Wassily Kandinsky: The Color of Abstraction
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
September 1 - December 31, 1999
The threshold of a new millennium invites reflection. For the Israel Museum, this means gathering influential works by one of the century's most important artists for a retrospective survey of one of the great movements of early modern art. "Wassily Kandinsky: The Color of Abstraction," at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, offers visitors a first focused presentation in Israel of the master of abstract art, tracing the revolutionary course he charted at the start of the twentieth century art. Selected from key collections around the world - including the Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, and the Lenbachhaus, Munich - this survey includes key works in Kandinsky's oeuvre, among them Composition VII, 1913, considered the most ambitious and perhaps most important work by the artist.
The exhibition also includes an introductory installation of proto-modernist paintings, on loan and from the Museum's own collection, of artists in Kandinsky's circle, including Alexei von Jawlensky (1864-1941); Heinrich Campendonk (1889-1962); Mikhail Larionov (1881-1964); and Gabriele Monter (1877-1962), Wassily Kandinsky's longtime companion.
Born in Moscow to a prosperous, educated family, Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was drawn to the notion of abstraction and to the connection between the experiences of color and sound as a young adult. Inspired by both Monet and Wagner, Kandinsky went to study art in Munich, then one of Europe's foremost cultural centers, and achieved early prominence in the city's artistic life. In 1906-7, living in France, Kandinsky came under the influence of the Fauve painters, and began to paint in a freer style, with colors and forms which displayed an increasingly remote connection with the representation of real objects.
Early in 1910, a chance encounter with one of his own works lying on its side in his studio became the turning point for Kandinsky. Urged on by a new belief that the identification of subjects actually presented obstacles to a truly uplifting artistic experience, he began to draw freely, swiftly-executed contours and patches of color to create a network of images only vaguely connected to the real world. With this step, he had embarked on a voyage that would make him a pioneer of abstraction in modern art and one of the most important painters of all time.
As Kandinsky went on to develop a mature abstract style - as founder of the important Blue Rider group in Germany, in his homeland from World War I until after the Russian Revolution, and as a teacher at the Bauhaus School in Weimar from 1921-1933 - he never entirely banished representation from his paintings. Hints of realistic figures, Russian and other folk images, and particularly religious symbols remained, even as Kandinsky added geometric motifs and organic-biomorphic shapes to his paintings later in his career. Kandinsky also remained an outspoken proponent of the messianic belief that art could bring about spiritual transformation; seeing himself as a prophet, he strove to create an art that, rather than describing nature, would elevate people to a spiritual plane detached from reality.
Composition VII, 1913, on loan from the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and rarely seen outside of Russia, is regarded as a perfect distillation of Kandinsky's artistic vision and perhaps the most artistic achievement of his career. Achieving a level of abstraction not seen in his earlier paintings, Composition VII presents suggestions of apocalyptic imagery through a tapestry of colors and forms. Preparatory studies for the painting make it possible to identify some of his hidden motifs, among them yellow trumpets, signaling the apocalyptic call.
James Snyder, Director of the Israel Museum, states, "Following our presentation of 'The Joy of Color' one year ago, in which the work of Wassily Kandinsky held a central place, we are pleased to have this opportunity to show for the first time in Israel a focused presentation of this most influential master of early 20th century painting. A survey of Kandinsky's work offers a beautiful and important lesson in the history and origins of abstract art."
"Wassily Kandinsky: The Color of Abstraction" is curated by Yigal Zalmona, Chief Curator-at-large at the Israel Museum.
A color catalogue in Hebrew with a summarized text in English is available.
ISRAEL MUSEUM, JERUSALEM
