Vasily Kandinsky

(Russia 1866–1944)

Title

Study for 'Painting with white border'

Other titles:

(Study for 'Painting with white border') Variation III

Alternative title:

Etude pour 'Peinture au bord blanc' Entwurf zu 'Bild mit weissem rand'

Year

1913

Media category

Watercolour

Materials used

watercolour, gouache, ink

Dimensions

39.0 x 35.0cm image; 57.0 x 52.0 x 3.5cm frame

Signature & date

Signed l.r., watercolour "K" [in a triangle monogram]. Not dated.

Credit

Purchased 1982

Accession number

147.1982

Copyright

Location

Not on display

Further information

Vasily Kandinsky's artistic personality had been formed in part by the examples of peasant painting he collected as a prosperous solicitor. When he later made his leap to full-time creative practice, he sustained his interest in the decorative principles of Russian and other folk art traditions. This watercolour study for one of Kandinsky's breakthrough abstractions of the pre-war period contains residual representations of a horse and rider: the primitive St George familiar from his earlier work. The background is a landscape complete with rustic village. Yet to read the image literally robs it of its power of association. Kandinsky's intention is to loosen reality from recognisability, to set it adrift. The new vista he unveils is in the realm of the spiritual and the resulting work of art is authentically abstract. With his fascination for theosophical and mediumistic beliefs, and his idealistic faith in the improving potential of painting, Kandinsky was as much a priest of art as a painter.

Art Gallery Handbook, 1999.

Provenance (7)

Sotheby's London (England), 30 Mar 1982, London/England, Purchased by the AGNSW from Sotheby's London, 30 March 1982 "Highly important 20th century paintings", lot no. 7.

Markus B. Mizne (b.1908, d.1994), 02 Jan 1959-30 Mar 1982, Paris/France, Purchased by Mr and Mrs Mizne from Sidney Janis Gallery, 2 Jan 1959. Information from Sidney Janis Gallery 30 Mar 1983. Painting included in Sotheby's, London 'Important Impressionist and Modern Drawings and Watercolours' 3/12/1980, Lot 141a [not sold]

Sidney Janis Gallery (United States of America), Aug 1958-02 Jan 1959, New York/New York/United States of America, Acquired by Sidney Janis Gallery from E.J. Wisselingh & Co. summer 1958. Information from Sidney Janis Gallery 30 Mar 1983.

E.J. Van Wisselingh & Co. (Netherlands), pre Aug 1958, Amsterdam/Netherlands

J.J.M. Schijvens (Netherlands), circa 1947, Zeist/Netherlands, Information from 'Kandinsky Watercolours, Catalogue Raisonne, Vol. 1, 1900-1921' by Vivian Endicott Barnett, 1992 p.303.

J. van Assendelft-Hoos (Netherlands), circa 1931, Gouda/Netherlands, Information from 'Kandinsky Watercolours, Catalogue Raisonne, Vol. 1, 1900-1921' by Vivian Endicott Barnett, 1992 p.303.

H. van Assendelft (Netherlands, b.1875, d.1928), 1913, Gouda/Netherlands

Bibliography (20)

Terence Maloon (Australia) (Author), Paths to Abstraction 1867-1917, Sydney, 2010, 200 (colour illus.).

Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 88 (colour illus.).

Renée Free (Australia) (Author), Modernism 1900-1950 - Prints and Drawings from the Collection, Sydney, 1994. no catalogue numbers

Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, Sydney, 1994, 148 (colour illus.).

Vivian Endicott Barnett (United States of America) (Author), Kandinsky Watercolours: Catalogue Raisonne, Volume One, 1900-1921, London, 1992, 302 (illus.) 303. cat.no. 338

Vivian Endicott Barnett (United States of America) (Author), Armin Zweite (Germany) (Author), Kandinsky: Watercolours and Drawings, Unknown, 1992, (colour illus.). cat.no. 23

Armin Zweite (Germany) (Author), Vivian Endicott Barnett (United States of America) (Author), Kandinsky: Kleine Freuden Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Germany, 1992, (colour illus.). cat.no. 23

Annabel Davie (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook, Domain, 1988, 51.

Felix Thürlemann (Author), Kandinsky über Kandinsky, Bern, 1986, 191-192 (illus.). cat.no. 30c

Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874) (Author), Five years on: a selection of acquisitions 1981-1986, Sydney, 1986, (illus.). cat.no. 137

Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Editor), Jan Meek (Australia) (Editor), Portrait of a Gallery, Sydney, 1984, 95 (colour illus.).

Kandinsky, catalogue raisonné of the oil-paintings, Volume One 1900-1915 1982-1984, 1982-1984, 462. mentioned in association with cat.no. 465 'Painting with white border'

'European Acquisitions: 1972-83' by Renee Free pg. 63-67, Art and Australia (Vol. 22, No. 1) Spring 1984, Spring 1984, cover (colour illus.), 66.

Vivian Endicott Barnett (United States of America) (Author), Kandinsky at the Guggenheim, New York, 1983, 105 (illus.). cat.no. 39. fig. C, mentioned in association with the Guggenheim's painting 'Painting with white border'

Gazette des beaux arts Mar 1983, Mar 1983.

'Vasily Kandinsky 1866-1944. Study for 'Painting with white border', 1913' by Renée Free, pg. 9-12., Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection Series 4 Winter 1983, Winter 1983, 9 (illus.).

'Recent Acquisitions by Public Galleries', Art and Australia (Vol. 20, No. 2) Summer 1982, Summer 1982, 204 (colour illus.).

Sotheby's London (England) (Editor), Sotheby's London: Highly important twentieth century paintings, London, 30 Mar 1982, (colour illus.). cat.no. 7

Sotheby's London (England) (Editor), Sotheby's London: Important Impressionist and Modern drawings and watercolours, London, 03 Dec 1980, (colour illus.). cat.no. 141a [illustration is upside down]

Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum (Netherlands, estab. 1936) (Author), Kandinsky, Amsterdam, 1947. cat.no. 23, 'Compositie, omstreeks 1913'. Coll. J.J.M. Schijvens

Exhibition history (11)

Kertentoonstelling, Museum Boijmans-van Beuningen, late 1931–early 1932.

Kandinsky, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, 08 Dec 1947–late Jan 1948.

Kandinsky, Gemeente Museum, 13 Feb 1948–14 Mar 1948.

Maîtres Français XIXe et XXe Siècles, E.J. Van Wisselingh & Co., Jun 1958–Aug 1958.

Selection, Sidney Janis Gallery, Dec 1958–Jan 1959.

Works of art from the collection of Mr and Mrs Markus Mizne, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Summer 1966–Summer 1966.

Five years on: a selection of acquisitions 1981-1986, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 26 Sep 1986–23 Nov 1986.

Kandinsky: Kleine Freuden Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Stiftung Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, 07 Mar 1992–10 May 1992.

Kandinsky: Kleine Freuden Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 23 May 1992–02 Aug 1992.

Modernism 1900-1950 - Prints and Drawings from the Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 23 Jul 1994–25 Sep 1994.

Paths to Abstraction 1867 to 1917, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 26 Jun 2010–19 Sep 2010.