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This series introduces particular styles of painting with a focus on how to recreate the style and the techniques used, to help aspiring artists discover their style. 'Try it yourself' activities help students to develop their own skills, 'Tricks of the trade' sections explain techniques used in the different styles and 'Artist focus' sections look at the central protagonists of each movement. ... Read more

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How color and form relate to spiritual matters in art is explained in this volume by the master painter himself. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Destroyer.
This book destroyed any notion I had as an artist about why I was doing what I was doing, which at the time was surrealism.Not every statment can be agreed with, but if this book is not loaded with quads of relative and relevant directions to a more complete and whole understanding of why one should make art in a more sincere method, then I am not writing this review.Too often over shadowed by the philosophical statements of Duchamp, this book, as much, revolutionized art.If you feel uncertain that the principals by which you make art are honest, read this book, then make your judgement.As did witnessing Ad Reinhardt's black canvases, this book recreated my spirit, unexpectedly.

Time to call back the soul in art
[Please note - page numbers in this book and the references to Sadler's introuduction apply to the Dover edition, which is the best-seller on Amazon in the UK but is buried in the depths of the American Amazon at this link: Concerning the Spiritual in Art]

This is a fantastic short book. I am amazed I hadn't heard of it before. It only came to my attention recently when one of my students, Nic Green, used it as a basis for her essay at the Centre for Human Ecology: the student teaching the teacher.

Kandinsky, who was one of the founders of modern art, sets out to confront the crass materialism of his era and the trite art that it was producing. He understands "spirituality" as being the interiority of things, their inner source of meaning and life. He attacks artistic narcissism, saying, "This neglect of inner meanings, which is the life of colours, this vain squandering of artistic power is called 'art for art's sake'." (p. 3).

Consistent with his Russian Orthodox background, Kandinsky says, "We are seeking today for the road which is to lead us away from the outer to the inner basis. The spirit, like the body, can be strengthened and developed by frequent exercise. Just as the body, if neglected, grows weaker and finally impotent, so the spirit perishes if untended. And for this reason it is necessary for the artist to know the starting point for the exercise of his spirit. The starting point is the study of colour and its effects on men." (pp. 35-6).

And I love his honesty in a footnote where he says, of his colour schema, "These statements have no scientific basis, but are founded purely on spiritual experience." (p. 37). If only we saw more awareness in the world of the importance of not confusing categories of thought between scientific evidence and artistic perception.

To Kandinsky, Art's function is to reveal the spiritual. It "must learn from music that every harmony and every discord which springs from the inner spirit is beautiful, but that it is essential that they spring from the inner spirit and from that alone." (p. 51).

This has a social function, for "each period of culture produces an art of its own which can never be repeated". (p. 1) As such, "Painting is an art, and art is not vague production, transitory and isolated, but a power which must be directed to the improvement and refinement of the human soul." (p. 54).

Ultimately, "If the artist be priest of beauty", then she has "a triple responsibility to the non-artist: (1) He must repay the talent which he has; (2) his deeds, feelings, and thoughts, as those of every man, create a spiritual atmosphere which is either pure or poisonous. (3) These deeds and thoughts are materials for his creations, which themselves exercise influence on the spiritual atmosphere. The artist is not only as king, as Peladan says, because he has great power, but also because he has great duties." (pp. 54-55).

And the bottom line? "That is beautiful which is produced by the inner need, which springs from the soul." He concludes: "this property of the soul is the oil which facilitates the slow, scarcely visible but irresistable movement of [the human condition] onwards and upwards."

As will be apparent, this sense of spiritual progress may be modern thinking, but it is decidedly not postmodern. How strange, then, that Kandkindy is seen as a progenitor of "modern" art and its seamless, to my eye, drift into the incohate abstractions of postmodernity.

It is here that my criticism of Kandinsky takes effect. Kandinsky's mindset is, at the same time, premodern in its perception of the spiritual essence, but postmodern deconstructive in its artistic articulation. His spirituality is not an incarnational one, where the Spirit interpenetrates and quickens matter, but a dualistic one, where they can be separated or "abstracted". His purpose is laudable. It is to reveal the spiritual and make it visible anew "towards the close of our already dying epoch" (p. 47). But the problem is that he seeks to do this by abstraction, separation.

This takes us into a world that predicates the transcendent, but implicitly denigrates the immanent. Thus,"The more abstract is form, the more clear and direct its appeal. In any composition the material side may be more or less omitted in proportion as the forms used are more or less material, and for them substituted pure abstractions, or largely dematerialised objects. The more an artist uses these abstracted forms, the deeper and more confidently will he advance into the kingdom of the abstract." (p.32).

And for Kandinsky such abstraction becomes a crusading obsession: "Taking the work of Henri Rousseau as a starting point, I go on to prove that the new naturalism will not only be equivalent to but even identical with abstraction." (p. 52).

In his wonderful Introduction to the text, Michael Sadler suggests that this extreme abandonment of representation of the real world is why, "The question most generally asked about Kandinsky's art is: 'What is he trying to do?'" Saddler suggests, "this book will do something towards answering the question. But it will not do everything." (p. xviii). In contrast, he says, Cezanne "saw in a tree, a heap of apples, a human face, a group of bathing men or women, something more abiding than either photography or impressionist painting could present. He painted the 'treeness' of the tree.... But in everything he did he showed the architectural mind of the true Frenchman. His landscape studies were based on a profound sense of the structure of rocks and hills, and being structural, his art depends on reality.... The material of which his art was composed was drawn from the huge stores of actual nature." (p.xvii).

Where does all this leave us today, in 2010, 99 years after first publication of Kandinsky's little book in German?

When I look at the nihilism of Britart, or the sheer inability to draw and express beauty in what seems to be coming out of some of our contemporary art schools (the students tell me they are discouraged by their tutors from trying to express beauty!), then it is clear that abstraction has gone too far. Like postmodern deconstruction generally, it is all very well to deconstruct, but what about the grace of reconstruction? Kandinsky's aim to reveal the spiritual was laudable. That is the true meaning of the word "apocalypse" - to unveil and reveal that which has been hidden. But abstraction on its own and as the highest ideal is like pulling up a plant to see how the roots are growing. It causes disincarnation, which is another word for death, and so both the material and the spiritual wither.

The art that we need for these our troubled times needs to be an apocalyptic art of incarnation.It needs to reveal the spiritual, but not separate it off from the material world. This will be a new art of the sacred. And here is where we need a debate to start, and artistic action around that debate.

A resource that I would suggest is a book by the theologian Walter Wink,Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination - especially the Introduction on pp. 3 - 10.

Wink argues that we must reject the dualistic idea of Heaven being separate from Earth. We need what he calls an "integral worldview", what is also sometimes called an incarnational spirituality. Here Heaven and Earth are interfused in a single reality (Christians can read Luke 17:20-21; Hindus the Bhagavad Gita; Taoists the Tao te Ching, etc.).

And we need art, in the full artistic and theological senses of these words, to "magnify" and "illuminate" what incarnational spirituality looks like. To open the mind and the heart, and give fresh hope to the world.

Sadler's remarks on Cezanne are a pointer in this direction. Kandinsky's little book provides a crucial intellectual stepping stone. We have lived through a century of dying and dead "modern" art. We cannot go on like that. It is time to call back the soul.

Great ebook!
Concerning the Spiritual in Art by Wassily Kandinsky. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

I love the way Kandinsky writes. It is so captivating. He is a very spiritual artist. He has helped me to see beauty in everything. Read the book, it is very good!

Inciteful...
This book was purchased for a college research project and it was just perfect.It talks of Kandinsky's color theory and how music and color co-exist.The seller was professional and I got the book when it was promised. I would order from this seller again...definately!

"to break the bonds which bind". . . "to an impoverishment of possibility"
Kandinsky had risen to positions of influence in other disciplines (political science/economics and law) before directing his considerable intellect to painting. His insights extended into the historic 'meta' trends of the arts and sciences, including the physical sciences, and had his interests been directed more to the history and philosophy of science instead of the history and philosophy of art, he might have written Kuhn's observations regarding paradigm change a half century before Kuhn did: "Here and there are people with eyes which can see, minds which can correlate. They say to themselves: 'If the science of the day before yesterday is rejected by the people of yesterday, and that of yesterday by us of today, is it not possible that what we call science now will be rejected by the men of tomorrow?' And the bravest of them answer, 'It is possible.'"

Instead, Kandinsky extended the frontiers of painting and authored philosophic writings on the future of art that are among the most important of such works. M.T.H. Sadler, who translated this work into English, was a friend of Kandinsky's and was among his early admirers. The notes he has written in the front of the book (Translator's Introduction) are therefore more helpful than could be the opinions of many other critics, including myself:

"Anyone who has studied Gauguin will be aware of the intense spiritual value of his work. The man is a preacher and a psychologist, universal by his very unorthodoxy, fundamental because he goes deeper than civilization. In his disciples this great element is wanting.

"Kandinsky has supplied the need. He is not only on the track of an art more purely spiritual than was conceived even by Gauguin, but he has achieved the final abandonment of all representative intention. In this way he combines in himself the spiritual and technical tendencies of one great branch of Post-Impressionism.

"The question most generally asked about Kandinsky's art is: 'What is he trying to do?' It is to be hoped that this book will do something towards answering the question. But it will not do everything. This--partly because it is impossible to put into words the whole of Kandinsky's ideal, partly because in his anxiety to state his case, to court criticism, the author has been tempted to formulate more than is wise. His analysis of colours and their effects on the spectator is not the real basis of his art, because, if it were, one could, with the help of a scientific manual, describe one's emotions before his pictures with perfect accuracy. And this is impossible.

"Kandinsky is painting music. That is to say, he has broken down the barrier between music and painting, and has isolated the pure emotion which, for want of a better name, we call the artistic emotion. Anyone who has listened to good music with any enjoyment will admit to an unmistakable but quite indefinable thrill. He will not be able, with sincerity, to say that such a passage gave him such visual impressions, or such a harmony roused in him such emotions. The effect of music is too subtle for words. And the same with this painting of Kandinsky's. Speaking for myself, to stand in front of some of his drawings or pictures gives a keener and more spiritual pleasure than any other kind of painting. But I could not express in the least what gives the pleasure. Presumably the lines and colours have the same effect as harmony and rhythm in music have on the truly musical. That psychology comes in no one can deny."

Some aspects of Kandinsky's color theory are dubious, at best they cannot be universalized, and Kandinsky sees this. But other of his ideas and arguments are widely accepted among artists, even as being self-evident. Stating that "there is no 'must' in art, because art is free," that is, free to address external representations OR "the inner need," to merely chase after material 'objects' OR to wrestle with the mysteriously spiritual, to somehow meld the two visions OR to stay purely to exploration of the spiritual high ground, Kandinsky absolutely rejects the materialistic expectation of an art "explanation" that has been articulated by EO Wilson in his unfortunate daydream 'Consilience' (Wilson knows ants better than he knows humans, and is given to understanding humans to be essentially ant equivalents).

Anyone interested in art history, painting of the past century, or the relationships/correlations/divergences of the various arts (visual, musical, literary), as well as anyone interested in the meaning and purpose of art, or in the philosophy of aesthetics, should read this important book, perhaps more than once. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

69 years old yet still unsurpassed
Though written as an exhibition catalog for a show that took place almost 70 years ago, Alfred H. Barr, Jr.'s Cubism and Abstract Art is still the most concise, yet at the same time penetrating analysis and explication of the various movements and history that contributed to the abstract art of the period before the Second World War.It is both a fine introduction to the topic and, at least in my opinion, among the best resources available to the serious student of modern art. ... Read more

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"A provocative interpretation of the political and cultural history of the early cold war years. . . . By insisting that art, even art of the avant-garde, is part of the general culture, not autonomous or above it, he forces us to think differently not only about art and art history but about society itself."--New York Times Book Review ... Read more

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Social and political context of Abstract Expressionism
Guilbaut offers an compelling account of the European-American situation during and immediately following WWII, when the center of Western culture was transferred from Paris to New York.It was not an easy shift; although Paris was in ruins, Europeans and the French especially did not want to see their centuries-long monopoly put in the hands of such a young and, in their view, naïve country.A major theme throughout this text is the shifting alliances of the left in regard to Marxism and socialism.While most liberals espoused Communism in the 30s, by the early 40s it had come to be seen as another form of fascism, and for artists this meant censorship.American artists were challenged to prove themselves unique from the Parisian avant-garde while at the same time not promoting a national style, which was seen as provincial (due to regionalism in the previous decade) and dangerous (since nationalism had just produced a world war).To make things even more interesting, Guilbaut also describes how contemporary audiences and the US government went from hating the new abstract art to valuing it, or at least creating a new American art market for it (the former) and using it as a form of propaganda during the Cold War (the latter, by touting it in Europe as a symbol of American freedom and individuality, in contrast to state-dictated art).Aside from having a bizarre ending, and overusing the word shibboleth, I love this book!It provides a much more solid and interesting foundation than other books on Ab Ex, such as those by Dore Ashton and Irving Sandler.

Answers to several questions
I am an Argentine art critic and curator. I knewof this book but had not read it. I ordered it because I found the title ingenious. I thought it would be entertaining as well as good. It goes further. It is an in-depth study of the social and political circumnstances that accompanied the intellectual and creative processes of American artists previous, during and after the Second World War. It is an articulate explanation of why artists who were thouroughly conscious of social shortcomings chose to create their own ivory towers through styles that bore, for the most part, no recognizable physical references. This road into a spiritual realm beyond recognizable styles, influenced, but not derivative of European Modern art, was a way out of political engagement in a world they could no longer abide. And, the interesting part is that they were promoted by the political powers that were, not through an appreciation for their creative qualities, but to show that the US was the new cultural center of the world: strong, energetic and competitive.

Another most important point for me. I had always wondered why so many of the Abstract Expressionists had committed suicide. Why this deeply neurotic vent? The answer, I think, is in this book. Their deep dissillusion with socialist ideals after Stalin, the failure of the US to create a truly democratic society in which idealistic notions of equality and freedom were respected, were fatal to their belief in a better world. ... Read more

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When Irving Sandler published The Triumph of American Painting in 1970, this groundbreaking study quickly became the canonical account of Abstract Expressionism. Now, nearly 40 years later, Sandler, the preeminent chronicler of postwar American art, returns to the subject with this new study. Sandler focuses on two new aims: first, to present the fresh conclusions about Abstract Expressionism that he has arrived at since 1970, and, second, to counter what he sees at the distorted interpretations of the movement offered by some younger art historians. This new study focuses on the decade (1942-1952) when the Abstract Expressionists matured as artists and created their most important works, and also identifies the distinctly American character of Abstract Expressionism, in particular the painters Sandler sees as the movement's most important figures: Jackson Pollock and Clyfford Still. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Fine Analysis of a Major American ArtMovement
No more incisive analysis of the goals and accomplishments of Abstract Expressionism has appeared than that by veteran participant, advocate and scholar of that group of artists, Irving Sandler. Whatever may be one's levelof knowledge, understanding or appreciation of the art exemplified by these practitioners, this book can play a role in helping one clarify ones thoughts about the art in general, and, perhaps, attune one better to see in particular paintings what motivated the artist to produce what is before one and what he meant for one to grasp. For the beginner looking at Pollock, DeKooning, Guston, or the other recognized leaders of this school, Sandlers unencumbered style, his clarity of organization and transparency of writing, makes the book a necessary adjunct to putting one in tune with the pictures viewed in private or public gallery. One need not ultimately find their work, in whole or in part, congenial to ones own taste, to sympathize with the social and personal impulses to which they sought to give expression and to appreciate the seriousnes with which they approached their work.
Sandler is now of the senior living generation who were in at the beginning and have been able to see the art movement reach the pinnacle of popular and financial success, to be superceded in part,built upon in part, by newer approaches which have not yet managed, by a long shot, to relegate it to the dust bin of history. Fortunately for his many readers, despite his academic training and long membership in the Academic fraternity, he thinks and writes with rare clarity,informed by far-ranging knowledge.
In short,I commend this book to lovers of any sort of art,who can grant to to the institution of art itself, the right to diversity of approach and merit in the particular, if not always in the general, that is, who can find something of value in a De Kooning or Pollock, without finding much merit in DeKooning or Pollock.

How paintings responded to global events of their times
Irving Sandler's ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM AND THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: A REEVALUATION provides a fine new book offering the author's conclusions about the nature and experience of abstract expressionism in America. College-level collections familiar with the movement will find this provides a fine historical survey of post-World War II art impact and how paintings responded to global events of their times. ... Read more

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Top study of Abstract Expressionism
This book is Wm. Seitz's dissertation.It is well researched . One of the important sources is Robert Motherwell. An interesting chart that he wrote is included in the book.Some people will arguewith the inclusion of Mark Tobey.He developed isolated from the New york painters. He did exhibit in the same years as the development of A.E. un-folded in New York.He was abstract earlier than many of the painters in this book. He was into Oriental aesthetics earlier than some of the others.He went so far as spending time in a Zen monastery.Motherwell and Reinhardt were both into Eastern art and thought.Seitz wrote the catalogue for the Tobey show at MOMA. Much of the book is devoted to the philosophy and aesthetics of the Abstract Expressionist.It is amply illustrated with the work of Hoffman,Tomlin,Baziotes,Motherwell,DeKooning,Gottleib,Pollock. Franz Kline ,John Marin are listed as sources in the back of the book.It is organized and written on a high academic level. It would easily qualify as THE TEXT on Abstract Expressionism. [...].Other books have appeared on the movement, but in terms of scholarship and depth this book will not be surpassed.You will read it and re-read it.As Motherwell in his chart of influences at the top is Mondrian who he lists as a moral guide.Several of these artists:Reinhard, Rothko,Motherwell underscore an interest in ethics in their writings.The authors Seitz,Ashton, Motherwell attempt to give clarity to a difficult subject. ... Read more

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This book presents an innovative analysis of the role of imagination as a central concept in both literary and art criticism. Dee Reynolds brings this approach to bear on works by Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Kandinsky, and Mondrian. It allows her to redefine the relationship between Symbolism and abstract art, and to contribute new methodological perspectives to comparative studies of poetry and painting. The late nineteenth and early twentieth century was a crucial period in the emergence of new modes of representation, and is currently at the forefront of critical enquiry. This is the first book to examine Symbolism and abstraction in this way, and the first to treat these poets and painters together. It is an original contribution to interdisciplinary scholarship in art history, literary history, and comparative aesthetics. ... Read more

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Art Nouveau Abstract Designs in our International Design Library series presents dozens of authentic designs taken from original sources and drawn in fine-line pen and ink by Rebecca McKillip, with an introduction giving the history of this fascinating style that flourished between 1880 and 1905.

The Art Nouveau period produced many stunning design motifs, but none more brilliantly realized than those of geometric inspiration. These abstract designs are complex and richly varied, and lend themselves to all kinds of adaptive uses, such as neelework, stencils, decoupage, wallpaper, woodblocks, etc. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not a teachingbook...but good clipart?
This book is a nice source for clipart and ideas/inspiration, or even as a colouringbook. For anything else it is completely useless, just to have that said ;) Thin and cute and rather entertaining - a while. For being what it is, its a good book. ... Read more

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About This Book...
Just some nitty-gritty about this hard-to-find book.

174 pp with about 30 b&w illustrations. 25 pp of bibliographic and narrative End Notes. Index. 7 p Bibliography.

TABLE OF CONTENTS HIGHLIGHTS
Introduction
Microstructure
- Paint Strokes, Fracture, Impasto, Collage, and Color
- Field Properties: Figure-Ground Relationships
- Texture
- Edges and Centers

Primary Structural Configurations
- Pole Motif
- The Activation of Centers
- Avoiding Hierarchical Structures
- Butterfly Motif
- Right and Left Asymmetry

Secondary Structural Configurations
- Looping Forms
- Countering Dynamics
- Thematic Dynamics

Format
- Proportion
- Size
- The Framing Edge

The Coordination of Structural Levels
- Equivalence and Accident
- Vectors versus Volumes
- Structure and Working Method
- Kinesthetics

A Dynamic Book for Art Students and Teachers
I bought a copy of this book in '92. It is absolutely, the best book that an art student or teacher can purchase. I would, however, note that this is an advanced level book. If the reader understands the Elements of art and the Principles of organization, this book will open new doors in understanding of Pollock's abstraction as well as an understanding of most non-objective art. The in-depth study into Pollock's use of color, balance, movement, and rhythm goes beyond that of just descriptive words. The book includes easy to follow diagrams and step by step breakdowns of many of Pollock's paintings.

Again, remember, at times the book is very involved, but with a little background knowledge, this book can propel the aspiring abstractionist to new levels. ... Read more