This room displays a selection of Kandinsky’s works on paper, a set of pieces that offer a fascinating insight into his working methods. This is particularly clear in the four small studies for Composition IV, dating from 1911. Taken together, these studies reveal how Kandinsky worked up the structure of a Composition, as distinctive pictorial elements are shifted from one position to another, appearing as recognisable figures in one sketch and as purely abstract in the next. The oil painting Cossacks (1910-11), in the following room, belongs to the same group, and combines apparently abstract forms with figurative details: the two strong black vertical lines in the studies, for example, become upright lances held by the Cossack soldiers.
The watercolour Untitled, also known as Bagatellen (1916), shows Kandinsky, even at this later date, including clearly recognisable figures in his work. The painting, with its delicate pinks and greens, evokes fairy-tale images of old Russia. Ladies in crinolines appear again in Two Girls (1918) – one of Kandinsky’s fragile and rarely-exhibited glass paintings. Bavarian glass painting was one of the naïve forms of folk art that Kandinsky admired for its direct, expressive qualities and the luminosity of colour that could be achieved by painting on glass.
Room 4
Study for Composition IV 1911
lead pencil and ink 249 x 305 mm
Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée national d'art moderne / centre de création industrielle.
Bequest of Nina Kandinsky 1981
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Untitled, Sketch for Composition IV 1911
charcoal on paper 100 x 149 mm
Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée national d'art moderne / centre de création industrielle.
Bequest of Nina Kandinsky 1981
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First sketch for Composition IV 1911
lead pencil, charcoal and India ink on paper 102 x 200 mm
Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée national d'art moderne / centre de création industrielle.
Bequest of Nina Kandinsky 1981
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Untitled, Study for Composition IV 1911
charcoal on paper 100 x 149 mm
Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée national d'art moderne / centre de création industrielle.
Bequest of Nina Kandinsky 1981
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Composition D 1916
watercolour and ink on paper 310 x 208 mm
The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
Composition J 1916
watercolour and ink on paper 310 x 208 mm
The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
Untitled 1916
watercolour and ink on cardboard 609 x 546 mm
The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
Composition B 1916
watercolour and ink on paper 208 x 306 mm
The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
image missing
Study for the Cover of 'The Blue Rider' Almanac 1911
Watercolour, gouache and Indian ink on paper 290 x 210 mm
Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée national d'art moderne / centre de création industrielle.
Donated in 1994
Untitled, also known as 'Bagatellen' 1916
Watercolour, Indian ink and pencil on paper 725 x 880 mm
Private Collection, London
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Two Girls 1917
painting on glass 200 x 245 mm
frame: 265 x 310 x 35 mm
Private Collection, London
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Untitled 1921
Watercolour, ink and pencil on paper 303 x 244 mm
Kunstmuseum Basel, Kupferstichkabinett
Gift of Dr Richard Doetsch-Benziger, Basel, 1939
