Wassily Kandinsky

Galka E. Scheyer, Los Angeles (acquired in 1928)
Nina Kandinsky, Paris (acquired in 1945)
Galerie Maeght, Paris
Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris
Private Collection, New York
Acquired from the above

Oakland, The Oakland Art Gallery, Kandinsky, 1929, no. 14
Los Angeles, Braxton Gallery, Kandinsky, 1930, no. 25
San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, The Blue Four, Feininger, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Paul Klee, 1931, no. 14
Oakland, The Oakland Art Gallery, The Blue Four, Feininger, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Paul Klee, 1931, no. 15
Chicago, The Arts Club of Chicago & Chicago, Renaissance Gallery—Wieboldt Hall, The Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago, The Blue Four, Feininger, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Paul Klee, 1932, no. 97
Copenhagen, Liniens Samenslutning, Efter-Expressionisme, Abstrakt Kunst, Neoplasticisme, Surrealisme, 1937
London, Guggenheim Jeune; Bristol, New Bristol Art Club; Gloucester, Gloucester Municipal School of Arts and Crafts, Wassily Kandinsky, 1938
Lucerne, Galerie Rosengart, Kandinsky Exhibition, Paintings, Watercolours and Drawings, 1953, no. 3
Dusseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen & Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Kandinsky. Kleine Freuden: Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, 1992, no. 113, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Artist's Handlist, Watercolours, listed as "v 1928, 252, Treffpunkt"
Vivian Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky Watercolours, Catalogue Raisonné, vol. II, London, 1994, no. 840, illustrated pp. 141 & 205

Executed on white wove paper, laid down on board, floating in the mount. There are some slight remains of sketch book binding holes to the left edge. Apart from some very small abrasions in the black pigment to the lower edge and to the lower right corner, this work is in very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In Treffpunkt, executed in 1928, Kandinsky has utilized the whole sheet to render a wonderfully radiant and highly charged image. The remarkable paint texture gives the geometric forms an authority and visual elegance comparable to his finest canvases of the Bauhaus period. The central motif is the circle, which had long assumed a vital role in Kandinsky's pictorial language. Just as the horse was the leitmotif of his earlier Blaue Reiter work, the circle enjoyed the same emblematic status from 1920 onward. The circle had featured in his earlier work but in a significantly different manner. As Vivian Endicott Barnett states, "At the Bauhaus his canvases and his works on paper became increasingly geometric and theoretical. The circle emerged as the most prevalent and meaningful form. Circular shapes had occurred in much earlier watercolours.... During the Bauhaus period, however, circular forms were drawn with the compasses rather than freehand" (in Kandinsky. Kleine Freuden: Aquarelle und Zeichnungen (exhibition catalogue), Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, 1992, p. 38).

Treffpunkt was first owned by Galka Scheyer, an artist and art dealer who in March 1924 had helped to establish the Blue Four. This group, whose members included Alexej von Jawlensky, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger and Kandinsky, was formed by Scheyer to promote German Modernism amongst Americans, many of whom were considerably wealthier than their European counterparts. She set about organizing a series of exhibitions that travelled throughout the United States and Mexico, including the groundbreaking tour of 1931 in which the present work was included.