Wassily_Kandinsky

Artist Biography Wasilly Kandinsky was born in Moscow on December 16 1866. In 1871 he and his family moved to Odessa where his father ran a tea factory. There he attended grammar school and learned to play the Cello and Piano. Although he had an interest in art his parents though he should get a more professional occupation and in 1886 he enrolled in the University of Moscow and studied law and economics. He was very successful, graduated with 6 honors and later became a professor at the Moscow faculty of law. Later in 1893 he was appointed to be the professor of the Department of Law. Although his career was going well he still some interest in art, and later 2 events critically changed his decision to become an artist. The first was when he visited an exhibition of the French Impressionist in Moscow in 1895. The other was when he was shocked by Claude Monet’s painting entitled “Haystacks”. He at first was very confused and later angry saying that he felt that the painter had no right to paint things in a way that made it difficult to recognize. In 1896 after a lot of thought Kandinsky finally made the decision to give up his career to become an artist. He moved to Munich which was considered to be one of the centers of European art and entered Anton Azbe’s private painting school. He then later enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in which he stayed for the next 4 years. Later he enrolled at the Munich Academy of the Arts and studied under the artist Franz Stuck. During this time he created an artist group by the name of Phalnax. It was during this time that he met artist Gabriella Munter. He and Munter grew fond of each other and in 1903 Kandinsky divorced his wife and traveled the next 5 years with Munter. During these 5 years they did many paintings and participated in exhibitions. Kandinsky’s work became very popular over these years. They later returned to Bavaria and settled in a small town by the name of Murnau. During this time he did many paintings of landscapes which looked very impressionistic. In 1911 Kandinsky began to pick up pace with his art career. He began to participate in many exhibitions and even arranged many exhibitions for fellow Phalnax members. In 1910 and 1912 he participated in the exhibitions of "Jack of Diamonds" art group. He even published his critical letters from Munich in magazines. In 1911 Kandinsky and his friend Franstem Mark created a group called Blau Reiter (Blue Rider). It is told that in this time Kandinsky’s work progress more than ever before. At the same time of his progression of art he began writing more and published a book, "Concerning the Spiritual in Art". This is known as the first theoretical idea of abstractionism. World War II had begun and Kandinsky was forced to leave Germany. In 1914 He and Gabriella moved to Switzerland where he began to work on the book “point and line”. However in this same year he and Gabriella parted. Gabriella moved back to Munich and Kandinsky moved to Moscow. It was here 1916 where he met Nina Andreeveskaya. She was the daughter of a Russian general. She and Kandinsky got married in 1917. During this time of while war was going on, Kandinsky’s work got more geometric due to the process of simplification and also the type of artistic atmosphere Moscow had. In Russia Kandinsky became a popular figure of art and politics. During this time he joined many organizations for making better education in Russia. Kandinsky’s ideas became highly disliked which in turn forced him to leave for Germany in 1922. Painting Research Composition VIII is the 8TH out of a series of paintings. Through each of Kandinsky paintings his artistic ideas grew more. Looking at the paintings before Composition VIII you can see the progression from simple abstraction to a very complex geometrical composition. Just as the paintings before Composition VIII, the Composition itself is brilliant. You can see that the artist has put a lot of thought in to the composition. Every subject is placed in a way to complement the other. In Kandinsky’s painting Composition VII the main element of the composition was color. However in Composition VIII Kandinsky has progressed to make form the Dominating element. Contrasting forms dazzle the viewer, but at the same time the balance the painting has forces the viewer to see the painting as a whole. The circular forms in the upper left contrast with the linear forms on the right, but in a way that is balanced. Though color isn’t the dominating element of the composition it still plays a big part by making the different geometrical forms standout. The background also helps the Composition as it does not seem as if these forms are sitting flat but rather floating in space. The use of the colors light yellow, light blue and white in the background give the forms a sense of depth, as if some are farther away than others. One of the biggest reasons this painting is important is because it shows how much Kandinsky art has progressed. This painting was painted in 1923 ten years apart from Kandinsky’s Composition VII. This was before Kandinsky once again left Russia for Germany. During Kandinsky’s time in Russia he was introduced to many new ideas which are reflected in this painting. I choose this painting because I thought that it was one of Kandinsky’s best and I love the use of Color in it.