Wassily Kandinsky Abstract Prints

Medium: original lithograph. Printed in 1938 and published in Paris by Teriade for the art revue Verve (volume 1, number 2). Kandinsky was invited to contribute an original compositi...

Original color woodcut 5.82 x 8.57 in (14.78 x 21.77 cm) Framed 17.57 x 20.19 in #98 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original color woodcut 4.13 x 6.19 in (10.49 x 15.72 cm) Framed 13.88 x 15.94 in #95 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original color woodcut 3.44 x 3.82 in (8.74 x 9.7 cm) Framed 15.75 x 16.25 in #113 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

'Improvisation 7' second ed. woodcut from 'Klänge' is a woodcut print created by Wassily Kandinsky. The present woodcut print comes from the second edition of 'Klänge (Sounds),' a book of original graphics and poetry by Wassily Kandinsky. The title of the album and of this print, 'Improvisation,' demonstrated Kandinsky's interest in music and how abstract musical forms could be translated into images on a two-dimensional surface. This particular composition is difficult to read, but through the abstraction, one can make out various figures and a landscape beyond. Originally carved and printed in 1911, this second edition print was done ca. 1938. It is a woodcut in black ink on woven paper. Signed with encircled 'K' in the block, lower right (from the book, signed in ink, ed. 117/300) Image Size: 7 1/2" x 5 inches Frame Size: 22 1/4" x 18 3/4" Ref. Roethel 124 Artist Bio: The Museum of Modern Art described 'Klänge (Sounds)' as follows: Vasily Kandinsky's self-described "musical album," Klänge (Sounds), consists of thirty-eight prose-poems he wrote between 1909 and 1911 and fifty-six woodcuts he began in 1907. In the woodcuts Kandinsky veiled his subject matter, creating increasingly indecipherable images (though the horse and rider, his symbol for overcoming objective representation, runs through as a leitmotif). This process proved crucial for the development of abstraction in his art. Kandinsky said his choice of media sprang from an "inner necessity" for expression: the woodcuts were not merely illustrative, nor were the poems purely verbal descriptions. Kandinsky sought a synthesis of the arts, in which meaning was created through the interaction of, and space between, text and image, sound and meaning, mark and blank space. The experimental typography shows his interest in the physical aspects of the book. Klänge is one of three major publications by Kandinsky that appeared shortly before World War I, alongside Über die Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art) and the Blaue Reiter almanac...

Original color woodcut 8.63 x 8.75 in (21.92 x 22.22 cm) Framed 20.5 x 20.57 in #107 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original color woodcut 4.94 x 7.5 in (12.55 x 19.05 cm) Framed 18.44 x 21 in #106 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Etching 1916 Number II, drypoint, signed in pencil lower right, titled, numbered (No. 9) and dated lower left [also with initials and date in the plate lower right]. Reference: Roethel 154, only state, edition of 10. In excellent condition (the barest handling fold at sheet edge), printed on a heavy ivory wove paper, the full sheet with full margins, 4 7/8 x 3 1/4, the sheet 17 1/2 x 13 inches, archival mount with window mat. A fine fresh impression of this great rarity, printed in a dark brown ink. Kandinsky created this drypoint (erroneously named Etching 1916) in early 1916 while staying with Gabriel Munter in Stockholm during the winter of 1915-16. This is from the second series of drypoints he made; the first was in the year 1913-14. Provenance: Kornfeld Auction, Bern, June 2007. The tiny size of this edition (10) makes this print a great rarity within the Kandinsky’s printed...

Original color woodcut 8.63 x 8.69 in (21.92 x 22.07 cm) Framed 20.25 x 20.38 in #115 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

The present woodcut print comes from 'Klänge (Sounds),' a book of original graphics and poetry by Wassily Kandinsky. This first edition was released in an edition of 300, each book signed and numbered by the artist. The title of the album and this particular print, 'Improvisation,' demonstrated Kandinsky's interest in music and how abstract musical forms could be translated into images on a two-dimensional surface. This particular composition is difficult to read, but through the abstraction, one can make out various figures and a landscape beyond. 7.5 x 5 inches, image 22 x 19.5 inches, frame Woodcut in black ink on laid paper (watermark Van Gelder Zonen) Signed with encircled 'K' in the block, lower right Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent acid free archival materials including silk-lined matting with 1/4 inch bevel, museum glass, and a gold-gilded moulding Ref. Roethel 124 The Museum of Modern Art described 'Klänge (Sounds)' as follows: Vasily Kandinsky's self-described "musical album," Klänge (Sounds), consists of thirty-eight prose-poems he wrote between 1909 and 1911 and fifty-six woodcuts he began in 1907. In the woodcuts Kandinsky veiled his subject matter, creating increasingly indecipherable images (though the horse and rider, his symbol for overcoming objective representation, runs through as a leitmotif). This process proved crucial for the development of abstraction in his art. Kandinsky said his choice of media sprang from an "inner necessity" for expression: the woodcuts were not merely illustrative, nor were the poems purely verbal descriptions. Kandinsky sought a synthesis of the arts, in which meaning was created through the interaction of, and space between, text and image, sound and meaning, mark and blank space. The experimental typography shows his interest in the physical aspects of the book. Klänge is one of three major publications by Kandinsky that appeared shortly before World War I, alongside Über die Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art) and the Blaue Reiter almanac...

Composition Woodcut, c. 1935, printed 1966 Signed in the block lower left (see photo) This is the first printing of this image. Created in 1935, it was never printed during Kandinsky's lifetime. It is a POSTHUMOUS printing. Published by Gualtieri di San Lazzaro, Éditions XXe Siècle, Paris Issued in XXe Siècle, nouvelle série, no. 27, December 1966, Centenaire de Kandinsky Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued Edition commonly reported as approximately 2,000 Condition: Excellent Image size: 9 1/8 x 10 15/16 inches Reference: Roethel 24b Created in 1935 but apparently left unprinted during Kandinsky’s lifetime, Composition was first issued posthumously in December 1966 in the Kandinsky centenary number of the Parisian art review XXe Siècle. The woodcut was printed from Kandinsky’s original block rather than reproduced photographically. It is therefore properly described as an original, posthumously printed woodcut—not as a reproductive print “after” Kandinsky. Contemporary documentation identifies the composition as having been cut by the artist in 1935 and first published by Éditions XXe Siècle in 1966. Publication details and dimensions The print belongs to Kandinsky’s final period, begun after the closing of the Bauhaus and his move from Germany to Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, in 1933. Its vocabulary differs markedly from the romantic landscapes, horsemen and apocalyptic subjects of his early Munich woodcuts. The forms are now self-contained and biomorphic: circles, hooks, floating linear elements and irregular organic silhouettes coexist within an open field. Although nonrepresentational, they suggest minute organisms, astronomical bodies or signs belonging to an invented visual language. The black-and-white medium gives the image unusual clarity. Solid forms function like sustained musical tones, while thin lines, dots and isolated marks provide accents and intervals. Areas of untouched paper are equally active, allowing the components to float without conventional gravity or horizon. Kandinsky organizes these elements through visual tension rather than perspective: large and small, dense and open, curved and angular forms establish a rhythmic equilibrium across the sheet. The woodcut process was fundamental to Kandinsky’s development. Its demand for simplification encouraged him to reduce images to essential contrasts of shape, line and ground. Nearly two-thirds of his approximately two hundred prints were made between 1900 and 1911, and his increasingly abstract woodcuts for Klänge played a decisive role in his movement away from representation. MoMA’s Kandinsky printmaking overview In this late composition, Kandinsky returned to the medium with the more refined geometry and organic imagery of his Paris years. The circumstances of the 1966 publication are integral to the work’s history. XXe Siècle, directed by the Italian-born critic and publisher Gualtieri di San Lazzaro, regularly included original prints by major modern artists. Issue no. 27, entitled Centenaire de Kandinsky, commemorated the hundredth anniversary of Kandinsky’s birth. It contained two original Kandinsky woodcuts...

This colorful modern lithographic poster by Wassily Kandinsky was printed in 1972 at the Atelier Mourlot in Paris to promote an exhibition of his watercolors and drawings at the Gale...

Plate 12 From: 10 Origi, 1942 Signed in the block with the artist's initials lower left (printed) From: 10 Origin Not from the First edition 100, published by Allianz-Verlag, Zurich,...

This original drypoint is hand signed in pencil by the artist “Kandinsky” at the lower right margin. It is also monogrammed and dated in the plate “VK 22” at the lower left image. It...

Original color woodcut 4.63 x 7 in (11.76 x 17.78 cm) Framed 16.5 x 18.82 in #122 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel This print is a whimsical...

Original woodcut 7.5 x 4.88 in (19.05 x 12.4 cm) Framed 19.32 x 16.69 in #124 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

"Jusqu'a L'Abstraction" is a lithograph poster by Wassily Kandinsky. This poster depicts abstract forms in purple, pink, blue, and black and was created for the Maeght gallery in Par...

Original color woodcut 8.63 x 8.63 in (21.92 x 21.92 cm) Framed 20.5 x 20.5 in #131 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original color woodcut 3.88 x 3.75 in (9.86 x 9.52 cm) Framed 15.75 x 15.69 in #134 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original woodcut 4.5 x 5.5 in (11.43 x 13.97 cm) Framed 16.38 x 17.38 in #101 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original woodcut 6.38 x 8.25 in (16.21 x 20.96 cm) Framed 18.32 x 20.44 in #111 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original woodcut 8.5 x 8.82 in (21.59 x 22.4 cm) Framed 20.38 x 20.57 in #105 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original color woodcut 3.88 x 3.88 in (9.86 x 9.86 cm) Framed 15.75 x 15.75 in #126 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original woodcut 5.88 x 8.25 in (14.94 x 20.96 cm) Framed 15.5 x 17.88 in #97 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Vassily KANDINSKY Woodcut print Second edition for 'XXe Siecle' the first edition was done in 1938 Printed signature (monogram) in the plate On vellum 31 x 24 cm (c. 12.5 x 10 inc...

Original color woodcut 3.5 x 4.63 in (8.89 x 11.76 cm) Framed 19.13 x 20.25 in #100 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original woodcut 5.75 x 7 in (14.6 x 17.78 cm) Framed 17.63 x 18.88 in #117 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original woodcut 5.88 x 7.25 in (14.94 x 18.42 cm) Framed 17.75 x 19.38 in #127 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original woodcut 5.5 x 4.5 in (13.97 x 11.43 cm) Framed 17.32 x 16.44 in #128 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original woodcut 6.63 x 8.5 in (16.84 x 21.59 cm) Framed 18.5 x 20.38 in #145 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

Original woodcut 6 x 8.25 in (15.24 x 20.96 cm) Framed 18.25 x 20.25 in #146 in the catalogue Raisonné of Kandinsky's Graphic Works by Hans K. Roethel

"Nuits de la Fondation Maeght" is a poster with an abstract composition by Wassily Kandinsky. This composition is from his 1922 mural plans for the Juryfreie e...