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  • Vasily Kandinsky. Standing and Falling Tower with Rider (Stehender und Stürzender Turm mit Reiter) (cover) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual Art). 1911
    Standing and Falling Tower with Rider...
    1911
    Vasily Kandinsky. Standing and Falling Tower with Rider (Stehender und Stürzender Turm mit Reiter) (cover) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual Art). 1911
  • Vasily Kandinsky. Frontispiece (Frontispiz)  from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
    Frontispiece (Frontispiz) from...
    1911
    Vasily Kandinsky. Frontispiece (Frontispiz)  from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
  • Vasily Kandinsky. Vignette next to 'Introduction" (Vignette bei "Einleitung") (headpiece, page 3) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
    Vignette next to 'Introduction"...
    1911
    Vasily Kandinsky. Vignette next to 'Introduction" (Vignette bei "Einleitung") (headpiece, page 3) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
  • Vasily Kandinsky. Rider Motif in Oval Form (Reitermotiv in ovaler Form (headpiece, page 10) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
    Rider Motif in Oval Form (Reitermotiv in...
    1911
    Vasily Kandinsky. Rider Motif in Oval Form (Reitermotiv in ovaler Form (headpiece, page 10) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
  • Vasily Kandinsky. Reclining Couple (Liegendes Paar) (headpiece, page 16) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
    Reclining Couple (Liegendes Paar)...
    1911
    Vasily Kandinsky. Reclining Couple (Liegendes Paar) (headpiece, page 16) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
  • Vasily Kandinsky. Vignette for "Pyramid" (Vignette next to "Pyramide") (headpiece, page 32) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
    Vignette for "Pyramid"...
    1911
    Vasily Kandinsky. Vignette for "Pyramid" (Vignette next to "Pyramide") (headpiece, page 32) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
  • Vasily Kandinsky. Vignette next to "The Effect of Color" ("Wirkung der Farbe") (headpiece, page 37) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
    Vignette next to "The Effect of...
    1911
    Vasily Kandinsky. Vignette next to "The Effect of Color" ("Wirkung der Farbe") (headpiece, page 37) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
  • Vasily Kandinsky. Vignette next to "The Language of Form and Color" ("Formen- und Farbensprache") (headpiece, page 43) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
    Vignette next to "The Language...
    1911
    Vasily Kandinsky. Vignette next to "The Language of Form and Color" ("Formen- und Farbensprache") (headpiece, page 43) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
  • Vasily Kandinsky. Vignette next to "Theory" ("Theorie") (headpiece, page 81) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
    Vignette next to "Theory"...
    1911
    Vasily Kandinsky. Vignette next to "Theory" ("Theorie") (headpiece, page 81) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
  • Vasily Kandinsky. Vignette next to "Artwork and Artist" ("Kunstwerk und Künstler") (headpiece, page 95) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
    Vignette next to "Artwork and...
    1911
    Vasily Kandinsky. Vignette next to "Artwork and Artist" ("Kunstwerk und Künstler") (headpiece, page 95) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
  • Vasily Kandinsky. Reclining Female Nude (Liegender weiblicher Akt) (headpiece, page 101) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911
    Reclining Female Nude (Liegender...
    1911
    Vasily Kandinsky. Reclining Female Nude (Liegender weiblicher Akt) (headpiece, page 101) from Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). 1911

About this illustrated book

Heather Hess, German Expressionist Digital Archive Project, German Expressionism: Works from the Collection. 2011.

Vasily Kandinsky's seminal treatise, Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art), sparked widespread interest in abstraction in the years leading up to World War I. The book, which he claimed had been gestating for nearly a decade, elucidated his artistic theories and his valuing of expression and spirituality over naturalistic representation. It also introduced his new pictorial categories derived from the field of music—impressions, improvisations, and compositions—which further de-emphasized the importance of recognizable subject matter. On the cover and in ten woodcuts, Kandinsky illustrated his ideas by reducing complex scenes of spiritual battle and redemption to simplified designs of lines and shapes. For Kandinsky, abstraction was a weapon for transforming what he perceived to be a corrupt, materialist society.

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Despite Munich publisher Reinhard Piper's fears, Über die Geistige in der Kunst sold well, and it went through three editions between December 1911 and the end of 1912. An English translation appeared in 1914, but the outbreak of World War I thwarted a fourth revised German edition and planned translations into Russian, French, and Dutch.

Vasily Kandinsky (French, born Russia. 1866–1944)

The Illustrated Book

Über das Geistige in der Kunst: Insbesondere in der Malerei (Concerning the Spiritual in Art: Especially in Painting)

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Author:
The artist
Date:
1911
Medium:
Illustrated book with eleven woodcuts (including front cover)

Dimensions:
page (each): 8 1/4 x 7 1/16" (21 x 18 cm); overall: 8 1/4 x 7 3/16 x 3/8" (21 x 18.2 x 1 cm)
Paper:
Cream, smooth, simulated laid (except front cover).
Publisher:
R. Piper & Co., Munich
Printer:
M. Müller und Sohn, Munich
Edition:
1000
Credit Line:
Gift of Lucien Goldschmidt
Copyright:
© 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Reference:
Roethel 82-92. Rifkind 1367.1-11.
MoMA Number:
324.1958.1-11
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