Wassily Kandinsky

Private Collection, Europe
Sale: Christie's, London, December 3, 1996, lot 296
Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Viviane Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky Drawings: Catalogue raisonné, Individual Drawings (Including Addendum of Paintings and Watercolours), vol. I, London, 2006, no. 16, illustrated in color p. 135

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, and affixed to the mount at all four corners, floating in the mount. The sheet is time-stained, there are artist's pinholes at all four corners. Some mount staining is visible. Fine crease to upper and lower right corner, and to the lower left corner with an associated repaired tear of approximately 2 inches, running above the signature. Some very minor and scattered spots of foxing and studio marks. This work is in overall good condition.
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.

The present composition was created towards the end of Kandinsky’s tenure in Moscow. A great stylistic diversity is present in works from this period, though the underlying aesthetic theories governing these compositions remain unchanged. Upholding the tenets of his 1911 treatise, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Kandinsky praised the power of color and form, writing: “Painting today, however, is in a different position; its emancipation from a direct dependency on nature is in its very first stages. When color and form were used as inner agents, this was done subconsciously. The subjection of a composition to geometric form was already employed in ancient art, for example, by the Persians. However, building on a purely spiritual basis is a tedious process, which, at first, begins rather blindly and aimlessly. Here, the painter must train not only his eye but also his soul, so that he learns to weigh color not only by perceiving exterior impressions or sometimes inward ones, but also by utilizing it as definite power in his creations” (Wassily Kandinsky, Wassily Kandinsky on the Spiritual in Art, New York, 1946, p. 80).