Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)

Grau mit Schwarz

Details

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)
Grau mit Schwarz
signed with monogram and dated '40' (lower left)
watercolour in Spritztechnik on black paper laid down on card
19 x 12.3/8in. (49.5 x 32cm.)
Executed in 1940

Provenance

Nina Kandinsky, Paris (until 1972).
Galerie Beyeler, Basel (1972-1987).
Galerie Neher, Cologne (1988).
The Pace Gallery, New York (3972).

Literature

M. Bill, Zehn Farbenlichtdrucke nach Aquarellen und Gouachen, Berne, 1986 (illustrated pl. IX)
S. Kurtz, "In the Beginning was Kandinsky," Artnews, vol.68, no.3 (May 1969), p. 39 (illustrated)
V. Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky Watercolours. Catalogue Raisonn, Volume Two, 1922-1944, London, 1994, no. 1323 (illustrated p. 506). J. Hahl-Koch, Kandinsky, London, 1993, p. 358, no. 430 (illustrated).

Exhibited

San Francisco, Museum of Art, 1942..
Pasadena, Art Museum, 1944.
London, Gimpel Fils, Kandinsky, 1950, no. 31.
Paris, Galerie Maeght, Kandinsky: Aquarelles et gouaches, Collection prive de Madame W. Kandinsky, 1957, no. 52.
Cologne, Walraf-Richartz Museum, Kandinsky, 1958, no. 97.
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Wassily Kandinsky, 1866-1944: A Retrospective Exhibition, 1963, no. 31.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Kandinsky Watercolours, 1969-70, no. 42.
Bern, Kunstmuseum, Kandinsky, 1971, no. 82 (illustrated in colour in the catalogue)
Basel, Galerie Beyeler, Kandinsky, 1972, no. 82 (illustrated in colour in the catalogue).
New York, Pace Gallery, Kandinsky: Watercolours and Drawings, 1911-1943, 1973, no. 25.
Bielefeld, Kunsthalle and Munich, Stdtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Wassily Kandinsky: Aquarelle, Gouachen, Zeichnungen, 1973-74, no. 39.
Rome, Galleria Anna d'Ascanio, Kandinsky, March 1980 (illustrated without page number).
Cologne, Galerie Gmurzynska, The Classical Moderns, 1981, no. 77 (illustrated in colour in the catalogue).
Essen, Galerie Neher, Blickpunkte Deutscher Kunst im 20. Jahrhundert, 1988.
Munich, Galerie Thomas, 1991, no. 28 (illustrated in colour in the catalogue).
Munich, Haus der Kunst, Elan vital oder Das Auge des Eros, Kandinsky, Klee, Mir, Arp, Calder, May-August 1994, no. 28.

Lot Essay

Painted in 1940, only a few years before the artist's death, Grau mit Schwarz epitomizes what Kandinsky had understood as art all his live: "Art is a path every man must walk. Every man must walk it creatively (whether actively or passively). And there is no spritually mature man who does not need this path or can manage to avoid it. And if someone asserts that he is indifferent to art, it merely proves that he is spiritually immature."(exh.cat. Editions Beyeler, Basel, Kandinsky, Aquarelle und Zeichnungen,1972, no p.).

And focusing on the dark blue in Grau mit Schwarz, Kandinsky remarked: "Das sehr dunkle Blau im Ubergang zum Schwarzen bekommt den Beiklang einer nicht-menschlichen Trauer. Unendliche Vertiefung in die ernsten Gedanken der Trauer, wo es kein Ende gibt und geben kann."
(op.cit.)

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