Week Six - Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandisnky c. 1913

Through our reading on Modern Art and its influences this week we were introduced to many new art movements and artists – the beginning of the twentieth century was both an exciting and tumultuous time for art and graphic design.  One common thread found in the majority of these art movements was a desire to leave traditional work behind and focus on advancing art to new levels, frequently with the desire to promote utopian ideas.  Cubism, Da Da, Art Deco and Surrealism were just a few of the art movements we studied, and we learned about the contributions of major artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Man Ray.

One artist whose name came up several times in our reading was Wassily Kandinsky. I admit that prior to our reading and the research I did for this journal entry, I had heard his name but I couldn’t have told you what he was known for, what his influences and ideas were and what some his most popular pieces were. I thought I would use this week's journal entry to focus on him, his art theories and why his work is so visually appealing to me as a graphic design student and photographer.

Landscape with Rolling Hills, Kandinsky, 1910

Kandinsky was a Russian born artist who was quite influential as both a painter and as an art theorist. Kandinsky is well known for creating the first purely abstract work and is considered by many to be the founder of abstract art. His works were a creation of his intense philosophical beliefs, based on his own personal experiences with art. He carried a devotion to inner beauty and passion of spirit – both were a central aspect of his art that he remained true to throughout his life. His art theories included ideas such as artists being prophets (he had some compositions that focused on the apocalypse), and that artists were creating paintings and pieces that were part of an upward moving pyramid – that the tip of that pyramid points into the future, and that what is strange, relatively unknown or avante garde today will be common and popular concepts tomorrow. He also felt that artists were responsible for making these discoveries and presenting them as part of a future reality. 

Squares with Concentric Circles, Kandinsky, 1913

An internet search on Kandinsky will also bring up recent sales of his work  - his 1909 painting Studie für Improvisation 8 was sold last year by Christies for a very impressive $23 million dollars, and in 1990 Sotheby’s sold his painting titled Fugue for $20.9 million dollars. His work rarely featured human figures but his paintings were usually quite colorful, and sometimes he mixed sand in the paint to add texture and a rustic quality. He spent a great deal of time on the concept of inner necessity, which to him was a standard of art, the foundation of which was the basis of forms and the harmony of colors.

Composition VII, Kandinsky 1913

Part of the reason I chose to research Kandinsky and write this journal post about him, is that I initially thought of him as an interesting artist due to the vivid colors and interesting forms in his paintings. As you can see from the three images I used as examples above, Kandinsky's work is quite varied, but to me the common element that they all share is their strong use of color and form. 

While I respected him as an artist and found his work interesting, I initially didn't see how an artist, a painter in fact, from a century ago would have any bearing on my future graphic design work. However, as a photographer and now as a graphic design student I am drawn to color and strong shapes. I like looking at art with these elements and I find color inspiring. I also like creating art and images that are vibrant and interesting to the eye, not necessarily because of their subject per se, but because of the emphasis of shape and color. I find images that contain those elements to be more thought provoking and appealing. Kandinsky's work is more than visually appealing to me now - it is mesmerizing and inspirational. 

Through researching Kandinsky, I also have come to understand some (admittedly not all) of his art theories and I like the ideas he presented. While I have not yet been tasked to create my own graphic designs, I suspect that color will be heavily emphasized in my creations as well, and would be proud to think of the influence that Wassily Kandinsky has on my work in the future. 

Sources:
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artwork/1852 - Landscape with Rolling Hills image
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky - Biography, portrait image and Composition VII image
http://artmastered.tumblr.com/post/12975116212/squares-with-concentric-circles-by-wassily - Squares with Concentric Circles Image
http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/ - Biographical information
http://www.wassily-kandinsky.org/ - Biographical information