Wassily Kandinsky
Solomon Higgs
Dr. Watson
HUMA 1153
4-22-10
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian-born artist, whose contributions to the world of modern art are innumerable. On an artistic level, Kandinsky's maturation process from representational art to abstract art is fascinating. From his earliest work, with an impressionistic flair, to his later work, which was pure abstraction, Kandinsky was an innovator and a genius. He bridged the gap between reality painting of earlier decades and the fantasy pastime of the twentieth century.
Wassily Kandinsky was born on December 4, 1866 in Moscow. His father was a successful tea merchant and his mother was a teacher. From early on in his life, Kandinsky acquired a love for travel moving to Florence in 1869 then back to Russia in 1871, this time to the smaller town of Odessa. Shortly after returning to Russia, Kandinsky moved in with his aunt as his parents got divorced and apparently could not care for him any longer. During the early years of Kandinsky's life, he discovered a love for color and shape. Kandinsky cherished the watercolors he received from his aunt, and began painting small pictures as early as age five. He attended high school and took a few art and music classes in addition to the regular curriculum. The cello and piano fascinated Kandinsky, and he became quite an accomplished musician, but like art, he did not see music as a true career.
In 1895, Kandinsky attended a French Impressionist exhibition where he saw Monet's Haystacks at Giverny. For the first time, Kandinsky realizes that art can be a career, and he begins to re-evaluate his own artistic potential. Soon thereafter, at the age of thirty, he left Moscow and went to Munich, Germany to study life drawing, sketching and anatomy. Kandinsky's intellectual ability to comprehend the aesthetic and philosophical principles of art far exceeded his actual artistic abilities, much to his frustration. This slowly began to change, as
Dr. Watson
HUMA 1153
4-22-10
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian-born artist, whose contributions to the world of modern art are innumerable. On an artistic level, Kandinsky's maturation process from representational art to abstract art is fascinating. From his earliest work, with an impressionistic flair, to his later work, which was pure abstraction, Kandinsky was an innovator and a genius. He bridged the gap between reality painting of earlier decades and the fantasy pastime of the twentieth century.
Wassily Kandinsky was born on December 4, 1866 in Moscow. His father was a successful tea merchant and his mother was a teacher. From early on in his life, Kandinsky acquired a love for travel moving to Florence in 1869 then back to Russia in 1871, this time to the smaller town of Odessa. Shortly after returning to Russia, Kandinsky moved in with his aunt as his parents got divorced and apparently could not care for him any longer. During the early years of Kandinsky's life, he discovered a love for color and shape. Kandinsky cherished the watercolors he received from his aunt, and began painting small pictures as early as age five. He attended high school and took a few art and music classes in addition to the regular curriculum. The cello and piano fascinated Kandinsky, and he became quite an accomplished musician, but like art, he did not see music as a true career.
In 1895, Kandinsky attended a French Impressionist exhibition where he saw Monet's Haystacks at Giverny. For the first time, Kandinsky realizes that art can be a career, and he begins to re-evaluate his own artistic potential. Soon thereafter, at the age of thirty, he left Moscow and went to Munich, Germany to study life drawing, sketching and anatomy. Kandinsky's intellectual ability to comprehend the aesthetic and philosophical principles of art far exceeded his actual artistic abilities, much to his frustration. This slowly began to change, as
Cited: Becks-Malorny, Ulrike. Wassily Kandinsky, 1866-1944: The Journey to Abstraction (Big Art Series). 2Rev Ed ed. Köln: Taschen, 1999. Print. Flux, Paul. Wassily Kandinsky (Life and Work of). Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2002. Print. Lacoste, Michel Conil. Kandinsky. New York, New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1979. Print.