Small Worlds VI from Small Worlds (Kleine Welten)
Artist: Wassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866-1944)
Publisher: Propyläen Verlag, [Berlin]
Printer: Staatliches Bauhaus, Weimar
Date: 1922-1923
Dimensions:
10 3/4 x 9 3/16 in.
Medium: Woodcut
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Winthrop H. Perry Fund
Object number: 1955.1
Label Text:When World War I began in 1914, Russian citizen Vasily Kandinsky was living in Germany and was forced to return to his homeland. In 1920, after the Russian Revolution and under the new Bolshevik government (for which he worked in the Department of Fine Arts), Kandinsky wrote an essay called “The Great Utopia” in which he claimed that art could break down the borders between nations.
Kandinsky returned to Germany in 1921 when he was invited to join the faculty of the recently formed Bauhaus school in Weimar. The Bauhaus was modeled on the cooperative structure of a medieval guild and advocated for the unity of all the arts, including craft. The philosophy of Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius harmonized with Kandinsky’s own utopian ideals.
Kandinsky produced his portfolio Small Worlds while at the Bauhaus. The 12 prints, including this woodcut, depict microcosms that seem to exist in a space simultaneously physical and metaphysical, terrestrial and cosmic. With forms suggesting a river, boats, buildings, and transportation lines, this image recalls plans produced by the Bolshevik government that re-imagined Russian cities as interconnected, architectural utopias.
Kandinsky returned to Germany in 1921 when he was invited to join the faculty of the recently formed Bauhaus school in Weimar. The Bauhaus was modeled on the cooperative structure of a medieval guild and advocated for the unity of all the arts, including craft. The philosophy of Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius harmonized with Kandinsky’s own utopian ideals.
Kandinsky produced his portfolio Small Worlds while at the Bauhaus. The 12 prints, including this woodcut, depict microcosms that seem to exist in a space simultaneously physical and metaphysical, terrestrial and cosmic. With forms suggesting a river, boats, buildings, and transportation lines, this image recalls plans produced by the Bolshevik government that re-imagined Russian cities as interconnected, architectural utopias.
Not on view
In Collection(s)