Kandinsky's Abstraction

Vasily Kandinsky experienced a multitude of contrasting art movements throughout his life and as the different art movements developed, so did Kandinsky’s style. He evolved from an Expressionist style into Bauhaus and then stretched towards Biomorphic Abstraction. By incorporating aspects from these separate movements, focusing on nonrepresentational forms, and relying on spiritual inspiration, Kandinsky managed to create some of the first examples of completely abstract compositions.

Kandinsky became an artist after he went to college, became a lawyer, and later a professor. Early on in his career, Kandinsky painted objective compositions portraying popular subjects of German Expressionism like landscapes and portraits while using a bright color palette with very gestural strokes.¹ He continued exploring objective painting but as his career progressed, his paintings became less representational. By the early 1900s, Kandinsky’s paintings started to incorporate simpler forms and greater color contrast to represent forms instead of definitive lines. Although works like Gabriele Munter are clearly objective, in the same year, 1905, he would be experimenting with simpler forms in his painting Murnau am Staffelsee. As Kandinsky progressed, he deconstructed the different subjects in his paintings and would meld them into abstracted and gestural objects.² He continued to push these boundaries and in 1910 he would create a painting titled, Non-Objective, which is one of the first completely abstract works from Kandinsky. Clearly this work is a precursor for something greater because it is extremely gestural and is focused more on blocking out certain color forms and line work. At this time the Futurists and Cubists were just beginning and this definitely had a clear influence on Kandinsky’s work with his move towards abstraction.

In 1913, Kandinsky created Composition VI and Composition VII; which were viewed as revolutionary by his contemporaries. The two paintings exemplify his early abstraction techniques with bold, contrasting colors creating simulated forms along with gestural lines included throughout. Kandinsky believed that nonrepresentational art could be the only way to properly convey the spiritual. He includes forms that are similar to Russian Symbolism and this is characteristic of his work with early Constructivist artists.³ This is represented in Composition VI and VII with the straight lines forming geometric patterns in different sections of the artworks. These works were influenced by his interest in spirituality and how it affects an artist’s creation process. Composition VI deals with the Great Flood from the Bible and Composition VII is more diverse by associating with the Resurrection, the Last Judgement, the Great Flood, and the Garden of Love.⁴ These paintings were intentionally representing these themes in an underlying manner to make the viewer more engaged in the artwork. He achieved these deconstructed representations through multiple study paintings that provided abstraction practice. Kandinsky wanted his paintings to seem like the forms within had no external relationship to each other but instead have an internal relationship that is not immediately discernible by the viewer.⁵ This would lead viewers to contemplate on his piece even more and lead them to have a more interactive experience with the piece.

Kandinsky’s political and social views greatly influenced the subject matter in his paintings just as much as spirituality. In Kandinsky’s Der Blaue Reiter almanac, he explained that contemporary art may be classified as anarchistic because it is completely breaking away from tradition and has started to embody spiritual elements. Kandinsky criticized scientists for being unwilling to explore spirituality and believed that, along with materialists, they were the cause of anxiety, insecurity, and confusion of modern society.⁶ He felt that his paintings would incite societal contemplation in its viewers which would allow them to understand his artworks with a new meaning. For instance, in Composition VII, Kandinsky represents the chaotic scenes of the Last Judgement and the Great flood through abstracted forms and contrasts them with representations of two figures symbolizing the Garden of Love. He believed that destruction and chaos would lead to the hope for renewal and spiritual enlightenment.⁷ This draws further understanding to why Kandinsky related to anarchist theories in many of his philosophical writings. However, Kandinsky understood that the world could not embrace certain ideals fully which is why he did not participate in the many anarchist acts that were occurring around him. A social event that greatly affected Kandinsky’s work was the Bolshevik Revolution that occurred in Moscow shortly after he had returned there from Germany.⁸ During this time, German shops, banks, and factories were looted by infuriated Russians who were coaxed by the famine being caused by their government. Kandinsky had to witness the destruction and the chaos of these events and he expresses his spiritual repercussions from these events in his hectic compositions.

Kandinsky went through a long process of deconstructing different subject matter into simpler forms before he created nonrepresentational artwork. This process is extremely visible between the years 1908 and 1913 which led to the creation of Composition VII. This period is when Kandinsky really started to rely solely on color to describe the forms in his artworks. In the painting A Mountain, there is a clear abstraction of the figures with bold and carefree strokes providing the form. In the work Glass Painting with the Sun, Kandinsky represents two castles that are in the hills with obscured figures throughout the composition. This shows how quickly Kandinsky had been deconstructing different elements of his paintings and representing them in a more abstracted manner in later paintings. These castles reappear in Composition VI but they are much more abstracted.⁹ By using reoccurring imagery in his paintings, Kandinsky is able to represent them in an increasingly abstract manner which provides for even more exploration in the deconstruction of imagery. Other imagery that Kandinsky would incorporate in multiple paintings is the domed cities on hills but since Kandinsky had been producing paintings in quick succession it is understandable that there is repeating imagery in some of his compositions.¹⁰ It definitely increased the speed of his deconstruction process because he consistently used similar imagery which provided for greater experimentation.

Many different art movements influenced Kandinsky’s work and he evolved and incorporated aspects from each to create his unique paintings. In Composition VI, there is clear gradation on some of the forms and this had been a characteristic of the Futurists in Italy. The bright color forms throughout the painting provides further association with a Futurist aesthetic. In Kandinsky’s Kleine Welten series, there are clear influences of Russian Suprematism along with some aspects of the Bauhaus movement. This is because he was commissioned to make this series before he left Moscow to teach at Bauhaus. For this series, Kandinsky wanted to design a utopian Moscow with his abstraction techniques. He devised multiple preliminary sketches that allowed him to fully deconstruct the different buildings he was trying to represent.¹¹ In Kliene Welten 1, there are geometric forms placed in proximity to provide contrast against the more organic shapes in the composition. Although other pieces in the Kleine Welten series are more representational, this piece is very nonobjective. Another artwork that illustrates the combination of Bauhaus and Russian Suprematism is Composition VIII. This painting is extremely geometric and contains more actual shapes instead of abstracted forms like his other artworks. Composition VIII is very reminiscent of El Lissitsky Proun 19D. These works are both very geometric and include contrasting rectilinear forms that create balance in the work. Both paintings also include a large circle that draws in the emphasis of the viewer. This further expresses the influence that Russian Suprematist artists had on Kandinsky during his short return to Moscow. Even though he didn’t stay in Moscow long during his return, he adapted certain aesthetics from the different movements into his artworks. It seems heavily influenced by the work of Piet Mondrian because of the geometric color theory occurring in different parts of the work.¹² This piece contains more abstracted lines than abstracted shapes and it makes the composition seem cleaner and more direct. This is due to Kandinsky being exposed to Constructivism and Suprematism which led to his compositions to become more geometric and less chaotic compared to his earlier paintings. There is also more repetition throughout the painting and it provides for more unity and balance with a sense of controlled chaos.

There is also clear influence of Cubism in some of Kandinsky’s artworks. In Compensation rose, he creates a very rectilinear composition that is made up of contrasting color blocks. This work is definitely more deconstructed and more balanced compared to traditional Cubist works but it still shares some characteristics with the movement. In artworks like this, Kandinsky was trying to achieve pure painting in the sense that a viewer’s response is unencumbered by the narrative of a painting.¹³ This would lead to a more direct response to his artworks and allowed him to further his nonrepresentational art by not having to worry about the story of his painting. Kandinsky’s work also had great influence on his contemporaries and this allowed them to exchange ideas about certain aspects of painting. While Kandinsky resided in Moscow and worked on his Kleine Welten series he encountered popular Constructivists artists like Gustav Klustis. His work dealt mainly with propaganda and design, however, Klustis’ works resemble some of the rectilinear forms in Kandinsky’s Kliene Welten 1 but he retains depth and form by adding in three dimensional attributes.¹⁴ These instances further the evolution of Kandinsky’s style from extremely chaotic compositions into geometric and more orderly artworks. Aside from the painting influence, Utopian ideals had an exceptional affect on Kandinsky’s creation of the Kleine Welten series. He wanted to use art to break down the borders between countries and create what he called “The Great Utopia,” where everyone would work collectively instead of separately.¹⁵ He wanted artists to be able to create whatever artworks they wanted without having to live in fear of persecution by their governments. Kandinsky wanted to create an international house of arts that would address the possibilities of monumental art and contribute to this Utopian society. When Kandinsky moved back to Germany to teach at Bauhaus, after he finished his Kliene Welten series, he shared his Utopian ideals with the other instructors along with Walter Gropius. Gropius shared Kandinsky’s ideals about creating a house of arts but instead, he wanted it to be outside of the larger cities which is why he picked Weimar for the location of Bauhaus.¹⁶ Kandinsky believed in a world without national boundaries and he thought that even though it may not be achievable in the present, he anticipated a future with such characteristics. As Kandinsky stated, “What yesterday appeared a utopia, today becomes reality.”¹⁷ This is evident in Kandinsky’s artwork because it had been extremely revolutionary in breaking into nonrepresentational art that some artists were pushing towards but had not fully realized complete abstraction.

There is also clear influence from the Surrealist movement on Kandinsky’s work and this is evident in his painting Composition X. This painting seems to be more festive than his previous paintings with its lighter color palette and forms that resemble confetti or other items associated with festivities. This painting looks like it is greatly influenced by Joan Miro’s Carnival of Harlequin. This is evident in the abstracted serpentine forms that fill up Kandinsky’s composition and provides movement throughout the work. There is also singular circles that are placed in random spots in both compositions that tends to breakup the other abstracted figures. In both paintings there are also suggested figures that are almost completely abstracted in Kandinsky’s work. Since Kandinsky relied so heavily on the spiritual when he created his artworks it is clear that Surrealism would have an influence on his later artworks.

Vassily Kandinsky is considered one of the most influential modern artists because of his contribution to so many separate movements and by creating some of the first examples of nonrepresentational artwork. Through his syncretization of different artistic movements like Expressionism, Futurism, Suprematism, Bauhaus, and Surrealism; Kandinsky is able to construct unique compositions with much deeper spiritual and political meaning than most viewers can ascertain. He developed his own style throughout his life and this is what led to his success among his contemporaries.

Endnotes

¹Daniel Robbins. “Vasily Kandinsky: Abstraction and Image.” 145.
²Ibid., 145.
³Magdalena Dabrowski. “Kandinsky Compositions: The Music of the Spheres.” 12.
⁴Ibid., 13.
⁵Rose-Carol Washton Long. “Occultism, Anarchism, and Abstraction.” 43.
⁶Rose-Carol Washton Long. “Occultism, Anarchism, and Abstraction.” 39-40.
⁷Magdalena Dabrowski. “Kandinsky Compositions: The Music of the Spheres.” 13.
⁸Karen Koehler. “Kandinsky’s “Kleine Welten” and Utopian City Plans.” 433.
⁹Daniel Robbins. “Vasily Kandinsky: Abstraction and Image.” 147.
¹⁰Ibid., 147.
¹¹Karen Koehler. “Kandinsky’s “Kleine Welten” and Utopian City Plans.” 434.
¹²Magdalena Dabrowski. “Kandinsky Compositions: The Music of the Spheres.” 13.
¹³Magdalena Dabrowski. “Kandinsky Compositions: The Music of the Spheres.” 13.
¹⁴Karen Koehler. “Kandinsky’s “Kleine Welten” and Utopian City Plans.” 441.
¹⁵Ibid., 442.
¹⁶Karen Koehler. “Kandinsky’s “Kleine Welten” and Utopian City Plans.” 444.
¹⁷Ibid., 445.

Bibliography

Dabrowski, Magdalena. 1994. “Kandinsky Compositions: The Music of the Spheres.” MoMA, No. 19, 10-13. Accessed June 18,2014. http://0-www.jstor.org.skyline.ucdenver.edu/ stable/4381285

Koehler, Karen. 1998. “Kandinsky's "Kleine Welten" and Utopian City Plans.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 57, No. 4, 432-447. Accessed June 18, 2014. doi: 10.2307/991460

Long, Rose-Carol Washton. 1987. “Occultism, Anarchism, and Abstraction: Kandinsky’s Art of the Future.” Art Journal, Vol. 46, No. 1, 38-45. Accessed June 18, 2014. doi: 10.2307/776841.

Robbins, Daniel. 1963. “Vasily Kandinsky: Abstraction and Image.” Art Journal, Vol. 22, No. 3, 145-147. Accessed June 18, 2014. doi: 10.2307/774438.

Artworks Discussed

Vassily Kandinsky, Gabriele Munter, 1905 Vassily Kandinsky, Murnau am Staffelsee, 1905
Vassily Kandinsky, A Mountain, 1909
Vassily Kandinsky, Non-Objective, 1909
Vassily Kandinsky, Glass Painting With the Sun (Small Pleasures), 1910
Vassily Kandinsky, Composition VI, 1913
Vassily Kandinsky, Composition VII, 1913
El Lissitsky, Proun 19D, 1922
Vassily Kandinsky, Kliene Welten 1 (Small Worlds 1), 1922
Vassily Kandinsky, Composition VIII, 1923
Vassily Kandinsky, Compensation Rose, 1933
Vassily Kandinsky, Composition X, 1939
Joan Miro, Carnival of Harlequin, 1924