I was at the Guggenheim’s Vasily Kadinsky: Around the Circle the other day and wanted to share a few works from the exhibition.
Frank Loyd Wright’s design for the Guggenheim was to have one pathway that connects several floors so the visitor walks an exhibition as if in a single floor. Here and there are also walls that separate painting from painting, allowing the audience a more intimate viewing experience with each work or several works at once.
Guggenheim interior
example of surrounding walls that separates painting from painting
For Vasily Kadinsky: Around the Circle, from the top of the pathway to the bottom, the artworks are arranged in a chronological ascending order and shifts back and forth between representational art and abstraction.
The majority of Kadinsky’s early works were religious in subject and representational in his execution.
Santa Francisca, reverse glass painting, 1911
Study for "Landscape with Tower", oil on board, 1908
In his oil painting Blue Mountain, painted 1908 - 1909, three horsemen reminiscent of those in the Bible travel under the pink sky and blue mountain, surrounded by trees of mustard yellow and cherry red. Here Kandinsky is already breaking away from traditional painting techniques through his lack of shading, use of unnaturally bright colours, and heavy layering of paint that emphasizes the materiality of the painting instead of creating a smooth surface for illusion of depth. There is also a heavy black outline around the subjects, further flattening the image so that the painting appears more like an illustration.
Blue Mountain, oil on canvas, 1908 - 1909
In contrast to Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Viktor Vasnetsov, although it still somewhat resembles the real world, Kandinisky’s painting shows a beginning to deviation from representational art where paintings are made to appear just like reality.
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Viktor Vasnetsov, oil on canvas, 1887
Moving further away from paintings that are still reminiscent of the natural world, Kandinsky painted oil painting Sketch for Composition II, where it is starting to become difficult to decipher the various symbols in the painting, but the horseman is still central to his paintings.
Sketch for Composition II, oil on canvas, 1909-1910
The horsemen imagery reappears in multiple works. Kandinsky also named his group of European artists Der Baleu Reiter (The Blue Rider). Guggenheim’s curator Nancy Spector called the horsemen motif symbolizes “his crusade against conventional aesthetic values and his dream of a better, more spiritual future through the transformative powers of art.”
In 1911, Kadinsky wrote On the Spiritual in Art, discussing his theory on art. He criticized the chase after materialism in modern society and proposed that spiritual experiences with art will add a spark of light in a dark world. The spiritual in art goes beyond emotions that can be named. Instead, the artist “will endeavour to awaken more subtle, undefine emotions” capable of arousing the observer’s soul. In addition, he asserted that representational art that only imitates with form are products of the materialistic society and are short-lived, while the profound spiritual experience from subtle art contains “the seed of infinity.”
On the Spiritual in Art
To achieve “the spiritual in art”, Kandinsky proposed to employ deliberate artistic choices of composition, forms, and especially colour.
Black Lines (Schwarze Linien), oil on canvas, 1913
example of Kandinsky's use of colours
In the oil painting Improvisation 28 (Second Version), painted a year after Kandinsky wrote his book, catalytic events such as a boat on waves and a serpent occupy the left, while right, events that provoke “the spiritual” such as a couple embracing, a church on a hill, and the sun are portrayed. The complex overlap of juxtaposing subjects are portrayed in a way that is highly stylized and abstract, aimed to connect with the viewer’s soul.
Improvisation 28 (Second Version), oil on canvas, 1912
Kandinsky was also heavily influenced by music. As shown by the title Improvisation 28, he named his paintings like a piece of music. He was deeply interested in Synesthesia, when one sees colours and shapes while hearing music. He claimed that “A painter, who finds no satisfaction in mere representation, however artistic, in his longing to express his inner life, cannot but envy the ease with which music, the most non-material of the arts today, achieves this end. He naturally seeks to apply the methods of music to his own art.” Connecting his theory on colour to music, he asserted that “colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.” (The Culturium). (The Culturium).
Painting with White Border, oil on canvas, 1913
In 1914, World War I began. During the post-war era, Kandinsky’s works served as a source of hope for him in a world where violence and hate brought utter darkness.
Composition 8, oil on canvas, 1923
Kandinsky’s works became purely abstract where shapes, lines, and colours are used not to hint at a catalytic event or a spiritual encounter but merely for the sake of the painting. I like to stand in front of the artwork for a while, letting the black circle, diagonal lines, and juxtaposing red and blue slowly sink in. What photos cannot show is the scale of the painting, which adds to the profound impact Kandinsky’s work leaves on the audience.
Striped, oil on canvas, 1934
Now at the bottom of the spiral ramp, Kandinsky’s late-life works are often pastel coloured, “reminiscent of Eastern Orthodox icon painting and his Russian heritage”. He was also interested in collecting marine animals, hence the cell-like shapes in some of his paintings. Although living in France, he was returning home through cultural connections. In his late-years, he was also returning to an appreciation of life, preparing for his ascension to the spiritual realm.
Dominant Curve, oil on canvas, 1936
Now at the foyer, we look up and see an enormous circular skylight, like the huge circles that reappear in many of Kandinsky’s works. The artist once said that his frequent use of the circle was based on his “strong feeling for the inner force of the circle and its countless variations”.
Guggenheim interior
Kandinsky’s work went around in circles, drifting between representational art and abstraction, ultimately achieving the spiritual. In the Guggenheim, we walked round and round in circles, experiencing Kandinsky’s artistic life. Life is a circle, we begin from the spiritual realm where souls dwell, arrive at a world of material, and leave to return to the spiritual, but in the world of materialism, we chase after the spiritual, a feeling that extends words or matters, profound and intangible in nature.
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