You can’t be serious, that’s art now? An artist who helped change the game: Studying Kandinsky - By: Marissa Moore
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| Wassily Kandinsky and Composition VIII, 1923 |
Abstract art, as we have discovered,
can
be interpreted in various ways by each individual who encounters it. The artist
uses this style to communicate a feeling, or to depict the world around them in
a distinctly nonrepresentational way, separate from the visual references of reality
we are accustomed to.
In my previous post, I explained the various ways in which you can appreciate abstract art, a sometimes mysterious and often confusing art movement.
However, now you may be left wondering, how exactly did this movement gain traction in a world that often times values detailed realism, which can be easily understood, over abstract messages with such fluctuating meaning?
There are many historical motivations surrounding the artistic push towards the abstract that may surprise you. Humans have been creating nonrepresentational art for millennia. Think back to the cave paintings and engravings of ancient civilizations, such as the sub-Saharan African art found within the Blombos Cave, believed to be dated as far back as 70,000 BC.
More recently, the effects of World War I and World
War II in particular, strongly effected the psyches and artistic expressions of
many artists.
Wassily Kandinsky would be among those artists, who would eventually become known as one of the foremost pioneers of abstract modern art, often called the ‘father of abstract art’ by many art historians. Motivating other artists into this new movement both during World War I with his students at Bauhaus and continuing to inspire the Abstract Expressionists after World War II.
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| Wassily Kandinsky, Several Circles, 1923 |
Kandinsky believed total abstraction in the world of art offered possibilities for profound, spiritual expression whereas continuing to depict the world in realistic terms would only interfere with the process.
Above all else, Kandinsky had arrived at the conclusion that abstract art was an answer to destroying all cultural and physical boundaries separating us. Abstract art would bring us together through the universal forms of color, form and emotion in unison.
Arriving at this style, as one of the most well-known to have first done so, may inspire you to ask, how and why?
Interestingly, Kandinsky was known to have been diagnosed with synesthesia. Synesthesia is an extremly rare neurological condition in which information meant to stimulate one of your senses stimulates several of your other senses.
Kandinsky from all reports as a side effect of having synesthesia, was able to see sounds as colors, while also hearing colors and forms as sounds. The color blue in particular he reportedly said 'sang' to him the loudest, while as a child he reported that when mixing colors, he would 'hear' them hiss at him.
Kandinsky would often listen to music, jazz in particular, as he painted. Detailing the same non-objective, colorful and lively forms he received from the sounds into his own paintings.
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| Wassily Kandinsky, Composition IV (1911) |
It makes sense then, that a man such as this with the goals and beliefs he held, would go on to inspire generations of artist to follow in his unique, colorful, abstract style for years to come.
Sources used for this article can be found below:
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/kandinsky-wassily/
https://www.healthline.com/health/synesthesia#causes
https://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2014/december/16/how-kandinsky-helped-create-abstract-art/
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