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Synopsis
The Russian artist develops his theory of the function of form, color, rhythm, texture, and time in painting, and their relationship.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Although written 100 years ago, there is much here to interest the serious artist. Kandinsky was explaining the groundbreaking work done by artists of that time and making Abstract Art accessible. What he has to say about Art is as relevant today as it was then. A seminal work.
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9 reviews
47 of 50 people found the following review helpful
Kandinsky Reveals Secrets of the Drawing Universe
30 May 2001
Format:Paperback
Reading this book is like entering the sanctum sanctorum of mark making. It is a first class journey through the thought processes of a major 20th century innovator as he introduces, evaluates and places in relationship the elements of drawing and composition. While not for the faint of heart, Kandinsky writes with such endearing specificity about the exact function of each component (point, line, plane) the marks take on lives of their own. His simultaneous portrayal of the function of marks through words and the distillation of words through marks offers insights into the creative process for artists at every stage of development. The organization of the material is logical, as expected from a man who started out as a lawyer, as well as magical, coming from a man who ascribed to the spiritual in art. For all its apparent simplicity it is well worth the time to savor in small portions. I particularly like the layers of meaning to be found in his concepts. There is a cascading effect to reading a description, applying the principle to an art process and then revisiting the text to have further meaning reveal itself. He literally views drawing from the inside out.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
About abstraction, or is it abstraction?
28 Dec 2007
Format:Paperback
Kandinsky's goal seems admirable, to create a vocabulary in which abstract visual art can be discussed. That would allow a theory of abstraction to develop, with the promise that art would advance as its theory advanced. He argues his case well, he was trained as a lawyer after all, using analogy to that most abstract of arts: music.
He presents his thoughts in three sections following logical progression: point, line, and plane. As one would expect in discussing visual impression, Kandinsky acknowledges the mathematical point but generalizes it to isolated, self-contained marks of many kinds. Already, in the zero-dimensional world, Kandinsky begins his conceptual whirl: a point is not just a point, but a tension, a temporal presence, and even a sound - though I'm not convinced that this "sound" relates to audible impressons. The point even manifests as a period in punctuation. Its presence and position changes or erases a sentence's meaning; presumably, one is to infer that it has similar meaning in visual compostion.
Moving on to Line, Kandinsky crams a huge number of concepts onto the page: temperature, hue plus white and black, movement and force, angle, sound and triple sound, and even the duality of male/active vs. female/passive. Certainly there is much to discuss in all of these things, but the color, sound, and sex of a specific diagonal angle elude me. They are clear enough to Kandinsky, though, who announces these relations with absolute certainty and inevitability. His writing makes me think of mysteries revealed with papal infallibility, and with internal reason beyond human reasoning. Discussion of Plane drives even deeper into thickets of interlaced concept. I admit that I was never able to hack a clear path for myself through his conceptual undergrowth.
In the end, Kandinsky's vision remains a statement of his own inner experience - not of thinking that could be shared and pushed forward by other minds. Instead of showing the world how to think, he shows the world how he thinks. Although I'm no great fan of his art, that glimpse fascinates me, and is reason enough for reading and experiencing this remarkable text.
-- wiredweird
He presents his thoughts in three sections following logical progression: point, line, and plane. As one would expect in discussing visual impression, Kandinsky acknowledges the mathematical point but generalizes it to isolated, self-contained marks of many kinds. Already, in the zero-dimensional world, Kandinsky begins his conceptual whirl: a point is not just a point, but a tension, a temporal presence, and even a sound - though I'm not convinced that this "sound" relates to audible impressons. The point even manifests as a period in punctuation. Its presence and position changes or erases a sentence's meaning; presumably, one is to infer that it has similar meaning in visual compostion.
Moving on to Line, Kandinsky crams a huge number of concepts onto the page: temperature, hue plus white and black, movement and force, angle, sound and triple sound, and even the duality of male/active vs. female/passive. Certainly there is much to discuss in all of these things, but the color, sound, and sex of a specific diagonal angle elude me. They are clear enough to Kandinsky, though, who announces these relations with absolute certainty and inevitability. His writing makes me think of mysteries revealed with papal infallibility, and with internal reason beyond human reasoning. Discussion of Plane drives even deeper into thickets of interlaced concept. I admit that I was never able to hack a clear path for myself through his conceptual undergrowth.
In the end, Kandinsky's vision remains a statement of his own inner experience - not of thinking that could be shared and pushed forward by other minds. Instead of showing the world how to think, he shows the world how he thinks. Although I'm no great fan of his art, that glimpse fascinates me, and is reason enough for reading and experiencing this remarkable text.
-- wiredweird
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
this book shows how you can assign meaning to many aspects of art
11 July 2007
Format:Paperback
I think this book is useful for understanding Kandinsky's art but I think it is most useful for artists trying to form their own ideas about art. The reason for this is that in ascribing characteristics to many aspects of art for example lines curves and planes, the author makes us as artists think about how we use these aspects of art in our work. So, in other words, he gets you thinking about the meaning of all those marks on paper we make. I think most artists will find their own explanations of the various types of line, curve, color and plane, what this book does is give you the idea for doing so in the first place.
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