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 ...
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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
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Add this copy of Concerning the Spiritual in Art to cart. $34.34, new condition, Sold by Kennys.ie rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Galway, IRELAND, published 2024 by Penguin Classics.
To me Kandinsky's book is probably of most use and interest to an art historian (which I am). The title might fool you if you're looking for, well, sort of the more familiar poetic ideas about art being moving and transcendent and something close to religion.
Not to say those aren't valid takes on art--they obviously are--but the book probably won't satisfy you in that way.. It was directed mainly at other artists and at critics and theorists of art (at the time). It can definitely be a little tedious, like an old textbook or manual. Not exactly bestseller material.
The book is very much a product of its time, an extremely idealistic European artworld before and during World War I. Much early modern art was almost intoxicated (kind of touchingly at times) with its own imagined possibilities for evolving the human species.. Kandinsky was a perfect example.