Wassily Kandinsky

Albert Manteau, Paris (acquired circa 1906-07)
Thence by descent to the present owners

Vivian Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky Drawings, Catalogue Raisonné, Munich, 2006, vol. I, no. 2, illustrated in colour p. 129

Executed on strong grey wove paper, laid onto the artist's board which is slightly fragile at the corners. There are paper and board losses to the upper two corners and lower right corner (well away from the image and not visble when framed). The medium is in a good condition, though there are some fine lines of craquelure and small water marks to parts of the white text boxes. Otherwise, this work is in overall good condition and the colours are remarkably unfaded. Colours: overall failry accurate in the printed catalogue.
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In December 1905, Kandinsky and his lover Gabriele Münter travelled in Italy to Milan, Genoa, Sestri Levante, Moneglia, Santa Margherita and Rapallo, where they rented a house from 23^rd December 1905 until 30^th April 1906. The present work probably depicts Santa Margherita (the next settlement up the coast from Rapallo) and though it was executed as a design for a ship poster, there is no surviving evidence that the poster was ever produced. Irrespective of its initial graphic purpose, the strength of the image - its vibrant palette and the block-like execution - make it a fascinating work in its own right and it offers an intriguing insight into Kandinsky’s path to abstraction. The uniform application of the purple pigment of the sky and green of the sea is punctuated by the jewel-like elements of the tightly curved bay. The scene is hemmed in by mountains, kaleidoscopic houses which frame a bustling port teaming with travellers, cargo, luggage and even the a little white dog, whose tail peeps out amongst the crowd. Kandinsky and Münter are easily recognisable in the foreground and their initials G.M. and B.K can be found on the luggage trunks in the lower left corner, waiting to be loaded. It is an extraordinarily energetic image and a fascinating record of the period the two artists spent together on this charming part of the Ligurian coast.

The distinctive execution and aesthetic of Entwurf für ein Schiffsplakat make it an interesting example of Kandinsky’s ‘coloured drawings’ of the period, which despite their classification were painted not drawn. Discussing the importance of these works in this transitional period, Reinhard Zimmerman explains how ‘patches of paint are applied with a brush to a coloured ground, often in a dark tone, which is itself incorporated into the composition as a whole […] Against the black background the colours develop a singular luminescence quite distinct from that of colours seen against a white background (as in Impressionist paintings). While colours against a pale background represent natural daylight, colours against a dark background seem to glow from within - and appear all the more intense. The aesthetic of the colour patch is important here: as small isolated patches the colours become precisely those independent living beings, equipped with mysterious powers that Kandinsky described in his texts’ (Reinhard Zimmerman, ‘Early Imprints and Influences’, in Kandinsky, The Path to Abstraction (exhibition catalogue), Tate Modern, London, 2006, pp. 26-29).

This extraordinary work was acquired by the family of the present owner very soon after its execution and has remained in the family ever since. It has never before been exhibited publically.