This book was issued in the super series of Bridgeman Art Library. Wassili Kandisky has been heralded as one of the first who produced abstract painting. But firstly he studied law and economy in Moscow. He became a painter quite late – when he was about 30 years old.
There are some motifs he used more than others – for example riders. The first painting in this book is called The Blue Rider from 1903 (page 8). This is one of the first depictions of a rider by oil, reminiscent of Monet with thickly applied spots and dashes. The next paintings are more towards abstract paintings. For example, the work named Impovisation 4 (page 26-27), from year 1909, deals again with the theme of rider and horse, although it is in a dark and brooding mood. One more painting titled Improvisation 20 (page 34-33) depicts horses. His method of working was to hide the imagery to some degree. He just partly depicts lines of the horses and riders.
And there is another superb and colorful painting called Abstaract Compositon (Painting with a Cirle) from the year 1911 (page 42-42), Kandinsky himself called it first abstract painting, although there were others as well who worked in abstract style (Modrian and Delaunay in Paris and Malevichin Moscow.
In my opinion one of the best paintings is All Saints from 1911 (page 44), a colorful and interesting painting on glass.
So it is worth a look into this superb world of color and imagination.
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Shooting Star Press: Parragon, 1995
Check from the e-catalogue ESTER
Katrin Antonenko
Department of Literature in Foreign Languages