Music Art______Wassily Kandinsky/ Russian, 1866-1944 (pronounced Vassily)/ October 2014

Objective: Students will paint art inspired by the music to interpret and showcase their artistic impression of what they hear.

Anticipatory set Ask the students to close their eyes and listen to the music? After a couple of minutes, ask for a volunteer to describe what they saw in their head when they closed their eyes. There is no right answer to the question as everyone’s impression of the music may be different. This is a sample of what we will be doing today as part of the art literacy lesson on Kandinsky – listening to music and then drawing and painting what we see.

SLIDES = QUICK OVERVIEW:

10 facts about Kandinsky

1 - Russian Born in 1866 died in France in 1944 2 - Taught at the Bauhaus school of Art and Design in Germany 3 - Studied music and he compared musical notes to colours in his own art and the art of others 4 - Was concerned with spirituality and psychology in art 5 - Early work featured landscapes but best known for his later abstract paintings featuring geometric shapes with bright colours 6 - Qualified lawyer who was a successful law professor until he gave it up to study art at the age of 30 7 - Married twice with one long relationship in between 8 - He claims his 1913 painting Composition VII, was his most complex work 9 - Some of his first three Composition series of paintings were first confiscated from the Bauhaus by the Nazis, then later destroyed. The only remaining record are some b/w photographs taken by Gabriele Munter. 10 - Abstract Expressionism and Abstract art

Slide 1 - WASSILY (VASILY) KANDINSKY- 1866-1944 Kandinsky had a widely varied career. He was one of the leading expressionist painters and was one of the first and greatest abstract painters. He founded the Blue Rider art movement and later taught at the Bauhaus with Klee (pronounced as Clay). He was considered to be a “degenerate artist” by the Nazis and fled to France when the Nazis closed down the Bauhaus in 1933. Kandinsky was born in Russia and spent his childhood in Odessa and Moscow. He was an accomplished musician and learned to play the piano and cello at an early age. He also loved to draw and displayed great talent early on. He saw color when he heard music- this is a neurological condition called synaesthesia.

Slide 2 - In 1910 Wassily changed from his earlier representative works such as the “Autumn Landscape with Boats” and “The Murnaue House”, allowing for his natural feeling for Color to pour out of him. Color in these paintings Is used almost entirely for emotional reasons.

Slide 3 - FIRST ABSTRACT WATERCOLOR, 1910 Kandinsky was inspired to begin this phase of his career when he entered his studio at dusk and saw an indescribably beautiful painting, with forms and colors that made the content incomprehensible. He approached the painting and realized it was one of his canvases that had been turned on its side, leaning up against a wall. He began trying to paint new things to capture that initial feeling of wonder and mystery. This is the first example of abstract art. Abstract art does not have recognizable objects or scenes. Instead, colors and forms exist for their own sake. You can see the colorful swirls of various colors, with no suggestion of external subject matter. This painting had a HUGE impact on the European art community. Pencil, watercolor and ink on paper Currently in the Musee National Art Moderne in Paris, France

Slide 4 – A RIDING AMAZON - Though in 1911 Kandinsky produced greats such as “ Reiter” and “A Riding Amazon”, Wassily felt his work was in a decline. It wasn’t until 1916 when he “began to recognize his life”, devoting his life wholeheartedly to artistic works and teaching.

Slide 5 – REITER - His art was greatly influenced by an exhibition of French impressionist artists. The Impressionists used color and light to show their subjects rather than painting in fine detail. The works of Claude Monet interested Kandinsky very much. Subject matter played a secondary role to color in his paintings, and reality and fairy tale seemed to blend together. This approach would influence Kandinsky's work for the rest of his life.

Slide 6 – COMPOSITION VII - By 1913 Kandinsky was producing the some of the first completely abstract (non-representational) compositions in the history of art. They made no reference to the natural world and were inspired by pieces of music such as Composition VII (1913).

Slide 7 – CIRCLES IN CIRCLE OIL

Slide 8 – SWINGIN

Slide 9 - SEVERAL CIRCLES, 1926 Kandinsky loved circles. He said, “The circle is the synthesis of the greatest oppositions. It combines the concentric and the eccentric in a single form and in equilibrium. .. it points most clearly to the fourth dimension.” Oil on canvas. Currently in the Guggenheim Museum in New York Kandinsky was friends with Solomon Guggenheim, and Guggenheim collected his work, which helped eventually lead to the founding of the museum

Slide 10 – “316”

Slide 11 – SQUARES WITH CONCENTRIC CIRCLES, 1913

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Student supplies: Watercolors Black Permanent Marker Watercolor Paper and brush Source of Music

The room for this exercise should be dimly lit, so that the students can focus on the music they are hearing. It may even be beneficial to use the Privacy boards used during testing.

Begin by playing the selections of music, each one about 20 seconds. Then Have the students explain to you how it made them feel, what did they see, What colors if any did it remind them of.

Then play the selected 2 minute piece of music for the art project. The students Will use the black permanent marker to draw what they are hearing. It could be lines o r shapes. The lines could be straight, squiggly, connect or separate. The shapes could be alone or touching even overlapping.

The next portion is the 5 minute piece of music wherein the students will use their Watercolors to paint what they are hearing. They may want to paint the lines, or fill in the shapes or even just paint in between. Again it is entirely based on what they hear And feel.

This lesson is meant to be a fun exercise in the relationship between music and color. The students should be encouraged to use their imagination while listening to the music and to explore how the music makes them feel.

HISTORY

Wassily Kandisky: Born December 4, 1866 in Moscow during the Russian revolution, while the Czar still ruled Russia. Wassily’s father was a wealthy Tea merchant whose family came from, Western Siberia and his mother of Baltic descent. That combination provided him the ability to learn both German at the same time as Russian.

At an early age of ten Kandinsky was already showing a talent for drawing as well as music playing both the piano and the cello. His father arranged for him to have art lessons. Wassiliy was fascinated by the materials of his art: the Pencils , delicate watercolors, and above all oil paints. And Like art, Wassily, felt that music offered him an outlet for his feelings ; indeed he considered Music and art as “ A SINGLE LANGUAGE.”

In 1886 Kandinsky entered the University of Moscow to study Lw and Political Economy although he continued with his passion of drawing and art. It was in 1889 that Kandinsky heard Richard Wagner’s “Lohengrin” and thus becoming convinced that painting could develop the same power as music.

In 1892 Wassily passed his law exams and then the following year was appointed an Instructor on the Law Faculty of Moscow University. But after only 3 years Wassily turned down an offer of professorship deciding instead to devote himself to his passion of painting, moving to Munich and enrolling in Art School.

By 1902 not only had Wassily become a student of Arts at the Munich Acadamy of Art, but had helped to found the Phalanx, an art club formed to give the young artists of Munich somewhere to exhibit their art. The school later closed in 1903 but at that time Wassily had already made a name for himself. And Wassily’s work between 1902 And 1906 is considered Freer and Stronger than the corresponding paintings.

In 1910 Wassily changed from his earlier representative works such as the “Autumn Landscape with Boats” and “The Murnaue House”, allowing for his natural feeling for Color to pour out of him. Color in these paintings Is used almost entirely for emotional reasons.

It was in 1910 he produced his first completely abstract paintings. Wassily Painted his first watercolor “Untitled” in 1911.

Though in 1911 Kandinsky produced greats such as “ Reiter” and “A Riding Amazon”, Wassily felt his work was in a decline. It wasn’t until 1916 when he “began to recognize his life”, devoting his life wholeheartedly to artistic works and teaching.

His art was greatly influenced by an exhibition of French impressionist artists. The Impressionists used color and light to show their subjects rather than painting in fine detail. The works of Claude Monet interested Kandinsky very much. Subject matter played a secondary role to color in his paintings, and reality and fairy tale seemed to blend together. This approach would influence Kandinsky's work for the rest of his life.

In 1901 Kandinsky founded the "Falanga" artistic movement and school where he shared his ideas about art. His paintings from that period, like The Blue Rider (1903), show his use of color to express an emotional experience rather than reflect nature.

By 1913 Kandinsky was producing the some of the first completely abstract (non- representational) compositions in the history of art. They made no reference to the natural world and were inspired by pieces of music such as Composition VII (1913).

In 1914 Kandinsky returned to Russia. Two years later he married Nina Andreevskaia, the daughter of a Czarist colonel. From 1918 to 1921, he devoted much of his time to painting and teaching color analysis.

Between 1922 and 1933, geometrical elements became increasingly important to Kandinsky - particularly circles, half-circles, the angle, straight lines and curves. One of his first works to include these geometric shapes was On White II (1923). When Nazis closed the Bauhaus school in 1933, Kandinsky moved to France. He remained there for the rest of his life. Wassily Kandinsky died on December 13, 1944, in his studio in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He is recognized today as the pioneer of abstract art. His non-representational paintings paved the way for the development of the Abstract Expressionist movement that dominated American painting after World War II.

And, in 1922 he began teaching at the Bauhaus School. Later the school was closed in 1924 under Nazie attack and Kandinsky was denounced as a communist and agitator. Kandinsky moved to Paris in 1933 where His work with colors became more varied and more adventurous. Kandinsky was fearful of the Nazi policy towards the arts, and his Fears were confirmed in 1933 when 57 of his paintings were confiscated by the Government, labeled “degenerate art” and sold in Switzerland along with works from Many other German collections. Kandinsky remained happily in Paris until his death in December of 1944. Upon His death he was internationally know as one of the major geniuses of this century.

If there were a central theme in Kandinsky’s autobiography it would be that of Color and love of music. Impressionist painters started to paint pictures that didn’t look exactly real. Kandinsky was the first artist to take the final step away from realism: he painted the first totally abstract pictures. Paintings, that were pure designs, and believed that colors and forms had meanings all their own. He was a musician as well as a painter, and thought of colors as music. Simple pictures were like melodies to him. Complex paintings were like symphonies. He called many of his paintings “Improvisations” , meaning a song made up on the spot., not planned.