Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky
1866 - 1944
Sachte. 1929.
Watercolor and gouache on paper, originally laminated on cardboard.
Monogrammed and dated “K/29” in the lower left corner. Inscribed “no340 / 1929 / ‘Sachte’” on the reverse. 26.4 x 40.1 cm (10.3 x 15.7 in).
In the artist’s handwritten list, the work is recorded among the watercolors for March 1929 as “iii 1929, 340, Sachte”. [JS].
• Work form the the Bauhaus years: The strictly geometric compositions are considered the artist’s most sought-after paper works on the international auction market.
• Point, Line, and Plane: “Sachte” exemplifies Kandinsky’s abstract art theory “Point and Line to Plane” (1926) in an outstanding manner.
• Rarity: one of the rare watercolors executed in a painterly style with a two-tone background.
• Perfect compositional balance between the two sides of the image: stillness and movement, warmth and coolness, lines and planes.
• For the first time on the international auction market: part of a German private collection for nearly 60 years.
• Museum quality: watercolors from this creative period are found in the world’s most important collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
PROVENANCE: Rudolf Probst, Mannheim (according to a note in the artist’s handwritten list, presumbaly on consignment).
Nina Kandinsky Collection, Paris.
Karl Flinker, Paris (1962).
Heinz Berggruen, Paris (1962).
Roman Norbert Ketterer, Campione d’Italia (1968).
Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia (acquired from the above in 1968).
In the family’s possession ever since.
EXHIBITION: Wassily Kandinsky, November Exhibition, Kunsthaus Zürich, Nov. 5–Dec. 9, 1931, no. 69.
Wassily Kandinsky. Ausstelung mit Werken von 1918 bis 1933, Galerie Otto Stangl, July 25–September 4, 1962 (illustrated, no p.).
LITERATURE: Vivian Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky: Catalogue Raisonné of Watercolors, vol. 2: 1922–1944, Munich 1994, cat. no. 931 (with b/w ill.).
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Roman Norbert Ketterer, Modern Art V, Campione d'Italia, 1968, no. 63.
"Thus, composition is nothing more than the precise, regular orientation of the living forces enclosed in the elements in the form of tensions. [.] Therefore, the general harmony of a composition can consist of several complexes that rise to the highest degree of contrast. These contrasts may even have a disharmonious character, and yet their proper use will not have a negative effect on the overall harmony and will elevate the work to the highest harmonious essence."
Wassily Kandinsky, Punkt und Linie zu Fläche, Bauhausbücher 9, Munich 1926, p. 86.
Wassily Kandinsky
1866 - 1944
Sachte. 1929.
Watercolor and gouache on paper, originally laminated on cardboard.
Monogrammed and dated “K/29” in the lower left corner. Inscribed “no340 / 1929 / ‘Sachte’” on the reverse. 26.4 x 40.1 cm (10.3 x 15.7 in).
In the artist’s handwritten list, the work is recorded among the watercolors for March 1929 as “iii 1929, 340, Sachte”. [JS].
• Work form the the Bauhaus years: The strictly geometric compositions are considered the artist’s most sought-after paper works on the international auction market.
• Point, Line, and Plane: “Sachte” exemplifies Kandinsky’s abstract art theory “Point and Line to Plane” (1926) in an outstanding manner.
• Rarity: one of the rare watercolors executed in a painterly style with a two-tone background.
• Perfect compositional balance between the two sides of the image: stillness and movement, warmth and coolness, lines and planes.
• For the first time on the international auction market: part of a German private collection for nearly 60 years.
• Museum quality: watercolors from this creative period are found in the world’s most important collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
PROVENANCE: Rudolf Probst, Mannheim (according to a note in the artist’s handwritten list, presumbaly on consignment).
Nina Kandinsky Collection, Paris.
Karl Flinker, Paris (1962).
Heinz Berggruen, Paris (1962).
Roman Norbert Ketterer, Campione d’Italia (1968).
Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia (acquired from the above in 1968).
In the family’s possession ever since.
EXHIBITION: Wassily Kandinsky, November Exhibition, Kunsthaus Zürich, Nov. 5–Dec. 9, 1931, no. 69.
Wassily Kandinsky. Ausstelung mit Werken von 1918 bis 1933, Galerie Otto Stangl, July 25–September 4, 1962 (illustrated, no p.).
LITERATURE: Vivian Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky: Catalogue Raisonné of Watercolors, vol. 2: 1922–1944, Munich 1994, cat. no. 931 (with b/w ill.).
- -
Roman Norbert Ketterer, Modern Art V, Campione d'Italia, 1968, no. 63.
"Thus, composition is nothing more than the precise, regular orientation of the living forces enclosed in the elements in the form of tensions. [.] Therefore, the general harmony of a composition can consist of several complexes that rise to the highest degree of contrast. These contrasts may even have a disharmonious character, and yet their proper use will not have a negative effect on the overall harmony and will elevate the work to the highest harmonious essence."
Wassily Kandinsky, Punkt und Linie zu Fläche, Bauhausbücher 9, Munich 1926, p. 86.
