Additional information
| Artist | Kandinsky |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Russian |
| Category | German Expressionist, European |
ArtistKandinsky, Wassily
Artist Years1866-1944
Artist NationalityRussian
TitleZwei Reiter vor Rot
(Two Riders with Red Background)
Year1911
MediumPrint > Woodcut/Block Print
DimensionsImage: 4.1 X 6.2 inches
Sheet: 12.4 X 9.3 inches
Catalog ReferenceRoethel 95; Rifkind 1368-1
Description
Four-color woodcut, Plate from the suite for Klange of 1913, not signed, printed on fine-grained cream wove paper. Published in the album XXe Siecle, No. 5/6, San Lazzaro, Ed., Paris, 1938. Edition 1200.
Accession Number377128
NotesThe edition of this print was between 1000 and 1200 impressions, half of which were intended to be sold in Europe and half in the USA. The USA issue was prevented by the outbreak of the war and a large percentage of the whole edition was lost during the war. There are no signed and numbered impressions and no restrikes. This is the only color woodcut Kandinsky made in the later period of his life. This is the only printing of this important late woodcut.
Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) holds a vital place in the history of modern art as a founder member of the groundbreaking Blue Rider group (der Blaue Reiter) and the progenitor of pure abstraction in painting.
Kandinsky first began to create woodcuts in 1902 during his involvement with the Munich-based arts association Phalanx. The woodcut technique played a particularly key role in his artistic development throughout the next decade as the flattened perspective and simplification of form inherent to the medium proved essential to Kandinsky’s evolution towards abstraction.
Between 1911 and 1912, Kandinsky created six woodcuts for Klänge (Sounds) Kandinsky’s seminal musical album of woodcuts and poetry published in 1913. Seen as a group these six works clearly reveal Kandinsky’s progression away from representation and towards expressive abstraction with a focus on balance of form and color.
Later in life Kandinsky believed that his early woodcuts held a deep importance for a true understanding of his work and deserved to be better known. Thus he decided to produce a second edition of six of his finest woodcuts from the earlier Blaue Reiter period. These were printed in Paris in 1938 under Kandinsky’s supervision and issued with the prestigious French art review XXe Siècle.
(source: wikipedia.org)