- 127
Wassily Kandinsky
Estimate
350,000 - 450,000 USD
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Description
- Wassily Kandinsky
- Skizze für Abend (Sketch for Evening)
- Faintly signed Kandinsky (lower right); signed Kandinsky and titled Abend (on the reverse)
- Oil on canvas
- 9 5/8 by 13 in.
- 24.3 by 33.2 cm
Provenance
Family of the artist
Private Collection, Sweden (acquired from the above and sold: Sotheby's, London, July 1, 1981, lot 238)
Private Collection (and sold: Sotheby's, London, April 2, 1987, lot 603
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Private Collection, Sweden (acquired from the above and sold: Sotheby's, London, July 1, 1981, lot 238)
Private Collection (and sold: Sotheby's, London, April 2, 1987, lot 603
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Exhibited
Munich, Neuen Künstlervereinigung München, Phalanx, 1902, no. 104, illustrated in the catalogue
New York, Helly Nahmad Gallery, Kandinsky, Sounds of Color, 2004, n.n., illustrated in color in the catalogue
New York, Helly Nahmad Gallery, Kandinsky, Sounds of Color, 2004, n.n., illustrated in color in the catalogue
Literature
Hans K. Roethel & Jean K. Benjamin, Kandinsky, Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil-Paintings, 1900-1915, vol. I, Ithaca, 1982, no. 32, illustrated p. 73
Condition
This work is in excellent condition. Canvas is not lined though the edges are reinforced with tape. Surface bears a rich and textured impasto. Under UV light some original pigments fluoresce but no inpainting is apparent.
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 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.
Catalogue Note
Skizze für Abend is one of a series of oil landscape studies that Kandinsky painted in Germany in the early 1900s. According to Reinhard Zimmerman, “Kandinsky rarely exhibited or published his oil sketches and seldom signed them; he did, however, work some of them up into larger paintings executed in the studio. The oil sketches already manifest some remarkable compositional idiosyncrasies that can be elucidated by looking at individual works” (Reinhard Zimmermann, Kandinsky: The Path to Abstraction, London, 2006, p. 22).
One of the more notable characteristics of these early landscapes is the strong diagonal lines extending from foreground into the deep middle ground. These lines, usually defining a stream or path, create both dynamism and depth within these compositions. Painting en plein air, Kandinsky also began to raise his horizon line, focusing on an extended foreground; in is attributable to these elements, combined with his bold palette and shading, that he managed to create such striking compositions on relatively small canvases.
While the present painting may seem far removed from the later abstract works of the artist, Kandinsky saw his progression as rather logical: “Kandinsky bases his theory about his own artistic development on the principle of ‘natural’ growth. On no account does he wish to give the impression that his art constitutes a radical break with tradition. And it is precisely his repeated assertion that all that is new in art must grow out of what went before which might also be the reason why Kandinsky, much later, during his Bauhaus years, was particularly delighted whenever he came across one of his own works from an earlier period” (Vivian Endicott Barnett & Helmut Friedel, Vasily Kandinsky, A Colorful Life, New York, 1996, p. 17).
One of the more notable characteristics of these early landscapes is the strong diagonal lines extending from foreground into the deep middle ground. These lines, usually defining a stream or path, create both dynamism and depth within these compositions. Painting en plein air, Kandinsky also began to raise his horizon line, focusing on an extended foreground; in is attributable to these elements, combined with his bold palette and shading, that he managed to create such striking compositions on relatively small canvases.
While the present painting may seem far removed from the later abstract works of the artist, Kandinsky saw his progression as rather logical: “Kandinsky bases his theory about his own artistic development on the principle of ‘natural’ growth. On no account does he wish to give the impression that his art constitutes a radical break with tradition. And it is precisely his repeated assertion that all that is new in art must grow out of what went before which might also be the reason why Kandinsky, much later, during his Bauhaus years, was particularly delighted whenever he came across one of his own works from an earlier period” (Vivian Endicott Barnett & Helmut Friedel, Vasily Kandinsky, A Colorful Life, New York, 1996, p. 17).