Klänge
Artist: Wassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866-1944)
Publisher: R. Piper & Co. (Munich, [1913])
Author: Vassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866-1944)
Date: [1913]
Dimensions:
Book: H: 11 1/4 in. (285 mm); W: 11 1/4 in. (286 mm); Depth: 5/8 in. (16 mm).
Page: H: 11 1/16 in. (281 mm); W: 10 7/8 in. (277 mm).
Medium: Original prints: 12 woodcuts in colors on ivory laid paper; 44 woodcuts in black on Van Gelder cream laid paper, watermarked.
Text: letterpress in black with deep purple (typeface: Akzidenz Grotesk Bold).
Classification: Books
Credit Line: Gift of Molly and Walter Bareiss
Object number: 1984.599
Label Text:Vasily Kandinsky was a pioneer in the development of abstract art. He was interested in what he saw as the spiritual values of color, as well as the correlations between art and music. In Klänge, Kandinsky's 38 prose-poems are accompanied by 56 of his woodcuts. The woodcuts do not illustrate the text, but rather images and words complement each other in a harmonious way. Text and woodcuts together display an intense relationship between movement, sound, and color.
The word klänge is a musical term meaning “sounds” or “harmonies.” Kandinsky described his aims: “The book is called Sounds. I do not want to create anything but sounds. But they build out of themselves. That is the description of the contents, the inner contents. This is the foundation on which it grew, partly by itself, partly thanks to the cold hand of the calculating gardener.”
The word klänge is a musical term meaning “sounds” or “harmonies.” Kandinsky described his aims: “The book is called Sounds. I do not want to create anything but sounds. But they build out of themselves. That is the description of the contents, the inner contents. This is the foundation on which it grew, partly by itself, partly thanks to the cold hand of the calculating gardener.”
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In Collection(s)