Study for 'Painting with white border', 1913 by Vasily Kandinsky ::

Details

Other Title

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

Alternative title

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

Date

1913

Media category

Watercolour

Materials used

watercolour, gouache, ink

Dimensions

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

Signature & date

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

Credit

Purchased 1982

Location

Not on display

Accession number

147.1982

Copyright

Reproduction requests

Artist information

Vasily Kandinsky

Works in the collection

1

Share

About

'Colour is the keyboard. The eye is the hammer.
The soul is the piano, with its many strings. The artist
is the hand that purposefully sets the soul vibrating.'
– Wassily Kandinsky, 1911

Between 1908 and 1914 the work of Wassily Kandinsky was
transformed. His compositions became free in movement
and colour and recognisable subjects were dissolved.
For Kandinsky, this new art of abstraction unveiled greater
realities than what can be seen, signalling the dawning of
a ‘great spiritual age’.

This watercolour samples this artistic revolution. There are
vestiges of subject matter, with Saint George on horseback,
pointing his lance to the outstretched dragon limbs in the
lower left corner, but they are consumed by the movements
of form and colour. Kandinsky’s spiritual creed of abstraction
became widespread through his writings, and intensified in
necessity urgency following the unimaginable apocalypse of
the First World War.

Exhibition history

Shown in 11 exhibitions

Kertentoonstelling, Museum Boijmans-van Beuningen, The Netherlands, late 1931–early 1932
Kandinsky, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 08 Dec 1947–late Jan 1948

Kandinsky, Gemeente Museum, The Hague, 13 Feb 1948–14 Mar 1948
Maîtres Français XIXe et XXe Siècles, E.J. Van Wisselingh & Co., Amsterdam, Jun 1958–Aug 1958
Selection, Sidney Janis Gallery, United States of America, Dec 1958–Jan 1959
Works of art from the collection of Mr and Mrs Markus Mizne, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Summer 1966–Summer 1966
Five years on: a selection of acquisitions 1981-1986, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 26 Sep 1986–23 Nov 1986
Kandinsky: Kleine Freuden Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Stiftung Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, 07 Mar 1992–10 May 1992

Kandinsky: Kleine Freuden Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany, 23 May 1992–02 Aug 1992
Modernism 1900-1950: prints and drawings from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 23 Jul 1994–25 Sep 1994
Paths to abstraction 1867-1917, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 26 Jun 2010–19 Sep 2010
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
Kandinsky, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Nov 2023–10 Mar 2024

Bibliography

Referenced in 21 publications

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Five years on: a selection of acquisitions 1981-1986, Sydney, 1986, (illus.). cat.no. 137
Vivian Endicott Barnett and Armin Zweite, Kandinsky: watercolours and drawings, Munich, 1992, (colour illus.). cat.no. 23
Vivian Endicott Barnett, 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'
Vivian Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky watercolours: catalogue raisonne, London, 1992, 302 (illus.) 303. Vol.1, 1900-1921; cat.no. 338
Edmund Capon AM, OBE and Jan Meek (Editors), Portrait of a Gallery, 'European 20th Century Art', pg. 91-95, Sydney, 1984, 95 (colour illus.).
Renee Free, Art and Australia, 'European Acquisitions: 1972-83', pg. 63-67, Sydney, Spring 1984, cover (colour illus.), 66.
Renée Free, Modernism 1900-1950: prints and drawings from the collection, Sydney, 1994. no catalogue numbers
Renée Free, AGNSW Collections, 'The Western Heritage, Renaissance to Twentieth Century', pg. 108-172, Sydney, 1994, 148 (colour illus.).
Renée Free, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'European', pg. 36-56, Sydney, 1988, 51.
Renée Free, Art Gallery of New South Wales collection series 4, 'Vasily Kandinsky 1866-1944. Study for 'Painting with white border', 1913', pg. 9-12, Sydney, Winter 1983, 9 (illus.).
Public Galleries', Art and Australia (Vol. 20, No. 2), 'Recent Acquisitions, Sydney, Summer 1982, 204 (colour illus.).
Sasha Grishin, Look, 'Anatomy of an artwork - Vasily Kandinsky's Study for 'Painting with white border'', Sydney, Oct 2023-Nov 2023, pp 44–46, col illus p 44.
Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Western Collection: Works on Paper', pg. 78-92, Sydney, 1999, 88 (colour illus.).
Terence Maloon, Paths to abstraction 1867-1917, Sydney, 2010, 200 (colour illus.).
Hans K. Roethel and Jean K. Benjamin, Kandinsky, catalogue raisonné of the oil-paintings, London, 1982-1984, 462. Vol.1, 1900-1915; mentioned in association with cat.no. 465 'Painting with white border'
Sotheby's London (Editor), Sotheby's London: Important Impressionist and Modern drawings and watercolours, London, 03 Dec 1980, (colour illus.). cat.no. 141a [illustration is upside down]
Sotheby's London (Editor), Sotheby's London: Highly important twentieth century paintings, London, 30 Mar 1982, (colour illus.). cat.no. 7
Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Kandinsky, Amsterdam, 1947. cat.no. 23, 'Compositie, omstreeks 1913'. Coll. J.J.M. Schijvens
Felix Thürlemann, Kandinsky über Kandinsky, Bern, 1986, 191-192 (illus.). cat.no. 30c
Armin Zweite and Vivian Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky: Kleine Freuden Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Munich, 1992, (colour illus.). cat.no. 23
Editor Unknown (Editor), Gazette des beaux arts, Paris, Mar 1983.

Provenance

H. van Assendelft, 1913, Gouda/The Netherlands

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

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

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

Sidney Janis Gallery, 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.

Markus B. Mizne, 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]

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