Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Etching for Stephen Spender “Fraternity”, etching and drypoint, 1939, signed in pencil lower right. Reference: Roethel 202, only state. From the edition of 113 (of which not all were signed). In very good condition, on Montvale ivory laid paper, with a partial “woman bathing” watermark, the full sheet, 5 1/16 x 3 1/4, the sheet 9 x 6 3/8 inches. Published by Atelier 17, Paris.

A fine impression of this rarely encountered print.

After the Bauhaus closed, in 1933, Kandinsky moved to Paris where he made only a small number (6) of prints. Etching for Stephen Spender is from this period, made at the famed Atelier 17. It recalls his earlier tiny drypoints in its small scale and its  extraordinarily exquisite detailing of lines and patterns.

Stephen Spender (1909-1995) was the famed writer and poet; this etching was published by Atelier 17 in a portfolio which included engravings by eight artists including Joan Miro, John Buckland-Wright, Joseph Hecht, and others.

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1964), 24 Essais de Jakovsky, drypoint, 1934, signed in pencil lower right and numbered lower left (35/50) [also initial and date in the plate lower left]. Reference: Roethal 198, only state, edition of 50. In very good condition, with wide margins (spot of soiling in margin to left of number lower left, remains of prior glue/hinging margin edges verso), printed in black ink on an ivory cream wove paper, 9 x 7 7/8, the sheet 12 3/8 x 9 3/4 inches.

A fine impression with much burr from the drypoint work.

After the Bauhaus closed, in 1933, Kandinsky moved to Paris where he made only a small number (6) of prints. 24 Essais is a tour de force drypoint, a complex composition invoking an astonishing range and variety of Kandinsky’s signature symbols, strokes of force and energy, patterns, directional signs, spiritual references. Relatively large, it might be thought to represent a sort of aesthetic and symbolic culmination of his drypoint printmaking work.

Anatole Jakovsky (1909-1988) was a French art critic who wrote about, and was friendly with, many of the great figures in modernist art. Although an expert on naïve art, he was (quite rightly of course) known to stress that Kandinsky’s work was anything but naïve.

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Etching 1916 Number II, drypoint, signed in pencil lower right, titled, numbered (No. 9) and dated lower left [also with initials and date in the plate lower right].  Reference: Roethel 154, only state, edition of 10. In excellent condition (the barest handling fold at sheet edge), printed on a heavy ivory wove paper, the full sheet with full margins, 4 7/8 x 3 1/4, the sheet 17 1/2 x 13 inches, archival mount with window mat.

A fine fresh impression of this great rarity, printed in a dark brown ink.

Kandinsky created this drypoint (erroneously named Etching 1916) in early 1916 while staying with Gabriel Munter in Stockholm during the winter of 1915-16. This is from the second series of drypoints he made; the first was in the year 1913-14.

The tiny size of this edition (10) makes this print a great rarity within the Kandinsky’s printed oeuvre (for comparison, his Kleine Welten series, issued later, in 1922, was published in an edition of 230).

Kandinsky had already moved decisively toward an abstract idiom all his own, and had established his reputation internationally by the time he created this drypoint. Before this his involvement with printmaking was mostly in woodcuts; much of this work had clearly identifiable imagery. But by 1911 he had (with Franz Marc) founded the Blaue Reiter group, and had written (although not published) his famed On the Spiritual in Art, a treatise which helps explain the meaning and force of the shapes and lines found in this fascinating and complex drypoint.

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