Bibliography
Jan. 19th, 2012 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_lady_lilyConcerning The Spiritual In Art - Kandinsky
For some reason, don't ask me why, this was being quoted everywhere before Christmas (and when I type everywhere, I mean in The Church Times and the Guardian). I suddenly realised I'd never heard of it, it sounds interesting and it was probably worth having a go at. Well, I discovered that 'Kandinsky's Teacup' would be an awesome name for a band...
Seriously, it was an interesting read, although it's worth mentioning that the translation I read was from the first decade of the last century, and the text was written around the same period. It's clearly had a big influence in terms of what the purpose of art is, and how art has advanced over time; the model Kandinsky proposes of a triangle, forever moving upwards, with the mass of people gradually being dragged to the land which the geniuses of a century ago had occupied, is strangely compelling. So is the idea that art for art's sake is worthless, and that for art to have a purpose, it has to connect to the human spirit on some level. His scheme of colours and shapes for doing so is somewhat strained, but then he himself admits this.
I'm not quite sure what I've got out of reading this, except somewhere to point people who need a manifesto for the artistic movements at the start of the twentieth century. I do wonder whether I will look at the next Kandinsky painting I see differently as a result of reading this, but that experiment will have to wait until coincidence allows it.
For some reason, don't ask me why, this was being quoted everywhere before Christmas (and when I type everywhere, I mean in The Church Times and the Guardian). I suddenly realised I'd never heard of it, it sounds interesting and it was probably worth having a go at. Well, I discovered that 'Kandinsky's Teacup' would be an awesome name for a band...
Seriously, it was an interesting read, although it's worth mentioning that the translation I read was from the first decade of the last century, and the text was written around the same period. It's clearly had a big influence in terms of what the purpose of art is, and how art has advanced over time; the model Kandinsky proposes of a triangle, forever moving upwards, with the mass of people gradually being dragged to the land which the geniuses of a century ago had occupied, is strangely compelling. So is the idea that art for art's sake is worthless, and that for art to have a purpose, it has to connect to the human spirit on some level. His scheme of colours and shapes for doing so is somewhat strained, but then he himself admits this.
I'm not quite sure what I've got out of reading this, except somewhere to point people who need a manifesto for the artistic movements at the start of the twentieth century. I do wonder whether I will look at the next Kandinsky painting I see differently as a result of reading this, but that experiment will have to wait until coincidence allows it.
