It thus fulfills Kandinsky’s objective to create by “pictorial means, which I love above all other artistic means, pictures that as purely pictorial objects have their own independent, intense life.”įor Kandinsky, the principle in the creation of a Composition was the “expression of feelings” or “inner necessity” through purely pictorial means. The representational elements have been veiled, and, as a result, the painting’s emotional impact is expressed through arrangements of color, form, and symbol. By emphasizing color and balance, he laid the foundation for his increasingly nonrepresentational style.Ĭomposition IV (1911), one of Kandinsky’s most visually compelling canvases, also incorporates the familiar motif of the horsemen, but abstracted and reduced to pictographic signs. Kandinsky realized too great an emphasis on line rendered work ornamental and detracted from its spiritual meaning. Made within the same years, 1909–10, the final study for Composition II depicts similar subject matter however, more attention is paid to grouping and equilibrium, less to individual motifs. An early study for Composition J, a small untitled pencil sketch of a man on horseback, is clearly figurative. Together the works in the exhibition reflect the artist’s search for a formal language that would powerfully express his philosophical and spiritual concerns.Īrranged chronologically, the exhibition begins with an exploration of Composition J, which like Compositions II and III, is known only through black-and-white reproduction.
Compositions series#
The Composition series demonstrates how successfully Kandinsky manipulated color and form, thus pioneering the development of abstract painting. He firmly believed color and form possessed affective powers independent of the object. In his work, Kandinsky emphasized the process of creation and the value of pure painting, as opposed to subject matter. Petersburg and The Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, many of the works have never before been seen in this country. Drawn from collections throughout the United States and Europe, including the Hermitage Museum in St.
The first seven Compositions were painted between 19, with the remainder created between 19.
Kandinsky: Compositions presents the seven surviving Composition paintings (the first three were destroyed during World War II), along with thirty-one preliminary studies in oil, watercolor, charcoal, ink, and pencil. This exhibition traces Kandinsky’s evolution from figurative to abstract painting and focuses on his central role in the history of abstraction in twentieth-century art. The artist considered the Compositions his most important paintings and assigned the name to only ten works, executed between 19. Kandinsky: Compositions is the first exhibition to bring together the beautiful and complex Composition paintings, and their related studies, by Russian artist Vasily Kandinsky (1866–1944).
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