Wassily Kandinsky

Galka Scheyer, Los Angeles
Nina Kandinsky, Neuilly-sur-Seine
Private Collection, France (acquired from the above and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 6, 1995, lot 90)
Acquired at the above sale

Los Angeles, Stendhal Art Galleries, Kandinsky, 1936, no. 20
New York, Valentine Gallery, An Exhibition of Paintings by Kandinsky, 1932, no. 9
New York, Nierendorf Gallery, The Masters and Vanguard of Modern Art, 1941, no. 62
Paris, Galerie Maeght, Kandinsky in 'Derriere le miroir,' 1953, no. 13
Bern, Kunsthalle, Gesamtaustellung Wassily Kandinsky, 1955, no. 53

The Artist's Handlist, IV, no. 397 (titled Lattice Composition)
Will Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky: Life and Work, New York, 1958, no. 397, CC no. 261, illustrated p. 371
Hans K. Roethel & Jean K. Benjamin, Kandinsky, Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1916-1944, vol. II, New York, 1984, no. 840, illustrated p. 779

This work is in very good condition. The canvas is unlined and still on its original stretcher. The paint surface is clean and unvarnished. There are isolated patches of gloss which are original to the artist's process. Under UV light: tiny spots of retouching are visible to some of the thinner areas of pigment around the white lines in the center of the composition. Otherwise, fine.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In June 1925 the Bauhaus had moved from Weimar to Dessau and Kandinsky, sharing a Master's house with his friend and colleague Paul Klee, settled into a full schedule of teaching, writing and painting. During this period Kandinsky continued to explore geometry and its ordering principles while creating purely aesthetic architectonic constructions independant from utilitarian ends. As in the present work, also known as Lattice Composition, the structured tension is achieved by a complex network of intersecting planes set against a muted background of geometric shapes.

"Kandinsky's imagery of structures, geometric shapes and arrangements, and space reflected tendencies at the Bauhaus and the Constructivist movement in Germany. The architectural and technological orientation of the later Bauhaus, particularly in evidence after the architecture department was instituted under Meyer in the spring of 1927, prompted him to create images of structures made up of simple geometric elements" (Clark V. Poling, Kandinsky: Russian and Bauhaus Years, 1915-1933, New York, 1983, p. 73).