Klänge

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Klänge

Artist Wassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866-1944)

Publisher R. Piper & Co. (Munich, [1913])

Author Vassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866-1944)

Date[1913]

DimensionsBook: 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).

MediumOriginal 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).

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineGift of Molly and Walter Bareiss

Object number

1984.599

Not on View

Label TextVasily 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.”Published Referencescf. Castleman, Riva, A Century of Artists Books, New York, 1994, pp. 144-145, col. reprs.

cf. Garvey, Eleanor M., The Artist & the Book, 1860--1960, Boston, 1961, no. 138, repr.

cf. Lang, Lothar, Expressionist Book Illustration in Germany, 1907--1927, New York, Boston, 1976, no. 164, p. 222, reprs. (1 col.) pp. 152--154

Symmes, Marilyn, "Illustrated books at The Toledo Museum of Art", The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Miami, winter 1988, pp. 60--61, repr.

cf. Wheeler, Monroe, Modern Painters and Sculptors as Illustrators, New York, 1946, p. 103

cf. Hogben, Carol, Rowan Watson, editors, From Manet to Hockney: Modern Artists’ Illustrated Books, London, 1985, no. 30

cf. Johnson, Robert Flynn, Artists' Books in the Modern Era 1870--2000: The Reva and David Logan Collection of Illustrated Books, San Francisco, 2001, no. 18.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Bareiss Collection of modern illustrated books from Toulouse-Lautrec to Kiefer, 1985, no. 32.

Toledo Museum of Art, Modern Woodcuts, May 5 - July 24, 2000.

Toledo Museum of Art, European Expressionist and Cubist Works on Paper: 1900-1930, December 2, 2011-March 11, 2012 (University of Toledo Student Exhibition).