Lot Essay
Like the majority of Kandinsky's early woodcuts printed in colour which were executed between 1902 and 1904 in Munich, Die Nacht is printed in the Japanese manner from apparently two blocks. The colour block was inked by hand with watercolour pigments, which, possibly applied through a stencil, produced the subtle effect of handcolouring. A line block in black was subsequently printed on top. The colours in the present woodcut are similar to the impression in this state in the Gabrielle Münter Stiftung in Munich (G.M.S. 194, see Roethel illustration 6d).
Die Nacht, with its mosaic and jewel-like quality and flattened, sinuously delineated forms, enshrines the finest elements of Kandinsky's Jugendstil period.
The artist declared to his companion Gabriele Münter that the lady in the medieval court dress represented his love for her: 'In Paris habe ich Holzschnitt 'Die Dame' (meine Liebe für dich vorstellend) verkauft.' (Letter from the artist to G. Münter, 25 October 1904, in Archiv der Gabriele Münter und Johannes Eichner Stiftung, Munich.) The gouache model which Kandinsky executed for this print was the first of his works the artist ever gave to her.
A smaller version of this woodcut was published in 1903 as Nacht in the book Gedichte ohne Worte.
Kandinsky's chosen medium of woodcut in these early years forced him to simplify his composition and to analyse the essential elements of the design. Thus it displayed a crucial role in the development of his style, from the Jugendstil and decorative to the abstract.
Die Nacht, with its mosaic and jewel-like quality and flattened, sinuously delineated forms, enshrines the finest elements of Kandinsky's Jugendstil period.
The artist declared to his companion Gabriele Münter that the lady in the medieval court dress represented his love for her: 'In Paris habe ich Holzschnitt 'Die Dame' (meine Liebe für dich vorstellend) verkauft.' (Letter from the artist to G. Münter, 25 October 1904, in Archiv der Gabriele Münter und Johannes Eichner Stiftung, Munich.) The gouache model which Kandinsky executed for this print was the first of his works the artist ever gave to her.
A smaller version of this woodcut was published in 1903 as Nacht in the book Gedichte ohne Worte.
Kandinsky's chosen medium of woodcut in these early years forced him to simplify his composition and to analyse the essential elements of the design. Thus it displayed a crucial role in the development of his style, from the Jugendstil and decorative to the abstract.