Louis-Dreyfus Family Collection 2019

Bern, Kunstmuseum. Wassily Kandinsky: aquarelle und gouachen , May 27 –July 18 , 1971 , no. 56 ; Basel, Beyeler Gallery. Kandinsky Aquarelle und Zeichnungen , June–July, 1972 , no. 71 , p. 63 , illustrated; Atlanta, Olympia Galleries. Abstract Art , 1976 ; New York, Elkon Gallery. Masters of the XXth Century , October 20 –December 23 , 1987 , illustrated in color; Düsseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Kandinsky kleine Freuden: Aquarelle und Zeichnungen , May 23 –August 2 , 1992 , no. 170 , illustrated. bibliography The Artist’s Handlist. Watercolors . 1939 , no. 628 , listed as Lignes (gouache). Vivian Endicott Barnett. Kandinsky Watercolours, Catalogue raisonné, 1922 – 44 , London: Sotheby’s Publications, 1994 , Vol. II, no. 1263 , p. 464 , illustrated. A pivotal figure in the development of abstract art of the twentieth century, the Russian born Kandinsky lived in Germany for much of his life before spending his last ten years very productively in Paris. Kandinsky had always worked simultaneously on canvas and on paper, but due in part to a wartime shortage of oil and canvas, his late years in Paris were particularly productive for works on paper. In fact, 250 works on paper were completed during the years 1934–1944 . Kandinsky considered these works on paper to be independent objects, not necessarily though sometimes related to oil paintings. During the years 1935 – 39 , Kandinsky revived a technique he had used in the early 1900 s of working on black backgrounds, either on black paper, or paper colored black, to which he would apply bright colorful pigments either in tempera or in pastel. Our work belongs to this group and is recorded in the artist’s own manuscript called Handlist as number 628 .