Volume Two

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was a Russian painter credited as being among the first to truly venture into abstract art. He persisted in expressing his internal world of abstraction despite negative criticism from his peers. He veered away from painting that could be viewed as representational in order to express his emotions, leading to his unique use of colour and form. Although his works received heavy censure at the time, in later years they would become greatly influential.

Kandinsky's theory of art has usually been treated as little more than a guide to help our understanding of his paintings. In contrast, this book attends primarily to the artist's writings on art; thus his art theory is treated on its own terms. Drawing on the diverse literature that has been written on Kandinsky's art and theory, the author demonstrates that while many different perspectives on his work have been identified, none holds the 'key' to that work. Instead, the book shows Kandinsky's method in his writings to be highly eclectic, resulting in an exciting and challenging variety of content (a description that also applies, as a postscript to the book shows, to his method in painting). Kandinsky, however, transcended this diversity and consistently sought evidence of the unity of all things: something that would be realised through his understanding of the term 'synthesis'. The book follows Kandinsky's fascinating attempts to establish synthesis (not only in art but also in other disciplines including science, mathematics, law and politics) in his key theoretical publications: On the Spiritual in Art (1911) and Point and Line to Plane (1926). The result is a new and innovative understanding of both Kandinsky's art theory and his art.

Volume One

In the first of two volumes Kandinsky's temperas, gouaches and watercolours from the Munich years and the Russian period are definitively catalogued and discussed in chronological order (including those known only from documentary evidence). Many previously unknown pictures are published for the first time. The artist's earlier works, his bold abstractations from 1911 to 1914, and his little-known watercolours painted in Russia from 1915 to 1921 are fully documented and illustrated. Vivian Barnett also provides complete provenance, exhibition history and reference for more than 500 watercolours and gouaches, plus an addendum to the Catalogue of Oil Paintings (1982, 1984). The original essays, complete list of exhibitions, selective biography and extensive colour illustrations make this volume essential for collectors and scholars.

More than 100 masterworks from the collection, all in full color, each with a text about the artist and drawing as well as full documentation. 105 colour illustrations