Abstraction in the Art and Architecture of Early 20th-century Russia

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Abstraction in the Art and Architecture of Early
20th-century Russia
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Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) The figure of
Wassily Kandinsky is seminal in the history of
early 20th-century painting. Kandinsky studied
law from 1886-92 and then served on the law
faculty of the University of Moscow from 1892 to
1896. However, he was increasingly drawn to
painting. In 1896, he left Russia and went to
Munich in order to study painting there. He
painted in a broad and eclectic stylistic range
from 1896 until 1909, a range that reflected the
changes in European painting in general in the
mid to late 19th century.
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Beach Cabins in Holland, 1902
This painting reveals Kandinsky's understanding
of the post-impressionist painters who, after the
dissolution of subject matter by light in the
impressionist period, sought to re-introduce
structure. Here, structure is found not only in
the composition of the work, i.e. the arrangement
of forms, but in the use of color and the reality
of the paint and even the brushstrokes.
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Historically, from the Renaissance through the
late 19th-century, western art had conceived of
the canvas or painted surface as a window or
imaginary plane through which another world,
usually an ideal world, could be viewed. The
ability to arrange that ideal world
mathematically through one-, two-, and
three-point perspective from the 15th century on
reinforced the concept of illusion that underlay
the imaginary window. Although the quality of
the paint itself on the surface of the canvas had
fascinated the baroque painters of the 17th
century because of its sensuous nature, the
post-impressionists began to treat the painted
surface and the paint on the surface as a reality
of equal or even greater value than the subject
matter represented.
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The post-impressionist characteristics of Beach
Cabins in Holland also permeate Bavarian
Mountains. The structure of this painting is
dependent in large part on the geometry of the
forms as they are arranged across the picture
plane. Color likewise is used to emphasize the
composition while the brushstrokes further
articulate the paint as the surface of the work.
There is a tension between the flat,
two-dimensonal qualities and the illusionistic
three-dimensional qualities that enlivens the
work.
Bavarian Mountains, 1909
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Beginning in 1909, Kandinsky began to work on
three series of paintings which he named
"improvisations," "compositions," and
"impressions,." Each series had a specific
definition.
Impressions paintings which retain an
impression of exterior nature
Improvisations paintings which arise from an
inner emotion
Compositions paintings built up from
preliminary studies and into whose construction
the painter's consciousness enters
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In this work, the illusionistic qualities begin
to subside, somewhat subordinated by the almost
vibrating quality of the brushstrokes and the
rich harmony of the color palette. Line--whether
as outline, as separator between forms, or as an
active agent of movement--becomes an important
expressive vehicle along with color and shape.
Improvisation 9, 1910
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Composition 2, 1910
The considerable number of figural components in
the composition along with the very active sense
of movement is amplified by the sense of rapid
brushstrokes, the lack of an organizing "gravity"
or spatial orientation, and by the strong color
constrasts. The complex nature of the painting
suggests that it fulfills the definition of the
"composition" as a painting "built up from
preliminary studies." However, the rest of the
definition says, "...into whose construction the
painter's consciousness enters."
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This suggests that the painting is very directly
expressive of the mind, soul or spirit of the
painter and that somehow an element of the
consciousness of the painter is the real subject
of the work, not the recognizable forms that the
viewer can observe. The expressive value of the
elements that make up the painting seem now to
dominate Kandinsky's notions about what the
activity of painting means.
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Of course, Kandinsky was not just a theorist. His
writings were widely read and may have reached
more people than his paintings, but he was
nevertheless a painter of significance. In 1910,
before he published Concerning the Spiritual in
Art, Kandinsky took the decisive step in the
direction he had been moving by painting the
first work that totally eliminated recognizable
subject matter and relied on abstract form and
the "vibrating" power of color to construct its
composition. As with most theory, Kandinsky's
writing is an effort to explain what he achieved
in his work, not a formula for making the work
happen. In assessing his own motivations and
passions, he came up with the critical apparatus
by means of which he could evaluate even his own
work, let alone offer a critique of the art
around him.
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First Abstract Water Color, 1910
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Autumn, 1914
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In 1914, Kandinsky returned to Moscow, where he
remained until 1921. In 1918, after the October
Revolution, he became a member of the Fine Arts
Division of the Commissariat for Public
Instruction and Professor in the Government Art
Workshops. He left Russia and returned to Germany
in 1921 where, in 1922, he became a member of the
faculty at the Bauhaus in Weimar.
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Not only did Kandinsky pursue painting in his
studio but he also tried to formulate his ideas
in writing. During 1912, his two principal texts
appeared in the form of a book (Concerning the
Spiritual in Art) and an article ("On the
Question of Form"). In these, he laid the
theoretical groundwork for a purely abstract art,
an art that is devoid of traditional illusionism
and recognizable subject matter. In Concerning
the Spiritual in Art, Kandinsky suggests that
true art comes of inner necessity and must not
only speak to and for its own time but must lead
its time into the future. That is beautiful
which is produced by internal necessity, which
springs from the soul.
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He posits that just at the beginning of the 20th
century humanity is at a turning point in which
the effects of 19th-century materialism will have
to be combatted by soul-sensitive artists who
recognize the power of the spiritual. The
spiritual life to which art belongs, and of which
it is one of the mightiest agents, is a complex
but definite movement above and beyond, which can
be translated into simplicity. This movement is
that of cognition. He compares the elements of
painting to the elements of music, defining some
compositions as "melodic" and others as
"symphonic," and to the elements of poetry. He
further points to French painting--especially
Matisse for color and Picasso for form--as the
"great signposts pointing toward a great end."
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Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935) Russian artists in
the early 20th century were well aware of western
European developments through periodicals,
travels to France, italy, Germany, and Holland
and by contact with the works produced in western
Europe that were owned by private Russian
collectors. Although Russian music and ballet
were highly developed in the 19th century and had
a strong theoretical base as well as a good
tradition and reputation, the visual arts
remained more derivative. Twentieth-century
artists saw the need to participate in the
revolutionary experiments of the cubists and
other western European groups. Kazimir Malevich
studied art in Moscow and visited the private
collections of important collectors. By 1911, he
had experimented with painting in the cubist
mode. For two years, he explored cubism and
futurism (the radical movement led by Marinetti
in Italy).
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Cow and Violin, 1913
Cow and Violin of 1913 reflects Malevich's
interest in cubism as well as his appreciation of
the power of folk art. It was common among many
late 19th-century and early 20th-century artists,
such as Picasso, to seek new energies within old
and so-called primitive art. Here, Malevich draws
on the compositional and formal strategies of
cubism while retaining the subject matter of folk
art.
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Bather, 1911
In this work, Malevich explores the possibilities
of giving the painting structure by virtue of its
color, line, and brushstroke, stressing the
flatness of the canvas and the primacy of the act
of placing the paint on the canvas. This painting
still derives from western influences but begins
to explore aspects of western styles that lead to
more important achievements in Malevich's work.
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Nevertheless, Malevich was plagued by the
persistence of subject matter in these works,
even if the subject matter was only residual. He
finally took the decisive step in 1913 by
completing eliminating recognizable subject
matter. He drew a black square on a white field,
a pencil work and the first example of the style
that he suprematism.
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