Pioneering work by the great modernist painter, considered by many to be the father of abstract art and a leader in the movement to free art from traditional bonds. Kandinsky's provocative thoughts on color theory, nature of art. Analysis of Picasso, Matisse, earlier masters. 12 illustrations.

In this famous work by a pioneer in the movement to free art from the bonds of tradition-a work long considered essential to understanding the evolution of 20th-century art-Kandinsky explores the role of the line, point and other key elements of non-objective painting. 127 illustrations.

A dazzling yet little-known artist's book that distills the painter's seminal interests in abstraction and the unity of the arts Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was a Russian pioneer of abstract painting whose work has influenced generations of artists. His Sounds (Klange) 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.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1914 Edition.

All art students are advised to read "Concerning the Spiritual in Art," a short masterpiece by Wassily Kandinsky. This classic best explains the concepts that lead to abstract painting in the modern era Kandinsky recognized the connection between music and painting. He also suggested that artists free themselves from the material world so that they can express their inner impulses. Thus the abstract painting requires contemplation to reveal its meaning. Furthermore, the meaning may be a projection of the inner life of the viewer as much as it is the inner life of the artists. This concept is not new to music but it certainly was new to painting in 1911. Once considered a radical idea, the spiritual aspect of abstract art is now a given in culture. Wassily Kandinsky offers some very insightful comments regarding his contemporaries, recognizing Matisse as the 20th century master of color and Picasso as the 20th century master of line. He faults them both, however, for not making the final step toward complete abandonment of the physical world. In "Concerning the Spiritual in Art," Kandinsky also asserts that imitative painting of other eras was a deadly trap for the artist, yet responding to the eternal call of the unconscious forces in an earlier period of art history was a valid area of exploration. Kandinsky believed that art progressed, that artistic concepts built on each other and that there was a triangle of artistic conception that moved forward to some end point, yet to be discovered. Kandinsky warns against pattern painting, which he thought would lead to monotony and away from spirituality. Every artist owes it to themselves to read "Concerning the Spiritual in Art." Though short, this book is the classic on which much art history, philosophy, and practice has been based.

Collection of four documentaries about Russian avant-garde art collector George Costakis and the painters whose works feature in his collection. The films comprise: 'The Collector Costakis', 'Kazimir Malevich', 'Marc Chagall' and 'Kandinsky'.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1914 Edition.

2014 Reprint of 1914 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Wassily Kandinsky s contributions as a theorist were arguably more influential on modern art than any of his paintings. In this work, first published in 1914, Kandinsky both promotes and defends a form of art in which painters express themselves in abstract terms independent of the material world around them, much as musicians do. Divided into two parts, "About General Aesthetic" (including an examination of geometrical forms) and "About Painting" (a discussion of the psychology of color and the language and form of color), the work offers an insight into the mind of one of the most renowned of all abstract painters and a preview of the art that he was to produce in the years to come. Russian painter WASSILY KANDINSKY (1866-1944), was one of the most famous artists of the 20th century and pioneered abstract art.

2013 Reprint of 1947 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. In this title Kandinsky analyzed the geometrical elements which make up every painting-the point and the line. He called the physical support and the material surface on which the artist draws or paints the basic plane, or BP. He did not analyze them objectively, but from the point of view of their inner effect on the observer. A point is a small bit of color put by the artist on the canvas. It is neither a geometric point nor a mathematical abstraction; it is extension, form and color. This form can be a square, a triangle, a circle, a star or something more complex. The point is the most concise form but, according to its placement on the basic plane, it will take a different tonality. It can be isolated or resonate with other points or lines. A line is the product of a force which has been applied in a given direction: the force exerted on the pencil or paintbrush by the artist. The produced linear forms may be of several types: a straight line, which results from a unique force applied in a single direction; an angular line, resulting from the alternation of two forces in different directions, or a curved (or wave-like) line, produced by the effect of two forces acting simultaneously. The book contains many photographic examples and drawings from Kandinsky's works which offer the demonstration of its theoretical observations, and which allow the reader to experience the inner effect of the point and line to plane.

The spiritual life of human-kind follows the shape of a pyramid, occasionally rising to an apex of spiritual perception when an artist of genius comes forward to lead the way, and sinking to the bottom of the pyramid when culture produces nothing but decadence. The colors a painter smears onto a canvas can delight the eye, but they can also cause the viewer to receive vibrations that resonate within the soul. Born in Russia in 1866, Kandinsky was a pioneer of the abstract, who used "Concerning the Spiritual in Art" to argue for the transcendental importance of his vocation.

In Concerning the spiritual in art, Kandinsky compares the spiritual life of humanity to a large triangle similar to a pyramid; the artist has the task and the mission of leading others to the top by the exercise of his talent. The point of the triangle is constituted only by some individuals who bring the sublime bread to other people. It is a spiritual triangle which moves forwards and rises slowly, even if it sometimes remains immobile. During decadent periods, souls fall to the bottom of the Triangle and men only search for external success and ignore purely spiritual forces. When we look at colours on the painter's palette, a double effect happens: a purely physical effect on the eye, charmed by the beauty of colours firstly, which provokes a joyful impression as when we eat a delicacy. But this effect can be much deeper and causes an emotion and a vibration of the soul, or an inner resonance, which is a purely spiritual effect, by which the colour touches the soul itself. The inner necessity is for Kandinsky the principle of the art and the foundation of forms and colours' harmony. He defines it as the principle of the efficient contact of the form with the human soul. Every form is the delimitation of a surface by another one; it possesses an inner content which is the effect it produces on the one who looks at it attentively. This inner necessity is the right of the artist to an unlimited freedom, but this freedom becomes a crime if it is not founded on such a necessity. The art work is born from the inner necessity of the artist in a mysterious, enigmatic and mystic way, and then it acquires an autonomous life; it becomes an independent subject animated by a spiritual breath. (createandshare.net)