Woodcut on cream laid Japan paper, 1910. 105x195 mm; 4x7 1/2 inches, full margins. Proof, aside from the edition published in Der Sturm, Berlin, 1912. Signed and inscribed "A (No 2)" in pencil, lower margin. Ex-collection Friedrich W. Arntz. A very good impression of this scarce woodcut.
We have found only 3 other impressions at auction in the past 30 years.
Kandinsky (1866-1944) began pursuing his artistic interests at 30 years old, after an initial career as a professor of law. His inspiration to study art came after a transitory experience he had while seeing a show of French Impressionist paintings; the use and fluidity of color in Monet's Haystacks deeply inspired him. He is known as the father of Abstract Art, created through his exploration of Spiritual Abstraction, the intent of which is to focus less on the physical and more on the spiritual experience of living in the world.
The current lot was created while he was still living in Munich, Germany, before his return to Russia in 1914, following the outbreak of World War I. This was a transitional period for the artist, during which he began to develop from experimenting with popular artistic movements of the time, such as Cubism, Fauvism and Surrealism to more abstract compositions of his unique style, emphasizing color interaction and abstraction.
In 1911, Kandinsky published Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art), which eventually prompted his return to Germany in 1920, as his spiritual outlook was seen as antithetical to the goals of Soviet society. The treatise called for the development of subject matter based on the artist's "inner necessity," rather than focusing on observational art representing only the real world. In Germany he taught at the Bauhaus school from 1922-33 (when it was forced to close by the Nazis), and afterward moved to France where he remained until he died. Roethel 80.
