Concerning the Spiritual in Art: With a Focus on Painting and the Question of Form (PENGUIN CLASSICS) - Softcover

Kandinsky, Wassily

Softcover

ISBN 10: 024138480X ISBN 13: 9780241384800

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2024

Synopsis

A seminal text in the history of modern art, from one of the most famous artists of the twentieth century

‘Art is the language that speaks to the soul’

Why do we make art? In Concerning the Spiritual in Art Wassily Kandinsky, one of the earliest and most famous abstract painters, argued against ‘art for art’s sake’. Exploring form and colour, spirituality and tradition, Kandinsky instead predicted a future for painting in its potential to redirect the attention of viewers away from the shallow materialism of the modern world toward the more profound intellectual and emotional concerns of their interior lives. His revolutionary work became a landmark in modern art history, helping to usher in the age of non-representational painting. This new translation also includes Kandinsky’s later essay, ‘The Question of Form’, in which he interrogates and sharpens many of his earlier ideas.

A new translation by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
With an introduction by Lisa Florman

About this title

About the Author

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was a Russian-born painter and art theorist. Regarded as a key pioneer of abstract art, he was a founding member of the artistic group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). He taught at the Bauhaus School of Art and Architecture in Germany until the mid-1930s, after which he settled in France.

From the Back Cover

In Concerning the Spiritual in Art Wassily Kandinsky, one of the most famous abstract painters of all time, urges the reader to free themselves from art's traditional bonds to material reality. In this radical theoretical work, he calls for a spiritual revolution in painting, arguing that artists, much like musicians, should be allowed to express their own inner lives in abstract, non-material terms. Investigating form and colour, spirituality and tradition, Kandinsky explores art's resonance with the soul, its purpose and nature, and its power to inspire us, to stir our emotions and to help us see beyond the limits of our world. A significant contribution to the understanding of non-objectivism in art, this book serves as an important landmark in modern art history and is necessary reading for every artist and art-lover.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 024138480X
• ISBN 13: 9780241384800
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192