Finding aid for the Wassily Kandinsky papers, 1911-1940 (bulk 1921-1937)
Isabella Zuralski.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Wassily Kandinsky papers
Date (inclusive): 1911-1940 (bulk
1921-1937)
Number: 850910
Creator/Collector:
Kandinsky, Wassily,
1866-1944
Physical Description:
2 Linear Feet
(3 boxes, 1 flat file folder)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: Russian-born artist considered to be
one of the creators of abstract painting. Papers document Kandinsky's teachings at the
Bauhaus, his writings, his involvement with the Russian Academy of Artistic Sciences (RAKhN)
in Moscow, and his professional contacts with art dealers, artists, collectors, and
publishers.
Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials
described in this inventory through the
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Language: Collection material is in German
and Russian with some English and French.
Biographical / Historical Note
Wasily Kandinsky [Vasilii Vasil'evich Kandinskii] was born in 1866 in Moscow, Russia and
died in 1944 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He is considered one of the first creators of
purely abstract painting.
In 1896, after academic studies and initial career in law and social sciences, Kandinsky
turned down an offer of professorship in jurisprudence, and together with his first wife
Anja Shemiakina, left Russia for Munich with the intention of becoming a painter.
In Munich, he enrolled at the Academie der Bildenden Künste where he studied with Anton
Azbé and Franz von Stuck. After achieving a diploma in 1900, Kandinsky participated in
several nonacademic shows, including the Phalanx group in Munich, of which he became
president in 1902, with the Berlin Sezession group, in the Paris Salon' d'Automne and the
Salon des Indépendants, and with the group Die Brücke in Dresden.
In 1909 Kandinsky met the German painter Gabriele Münter. They established a close
relationship and lived and worked together in Munich as well as in Murnau, in southern
Bavaria. At this time Kandinsky began the process that led to the emergence of his personal
style and to the historic breakthrough into abstract painting. The marriage to Anja
Shemiakina was dissolved in 1911.
Kandinsky was actively involved in avant-garde movements in Munich. Among his friends were
Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, Franz Marc, Paul Klee, Hans Arp, August Macke,
and the composer Arnold Schoenberg. In opposition to officially approved art, Kandinsky
helped to found the group Neue Künstlervereinigung, and participated in the group's first
exhibition in 1909 and in the second exhibition in 1910 at the Moderne Galerie Tannhäuser.
While preparing for the third exhibition in December 1911, the group split due to aesthetic
differences. Favouring freedom of expression, Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Gabriele Münter, and
Alfred Kubin, left the group Neue Künstlervereinigung and exhibited their art work that same
month at the Moderne Galerie Tannhäuser [Galerien Thannhauser] under the name Der Blaue
Reiter.
Der Blaue Reiter was also the title of a volume on aesthetics edited
by Kandinsky together with Franz Marc, and published by Piper Verlag in Munich in 1912. Also
in 1912, the Piper Verlag published Kandinsky's main theoretical treatise
Über das
Geistige in der Kunst
.
In 1914, with the outbreak of World War I, Kandinsky left Munich and returned to Russia by
way of Switzerland, Italy, and the Balkans. Gabriele Münter initially accompagnied
Kandinsky; however, their relationship ended in Odessa in 1916. In Moscow Kandinsky settled
down with the intention of reintegrating himself into Russian life. In 1917 he married a
Russian woman, Nina von Andreevskaia. In 1918 he became professor at the Moscow Academy of
Fine Arts and a member of the arts section of the People's Commissariat for Public
Instruction. In 1919 he created the Institute of Artistic Culture, and helped to organize
numerous museums across the Soviet Union. In 1920 he was made professor at the University of
Moscow and was honored with a state-arranged one-man show. In 1921 he founded the Russian
Academy of Artistic Sciences. Because of the change in the Soviet government's policy
towards avant-garde art, Kandinsky and his wife Nina, left Russia for Berlin at the end of
1921.
Early in 1922 Kandinsky was offered a teaching position at the Bauhaus school of
architecture and applied art in Weimar, where he began lecturing on the elements of form,
gave a course in color, and directed the mural workshop. In 1923 Kandinsky became
vice-president of the Sociéte Anonyme in New York and co-editor of the series
Bauhausbücher. In 1924 he founded the group Die Blaue Vier, together with
Klee, Feininger and Jawlensky. In 1925, after the school's relocation to Dessau, Kandinsky
added a class on painting not intended as applied art. In 1926, his second important
treatise
Punkt und Linie zu Fläche, in which he emphasized in particular the
expressiveness of colors, was published by Albert Langen in Munich. In 1927 several
exhibitions of his art took place in Germany and abroad. His essay "Réflexions sur l'art
abstrait" appeared in 1931 in
Cahiers d'art in Paris.
In 1933 the Nazis forced the Bauhaus to close. After living several months in Berlin,
Kandinsky emigrated to France. For the remaining 11 years of his life, he lived with his
wife in an apartment in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris. During this time, he continued to
paint and to write, mainly for the magazine
Cahiers d'art. Numerous
exhibitions of his art took place between 1934 and 1936, including the exhibition in 1935 in
Paris at the gallery Cahiers d'art, in 1936 in the United States at J. B. Neumann's New Art
Circle in New York and at the Stendahl Gallery in Los Angeles, and in San Francisco. In 1937
a retrospective show opened at the Kunsthalle in Bern. Also in 1937, Kandinsky's art work
was included in the propagandistically designed Nazi exhibition of modern art called
Entartete Kunst [Degenerate art], shown at the Hofgarten in Munich.
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Wassily Kandinsky papers, 1921-1937, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession
no. 850910.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa850910
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the repository in 1985.
Processing History
The collection was first processed and described in 1986, when an inventory was prepared.
In 2001, Isabella Zuralski re-processed the collection and wrote a new finding aid.
Alternate Form Available
Microfiche available for Series I.A and parts of Series I.B. (All items in Box 1), and for
Series II.
Scope and Content of Collection
The archive consists of ca. 280 items (on ca. 470 leaves) documenting various aspects of
Kandinsky's professional life from 1911 to 1940. It is organized into four distinct groups.
The most extensive part constitutes a large body of teaching materials from the time
Kandinsky taught at the Bauhaus in Dessau, from 1925 until 1933, the year of the dissolution
of theschool under the pressure from the National Socialist regime. Included are detailed
teaching notes and graphic teaching aids, reading lists and class rosters. The entire
collection was digitized in 2014 and is available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/850910 .
Another group consists of undated manuscript writings by Kandinsky, mainly an unpublished
Russian translation of
Über das Geistige in der Kunst; also outlines for
essays, and miscellaneous notes.
The third group relates to Kandinsky's professional life after his return to Russia at the
outbreak of World War I, where he was actively involved as co-founder and vice president of
the Russian Academy of Artistic Sciences in Moscow. Included are institutional records of
the Academy, as well as outlines and transcripts of lectures and discussions by Kandinsky
and several other Academy members. Most of the papers are dated 1921, the year in which
Kandinsky and his wife left Moscow for Berlin.
The fourth group consists of professional correspondence. A significant portion comprise 19
letters by Kandinsky to the New York art dealer and collector, Israel Ber Neumann, written
between 1934 and 1940, after Kandinsky's relocation from Germany to Neuilly-sur-Seine near
Paris. Also present are ca. 50 letters received by Kandinsky from artists, art dealers,
private collectors, art critics, editors and publishers, dating from 1911 to 1933. The
letters are rich in detail related to Kandinsky's exhibition activities and the reception of
his artistic ideas, as well as provide information about the activities of other significant
persons, including Alexander von Jawlenski, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Franz Marc, and Arnold
Schoenberg, and the American art collector Arthur Jerome Eddy.
Arrangement
The papers are arranged in 4 series:
Series I. Bauhaus teaching materials, Berlin/Dessau, 1925-1933;
Series II. Kandinsky
manuscripts;
Series III. Papers of the Russian Academy of Artistic Sciences [RAKhN], 1921;
Series IV.
Correspondence, 1911-1940.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Names
Weyhe, E.
Wiesner, Julius, 1838-1916
Wittwer, Hans, 1894-1952
Wölfflin, Heinrich, 1864-1945
Tolziner, Philipp
Vesnin, Leonid Aleksandrovich,
1880-1933
Werefkin, Marianne, 1860-1938
Stam-Beese, Lotte,
1903-1988
Sweeney, James Johnson,
1900-1986
Thal, Ida
Segal, Lasar
Sisley, Alfred,
1839-1899
Schoenberg, Arnold, 1874-1951
Schmid, Wilhelm,
1892-1971
Scriabin, Aleksandr Nikolayevich,
1872-1915
Sakharoff, A. (Alexandre),
1886-1963
Schlemmer, Oskar, 1888-1943
Scheyer, Galka E.
Rubin, Reuven,
1893-1974
Röseler, Hermann
Russolo, Luigi
Driesch, Hans, 1867-1941
Barr, Alfred H., Jr., 1902-1981
Drewes, Werner,
1899-1985
Dix, Otto, 1891-1969
Debussy, Claude, 1862-1918
Clemens, Roman
Gabo, Naum, 1890-1977
Fischer, Edward
Eddy, Arthur Jerome, 1859-1920
Duncan, Isadora, 1877-1927
Bloch, Albert
Boerschmann, Ernst, 1873-1949
Bergson, Henri, 1859-1941
Berndt, Siegfried
Behrenbrock
Bayer, Herbert, 1900-1985
Bechtejeff, Wladimir von
Caspar, Karl,
1879-1956
Chagall, Marc, 1887-1985
Breuer, Marcel, 1902-1981
Braga, Dominique
Baumeister, Willi, 1889-1955
Dalí, Salvador, 1904-1989
Arndt, Alfred,
1898-1976
Albers, Josef
Arp, Jean, 1887-1966
Arndt, Gertrud, 1903-2000
Cézanne, Paul, 1839-1906
Ostwald, Wilhelm, 1853-1932
Nierendorf, Karl
Neumann, J. B. (Jsrael
Ber)
Pashkov, V. A.
Palucca, Gret,
1902-1993
Pinder, Wilhelm,
1878-1947
Picabia, Francis, 1879-1953
Ridder, André de
Rebay, Hilla,
1890-1967
Probst, Rudolf
Luckiesh, Matthew, 1883-1967
Manet, Édouard, 1832-1883
Leonidov, Ivan I., 1902-1959
Lissitzky, El, 1890-1941
Marc, Franz, 1880-1916
Marées, Hans von,
1837-1887
Meyer, Hannes, 1889-1954
Monastirski, Luba
Mataré, Ewald,
1887-1965
Neubert, Dr.
Mondrian, Piet, 1872-1944
Münter, Gabriele, 1877-1962
Jaques-Dalcroze, Émile, 1865-1950
Kandinsky, Wassily, 1866-1944
Klee, Paul, 1879-1940
Jawlensky, Alexej von,
1864-1941
Kirschmann, A. (August)
Laban, Rudolf von, 1879-1958
Le Corbusier, 1887-1965
Genin, Robert, 1884-1943
Gide, André, 1869-1951
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von,
1749-1832
Grohmann, Will, 1887-1968
Gropius, Walter, 1883-1969
Guggenheim, Solomon R. (Solomon
Robert), 1861-1949
Helmholtz, Hermann von, 1821-1894
Hertel
Hodler, Ferdinand, 1853-1918
Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig, 1880-1938
Imkamp, Wilhelm,
1906-1990
Jacoby, Heinrich,
1889-1964
Subjects - Corporate Bodies
Rossiĭskai︠a︡ akademii︠a︡
khudozhestvennykh nauk
Brücke (Artists'
group)
Bauhaus
Obshchestvo molodykh architektov
Neue Künstlervereinigung
München
Subjects - Topics
Blaue Reiter (Group of artists)
Neue Sachlichkeit (Art)
Subjects - Titles
Sovremennaia arkhitektura
Cahiers d'art
Genres and Forms of Material
Transcripts
Letters (correspondence)
Lectures
Ink drawings
Drawings (visual works)
Gouaches
Contributors
Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig,
1880-1938
Marc, Franz,
1880-1916
Eddy, Arthur Jerome,
1859-1920
Grohmann, Will,
1887-1968
Schoenberg, Arnold,
1874-1951
Uspenskii, Nikolai Evgenevich
Sérouya, Henri,
1895-
Shor, Evsei D.
Sonderbund
Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler
Seewald, Richard,
1889-1976
Sadleir, Michael,
1888-1957
Deri, Max, 1878-
Gallien, Antoine-Pierre
Frank, S. L. (Semen
Li︠u︡dvigovich), 1877-1950
Erbslöh, Adolf,
1881-1947
Einstein, Carl,
1885-1940
Burberg, K. A.
Bogdanov, A. (Aleksandr),
1873-1928
Bakushinskiĭ, A. V. (Anatoliĭ
Vasilʹevich), 1883-1939
Petrovskii, A. M.
Petrov, N. V.
(Nikolaĭ Vasilʹevich)
Platov, Fedor
Fedorovich, 1895-1967
Piper
Verlag
Reiche, Richart
Mashkov, Ilʹi︠a︡ Ivanovich,
1881-1944
Mashkovt︠s︡ev, N.
G. (Nikolaĭ Georgievich), 1887-1962
Matsievskii
Kandinsky, Wassily,
1866-1944
Kames, Alfred W.
Kluxen, Franz
Klumpp,
Hermann, 1902-1987
Kreis für Kunst Köln
Kogan, P. S. (Petr Semenovich),
1872-1932
Kuznet︠s︡ov,
Pavel Varfolomeevich, 1878-1968
Lazarev, P. P.
(Petr Petrovich), 1878-1942
Germanisches
Nationalmuseum Nürnberg
Hahn,
Livingstone
I︠A︡zvit︠s︡kiĭ, Valeriĭ,
1884-
I︠U︡on, Konstantin Fedorovich,
1875-1958
IUr'evich, Valerii
Series I.
Bauhaus teaching materials, Berlin/Dessau,
1925-1933
Container Summary: ca. 260
items
Scope and Content Note
This series contains material related to Kandinsky's teaching at the Bauhaus school of
architecture and applied art, after the school's relocation from Weimar to Dessau in
1925. It is organized in two subseries: Notes for semesters I, II, and IV and Other
lecture materials.
Series I.A.
Notes for semesters I, II, and IV,
1925-1933
Notes for semesters I, II, and IV: 1925-1933
Container Summary: ca. 190
items
Scope and Content Note
The subseries contains annotated typescripts and manuscripts notes; all text is in
German. The arrangement of the notes follows the order of pagination found on the
items; however, the numbering is most likely not in Kandinsky's hand. The notes relate
mainly to the courses Abstrakte Formelemente [Theory of Form] and Grundlehre
[Preliminary Course] and focus on the graphic elements: line, point, plane, and
composition, and on Kandinsky's color theory. Also present are notes related to
Kandinsky's "freie Malklasse", a course which concentrated on painting not intended as
applied art. Several notes are illustrated with geometrical drawings and diagrams, and
include descriptions of class exercises and critical evaluations of work by specific
students. Kandinsky frequently refers to art history and to current artistic trends in
the visual and in the performing arts. Most of the notes are undated; some have dates
of lectures and classes to which they relate. The frequent presence of several dates
added in pencil indicates that Kandinsky frequently reused his notes between 1925 and
1933.
box 1, folder 1-7
Materials for Semester I courses,
1925-1931
box 1, folder 1
Courses: Abstrakte Formelemente and Grundlehre
Scope and Content Note
20 items, including 1 press clipping. Annotated typescripts and manuscript notes
mainly on the concept of analysis and synthesis in visual arts, architecture,
dance and poetry; also about the perception of color and the history of artistic
trends from Impressionism to abstract art. Kandinsky mentions several contemporary
artists, dancers and composers, including Ferdinand Hodler, Isadora Duncan, Mary
Wigman, Gret Palucca, Alexander Sacharoff, Rudolf Laban, László [Moholy-Nagy?],
Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, Claude Debussy, and Alexander Skriabin, the theater group
Meiningen, also the scientist Hermann von Helmholtz, and Der Blaue Reiter.
box 1, folder 1
I. Semester. Abstrakte Formelemente, Vorträge im Vorkurs des Bauhauses,
Sommersemester 1925, Dessau
Scope and Content Note
3 leaves: p. 2bis-6. Title leaf and 2 leaves of annotated typescript. With
several small geometrical diagrams and drawings. Notes for lectures no. 1, 2 and
3, held frequently between 1925 and 1928.
box 1, folder 1
Grundlehre, Aufgaben. Sommersemester 1926
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p.7. List of student assignments.
box 1, folder 1
Supplement to p. 2
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p.8. Beginning words: "Nach Charakteristik der extremen Spezialisierung
im 19. Jahr."
box 1, folder 1
Text by Cézanne
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 9. Typescript of a text by Cézanne; from an article by Christian
Zervos published in
Cahiers d'art.
box 1, folder 1
Small card
Scope and Content Note
1 item: p. 10-10bis. Inscribed with references to Wilhelm Ostwald's
Die
Harmonie der Farben
, and to Hermann von Helmholtz's
L'optique
et la peinture
.
box 1, folder 1
Manuscript note
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 11-11bis. Concerning the concepts "Wissen" (knowing) and "Erkennen"
(realizing); with a Bauhaus stamp and date April 22, 1931.
box 1, folder 1
Stunde 4, I. Sem. Sommer
1931
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 12. Annotated typescript for a class held during summer semester,
1931. With a reference to jazz music.
box 1, folder 1
"Ein tolles Spiel,"
1933
Scope and Content Note
1 item: p. 13. Press clipping from
Berliner Allgemeine Zeitung
from Feb 22, 1933; review of a soccer game.
box 1, folder 1
Supplement to p.4
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 14. Annotated typescript beginning with words: "Akademie im griech.
Sinne ...."
box 1, folder 1
Supplement to p.2
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 15. Typescript beginning with words: "Nach Synth. Reste im 19. Jahr.
...." With a small diagram added in pencil.
box 1, folder 1
Manuscript notes,
1929
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 16-17. Includes notes for lecture no. 4, dated Nov 18, 1929. With a
small diagram.
box 1, folder 1
Typescript
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 18-19. Beginning with words: "warm- kalt ...." With a reference to
August Kirschmann's theory of color perception.
box 1, folder 1
Supplement to p. 8
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 20. Typescript beginning with words: "2 Klaviere in einem Raum ..."
and "Zum Tanz."
box 1, folder 1
Aufgaben - Sommerferien
1928
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 21. Student assignment for the summer break of 1928.
box 1, folder 1
Aufgaben im Vorkurs
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 22-23. Student assignment with the title "Aufgaben im Vorkurs." With
one small geometrical drawing added in pencil, and manuscript notes on
verso.
box 1, folder 1
Manuscript notes referring to Lecture 2
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 24-24bis. Beginning with words: "Wissen - Analyse ..."
box 1, folder 1
Manuscript notes
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 25-25bis. Beginning with words: "Geistige Kunst ...." With a
reference to Manet, Cézanne, Mondrian, Klee, Picabia, Schlemmer, and Neue
Sachlichkeit.
box 1, folder 1
Manuscript note
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 26. With two diagrams representing a pattern of change in art
history, and a geometrical sketch on verso; also with a reference to Wilhelm
Schaer [?].
box 1, folder 2
Courses Abstrakte Formelemente and Grundlehre
Scope and Content Note
11 items. Annotated typscripts; mainly on the treatment of form, color and plane,
and their interrelationships; also analysis of recent art trends from
Impressionism to Abstract Art.
box 1, folder 2
Grundlehre
Scope and Content Note
1 double-leaf: p. 29-31. A list of lectures for the class Grundlehre; with
short descriptions of topics. Extensive notes in pencil on verso.
box 1, folder 2
Gegensätze von heute
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 32. A table dividing art into two opposing classes: abstract ("ohne
Gegenstand") and representational ("mit Gegenstand"). Kandinsky defines the
inspirational basis of art as being either spiritual ("geistige") or mechanical
("mechanistische").
box 1, folder 2
Stunde 7. I. Semester (Abstrakte Formelemente)
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 33.-34. Annotated; with small diagrams added in pencil. On the
opposites "Intuition - Berechnung " (intuition - calculation) and "Inhalt -
Form" (content - form).
box 1, folder 2
4 Zwecke, die durch alle Zeiten gehen
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 35. Kandinsky defines the objectives of painting.
box 1, folder 2
A list of artists' names
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 36. Names and dates of Manet, Degas, Cézanne, van Gogh, Seurat,
Henri Rousseau, Matisse and Picasso. With remarks on the art of Degas, Cézanne,
Seurat and Rousseau.
box 1, folder 2
Was - Wie - Was, 2 gleichzeitige Vorgänge seit
Impressionisten
Scope and Content Note
2 leaves: p. 37-39. An analysis of recent trends in art from Impressionism to
Abstract Art, including Neoimpressionism, Expressionism, Kubism, Dada, Merz,
Futurism, Neue Sachlichkeit, Surrealism, Verism, Constructivism, El Lissitzky's
Proun paintings, Suprematism, Neoplasticism, and Purism. With extensive
annotations concerning Abstract Art. Annotated in pencil.
box 1, folder 2
Marinetti: Manifest des Futurismus
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 40. An excerpt in German.
box 1, folder 2
Abstrakte Kunst
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 41. With references to Piet Mondrian, Dominique Braga, André Gide,
Dada, Luigi Russolo, and Francis Picabia.
box 1, folder 2
I. Semester. Vor "Farbe"
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 42. Kandinsky defines color in painting and analyses the perception
of various combinations of colors. With a mention of Philipp Otto Runge, Goethe,
Delacroix, and Signac.
box 1, folder 2
Wellenlänge in M.
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 43. A list of various ranges of ultraviolet rays and their color
manifestations. From:
Licht und Arbeit [Light and work] by
Matthew Luckiesh (Berlin : Springer Verlag, 1926). Extensive notes in pencil on
verso.
box 1, folder 3
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
Scope and Content Note
7 items. Mainly annotated typescripts. Analysis of the colors red, white, and
black.
box 1, folder 3
Abstr. F-Elemente
Scope and Content Note
3 leaves: p. 49-51bis. Annotated typescript with titles: "Rot," "Weiss u.
Schwarz," "Charakteristik von W. u. S.," and "Zusammenstellungen." With several
diagrams. Notes for lectures no. 6 and 8, given frequently between 1925 and
1928.
box 1, folder 3
Text by Siegfried Berndt
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 53-53bis. Citations from Siegfried Berndt's"Die Entwicklung des
farbigen Gefühls und seines Ausdruckes"; issued in
Der Pelikan
(26/1927). Annotated.
box 1, folder 3
Clipping of mask
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 54. Illustration [black and white] of a Chinese actor's face painted
as a mask. With a caption explaining the symbolic meaning of the mask
colors.
box 1, folder 3
Manuscript notes
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 55-56. Particularly about the colors white and black. With a
reference to Goethe.
box 1, folder 3
Supplement to lecture 3
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 57-57bis. Typescript and manuscript notes concluding lecture no. 3.
On the concept of synthesis in the arts. With a mention of Gret Palucca, Oskar
Schlemmer, and the musician Heinrich Jacoby [1889-1964].
box 1, folder 4
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
box 1, folder 4
Parallele Versuche mit W. u. S., zu Vortrag 8
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 58-59. Supplement to lecture no. 8. Kandinsky investigates how the
colors white and black change their value when combined with blue or yellow.
box 1, folder 4
Einige Beispiele der Farbwirkung auf lebende Wesen - physiol, bzw.
psychol. art
Scope and Content Note
2 leaves: p. 60-61. Notes concerning the physiological and psychological
effects of various colors on plants, animals and people. With a reference to
Prof. Pomorzeff.
box 1, folder 4
Manuscript note
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 61bis. About the graphic elements line and plane.
box 1, folder 4
Table of color intensities
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 6 1ter. Typescript. Numerical values of various intensities of the
colors white, green, yellow, brown, and black.
box 1, folder 4
Tabelle der Beziehungen zw. Form, Farbe, Sinne usw.
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. VIII. A table showing the relationships between line, angle, plane
and color; vowels; tempo [music]; pulse rate; temperature; thought (Gedanke);
feeling (Gefühl); action (Handlung); and the four senses [VIII].
box 1, folder 4
Zusammenstellungen von Farben
Scope and Content Note
1 small leaf: p. IX. Typescript. Exercises in spatial relationships between
colors. With a burn mark.
box 1, folder 4
9. Vortrag. 14-III-25. Grün-Grau
Scope and Content Note
1 double-leaf: p. X-XIII. Typescript, extensively annotated. With several
diagrams and schematic drawings. Detailed notes on the perception of various
color combinations and on complementary colors. With a burn mark.
box 1, folder 4
Abstrakte Elemente
Scope and Content Note
3 leaves: p. XIV-XIX. Extensively annotated. Notes for lectures 9, 10, 11 and
12 about form, color and plane; a lecture given frequently between 1925 and
1928. Titles of discussed topics: "Punkt u. Linie"; "Fläche"; "Drei
Grundflächen"; "Charakteristik der 3 G-Formen"; "Beziehungen zu 3 Grundfarben";
"Varianten der Flächen." With numerous geometrical drawings and graphs.
box 1, folder 4
Kompositionsübungen
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: unnumbered. Description of exercises in composition for classes of Dec
15, 1925, and Jan 5 and 19, 1926.
box 1, folder 4
Untitled color graph
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: unnumbered. A graph of color combinations, based on the colors green
and red.
box 1, folder 4
Untitled notes
Scope and Content Note
2 small papers: unnumbered. Manuscript notes related to exercises in color; one
includes drawings.
box 1, folder 5
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
Scope and Content Note
4 items (on 5 leaves), pages 62 to 67. Annotated typescripts and manuscript
notes. About the use of point and plane.
box 1, folder 5
Zeichnerische Elemente; Punkt
Scope and Content Note
2 leaves: p. 62-63. About the point ("Punkt") as a graphic and spiritual
element in painting, music, poetry, architecture, dance and sculpture. With a
reference to Gret Palucca, Ewald Mataré and Naum Gabo. Also about the line as a
spiritual and logical concept.
box 1, folder 5
Grundfläche
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 64. About the plane as a graphic element in art.
box 1, folder 5
Zu Stunde 12 - GF
Scope and Content Note
2 leaves: p. 65-67. About the plane as a graphic element in art. With several
diagrams and small drawings added in pencil. Annotated.
box 1, folder 6
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
Scope and Content Note
6 items. Typescript and manuscript notes.
box 1, folder 6
I. Semester 1930 - nach Sommerferien - 8-9-30
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 68. Notes on the spiritual content in art.
box 1, folder 6
Manuscript note
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 69. With a reference to Wilhelm Pinder's
Das Problem der
Generation in der Kunstgeschichte Europas
.
box 1, folder 6
Titles of lectures,
1927
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 69bis. A list of titles of lectures held in Apr-May and Oct-Nov
1927.
box 1, folder 6
Manuscript notes
Scope and Content Note
3 small leaves: p. 70-71ter. Notes on form and color in art.
box 1, folder 7
Korrekturen zu Vorträgen von Ostwald
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf of typescript; paged 72. Undated. Kandinsky comments on Wilhem Ostwald's
color theory.
box 1, folder 8-20
Lecture Notes for Semester II,
1927-1933
box 1, folder 8
II. Semester
Scope and Content Note
Title leaf: unpaged.
box 1, folder 8
Malklasse, Freitag 6.I.33, Zusammenstellungen
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 73-74. Student assignment: a comparison between a painting by David
and a painting by Manet. Kandinsky also mentions paintings by Otto Dix, Wilhelm
Schmid, and Alfred Sisley, and compares one of his own paintings to a painting
by Marc Chagall.
box 1, folder 8
II. Semester - nach Schluss des I. Sem... I. Stunde
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 75. Notes for the first and the second class. Extensively annotated;
with several drawings added in pencil. About rhythm as an element of
painting.
box 1, folder 8
Fragen nach Schluss des I. Semesters
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 76. A list of main topics addressed by Kandinsky during the first
semester.
box 1, folder 9
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
box 1, folder 9
II. Semester, Zu Stunde I. Anfang
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 77. About "Aufbau" (composition) and "Rhytmus" (rthythm) as form
elements in art.
box 1, folder 9
Astronomie - Entfernungen
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 78. About colors of various frequencies of light.
box 1, folder 9
Wintersemester 1926/7, and Sommersemester 1928,
1926-1928
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 79-80. Description of student assignments for classes 6, 12 and 13
of the winter semester of 1926/1927. On verso, notes of the discussion of
students' work during the last class of summer semester 1928.
box 1, folder 9
Typescript and manuscript notes
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 81-82. Beginning with words: "Was ist das Materielle in allen
Künsten?" and "Anfänge der Kunst." An annotation indicates that this note
supplements p. 4.
box 1, folder 9
Abstrakte Formelemente - Grundlehre, Wintersemester 25/6,
1925-1926
Scope and Content Note
1 double-leaf: p. 83-85. Annotated typescript. With several drawings added in
pencil. Notes to lecture no. 13, given frequently between 1926 and 1927.
Description of students' assignments.
box 1, folder 9
Stunde [10?] - Fortsetzung
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 86. Typescript; with several drawings added in pencil. About rhythm
in painting, including a comparison of rhythm in paintings by Van Gogh and by
Piet Mondrian.
box 1, folder 9
IV Semester. Konstruktion-Gestaltung. (Malerei)
Scope and Content Note
1 double-leaf: p. 87-89. Typescript, extensively annotated, with several small
schematic drawings illustrating rhythm in composition. Notes for two lectures on
composition in art and technology.
box 1, folder 10
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
box 1, folder 10
II. Semester 1939/31 (Winter)
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 90. Typescript. A description of students' assignments for Dec. 12,
1930 and "2. Stunde" (second lecture). The assignments concern the square as a
"Grundform" (basic form), and the relationship between line and color.
box 1, folder 10
II. Semester. Zu Stunde 3
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 91. Typescript. Notes concerning the relationship between art and
nature, the line as a form element in art; and a description of students'
assignments.
box 1, folder 11
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
box 1, folder 11
Zur letzten Stunde Sommersemster
1927-1928
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 92-93. Typescript. Notes concerning line and color. With a
description of students' assignments, and annotations in pencil concerning
Kandinsky's teaching plans for the summer semester 1928.
box 1, folder 12
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
box 1, folder 12
Stunde 4 - II. Semester Sommer
1931
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: 94-95. Notes for lectures 4, 5, 6 and 7, concerning the theme "Kunst -
Wissenschaft- Technik - Natur" (art - science - technology - nature). With a
small table and annotations in pencil.
box 1, folder 12
Bewegungen der Pflanze
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 96-97. Typescript, extensively annnotated on verso. Kandinsky refers
to Julius Wiesner's theory of phototropism in plants.
box 1, folder 12
Manuscript note
Scope and Content Note
1 item: p. 96bis. A small note with words "II. Sem. Kugel Kreis."
box 1, folder 12
II. Semester - zu rhytmische Konstruktion
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 98. Kandinsky lists the five principles of crystallographic
ornamentation ("Kristallograf. Ornamentik"). With five geometrical drawings.
box 1, folder 12
Supplement to lecture 7
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 99. Typescript, extensively annotated, with 2 drawings added in
pencil.
box 1, folder 12
Supplement to lecture 5 (II. Semester)
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 100. Beginning with words: "Kölner Dom und Jupitertempel in
Baalbeck." About the vertical and the horizontal line as a form element in
architecture.
box 1, folder 12
Supplement to lecture 5 (II. Semester)
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 100bis. Beginning with words: "Innere Verbindungen." About nodal
points as elements of composition in Venetian mosaics and Russian icons.
box 1, folder 13
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
box 1, folder 13
Linie
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 101-102. Annotated typescript. Notes for lectures 3, 4, 5, and 6;
mainly about the form element line; also about the concept of "gesetz- u.
zweckmässig" (regular and functional) in art, science and technology.
box 1, folder 13
Manuscript note
Scope and Content Note
1 item: p. 103-103bis. With a small geometrical drawing.
box 1, folder 13
Typescript
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 104. About the form elements plane, line, and point in geometry,
botany and zoology. Includes a citation from
Abstammungslehre.
box 1, folder 14
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
Scope and Content Note
About composition.
box 1, folder 14
II. Semester, zu Konstruktion. Fläche
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 105-105bis. About the structure of crystals. With two geometrical
drawings and a reference to
Allgemeine Kristallographie.
box 1, folder 14
II. Semester - zu Stunde 3 and II. Semester - zu Stunde 4
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 106-106bis. Notes concerning rhythm, line, and plane.
box 1, folder 14
Konstruktion - Beziehungen der Einzelteile u. Fernwirkungen II.
Sem.
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 107. With references to theories of Hans Driesch and Henri
Bergson.
box 1, folder 15
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
box 1, folder 15
II. Semester
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 108-109. Notes for semester 2, lectures 7, 8, and 9; mainly about
the rhythm and harmony of color and line. With several small drawings added in
pencil. Kandinsky refers to the color theory of Goethe.
box 1, folder 15
II. Sem. 1932 - Stunde 9
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 110-111. Notes for semester 2, lecture 9; mainly analyzing changes
of composition in painting from ancient times to present. Kandinsky also
analyzes the concept of "Geistige Atmosphäre" (spiritual atmosphere) and its
manifestation in art. With a mention of Franz Marc's painting "Gelbe Kuh"
(Yellow Cow).
box 1, folder 15
Stunde 8
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 112-115. Typescript, manuscript notes and small drawings; beginning
with words "Stunde 8." Notes for semester 2, lectures 7 and 8. About composition
in painting.
box 1, folder 16
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
box 1, folder 16
Bemerkungen zu Bildern, II. Sem. Analyse
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 116. Typescript. Kandinsky analyzes composition in paintings by Hans
Holbein (the Younger), Dieric Bouts, Pieter Bruegel (the Elder), and Leonardo da
Vinci.
box 1, folder 16
Rhytmus in zeichn. u. in maler. Form
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 117. Typescript. Kandinsky compares rhythm in architecture, painting
and sculpture. With a reference to Heinrich Wölfflin's
Renaissance und
Barock.
box 1, folder 17
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
box 1, folder 17
Neue Kunst (Bilder - Beispiele), II. Sem. 1932
Scope and Content Note
2 leaves: p. 118-120. Typescript. Notes for lectures 9, 10, 11, and 13 of the
second semester. Mainly an analysis of composition in several recent trends in
art, and by individual artists, including Cézanne, Marées, the group Die Brücke,
Klee, Dalí, Mondrian, and others. Kandinsky also lists students' questions and
answers.
box 1, folder 18
II. Semester
Scope and Content Note
1 double-leaf, numbered: V-VII. Typescript, with annotations and small
geometrical drawings. Notes about rhythm in composition, especially in painting
and in dance.
box 1, folder 19
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
box 1, folder 19
Hauptlehre Kompositionsübungen Anfang - 18 VII 25
Scope and Content Note
1 double-leaf. Title page. Unnumbered.
box 1, folder 19
IV. Semester (Winter- 1929/1930)
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 121. typescript. Teaching plan for the winter session 1929-1930,
lectures 1, 2, 3, and 4 held in Nov 1929.
box 1, folder 19
Hauptlehre, Kompositionsübungen,
1925-1926
Scope and Content Note
3 double-leaves: p. 122-132. Typescript, with several small geometrical
drawings: notes for lectures 1 to 15, dated between Jun 1925 to Nov 23, 1926.
Annotated. Description of students' exercises in composition and color.
box 1, folder 20
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
Scope and Content Note
4 items: typescripts and manuscript notes.
box 1, folder 20
Elementare Kompositionsspiele
Scope and Content Note
1 double-leaf: 4 pages, of which only 1 page of text numbered 133. List of
students' exercises in composition, conducted by Kandinsky on Jan 26, 1926 (date
added in pencil).
box 1, folder 20
Supplements to lectures 1 and 2
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 134-135. Manuscript notes for lectures 1 and 2. About the
relationship of man and space (Mensch - Raum).
box 1, folder 20
Supplement to lectures 3 and 4
1928
Scope and Content Note
1 small leaf: p. 136-136bis. Notes for lectures 3 and 4, dated Nov. 28, 1928.
With two small geometrical drawings. About composition.
box 1, folder 20
Supplement to lecture 8,
1929
Scope and Content Note
1 small leaf: p. 137-137bis. Notes supplementing lecture 8, dated June 21,
1929. About composition in Chinese and Egyptian art.
box 1, folder 21-22
Lecture Notes for Semester IV,
1928-1929
box 1, folder 21
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
Scope and Content Note
10 leaves. Typescripts, some annotated. Notes for semester 4, lectures 2 to
10.
box 1, folder 21
IV. Semster. Zu Stunde 3. Aufgabe: Charakteristik der Abstr.
Kunst
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 138-139. Notes for lecture 3. About the concepts form and content
("Form - Inhalt") in abstract art. With a mention of the art movement New
Objectivity ("Neue Sachlichkeit').
box 1, folder 21
Stunde 4,
30 Nov 1928
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 140. With three small geometrical drawings. About the stage design
at Bauhaus (Bauhausbühne).Kandinsky refers to the stage designer Roman Clemens;
mentions a lecture on the functionality of a chair by Dr. Neubert; and names
Edward Fischer in the context of lecturing about the definition of the concept
"life".
box 1, folder 21
IV. Semester. 2. Stunde
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 141-142. Annotated typescript. Notes for lectures 2 (dated in pencil
May 4 1928) and lectures 4 and 5 (dated May 18 1928 and Dec 7 1928). With
several small geometrical drawings. About form as a psychological concept and
about the relationship between form and space. Kandinsky refers to the theories
of Hans Driesch, writes about Bauhaus architecture, especially of Le Corbusier
and Gropius, and analyses the design of a chair by Marcel Breuer.
box 1, folder 21
IV. Semester. Stunde 5
Scope and Content Note
2 leaves: p. 143-145. Typescript and extensive manuscript notes for lectures 5
and 6. About form and content in objects and in architecture, and about the
relationship between art and functionality ("sachliche Zweckmässigkeit").
box 1, folder 21
Stunde 6. Mitteilung Ziehkraft - Inhalt und Form
Scope and Content Note
2 leaves: p. 146-148. Typescript and extensive manuscript notes for lectures 6
and 7. Lecture 7 is dated Jun 15 1928. About form and content. Kandinsky
justifies the absence of decoration ("Das Ornament") in contemporary art.
box 1, folder 21
Stunde 7 - 25-I-29, and Stunde 8 - I-2-29
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 149-150. Notes for lectures 7 and 8, about life, form and content.
Lecture 7 has title "Thema - Wohnhausbau (ein Teil des Themas "Leben')." Lecture
8 has title "Thema: Inhalt u. Form."
box 1, folder 21
Stunde 8. 22-6-28
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 151-152. Annotated typescript. Notes for lectures 8 , 9 and 10,
given in Jun and Jul 1928. About objectivity in technology and in art
("Sachlichkeit in Technik und Kunst", see p. 146). Kandinsky comments on work by
the artists Ida Thal, Wilhelm Imkamp, Behrenbrock, and [Albert] Braun; also
presents the architectural principles of Philipp Tolziner and Lotte Beese.
box 1, folder 21
Stunde 8,
21 Jun 1929
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 153-154. Typescript, with small geometrical drawings added in
pencil. Continuation of lecture no. 7; about vertical and horizontal lines as
elements of composition.
box 1, folder 21
Manuscript notes on form
Scope and Content Note
1 small leaf: unnumbered. With several small geomerical drawings.
box 1, folder 22
Course Abstrakte Formelemente
Scope and Content Note
16 items.
box 1, folder 22
IV. Semester. Konstruktion-Gestaltung-Komposition
Scope and Content Note
1 double-leaf. Unpaged.
box 1, folder 22
4. Semester Künstlerische Gestaltung,
1928
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 22 (numbered in red crayon). List of participants of the summer
session 1928: Beese, Bergner, Monastirsky, Sitte, Tolziner, Zierath.
Annotated.
box 1, folder 22
Deklaration der "Vereinigung junger Architekten" Moskau
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 155-156. Notes for class 8. With several small drawings. Kandinsky
presents the aesthetic theories of OMA (Vereinigung junger Architekten) in
Moscow, and refers to articles issued in
CA [Sovremennaia arkhitektura]
on architectural projects by Iwan I. Leonidov (the Lenin Institute
Project) and by V. A. Pashkov (the VHUTEMAS art school building and the Lenin
Library building). Kandinsky also refers to projects by Hannes Meyer and Hans
Wittwer in Geneva, a project by Le Corbusier in Stuttgart, and an article by
Leonid Aleksandrovich Vesnin issued in
CA [Sovremennaia
arkhitektura]
.
box 1, folder 22
Illustration of a W33 Junkers airplane
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 156bis.
box 1, folder 22
Stunde 9 - 5-7-29,
1929
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 157. Notes on style and composition in Russian architecture.
box 1, folder 22
Stunde 10 - 1-3-29, Stunde 11 - 8-3-29, and Stunde 12 -
15-3-29,
1929
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 158-159. Notes on the horizontal and vertical elements of compostion
in architecture, painting and theater. Kandinsky compares the compositions of a
Gothic cathedral, a modern factory building, and a Chinese pagoda. With several
references to recent trends in painting; and to articles published in
CA
[Sovremennaia arkhitektura]
on Le Corbusier and the Russian avantgarde
theater. A short mention regarding class no. 13 (Stunde 13).
box 1, folder 22
Stunde 14 - 19-10-28,
1928
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 160. Notes on composition in several European paintings, mainly in
15th century Flemish painting; and on the horizontal and vertical elements in
Chinese architecture. Kandinsky refers to specific structures described by Ernst
Boerschmann in
Baukunst und Landschaft in China [1926].
box 1, folder 22
Manuscript notes
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 160bis. About abstract art.
box 1, folder 22
IV. Semester (28 Sommer)
1928
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 161-162. Manuscript notes concerning composition and rhythm. With
several small drawings illustrating various combinations of lines within a
square. With caption: "Gesetz - Zweck."
box 1, folder 22
Stunde 12 - 28-9-28, and Stunde 13 - 5-10-28,
1928
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 163-164. Notes concerning student exercises in composition
(horizontal and vertical elements). Kandinsky discusses the work by students Ida
Thal and Luba Monastirski.
box 1, folder 22
Stunde 13, 22-3-29 IV. Sem.
1929
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 165. Kandinsky analyzes the composition in works by Hans Arp
(woodcuts), Iwan I. Leonidov, V. A. Pashkov, El Lissitzky, Willy Baumeister,
Oscar Schlemmer, and Herbert Bayer; and refers to articles on Leonidov published
in
CA [Sovremennaia arkhitektura] .
box 1, folder 22
Stunde 13 - 27-9-29,
1929
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 165bis. Notes concerning a lecture given by V. Arend [Alfred
Arndt?].
box 1, folder 22
IV. Semester, nach Stunde 10
Scope and Content Note
1 small leaf: p. 166. Notes for lecture no. 10.
box 1, folder 22
Zu Stunde 12
Scope and Content Note
1 small leaf with manuscript notes: p. 166bis-166ter. Beginning words:
"Sachlichkeit u. Romantik."
box 1, folder 22
Stunde 11 - 21-9-28,
1928
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 167. Notes for lecture no. 10 concerning the vertical and horizontal
elements of composition in architecture. Kandinsky compares the composition of a
Gothic cathedral with the composition of a modern factory building; and refers
to architectural projects discussed in
Internationale
Architektur
(
Bauhausbücher I) [by Walter Gropius].
box 1, folder 22
Stunde 10 - 12-7-29 IV. Semester, and Stunde 14 - 18-10-29,
1929
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf: p. 168. Lecture no. 10: about the vertical and horizontal elements in
composition in art and technology. Lecture no 14: Kandinsky comments on the
concepts of content and form (Inhalt - Form) by Sander [?], and on a lecture on
composition in abstract art given by V. Arend [Alfred Arndt?]
Series I.B.
Other lecture material,
1922-1933
Other lecture material: 1922-1933
Container Summary: ca. 70
items
Scope and Content Note
Subseries contains miscellaneous texts by Kandinsky and other authors, course
outlines, student attendance lists, and course reading lists. Also included are ca. 40
graphic teaching aids: drawings of geometrical forms in various colors.
box 1, folder 23
Die Farbwelt and Von der Farbe,
undated, 1929
Scope and Content Note
2 leaves; written in Sütterlin script; possibly not in Kandinsky's hand. Text
titled "Die Farbwelt" is dated "Jan 29", and includes a diagram of complementary
colors.
box 1, folder 24
"Harmonie in Grau" by Wilhelm Ostwald
undated
Scope and Content Note
3 leaves. Offprint from unidentified journal. With several illustrations.
box 1, folder 25
"Linie und Punkt in der Technik" by K. A. Burberg,
1927
Scope and Content Note
4 leaves. Typescript. Draft with corrections. Dated: "dessau den 15. februar
1927." With a manuscript greeting by the author.
box 1, folder 26
Course outline: Freie malerische Gestaltung (Malunterricht im
Bauhaus)
1927
Scope and Content Note
2 leaves: p. I-IV. Typescript. Descriptions of exercises given to students of the
free painting course, taught by Kandinsky during the summer and winter semesters
of 1927. Kandinsky describes and comments on work by the students Werner Drewes,
Herman Röseler [Rössler], Spiess and Fräulein Hantsch [Gertrud Arndt]; suggests
solutions; mentions work by Wilhelm Imkamp and Ida Thal; and refers to the color
theory of Wilhelm Ostwald.
box 1, folder 27
Attendance lists
Scope and Content Note
The leaves are numbered in red pencil.
box 1, folder 27
Hauptlehre - Kompositionslehre,
1925-1926
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf. Typescript list, dated: "1925/6 Ende Sommer u. Winter."
box 1, folder 27
IV. Semester - Sommer 1928 Unterricht Kandinsky -
Konstruktion-Gestaltung-Komposition (Seminar),
1928-1929
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf; typescript. Attendance lists for the summer 1928 session and for the
winter 1928-1929 session.
box 1, folder 27
Attendance lists,
1928
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf. Signatures of students attending classes 6, 7 8, 9, and 10, held
between June 1 and July 6 1928.
box 1, folder 27
Attendance list,
1928
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf. Signatures of students attending class 1, held Nov 2 1928.
box 1, folder 27
Attendance lists,
1929
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf. Signatures of students attending classes 6, 7, 8, and 9, held between
Jan 18 and Feb 15, 1929.
box 1, folder 27
Supplement to the attendance list for the free painting
course,
1931
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf; typescript; dated: "dessau, den 21.4.31."
box 1, folder 27
Freie Malklasse,
1932-1933
Scope and Content Note
1 large double-leaf; folded. Manuscript listing of students' names on school's
form.
box 1, folder 28
Strukturbegriff in Malerei und Baukunst
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf. Typescript. A list of books on the concept of structure in painting and
architecture.
box 1, folder 28
Kunst
Scope and Content Note
1 item (8 leaves): 4 carbon copies of a two-page typescript list of books on
art and architecture.
box 1, folder 28
Musik
Scope and Content Note
4 leaves: carbon copies of a one-page list of books on music.
box 1, folder 28
Bücherverzeichnis
Scope and Content Note
1 item (4 leaves): carbon copy of a four-page list of books on art and
architecture. Annotated.
box 1, folder 28
Manuscript list of books on music
Scope and Content Note
1 item: manuscript list of books on music published in the 18th and 19th
centuries.
box 1, folder 28
Manuscript list
Scope and Content Note
3 leaves: manuscript list of books on art and literature.
box 1, folder 29
Miscellaneous manuscript notes
Scope and Content Note
9 items. The leaves are numbered in a separate sequence: 3, 6-9, 11, 13, 16, and
21b: mainly notes on plane, line, and color. Included is an annotated double leaf
colored in pink and silver.
box 1, folder 30
Kurzes Programm des Unterrichts "Formelemente" (Grundlehre),
1926
Scope and Content Note
1 item (2 leaves): typescript; dated: "Dessau, 27-9-26." Course decription of
Kandinsky's Abstrakte Formelemente class; including a section on analytical
drawing. With a burn mark.
box 1, folder 31
Congratulatory letter to Kandinsky by his students,
1931
Scope and Content Note
1 item (10 leaves): in honor of Kandinsky's 65th birthday, a manuscript letter
from the students of the free painting course ("freie Malklasse"). Includes a
celebratory statement in the hand of Hermann Klumpp, followed by several sheets of
students' signatures.
box 1, folder 32
Im Falle der Ausfuhr von Gemälden, Kupfer- und Stahlstichen,
Holzschnitten und Zeichnungen
Scope and Content Note
1 item. An undated typescript note concerning export of art; signed:
Statistisches Reichsamt, Abteilung II, Handels- und Verkehrsstatistik.
box 1, folder 33
Untitled typescript,
1922
Scope and Content Note
1 item (2 leaves); dated: "Berlin, den 4. Mai 1922"; concerning the establishment
of a Russian section at the Carl Heymanns Verlag in Berlin. The plan involved
Professor Lundberg [Evgenii Germanovich Lundberg?], Professor Lagorio, and
Kandinsky.
box 2*, folder 1-8
Graphic teachings aids,
undated
box 2*, folder 1
Clippings and geometrical drawings
Scope and Content Note
12 items; most are numbered in red pencil.
box 2*, folder 1
Clippings,
Scope and Content Note
1 envelope (12.5 x 15.5 cm.), containing 30 paper clippings in various sizes
and shapes: rectangles, squares, triangles, circles, and stripes. Manuscript
notes in pencil on envelope include: II. Sem. Stunde 9.
box 2*, folder 1
Three geometical drawings
Scope and Content Note
1 item: unnumbered. Three geometrical drawings in black ink; annotated: "Nach
Hering."
box 2*, folder 1
A circular form
Scope and Content Note
1 item: number 5. A circular shape in black ink.
box 2*, folder 1
Three colored circles
Scope and Content Note
1 item: number 20. Three circles hand-colored in burgundy or maroon, orange,
and olive-green (gouache?). Annotated below each circle with titles "Braunrot,
Citron, Olive" and diagrams of color combinations. Manuscript notes relating to
color theory on verso, in pencil.
box 2*, folder 1
Drawings
Scope and Content Note
1 item: number 10. Outline drawings in black ink of the circular shapes of a
rotary phone and a barometer; annotated in pencil.
box 2*, folder 1
Circular shape
Scope and Content Note
1 item: number 12. Drawing of a circular shape in black ink; with extensive
manuscript notes in pencil on the graphic element of the line. Beginning words:
"Die Kunst steht und schwellt in Linien..."
box 2*, folder 1
Two geomerical drawings of a circle and a square
Scope and Content Note
1 item: number 14. Two geometrical drawings of a circle and a square contained
within each other; in black ink. With notes refering to the values of "positive"
and "negative", and references to colors marked as "G" and "B".
box 2*, folder 1
A grid
Scope and Content Note
1 item: number 4. A square grid in black ink (18 x 18 cm.).
box 2*, folder 1
Drawings of pendulum clock
Scope and Content Note
1 item: number 30. Two geomerical drawings of a pendulum clock in black ink.
Manuscript notes in pencil.
box 2*, folder 1
Zu Lebensfunktionen
Scope and Content Note
1 item: number 19. Small geometrical drawing in pencil of a pendelum, and notes
refering to "Seele" and "Körper" (soul and body).
box 2*, folder 1
Zu St. 9
Scope and Content Note
1 item: number 15. Manuscript notes and diagrams about color; three sketched
compositions in pencil on verso.
box 2*, folder 1
Rectangular drawing
Scope and Content Note
1 item: number 2. Drawing of a rectangle in black ink (image 14 x 10 cm.);
dimensions indicated in pencil.
box 2*, folder 2
Rectangles and circles
Scope and Content Note
3 groups of rectangles and circles in various colors (gouache?)
box 2*, folder 2
One circle, two rectangles: yellow, green, and red
Scope and Content Note
3 items: a yellow circle (diam. 19 cm.); a rectangle (green, with stains in red
and silver, 10.5 x 25.5 cm.); and a red rectangle (12.3 x 25.8 cm).
box 2*, folder 2
One circle, two rectangles: black, red, and green
Scope and Content Note
3 items: a black rectangle (10 x 30 cm.); a red circle (diam. 19 cm.); and a
rectangle (green, with stains in red and white, 10.2 x 30.3 cm.).
box 2*, folder 2
One circle, two rectangles: white, black, and green
Scope and Content Note
3 items: a white circle (white, diam. 18.5); a black rectangle (10 x 30.2 cm.);
and a green rectangle (10 x 30 cm.).
box 2*, folder 3
Rectangles and circles
Scope and Content Note
4 groups of rectangles and circles in various colors (gouache?),
box 2*, folder 3
Two rectangles: black and red
Scope and Content Note
2 items: a black rectangle (10 x 30 cm.); and a red rectangle (12.5 x
25.5).
box 2*, folder 3
Two red circles
Scope and Content Note
2 items: two circles (both diam. 18.5 cm.), each in a different tone of
red.
box 2*, folder 3
One red rectangle
Scope and Content Note
1 item: a rectangle (red, covered with silver tissue, 24.8 x 20.7 cm.).
box 2*, folder 3
Two rectangles: black and red
Scope and Content Note
2 items: a black rectangle (10 x 30.2 cm.); and a red/burgundy rectangle (10 x
30 cm.).
box 2*, folder 4
Rectangles and circles
Scope and Content Note
3 groups of rectangles and circles in various colors (gouache?),
box 2*, folder 4
Two circles: white and pink
Scope and Content Note
2 items: a white circle (diam. 18.5 cm.); and a pink circle (diam. 18.5
cm.).
box 2*, folder 4
Two circles: gray and green
Scope and Content Note
2 items: a gray circle (diam. 18.5 cm.); and a light green circle (diam. 18.5
cm.).
box 2*, folder 4
Two rectangles: red and dark blue
Scope and Content Note
2 items: a rectangle (red, with red and silver stains, 12 x 25.5 cm.); and a
dark blue rectangle (10 x 30 cm.).
box 2*, folder 5
Drawing with title "Knotenpunkte [?] Linien. u.
Flächenform"
Scope and Content Note
1 item: drawing in black ink; 18 x 18 cm., on sheet 23 x 31 cm.; mounted. The
drawing demonstrates the positioning of focal points caused by progressive
diagonal divisions within a square.
box 2*, folder 5
Triangle with cut-out overlay,
Scope and Content Note
2 items: an equilateral triangle (30 x 30 cm., on sheet 32 x 32 cm.), divided
into 10 equilateral triangular parts, each one hand-colored (gouache?). Corner
colors: yellow, blue and red. Marked in pencil: "Stunde 8." Together with a
cut-out overlay (31.5 x 33.3 cm.), also marked in pencil: "Stunde 8." Both items
are mounted.
box 2*, folder 6
Black circle on white square
Scope and Content Note
1 item: circle (diam. 18.5 cm.), painted black (charcoal?); pasted down on
plain paper (29.2 x 30.1 cm.); mounted.
box 2*, folder 6
White circle on black square
Scope and Content Note
1 item: circle (diam. 18.5 cm.), painted white (gouache?); pasted down on paper
(29.6 x 30 cm.), colored black (pastel); mounted.
box 2*, Folder 7
Miscellanous
Scope and Content Note
Two brown sheets with annotations in pencil.
Box 2A, folder 1
Yellow circle on white square
Scope and Content Note
1 item: circle (diam. 18.5 cm.), painted yellow (gouache?); pasted down on
plain paper (29.3 x 30 cm.); mounted.
Box 2A, folder 2
Yellow circle on black square,
Scope and Content Note
1 item: circle (18.5 cm.), painted yellow (gouache?); pasted down on paper
(29.2 x 30.5 cm.), colored black (gouache?); mounted.
Box 2A, folder 3
Blue circle on white square
Scope and Content Note
1 item: circle (diam. 18.5 cm.), painted blue (pastel); pasted down on plain
paper (29.2 x 30 cm.); mounted.
Box 2A, folder 4
Blue circle on black square
Scope and Content Note
1 item: circle (diam. 18.5 cm.), painted blue (pastel); pasted down on paper
(30.5 x 29 cm.), painted black (charcoal?); mounted.
Series II.
Kandinsky manuscripts,
undated
Physical Description:
1
box(es)
Scope and Content Note
This series consists of two subseries: Manuscript in Russian of Über das Geistige in
der Kunst [
On the spiritual in art], and other texts by Kandinsky. The
entire collection was digitized in 2014 and is available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/850910 .
Series II.A.
Manuscript in Russian of
Über das Geistige in der
Kunst
,
undated
Manuscript in Russian of Über das Geistige in der Kunst: undated
Container Summary: ca. 75
leaves
Scope and Content Note
The first subseries contains portions of Kandinsky's own Russian translation of
Über das Geistige in der Kunst [On the spiritual in art], an
annotated proof copy, and drafts for the figures in chapter IV. The manuscript
consists mainly of text in Kandinsky's own hand and some typescripts.
box 3, folder 1
Predislovie [Preface],
undated (after
1915)
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf; typescript. Kandinsky mentions his writings on the analysis of form and
composition from 1915. The beginning words are similar as in the preface to the 2nd
edition of 1912.
box 3, folder 1
Draft of Vvedenie [Introduction],
undated
Scope and Content Note
4 leaves. Two typescript copies of a two-page text. One of the copies includes
corrections in pencil and three small schematic pencil drawings or signs.
box 3, folder 2
Draft of chapter III: Povorot [The spiritual turning-point],
undated
Scope and Content Note
6 leaves; typescript. Two copies of a three-page text. The pages are marked as
"Povorot I" and "Povorot 3." The text contains portions of the third chapter
"Povorot k dukhovnomu [The spiritual turning-point]."
box 3, folder 3
Pages 1-5,
undated
Scope and Content Note
6 leaves of a manuscript in ink; untitled; pages are numbered 1 to 5. [Needs
further analysis.]
box 3, folder 4
[Section?] 28,
undated
Scope and Content Note
4 leaves of a ms in ink; untitled; all pages are numbered as parts of [section?]
28. [Needs further analysis.]
box 3, folder 5
Draft of a footnote from chapter VI,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf; typescript with corrections. Caption: "Predelzhenie prim.2/ na str. 64."
The text is similar to the text of the footnote no. 4 from chapter VI titled "Iazyk
form i krasok" ["The language of form and colour"].
box 3, folder 6
Pages 65-71,
undated
Scope and Content Note
6 leaves, numbered from 65 to 71; manuscript in ink. [Needs further analysis.]
box 3, folder 7
Pages 74-107,
undated
Scope and Content Note
36 leaves, numbered continuously from 74 to 107, and 2 additional single-leaves
numbered 82 and 83; manuscript in ink. [Needs further analysis.]
box 3, folder 8
Unnumbered manuscript pages,
undated
Scope and Content Note
2 leaves; manuscript in ink; includes a small drawing of a triangle.
box 3, folder 9
Text with geometrical figures,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf; typescript with two section titles: "Zelenoe [Green]" and "Elementy
konstruktsii [Elements of construction]." The text and the figures relate to
Kandinsky's concept of the pairs of antithesises of colors and of movements as
elements of composition in art. This item is most likely a draft for the figures in
chaper VI "Iazyk form i krasok" ["The language of form and colour"].
box 3, folder 10
Draft of chapter VIII: "Tvorenie i khodozhnik [Art and artist]"
undated
Scope and Content Note
5 leaves; numbered 1-5; typescript. Draft of chapter VIII: "Proizvedenie iskusstva
i khudozhnik" ["Art and artist"].
box 3, folder 11
Epreuves corrigées de l'editión russe du
Spirituel
,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 item (20 leaves): pages 19 to 64, lacking pages 27-28 and 31-32. An incomplete
proof copy of a Russian edition of
On the spiritual in art. With
numerous corrections and annotations in Russian in Kandinsky's hand. The text is
printed in old Russian orthography and varies from the text published in 1967 in New
York by Mezhdunarodnoe Literaturnoe Sodruzhestvo. Most likely this is a proof copy
of Kandinsky's first, incomplete Russian translation interrupted by the war in 1914
(cf. Nina Kandinsky's preface in the Russian edition of 1967).
box 3, folder 12
Cover of the manuscript,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf. Cover of the manuscript: a double-sheet of lined paper, inscribed in ink
"Kandinskii. O dykhovnom v iskusstve [On the spiritual in art]."
Series II.B.
Other texts by Kandinsky,
undated
Other texts by Kandinsky: undated
Container Summary: ca. 23
items
Scope and Content Note
Subseries includes outlines of two essays in Russian, and an annotated draft in
German of a text titled "Der Wert des theoretischen Unterrichts in der Malerei." Also
included are ca. 20 mostly undated miscellaneous notes in German. The entire
collection was digitized in 2014 and is available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/850910 .
box 3, folder 13
"Razvitie zhivopisnoi idei v sovremennom iskusstve [The development of
ideas of painting in contemporary art]"
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf; typescript. Outline of an essay by Kandinsky.
box 3, folder 14
"Sushchnost' formy i formal'nyi element v zhivopisi [The existence of form
and the formal element in painting]"
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf; typescript. Outline of an essay by Kandinsky.
box 3, folder 15
"Der Wert des theoretischen Unterrichts in der Malerei [The value of
theoretical instruction in painting]"
1926
Scope and Content Note
5 leaves; signed and annotated draft (typescript), dated: "dessau 20.3.26".
Kandinsky's text on the methodology of the painting instruction at Bauhaus.
[Published in English under the title
The value of theoretical instruction in
painting
cf. 1982 ed. of
Kandinsky, complete writings on
art
]
box 3, folder 16
Unidentified miscellaneous notes,
undated
Scope and Content Note
20 items: mostly undated manuscript notes in German.
box 3, folder 16
Notes,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 item; in pencil; beginning words: "'Form' und 'Inhalt' wo Form=Inhalt ..."
box 3, folder 16
Notes,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 item; in pencil. [Needs further analysis.]
box 3, folder 16
Notes with bibliographical references,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 item; in pencil. Kandinsky lists three books:
Henri Rousseau by
Wilhelm Uhde,
Ein Geisteskranker als Künstler [about Adolf Wölfli]
by Walter Morgenthaler, and
Die Tragödie der Architektur by Paul
Fechter.
box 3, folder 16
Notes,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 item: in pencil; begining words: "Komposition 4 für Raum, München ... " With
notes about color on verso.
box 3, folder 16
Notes with bibliographical references and a list names,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 item; in pencil; beginning words: "Deutsche Künstler." Kandinsky lists names of
several artists, including Jussuf Abbo, Moriz Melzer, Franz Mathias Jansen, Erich
Waske, and Luise Spannring.
box 3, folder 16
Manuscript text on art,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 item (2 leaves); in pencil. [Needs further analysis.]
box 3, folder 16
Notes,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 item; in pencil. Notes on the analysis and synthesis in art, and on color. With
a mention of Der Blaue Reiter.
box 3, folder 16
Notes,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 item; in pencil. Beginning words: "Kunsttheorie und folgende...." An outline of
relationships between art history and nature, technology, industry, science, folk
art, art education; on verso a list of names of art historians.
box 3, folder 16
Notes,
1922
Scope and Content Note
2 leaves; in pencil; with several small geometrical drawings. Beginning words:
"K. u. N. [Kunst und Natur]." Dated "5 V 22" [1922 May 5th]: notes about form,
plane, and color in visual art, theater and music.
box 3, folder 16
Notes in Russian,
undated
Scope and Content Note
2 leaves: in pencil; with small geometrical drawings of triagles. [Needs further
analysis.]
box 3, folder 16
Notes,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 small item: the text concerns the identity of Berthold Kreuzburg in Leipzig.
With a reference to the Armin Kreuzberg Verlag.
box 3, folder 16
Note,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 small manuscript note; listing the name and address of a person in
Charlottenburg [name illegible].
box 3, folder 16
Note,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 small manuscript note; beginning word: "Abendmahl."
box 3, folder 16
Note,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf. [Needs further analysis.]
box 3, folder 16
Notes on Purism and Cubism in France,
ca. 1921
Scope and Content Note
1 leaf; manuscript notes concerning articles on Purism and Cubism published in
1921 in the magazine
Das Kunstblatt. Kandinsky summarizes Paul
Westheim's article "Kunst in Frankreich" and Maurice Raymal's article "Juan Gris";
and lists names and titles of several artists and their art works, including
Maurice Utrillo, Cezanne, J. Lipschitz, Ozenfant and Jeanneret [Le Corbusier],
André Derain, George Braque, O. Kisling, Joseph Csaky, Juan Gris, and Pablo
Picasso.
box 3, folder 16
Notes refering to
Orbis Pictus,
1921?
Scope and Content Note
3 leaves: manuscript notes with references to books published within the series
Orbis Pictus, including Walter Lehmann's
Altmexikanische
Kunstgeschichte
[1921], Fannina W. Halle's
Alt-Russische
Kunst
[1922?].
box 3, folder 16
Note,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 small manuscript note; listing various words and names, with caption:
"Empfunden bei Clavierspiel."
box 2*, folder 9
Brown wrapping paper,
1922?
Scope and Content Note
1 item: large brown wrapping paper, folded, and inscribed in pencil: "16.V.22.
Diese Sachen fanden sich jetzt in einer Kommode" and "Russisches Manuscript zum
'Generalbass' oder Kontrapunkt. Etikett: 7.VI.10. Fortsetzung zu
Über das
Geistige
." [Pulled from Box 3, f. 16. See also Box 4, f. 10.]
Series III.
Papers of the Russian Academy of Artistic Sciences [RAKhN],
1921
Papers of the Russian Academy of Artistic Sciences [RAKhN]: 1921
Container Summary: ca. 12
items
Scope and Content Note
This series contains mainly typescripts or carbon copies of typescripts; all text is in
Russian. The papers include institutional records: a certified copy of the statutes of
the Academy; a list of its active members; and a list of titles of lectures held by the
members of the Academy between June 16th and October 29th, 1921. Also included are
outlines of lectures and transcripts of sessions: two outlines of lectures held by
Kandinsky and by the sociologist Aleksandr Bogdanov; and four transcripts of sessions.
The transcripts of sessions contain the text of papers read by the art historian
Anatolii Vasil'evich Bakushinskii [Bakushinsky], the philosopher Semen Liudvigovich
Frank, Wassily Kandinsky, and the physicist Petr Petrovich Lazarev. The transcripts also
include discussions subsequent to the reading of the papers by several Academy members,
including the painters Konstantin Fedorovich IUon [Yuon], Pavel Varfolomeevich
Kuznetsov, and Ilia Ivanovich Mashkov; the art historian Nikolai Georgievich Mashkovtsev
[listed as N. E. Mashkovtsev], the architectural historian Evsei D. Shor, the physicist
Nikolai Evgenevich Uspenskii [Uspensky], also by [Iosif?] Eiges, Valerii Iolovich
IAzvitskii [Yazvitsky], Valerii IUr'evich [Yurevich], Petr Semenovich Kogan, Matsievskii
[Matsievsky], Nikolai Vasil'evich Petrov, A. M. Petrovskii [Petrovsky], and Fedor
Fedorovich Platov.
box 4, folder 1
Statues,
1921
Scope and Content Note
Title: "Ustav Rossiiskoi Akademii Khudozhestvennykh Nauk" [Statutes of the Russian
Academy of Artistic Sciences].
1 double-leaf; typescript; certified at foot of the final page with an ink signature
and a stamp. Includes a statement regarding the approval of the statutes by the
Gosudarstvennyi Khudozhestvennyi Komitet on 30 September and 5 October 1921, by the
chairman Petr Semenovich Kogan and the secretary Akim Kondrat'ev. The text contains
forty-three programmatic statements, defining the goals and the activities of the
Academy, divided into six sections.
box 4, folder 2
List of members,
undated
Scope and Content Note
Title: "Spisok deistvitel'nykh chlenov Rossiiskoi Akademii Khudozhestven. Nauk" [List
of active members of the Russian Academy of Artistic Sciences].
1 leaf; typescript. A list of names of seventy-one active members of the Russian
Academy of Artistic Sciences.
box 4, folder 3
List of lectures,
1921
Scope and Content Note
Title: "Spisok dokladov, prochitannykh v plenarnykh zasedaniiakh Rossiiskoi Akademii
Khudozhestvennykh Nauk za vremia Iiun'-Sentiabr' 1921 goda" [A list lectures held
between June-September 1921 at the plenary meetings of the Russian Academy of Artistic
Sciences].
1 leaf; typescript. A list of lectures held between June 16 and October 29, 1921 at
the plenary meetings of the Academy, including titles of the lectures, names of the
lecturers, and dates.
box 4, folder 4
Outline of a lecture by Wassily Kandinsky,
1921
Scope and Content Note
Title: "Tezisy k dokladu Osnovnye elementy zhivopisi V. V. Kandinskogo, I-IX-21"
[Theses of lecture "The fundamental elements of painting" by W. W. Kandinsky].
5 leaves; typescript. An outline of sixty-one theses of Kandinsky's lecture Osnovnye
elementy zhivopisi, given on Sep 1 1921. At the end, the text is dated "30-IX-21" [30
Sep 1921].
box 4, folder 5
Outline of a lecture by Aleksandr Bogdanov,
undated
Scope and Content Note
Title: "Sotsial'no-organizatsionnoe znachenie iskusstva, tezisy doklada A. Bogdanova"
[The social and practical significance of art, theses of a lecture by A. Bogdanov].
1 leaf; typescript. An outline of the theses presented by Aleksandr Bogdanov in his
lecture given Oct 29 1921.
box 4, folder 6
Lecture by Semen Liudvigovich Frank,
1921
Scope and Content Note
Title: "Zasedanie Nauchno-Khudozhestvennoi Akademii, 30/VIII.21" [Session of the
Academy of Artistic Sciences, 20 August, 1921].
20 leaves (38 pp.); Typed transcript of the Aug 30th 1921 session of the Academy,
including the text of the paper read by Semen Liudvigovich Frank, "Rol' iskusstva v
positivnykh naukakh" [The role of art in the positivistic sciences], and its
subsequent discussion by Valerii Iolovich IAzvitskii, Matsievskii, Eiges, Fedor
Fedorovich Platov, Ilia Ivanovich Mashkov, E. D. Shor, Petr Semenovich Kogan, and
Semen Liudvigovich Frank.
box 4, folder 7
Lecture by Wassily Kandinsky,
1921
Scope and Content Note
Title: "Zasedanie Nauchno-Khudozhestvennoi Komissii I/IX.21 g." [Meeting of the
Commission of Artistic Sciences, 1 September 1921].
35 leaves (pages numbered 1-35); typescript, with numerous corrections. Transcript of
the Sep 1 1921 session of the Academy, (although this document is titled "Meeting of
the Commission of arts and sciences"), at which Kandinsky read his paper "Osnovnye
elementy zhivopisi" [The fundamental elements of painting]. The manuscript includes
the text of Kandinsky's paper, and its subsequent discussion by Anatolii Vasil'evich
Bakushinskii, Ilia Ivanovich Mashkov, Konstantin Fedorovich IUon, Nikolai E.
Mashkovtsev, Nikolai Evgenevich Uspenskii, Valerii IUr'evich, A. M. Petrovskii,
Nikolai Vasil'evich Petrov, Pavel Varfolomeevich Kuznetsov, and concluding remarks by
Kandinsky.
box 4, folder 8
Lecture by Petr Petrovich Lazarev,
1921
Scope and Content Note
Title: "Doklad P. P. Lazareva na temu: 'O vospriiatii tsveta'" [Lecture by P. P.
Lazarev: "On the perception of color"].
24 leaves (pages numbered 1-32); typescript with corrections. Dated in ink:
"20/IX21g". Transcript of the Sep 20 1921 session of the Academy, at which Petr
Petrovich Lazarev delivered his lecture. The manuscript includes the text of Lazarev's
paper, and its subsequent discussion mainly between Lazarev and Ilia Ivanovich
Mashkov.
box 4, folder 9
Lecture by Anatolii Vasil'evich Bakushinskii,
undated
Scope and Content Note
Title: "Nauchno Khudozhestvennaia Komissia 25 avgusta" [Commission of arts and
sciences, 25 August].
30 leaves (pages numbered 1-30); typescript with corrections, of the August 25,
[1921] session of the Academy, at which Anatolii Vasil'evich Bakushinskii delivered
his lecture "Priamaia i obratnaia perspektiva v isskustve i v prirode" [Straight and
inverse perspective in art and nature]. Included is the text of Bakushinskii's paper,
followed by its subsequent discussion by Bakushinskii, Ilia Ivanovich Mashkov, Fedor
Fedorovich Platov, Nikolai Evgenevich Uspenskii, Konstantin Fedorovich IUon, and Pavel
Varfolomeevich Kuznetsov.
box 4, folder 10
Miscellaneous notes,
1921, undated
Scope and Content Note
3 items: two notes in Russian, originally with a brown paper wrapper inscribed in
Russian. The inscription on the wrapper relates to the Sep 1 and Jul 21 1921 meetings
of the Academy. [Wrapper now filed in Box 2*, F. 9.]
Series IV.
Correspondence,
1911-1940
Container Summary: ca. 60
items
Scope and Content Note
The series contains letters written by and received by Kandinsky. Arranged in two
subseries. The entire collection was digitized in 2014 and is available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/850910 .
Series IV.A.
Letters to J. B. Neumann,
1935-1940
Letters to J. B. Neumann: 1935-1940
Container Summary: ca. 20
letters
Scope and Content Note
Letters written by Kandinsky to the art dealer and collector Israel Ber Neumann in
New York. The letters are rich in information regarding sales, exhibitions and
reception of Kandinsky's art work in the United States during the late 1930s.
box 4, folder 11
Kandinsky, Wassily,
1935-1937, 1940,
Scope and Content Note
19 letters, including 1 postcard, and two postmarked envelopes (total of 25
leaves). Kandinsky's letters to the art dealer Israel Ber Neumann in New York were
sent from Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris, between May 25 1935 and Mar 8 1937. There is
one letter dated Jan 14 1940. All letters are typescripts, in German, with
occasional additions in ink.
Kandinsky's letters reveal details concerning exhibitions and sales of his art
work in the United States and in Europe, especially the planning and organizing of
the exhibition at J. B. Neumann's New Art Circle in New York in 1936. The letters
shed light on Kandinsky's contacts with J. B. Neumann and Galka Scheyer, as well as
with other art dealers, artists, collectors and curators, including Solomon Robert
Guggenheim, Hilla von Rebay, Karl Nierendorf, Rudolf Probst, James Johnson Sweeney,
Christian Zervos, E. Weyhe, Alfred Hamilton Barr, Josef Albers and the former
Bauhaus student Werner Drewes. Kandinsky frequently mentions the artists Reuven
Rubin and Lasar Segal.
Kandinsky frequently addresses his intent to interest Solomon Robert Guggenheim in
Kandinsky retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Kandinsky also writes critically about sales and exhibitions of modern art currently
taking place in Paris, including his own show at the gallery Cahiers d'art in 1935.
He comments on the exhibition of his art work organized in 1936 by Galka Scheyer at
the Stendahl Gallery in Los Angeles, reports extensively on his retrospective
exhibition at the Kunsthalle in Bern in 1937, and mentions several other exhibitions
of his art work held in the United States and in Europe.
Kandinsky also comments on Galka Scheyer's and Will Grohmann's articles about his
art published in
Cahiers d'art, mentions several of his own articles
published in
Cahiers d'art, and writes about the book
Über
Punkt und Linie zur Fläche
.
Several letters include Kandinsky's remarks concerning the place of his art among
other contemporary art trends, especially its relation to Cubism and Surrealism. In
this context Kandinsky responds critically to Alfred Barrs' text evaluating current
developments in modern art, published in 1936 in the Museum's of Modern Art catalog
Cubism and abstract art.
In several letters Kandinsky addresses the concept of abstract art, evaluates the
various stylistic "periods" within his own artistic career, comments on the
significance of some of his art works, and explains his technique of painting with
watercolors.
Series IV.B.
Other correspondence,
1911-1933
Other correspondence: 1911-1933
Container Summary: ca. 40
letters
Scope and Content Note
Subseries contains letters written to Kandinsky by artists, art collectors, art
critics and editors, including Willy Baumeister, Antoine-Pierre Gallien, Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner, Paul Klee, and Franz Marc. Seven letters are from Kandinsky, two letters
from others contain Kandinsky's replies. Six letters by the pioneer American art
collector Arthur Jerome Eddy contain many details concerning Eddy's interest in
collecting work by Kandinsky and other modern artists. Letters by the artist Adolf
Erbslöh concern preparations for the third exhibition of the group Neue
Künstlervereinigung at the Moderne Galerie Tannhäuser in Munich, and relate details
leading to the split within the group. Two letters by the composer Arnold Schoenberg
regard Schoenberg's participation in Der Blaue Reiter exhibitions and his
contributions to the
Der Blaue Reiter almanach. Among art critics and
art historians are Max Deri, Carl Einstein, Will Grohmann, and the editor of the
Belgian magazine
Sélection, chronique de la vie artistique, André de
Ridder. Also present is professional correspondence from the Piper Verlag in Munich
and from the association Sonderbund [West] Deutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler in
Cologne. Five letters from the English novelist Michael Sadleir [Michael Thomas Harvey
Sadler] relate to Sadleir's English translation of
Über das Geistige in der
Kunst
. The entire collection was digitized in 2014 and is available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/850910 .
box 4, folder 12
Baumeister, Willi,
1932
Scope and Content Note
1 letter by Kandinsky to Baumeister, sent from Dessau; concerning the inclusion of
Kandinsky's art work in an exhibition. Kandinsky also refers to the positive
reception of Baumeister's art work in Dresden, and mentions his student at the
Bauhaus, the architect Hertel.
box 4, folder 12
Deri, Max,
1913
Scope and Content Note
1 letter to Kandinsky by the art historian, sent from Berlin; concerning the
translation of an upcoming book by Deri. With a mention of [Ernst?] Stadler.
box 4, folder 12
Eddy, Arthur Jerome,
1913
Scope and Content Note
6 letters (on 8 leaves) to Kandinsky by the pioneer American art collector and
lawyer. The letters were sent from Chicago and New York to Munich. The letter from
August 18th was sent from London to Mocow. Four letters are written on the
letterhead of the firm Law Offices Eddy, Wetten & Pegler, the Temple, in
Chicago. The letters are written in English, except one which is in German. The
letter from August 18th is annotated by Kandinsky and Eddy.
Eddy writes extensively about his interest in collecting avant-garde art, refers to
his upcoming book
Cubists and Post-Impresionism [1914], and comments
on Kandinsky's artistic development and theoretical writings. He also mentions
recent purchases of Kandinsky's art work and of other artists, including Robert
Genin and Alexej von Jawlensky, lists names of artists represented in his collection
of Cubist art, and expresses interest in purchasing art by Franz Marc, Albert Bloch,
and Mme. Kandinsky [Gabriele Münter].
box 4, folder 12
Erbslöh, Adolf,
1911
Scope and Content Note
2 letters: 1 letter (4 leaves and 1 envelope) to Kandinsky by the artist and
chairman of the group Neue Künstlervereinigung, and Kandinsky's reply letter.
Erbslöh's letter relates details concerning preparations for the third exhibition
[held in December 1911 at the Moderne Galerie Tannhäuser in Munich] of the group
Neue Künstlervereinigung, especially the consignment of Kandinsky's paintings from
Berlin and Leipzig, and the exhibition space. The correspondence also provides
insight into the differences in aesthetic outlook between Kandinsky and the Neue
Künstlervereinigung, which ultimately lead to a split within the group and to the
movement Der Blaue Reiter. In context of the prospect of an exhibition at the
Grossherzogliches Museum in Weimar, Erbslöh cites the director of the museum in
Weimar who asked to send in only understandable art work ["und möglichst nicht so
unverständliche Werke!"]. Kandinsky argues strongly in favor of the freedom of
artistic expression. He also criticizes the exhibition space in Munich [at the
Moderne Galerie Tannhäuser]. Erbslöh frequently mentions Franz Marc, also Gabriele
Münter, Marianne von Werefkin, Wladimir von Bechtejeff, Karl Caspar, H. [Frowein?],
Alexander Kanoldt, Karl Wittgenstein, Schnabel, Alexej von Jawlensky, and Th.
Brodersen [business manager of Th. Brodersen & Co., in Weimar], and comments on
an article by Kandinsky and Marc published in
Süddeutsche
Monatshefte
.
box 4, folder 13
Einstein, Carl,
undated [1926?]
Scope and Content Note
1 letter to Kandinsky by the art historian; regarding photographs of Kandinsky's
recent art work used by Einstein in lectures on art history.
box 4, folder 13
Gallien, Antoine-Pierre,
1925
Scope and Content Note
1 letter to Kandinsky by the French artist; asking for permission to translate
Über das Geistige in der Kunst into French. Signed: Antoine-Pierre
Gallien "Peintre-à-la ligne-noire". Sent to Moscow and addressed to Kandinsky as
"Secretaire principal Commissariat des beaux-arts." Annotated by Kandinsky [numbers
on verso].
box 4, folder 13
Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg,
1913
Scope and Content Note
1 letter to Kandinsky, signed by the director of the museum [signature illegible,
possibly Ludwig Grote]; concerning the inclusion of Kandinsky's graphic work in an
exhibition at the Nürnberger Kupferstichkabinett. Included is [a draft?] of
Kandinsky's reply.
box 4, folder 13
Grohmann, Will,
1925
Scope and Content Note
1 postcard by Kandinsky to Grohmann in Dresden; extending an invitation to visit
him in Weimar. With a mention of Alexej von Jawlensky.
box 4, folder 13
Kandinsky, Wassily,
undated
Scope and Content Note
1 letter by Kandinsky addressed to the [Trizema?] Verlag in Berlin. Draft in
pencil. Signed by Kandinsky as the Vice President of the Russian Academy of Artistic
Sciences.
box 4, folder 13
Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig,
undated [1912?]
Scope and Content Note
1 letter by the artist to Kandinsky; concerning the return of Kirchner's art work
exhibited at "Blauer Reiter Collection Bild und Plastik". With a mention of Franz
Marc und Herwarth Walden.
box 4, folder 13
Klee, Paul,
1910?
Scope and Content Note
1 item: empty envelope addressed to Willi Baumeister and Oskar Schlemmer in
Stuttgart. Sent by Paul Klee from Munich.
box 4, folder 13
Kluxen, Franz,
1912
Scope and Content Note
2 letters to Kandinsky by an art collector from Wyk on the North Frisian island
Föhr. Kluxen writes about his interest in collecting modern paintings, and lists the
names of artists whose work he already owns, including Picasso, Jawlensky, Marc, and
Macke. Kluxen mentions Kandinsky's painting "Weisse Kuh" [White cow], and writes
about his interest in buying Kandinsky's painting "Improvisation 3 (Don
Quichote)."
box 4, folder 13
Kreis für Kunst Köln,
1913
Scope and Content Note
1 letter (with envelope) to Kandinsky, signed by the director of the Deutsches
Theater in Cologne, Alfred W. Kames, and the writer Livingstone Hahn. Kames and Hahn
present the cultural program of the Sonderbund [West] Deutscher Kunstfreunde und
Künstler, and ask Kandinsky to participate in an exhibition planned to open in
January 1914 at the Deutsches Theater in Cologne. [Also see correspondence with
Sonderbund Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler, Box. 4, F.14.]
box 4, folder 13
Die Kunstwelt,
1911
Scope and Content Note
1 business letter to Kandinsky; asking for reproduction rights of Kandinsky's
painting "Romantische Landschaft." Signed by Felix Lorenz.
box 4, folder 13
Marc, Franz,
1912
Scope and Content Note
2 items: a postcard from Marc to Kandinsky and a manuscript note by Kandinsky to
Marc; concerning
Der Blaue Reiter almanach [need further
analysis].
box 4, folder 14
Piper Verlag,
1912, 1914
Scope and Content Note
3 items: business correspondence from the R. Piper & Co. Verlag in Munich to
Kandinsky. Included are an expense report for the book
Über das Geistige in
der Kunst
; a letter concerning printing and publishing of Kandinsky's book
Klänge and the advertising policy at the Piper Verlag; and a letter
signed by Reinhard Piper regarding reproduction rights of Kandinsky's painings for a
book by Paul Fechter [
Der Expressionismus?], with a mention of Franz
Marc.
box 4, folder 14
Ridder, André de,
1933
Scope and Content Note
1 letter by Kandinsky to the editor of the Belgian magazine
Sélection,
chronique de la vie artistique
; declining an invitation to exhibit in
Brussels. Kandinsky also offers a gouache to the art dealer Manteau [Galerie
Manteau]. He further discusses Will Grohmann's articles for the magazine
Sélection, as well as Grohmann's book
Kandinsky
[1931].
box 4, folder 14
Sadleir, Michael [Sadler, Michael Thomas Harvey],
1912-1913, undated
Scope and Content Note
5 letters (8 leaves, including 1 envelope) to Kandinsky from the English
biographer, novelist, and bibliophile. Mainly business correspondence related to
Sadleir's English translation of
Über das Geistige in der Kunst, to
be published by Constable in London under the title
The art of spiritual
harmony
. Included is a letter sent by Sadleir from Boston, Massachusetts
in which he mentions plans for an American edition of Kandinsky's book by Houghton
Mifflin Company. Sadleir also confirms receiving from his father letters by
Kandinsky and by Gabriele Münter, and drawings by Kandinsky. He also refers to the
significance of Kandinsky as an artist by citing an article by Oscar Bluemner
published in Alfred Stieglitz's
Camera work. In the letter from
Boston, Sadleir writes about his impressions of life in the United States, and
comments on the art scene in Boston as hostile towards Symbolism and dominated by
the art historian Ronald Alley and the artist John Singer Sargent. In French.
box 4, folder 14
Sadler, M. E.,
1913-1914
Scope and Content Note
2 letters to Kandinsky by the father of Michael Sadleir; sent from Leeds, England;
concerning the delay of his son's translation of Kandinsky's book, and a thank-you
letter.
box 4, folder 14
Schoenberg, Arnold,
1911-1912
Scope and Content Note
2 letters to Kandinsky by the composer. Schoenberg asks Kandinsky to return all of
his paintings shown at the Blauer Reiter exhibition in Munich to Budapest, except
the painting "Dame in Rosa." He also mentions the almanach
Der Blaue
Reiter
and the magazine
Die Musik.
box 4, folder 14
Seewald, Richard,
1913
Scope and Content Note
1 letter by Kandinsky to the artist Richard Seewald. Annotated by Sewald.
box 4, folder 14
Sérouya, Henri,
1928
Scope and Content Note
1 letter to Kandinsky by the French writer; concerning illustrations of Kandinsky's
art work in an upcoming publication [
Initiation à la peinture
d'aujourd'hui
, 1931].
box 4, folder 14
Sonderbund Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler,
1912
Scope and Content Note
1 letter to Kandinsky by Richart Reiche, on letterhead of the association
Sonderbund Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler; concerning the plan to include
Russian artists in the coming exhibition of the Sonderbund [May 25-Sep 30 1912].
Reiche inquires about Nataliia Goncharova, Ilia Ivanovich Mashkov, and M. Carionoff
[i.e. Mikhail Larionov].
box 4, folder 14
Zervos, Christian,
1933
Scope and Content Note
1 letter by Kandinsky to the French art critic and editor of
Cahiers
d'art
; regarding Zervos's text for the
Kandinsky volume of
the Belgian magazine
Sélection, chronique de la vie artistique.
Kandinsky comments on the
Braque volume published by the magazine and
mentions the editor André de Ridder. Kandinsky also writes about Richard Dudensing's
review of his exhibition in New York, the diminishing interest of art collectors and
museums in abstract painting in Germany under the new government, and the imminent
visit of Galka Scheyer to Berlin.
