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Small Worlds III

Wassily Kandinsky

Artwork Details

Small Worlds III
1922
Wassily Kandinsky
lithograph on paper
14 in x 11 in (35.56 cm x 27.94 cm);10 15/16 in x 9 1/8 in (27.78 cm x 23.2 cm);13 9/16 in x 11 in (34.4 cm x 28 cm);19 5/16 in x 14 3/8 in (49 cm x 36.5 cm)
Museum Purchase
1948/1.62

Description

Wassily Kandinsky
Russia, 1866–1944
Small Worlds, III (Kleine Welten, III)
1922
Color lithograph
Museum purchase, 1948/1.62
(Flip Your Field: Abstract Art from the Collection, June 9 – September 2, 2012, text by Celeste Brusati)
Wassily Kandinsky
Russia, 1866–1944
Small Worlds, III (Kleine Welten, III)
1922
Color lithograph
Museum purchase, 1948/1.62

Subject Matter:

Small Worlds III is the third print in a portfolio of four that Kandinsky produced while teaching at the Bauhaus School in Germany. The portfolio was as much a study of printing as it was an exercise in color theory. The four prints in Kleine Welten were produced with three different techniques to highlight the various characteristics each possessed. Etching was chosen for its precision, woodcut for a study of perspective in foreground and background and texture, and lithography for its similarity to painting and flexibility in the use of colors and shapes. This print is a lithograph and makes use of a variety of overlapping colors that evoke a sense of an enclosed microcosm of emotions.

Physical Description:

Within a black background a white oval shape sits at center; within the oval are a series of abstracted forms and lines in primary colors all characteristic of Kandinsky's style.

Usage Rights:

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