like strands of melody…Even those who aren’t inspired to visit a museum will take away the lesson of Kandinsky’s life: Listen to what excites you and follow its call.”—The New York Times“Rosenstock’s prose strikes a balance between lightheartedness and lyricism. GrandPré’s paintings conjure up an entire epoch…breathing life into all the characters.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review“A rich, accomplished piece about a pioneer in the art world.”—Kirkus, Starred Review Vasya Kandinsky was a proper little boy: he studied math and history, he practiced the piano, he sat up straight and was perfectly polite. And when his family sent him to art classes, they expected him to paint pretty houses and flowers—like a proper artist. But as Vasya opened his paint box and began mixing the reds, the yellows, the blues, he heard a strange sound—the swirling colors trilled like an orchestra tuning up for a symphony! And as he grew older, he continued to hear brilliant colors singing and see vibrant sounds dancing. But was Vasya brave enough to put aside his proper still life's and portraits and paint . . . music? In this exuberant celebration of creativity, Barb Rosenstock and Mary GrandPré tell the fascinating story of Vasily Kandinsky, one of the very first painters of abstract art. Throughout his life, Kandinsky experienced colors as sounds, and sounds as colors—and bold, groundbreaking works burst forth from his noisy paint box. Hardcover40 pagesAge range: 4-8 yearsKnopf Books for Young Readers, 20148.7 x 0.3 x 11.3 inchesISBN 9780307978486Biography, Art History

The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky's Abstract Art

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

Portrait of Vasily Kandinsky [Postcard]

Edited by Ortrud Westheider and Michael Philipp Spanning six decades, three continents, and multiple mediums, this exhibition catalog explores one of the most significant and influential artistic movements of the twentieth century. At the beginning of the twentieth century, painting underwent a profound transformation. Artists no longer wanted to depict the visible; they aspired to a new visual language that reduced artistic expression to an interplay of colors, lines, and shapes; reflected the modern world; and transcended national boundaries. A central figure of this art movement was Wassily Kandinsky, who laid the theoretical foundations with his work Point and Line to Plane. This lushly illustrated and highly researched volume showcases how Geometric Abstraction found radical expression in all its variations in Europe, the USA and beyond. It features more than one hundred works by over seventy artists, including Josef Albers, Sonia Delaunay, Barbara Hepworth, El Lissitzky, Agnes Martin, Piet Mondrian, Bridget Riley, Frank Stella, and Victor Vasarely. Essays by leading scholars illuminate the ways these artists were inspired by the advanced technologies and theories of their time, including concepts of the fourth dimension and the space- time continuum. The authors explore the movement through a transnational lens—from Belgium, Germany, and Great Britain, to France, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, and the United States; and emphasize the long-neglected role of women in the movement’s advancement. Through its insightful essays and stunning visuals, this volume offers a definitive exploration of how geometric abstraction revolutionized modern art and continues to inspire artists across the globe. Hardcover 320 pagesPrestel, 20259.5 x 11.75 inchesISBN 9783791377919Art History, Movements

Kandinsky's Universe: Geometric Abstractions in the 20th Century

Von Gloria Köpnick und Rainer Stamm Der Blaue Reiter zählt bis heute zu den bedeutendsten Strömungen der europäischen Malerei im frühen 20. Jahrhundert. Geprägt wurde er von den Künstlerpaaren Gabriele Münter und Wassily Kandinsky sowie Marianne von Werefkin und Alexej Jawlensky. Das südlich von München im Alpenvorland gelegene Murnau gehörte ab 1908 für sie zu den wichtigsten Schaffensorten. Komposition und Bildaufbau, Farbwahl und Pinselduktus: Murnau brachte für die Maler einen entscheidenden Schritt in ihrer künstlerischen Entwicklung. 1909 reisten Münter und Kandinsky erneut nach Murnau und erwarben dort ein Haus, das sich, ebenso wie die umgebende Landschaft, in zahllosen Bildern wiederfindet. Hier lebten Kandinsky und Münter mit Unterbrechungen bis 1914. In den Jahren von 1910 bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg vollzog sich, maßgeblich von Kandinsky und Münter initiiert, die Gründung der Neuen Künstlervereinigung München und, ab 1912, die Formierung des Künstlerkreises um die Redaktion des Almanachs Der Blaue Reiter. Der Band zeichnet anhand ausgewählter Meisterwerke und prägnanter Motive den Aufbruch in das Abenteuer der Moderne in Murnau nach. Ein fundiertes Nachwort der Herausgeber rundet den Band ab. Hardcover89 pagesText in German, mit zahlreichen farbigen AbbildungenInsel Verlag, 202512.2 x 1 x 18.4 cmISBN 9783458195504 German Expressionism, Blue Rider

Shop at Neue Vasily Kandinsky