Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$3206.68 + shipping
Description: First edition, first printing, of Kandinsky's seminal theoretical publication, "one of the most influential art texts of the first decades of the twentieth century" (Tate), which sparked widespread interest in abstract art. Über das Geistige in der Kunst "elucidated Kandinsky's artistic theories and his valuing of expression and spirituality over naturalistic representation. It also introduced his new pictorial categories derived from the field of music - impressions, improvisations, and compositions - which further de-emphasized the importance of recognizable subject matter. On the cover and in ten woodcuts, Kandinsky illustrated his ideas by reducing complex scenes of spiritual battle and redemption to simplified designs of lines and shapes" (MoMA). The work outlines his theories of the artist as a prophet, his arguments for expression and spirituality in the place of naturalistic representation, and the power of art to cause "vibrations of the soul". The work sold well, and went through three editions by December 1912. It was translated into English in 1914. Square octavo. Original wrappers, spine and front cover lettered in blue, woodcut illustrations by Kandinsky to covers in blue. With 8 plates of paintings (from Ravenna Mosaics to Cézanne), including 3 by Kandinsky, 3 diagrammatic plates of colour relationships, woodcut chapter headpieces by Kandinsky. Neat ownership inscription, dated 1961, to half-title. Wrappers lightly marked and creased, else well preserved, contents fresh. A near-fine copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
KANDINSKY, Wassily. Über das Geistige in der Kunst. Insbesondere in der Malerei.. , 1912.
Price: US$3850.00 + shipping
Description: KANDINSKY, Wassily. Über das Geistige in der Kunst. Insbesondere in der Malerei. 104 pp., illustrated with 10 original woodcuts by Kandinsky. 4to, 203 x 175 mm., bound in original wrappers with an original woodcut by Kandinsky, in a new cloth folding box. Munich: R. Piper & Co. 1912. First edition, first printing of Kandinsky's celebrated "The Art of Spiritual Harmony," which was issued in an edition of 1000 copies and endlessly reprinted. Kandinsky's text is probably the most important text on colour written by a major artist. A copy of this seminal work which is rarely found in its first printing, consisting of 104 pages, as here. A little wear to the fragile wrappers and almost invisible staining to a couple of pages, but otherwise a fine copy. Roethel, Kandinsky. Das Graphische Werk, p. 443. The Artist and the Book 137.
Seller: Ursus Rare Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.