Kandinsky and the Harmony of Silence

Russian artist and theoretician Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was a significant figure in 20th-century abstraction. His masterwork "Painting with White Border" (1913, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum), inspired by his native Moscow, emerged during an intensely creative period in his artistic development. This handsome book presents a rare, in-depth examination of the painting and more than fifteen preparatory studies in watercolour, oil, and pencil, along with closely related works made during this influential chapter in Kandinsky's career. Kandinsky and the Harmony of Silence includes essays illuminating how Painting with White Border also relates to Kandinsky's writings, including "Concerning the Spiritual in Art" (published 100 years ago) and the autobiography "Reminiscences", as well as to critical writings by Arthur Jerome Eddy and others. A jointly authored essay by The Phillips Collection and Guggenheim conservators presents the results of a recent conservation analysis of the painting and its related oil sketch (1913, The Phillips Collection), revealing important new discoveries about the artist's creative process, materials, and methods.