Kandinsky: The Development of an Abstract Style
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Kandinsky: The Development of an Abstract Style Details
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This discussion refers to the hardcover edition of 1980. The measurements are approx. 10 x 8 x 1 in. The boards are covered with red cloth, with the words "LONG," "KANDINSKY," & "OXFORD" stamped in gold on the spine. The text is 201 numbered pages, including Notes, Bibliography, & Index. In addition, there are 104 unnumbered pages of illustrations; 8 pp. are in color, the rest are b&w.The chapter headings are the following: 1. The Problem, 2. Visions of a New Spiritual Realm, 3. Involving the Viewer, 4. Experiments with Stage Composition ["The Yellow Sound"], 5. Painting as a Total Art Work: The Role of Hidden Images, 6. Folk Art: Motifs for a Vision, 7. Paintings with Thematic Titles, 1909-1913 ["Last Judgment," "Deluge," etc.], 8. Paintings in the Composition Series, 9. Paintings with Titles Emphasizing Form & Colour, 1912-1914, 10. Kandinsky & Other Pioneering Abstractionists.In the five years before World War I, Kandinsky lived in the Schwabing section of Munich. He, along with a number of other thinkers/neighbors, believed that contemporary industrialized society was doomed. However, he was optimistic that the approaching new era would bring a rebirth of spirituality. Kandinsky thought that artists would show the way to the new spiritual realm. It was important to him that an artwork not be too easily understood; therefore his forms would not be realistic. In order to communicate his ideas to a wide audience, he painted "clues" drawn from folk art & "Gothic" Christian woodcuts. These apocalyptic images were clear in his preparatory studies; then, as he created the larger oil paintings, he obscured them.