Collection Online as of September 25, 2023
Sounds: Two Riders against a Red Background
Vassily Kandinsky
(Russian, 1866–1944)
Color woodcut
Support: Laid paper
Sheet: 28 x 27.9 cm (11 x 11 in.); Image: 10.5 x 15.8 cm (4 1/8 x 6 1/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1999.175
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Catalogue raisonné: Roethel 95
State: I/II
Location
not on view
Description
Kandinsky’s theoretical explorations included the relationship between visual art and music. Just as music passes through the ear to the subconscious, so too does a work of art pass through the eye to stimulate an emotional response. As such, this woodcut’s combination of color, black line, white paper, and the pattern of shapes was intended to resonate like notes in a piece of music rather than to imitate nature.