Issue 17
Summer 2001
Kandinsky: The First Abstract Watercolour Painting
by Maria Antigone Doiranlis
Kandinsky:
The First Abstract Watercolour Painting
From the series,
One Hundred Paintings: Every One a Masterpiece
Edited by Federico
Zeri
English language
edition published by NDE Canada Corp., 1999
ISBN 1-55321-007-7
The One Hundred Paintings series is a collection of monographs focusing on a particular "masterpiece" from a spectrum of artists such as Botticelli, Bosch, Degas, Magritte, Modigliani and Kandinksy. The series is edited by the late Italian art historian Federico Zeri, and the text is based on interviews with Zeri conducted by Marco Dolcetta.
This review will consider the volume, Kandinsky: The First Abstract Watercolour Painting. Unfortunately, the text and commentary leave much to be desired. The text is rife with flaws that detract from the work as a whole and are simply too obvious to ignore. The writing is plagued by spelling and grammatical errors as well as incoherent syntax. A superficial reading of the painting is embellished with flowery language and rhetoric that leads nowhere. The structure and organization of the work are vague, since sections overlap and repetition occurs.
With such sloppy editing, it is clear that something was definitely lost in translation. [The work was originally published in Italian by RCS Libri S.p.A., Milan, in 1998. Ed.] A great deal of the text is based on interpretative commentary by Zeri, but in the guise of art-historical fact and with a lack of supporting references (although a sketchy bibliography appears at the end). Furthermore, the text seems more concerned with making grand, all-encompassing declarations along the lines of: "the highest and most lyrical artistic expression," shapes "defying the laws of physics, opposing the laws of gravity," "the leap into the future." They serve as a vehicle for Zeri's personal outpourings rather than an actual analysis of the work.
Art-historical methodologies are compromised in favor of the dreaded -ism. We art historians have often been accused of an excessive fondness for -isms, but is "abstractism" or "figurativism" really a word? Abstraction and figuration were the terms being used the last time I checked.
Zeri's tone is conversational, at times bombastic, and replete with the botanical ebullience of overenthusiastic language. There is a serious neglect of the theories that inform Kandinsky's work and which are absolutely crucial to an understanding of his development. They are mentioned only in passing and are skirted ever so subtly. Zeri is not really concerned with Kandinsky's ideas (although he pretends to be), but rather with the fleeting impressions that a painting leaves on the viewer on first impact, to be subsequently recycled and dolled up for those who want to impress at the evening's cocktail party.
The strength of the monograph, however, lies in the quantity and quality of the illustrations presented alongside the text. The series is useful as an overview and as a brief introduction to each artist, but if impressing your friends isn't enough, then it would be advisable to consult further art-historical texts, preferably some recommended by a trusty source.
About the Author:
Maria Antigone Doiranlis studied at University College London, where she earned her Master's Degree in Art History. She now lives and works in the New York City area.
See her review of the British Library's exhibition on the life and works of Oscar Wilde elsewhere in this issue of the Newsletter.
Resources:
The book's publisher, NDE Canada Corp., is based in Ontario Canada. Their website can be found at http://www.ndepublishing.com