Vassily Kandinsky 1866-1944
Kandinsky was born in Moscow. His Father was a tea merchant and his Mother a member of the upper middle class in Moscow.
The city of Odessa is where Kandinsky spent his childhood and where he graduated from Grekov Odessa Art School. He studied law and economics at the University of Moscow. He was very successful in his career and only started painting at the age of thirty (1896). In 1896 Kandinsky moved to Munich where he studied at Anton Azbe's private school before moving to Munich Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1921 Kandinsky was invited to teach at the Bauhaus which was at that point situated in the City of Weimar. The painting that I have chosen to write about were painted by Kandinsky during his time at the Bauhaus.
The first painting I have chosen is titled "Blue" and was painted by Kandinsky in 1922. "Blue" is one of a number of lithographs done by Kandinsky at this time. Kandinsky's works often have tiles linked to colour. He associates blue with infinity and said "Blue is the typically heavenly colour....The ultimate feeling it creates is one of rest". There are many crosses in this picture created by intersecting curved and straight lines. The picture takes you on a different journey every time you look at it. There are so many small marking that bring images of sea, surf, sand, fish,boats,masts to mind to name but a few.
The second painting is called "Orange" and was painted by Kandinsky in1923. Orange is compossed mainly of geometric elements. I particularly like the overlap of the shapes giving rise to other shapes such as the cross in the centre. The orange shape creates a diagonal from one side of the lithograph to the other.
The third painting is called "Violet" and was painted by Kandinsky in 1923. Again this lithograph uses mainly geometric shapes. A lovely cross is formed in the violet circle by the crossing of three slightly curved lines. Many more crosses are formed by the crossing of lines and shapes which results in the formation of more shapes. I like the use of colour and particularly the colours created in the overlaps.
The third painting "Yellow-Red-Blue" was painted in 1925. This painting is 2 metres wide and was the most important painting Kandinsky painted whilst at the Bauhaus. This is a very complex painting with different areas of colour that draw you in to that particular part and what is happening within it. The use of black lines of different widths cross and give many cross shapes. I particularly like the red cross slightly right of centre that is overlaid with other shapes.I like the ribbon line on the right that just seems to fit so well around the other shapes.
Kandinsky was a pioneer in the abstract movement and is credited with being the first artist to create the first purely abstract piece of art.
References
- www.wassily-kandinsky.org
- wikipedia.org
- google images
- Kandinsky A Retrospective by Lampe and Roberts
Maria Helena Vieira de Silva 1908-1992
Vieira de Silva is a Portugese-French abstractionist painter. She began studying drawing and painting seriously at the age of 11 at Academia de Belas-Artes in Lisbon Portugal. During her teenage years Vieira de Silva studied painting, sculpture and engraving. She studied sculpture for a while in Paris but decided in 1929 to focus on painting. By 1930 she was exhibiting paintings in Paris.
Vieira de Silva received the French Governments Grand Prix National des Arts in 1966, the first woman so honoured.
La Gare Inondee ( The Flooded Station )
I have chosen these two pictures as they are free from copyright. Many of Vieira de Silvas paintings can be viewed on google images.
Many of her paintings follow the same style. Her works tends to be heavily impastoed and overlaid with complex arrangements of small rectangles as above.
( Impasto is a technique used in painting where paint is laid on an area of the surface very thickly. Usually thick enough that the brush or painting knife strokes are visible ).
I like the effect that she has achieved using mostly black and white and tints and shades of these colours, with just a few touches of colour. I feel that this painting has a real feel of disintegration towards the top depicting maybe the gathering of flood water. the front and right hand side show growth and suggestion of escape or way out.
Vieira de Silva uses rectangles in a very clever way giving the picture a life like quality. This feeling of disintegration can be seen in many of her paintings.
O Universo Casca de Noz (The Universe in a Nutshell)
This painting again is painted with many black lines. These lines crossing over gives many cross shapes. There is a feeling of disintegration towards the middle and top right as the lines become much closer together. Other than black and white the colours used have been kept to a minimum. The placing of the colour in relation to the black lines and shapes gives some areas a feeling of calm and other a busy, rushing feel.
Vieira de Silva is considered to be one of the most important Post-war abstract artists although she is not a "pure" abstract painter.
Notes about Module One
Module one hasn't really gone the way I had planned for a variety of reasons. I am glad to be at the stage where I can make a start on my resolved sample and move on to module two. I have made a few notes to myself as to the way forward with the next module.
- Work much more consistently so that the thread isn't lost.
- Remember things don't need to be perfect and experimentation is good and positive.
- Be more spontaneous....don't think too much just do. Think out of the box.
- Use sketchbook much more....again it doesn't need to be neat tidy or perfect.
- Try things...good things can come from mistakes.
- Believe in yourself and don't doubt.
- Working with the same colours has been good but experiment more with dyes to achieve more tints tones and shades.
- Do something no matter how small each day to keep the thread going.
- Keep a note of the time spent and cost of materials used as you go along. Best place for me is in my sketchbook I think.
