WASSILY KANDINSKY (RUSSIAN, 1866-1944) A WATERCOLOUR ON PAPER 'MILD PROCESS'

WASSILY KANDINSKY (RUSSIAN, 1866-1944) A WATERCOLOUR ON PAPER 'MILD PROCESS' dated 1928 and signed lower left, mounted in a glazed frame.

28cm high, 48cm wide

From a private collection, where it has remained for some years. The current owner has thoroughly researched and examined the work, including a detailed inspection of the signature and date, and the circumstances by which the picture was obtained give confidence that it is neither a copy nor an attempted forgery. The work has also been scrutinised by art dealer with over forty years’ experience, and we are confident in cataloguing it as a genuine work by Wassily Kandinsky.

We believe the present watercolour to be the general arrangement for Kandinsky’s 1928 Milder Vorgang/Evènement doux, the finished oil on card now in the collection of the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, on deposit at the Musée d’arts de Nantes. The watercolour repeats the principal structure of the finished work, including the vertical architectural form at the left, the small vessel and solar disc above, the sweeping arcs through the centre, the tilted chequerboard, the frieze-like lower register and the circular construction to the right. Its lighter, more transparent handling suggests a preparatory stage in which Kandinsky was resolving the balance of colour, form and movement before translating the composition into oil.

The work is signed and dated 1928, the same year as the finished oil. The form of the signature and the dating have been examined in detail and are considered consistent with Kandinsky’s hand from this period. The faint watercolour washes are also in keeping with a preparatory work of this nature. Several alterations between the present watercolour and the finished oil are visible, as would be expected where an artist is developing a composition from an initial arrangement into a completed painting.

Watercolour was central to Kandinsky’s practice, particularly as a vehicle for testing abstract relationships of line, colour and rhythm. During the Bauhaus period, when this work was made, his art became increasingly geometric, ordered and architectural. Kandinsky is known to have produced watercolour studies and sketches for his oils, sometimes working through several drafts before arriving at a final composition, and it is probable that a number of such preparatory works remain undocumented.

The present work therefore offers a fascinating insight into the making of one of Kandinsky’s mature Bauhaus compositions. It may be examined out of the frame if required.