拍品专文
Kandinsky painted Dünaberg whilst staying with Gabriele Münter in Murnau, a small town south of Munich. The couple had first come across the town in June 1908, and returned to visit their friends Alexej Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin soon afterwards. The location of Murnau in the rolling hills by the Staffelsee, and the surrounding moor with a view of the Wetterstein Alps to the south, provided a compelling visual environment for the artists.
"Kandinsky's discovery of Murnau signals the beginning of a period of intense artistic activity and immense originality. He became involved again with artists' associations; he began to write and to collaborate on theatre projects; his interests in colour and in music converged. Most significantly, Kandinsky was inspired to paint landscapes which moved beyond his recognizable surroundings to suggest abstractions from nature" (V. Endicott Barnett, Vassily Kandinsky A Colorful Life, New York, 1996, p. 193).
The present work is a fine example from a crucial period in Kandinsky's artistic development towards abstraction. As Will Grohmann comments "Kandinsky's evolution from 1908 to 1910 can be most easily followed in the treatment of a single motive, the church of Murnau. In 1908 the unity of the work is still maintained by rhythmic, parallel brush strokes, by the balance of the colour chords, and by emphasis upon the flat plane. In 1909 appeared the great poetic developments of the theme. The colours are more conspicuous than the construction, however correct; they glow like illuminated windows at night, while outlines are merely approximate accompaniments to the objects. These latter appear to be internally related, and their volumes are reduced to a minimum. The hill near the church has no more body and weight than the conglomerations of white clouds...At some points nothing is to be seen but a tapestry of colour tones." (op. cit., p. 60).
Dünaberg was first exhibited at Herwath Walden's celebrated Der Sturm gallery in Berlin in September 1916 (see illustration below). On 3 March 1910, Walden published the first issue of his periodical Der Sturm which quickly became established as the mouthpiece of the major artistic manifestations of the period. Two years later Walden opened his gallery, where besides the leading German Expressionists, he presented the foremost European painters of the time, including Alexander Archipenko, Marc Chagall and Robert Delaunay.
The 1916 Sturm exhibition included a wealth of other important works of the period by Kandinsky, including Entwurf zu Bild mit weisser Form (R&B.456) of 1913 (no. 19 in the exhibition), in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Träuimerische Improvisation (R&B. 478) of 1913 (no. 28 in the exhibition), in the Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst, Munich, and Bild mit rotem Fleck (R&B.486) of 1914 (no. 29 in the exhibition), in the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris.
"Kandinsky's discovery of Murnau signals the beginning of a period of intense artistic activity and immense originality. He became involved again with artists' associations; he began to write and to collaborate on theatre projects; his interests in colour and in music converged. Most significantly, Kandinsky was inspired to paint landscapes which moved beyond his recognizable surroundings to suggest abstractions from nature" (V. Endicott Barnett, Vassily Kandinsky A Colorful Life, New York, 1996, p. 193).
The present work is a fine example from a crucial period in Kandinsky's artistic development towards abstraction. As Will Grohmann comments "Kandinsky's evolution from 1908 to 1910 can be most easily followed in the treatment of a single motive, the church of Murnau. In 1908 the unity of the work is still maintained by rhythmic, parallel brush strokes, by the balance of the colour chords, and by emphasis upon the flat plane. In 1909 appeared the great poetic developments of the theme. The colours are more conspicuous than the construction, however correct; they glow like illuminated windows at night, while outlines are merely approximate accompaniments to the objects. These latter appear to be internally related, and their volumes are reduced to a minimum. The hill near the church has no more body and weight than the conglomerations of white clouds...At some points nothing is to be seen but a tapestry of colour tones." (op. cit., p. 60).
Dünaberg was first exhibited at Herwath Walden's celebrated Der Sturm gallery in Berlin in September 1916 (see illustration below). On 3 March 1910, Walden published the first issue of his periodical Der Sturm which quickly became established as the mouthpiece of the major artistic manifestations of the period. Two years later Walden opened his gallery, where besides the leading German Expressionists, he presented the foremost European painters of the time, including Alexander Archipenko, Marc Chagall and Robert Delaunay.
The 1916 Sturm exhibition included a wealth of other important works of the period by Kandinsky, including Entwurf zu Bild mit weisser Form (R&B.456) of 1913 (no. 19 in the exhibition), in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Träuimerische Improvisation (R&B. 478) of 1913 (no. 28 in the exhibition), in the Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst, Munich, and Bild mit rotem Fleck (R&B.486) of 1914 (no. 29 in the exhibition), in the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris.