Article
Collection Publications: Klinger to Kollwitz Labels: 8
Kandinsky took up art as a hobby while studying law, ethnography, and economics in Moscow. Instead of accepting an offer to become a professor of law, he chose to go to Munich in 1896 to study painting. Between 1908 and the outbreak of World War I, Kandinsky co-founded and participated in several artistic societies in Munich: Phalanx, Neue Kunstlerverinigung (New Artists' Association), and the Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider).
This linocut was printed using only two blocks. The color block was inked by hand with watercolor pigments, then the black block was printed on top, giving the impression of stained glass. The decorative style of the image suggests the influence of Jugendstil‚—the "arts and crafts" movement that was centered in Munich in the early twentieth century. Kandinsky likened the act of creating a woodcut or linocut to the act of writing a lyric poem, where the artist must simplify the subject to its most basic elements but retain its meaning and intensity.
Kandinsky's interest in popular fairy tale imagery is apparent in The Mirror and in early oil paintings, such as Promenade (Spaziergang) ca.1903, which is also in the museum's collection (y1990-30).
This linocut was printed using only two blocks. The color block was inked by hand with watercolor pigments, then the black block was printed on top, giving the impression of stained glass. The decorative style of the image suggests the influence of Jugendstil‚—the "arts and crafts" movement that was centered in Munich in the early twentieth century. Kandinsky likened the act of creating a woodcut or linocut to the act of writing a lyric poem, where the artist must simplify the subject to its most basic elements but retain its meaning and intensity.
Kandinsky's interest in popular fairy tale imagery is apparent in The Mirror and in early oil paintings, such as Promenade (Spaziergang) ca.1903, which is also in the museum's collection (y1990-30).
