Tuesday 21 August 2012

Wassily Kandinsky - part 3

Wassily Kandinsky (1866 –1944) was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics. Successful in his profession - he was offered a professorship (chair of Roman Law) at the University of Dorpat - he began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) at the age of 30.

For more biographical notes see part 1. For earlier works see parts 1 and 2. This is part 3 of a 4-part post on the works of Wassily Kandinsky. The works are shown in chronological order:


1915-16 Untitled 
watercolour and ink 47 x 63.5 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1916 Drawing for Etching II 
pen and ink 24.8 x 19 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1916 Moscow I 
oil on canvas
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1917 Blue Crest
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1917 Dusk
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1917 Improvisation 209
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1917 Overcast 
oil on canvas 105 x 134 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1919 In Grey 
oil on canvas
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1919 White Oval 
oil on canvas 80 x 93 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1920 Red Oval 
oil on canvas 71.5 x 71.5 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1920 White Line 
oil on canvas
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1921 Blue Segment
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1921 Red Spot II 
oil on canvas 131 x 181 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1921 Study for "Circles on Black" 
watercolour and ink on paper 25.5 x 25.5 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1922 Black Grid
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1922 Small Worlds II 
lithograph
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1922 White Cross 
oil on canvas 100.5 x 110.6 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1923 Black and Violet
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1923 Composition VIII 
oil on canvas
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1923 Green Composition
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1923 In the Black Square 
oil on canvas 97.5 x 93.3 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1923 Mild Tension
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1923 On White II 
oil on canvas 105 x 98 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1923 Sin Titulo
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1923 Transverse Line 
oil on canvas
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1923 Violet 
lithograph 29.1 x 19.1 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1924 Black Relationship 
watercolour and ink on paper 36.8 x 36.2 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1924 Contrasting Sounds 
oil on cardboard 70 x 49.5 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1924 Heavy Red 
oil on cardboard 58.7 x 48.7 cm 
© ProLitteris, Zürich
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1924 Sharp Quiet Pink 
oil on cardboard 63.6 x 48.2 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1925 Small Dream In Red 
oil on cardboard 35.5 x 41.2 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1925 Swinging 
oil on board 70.5 x 50.2 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1925 Yellow-Red-Blue 
oil on canvas
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1926 Development
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1926 Several Circles 
oil on canvas 140 x 140 cm
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1927 Dark Freshness
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

1927 Heavy Circles
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

2 comments:

  1. all of these pieces are very interesting. Maybe I'm imagining things, but it looks as if as he went through the years he almost conformed to the idea of abstract instead of simply letting his hand guide him on the canvas.
    Compare it to free form jazz and jazz played to sound like jazz.
    If you look at his earlier pieces they are much more fluent, there are no breaks in the original black lines of the first draft. As you go on, there are more sharp edges, the colors are not mixed, and it simply looks like "just another abstract".

    It's always sad when you see an artist conform to expectations.

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  2. Wassily Kandinsky (1866 –1944) was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. ... wassilycanvas.blogspot.com

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