There are few flaws in the beautifully-selected Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944) exhibition currently on view at the Guggenheim Museum. Rarely shown in such depth in New York -- whose 20^th-century titans remain Picasso and Matisse -- Kandinsky should finally leave his sizable impression on artists, scholars, and art lovers with this dazzling display of explosive and mesmerizing paintings. The exhibition draws heavily from the three largest repositories of Kandinsky's work: the Guggenheim, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Lenbachhaus in Munich. But here's the flaw. The prints are missing, and each of these world-renowned collections includes wondrous examples. Even the copious installation in the side gallery titled "Works on Paper" omits printed work in favor of watercolors (some repetitive) and gouaches from the artist's Bauhaus and Paris years.

Kandinsky approached the tools and techniques of printmaking with the same focused attention and inventiveness he applied to his paintings and other works on paper. He was first introduced to printmaking when he moved to Munich in 1896 to study art and worked at a commercial lithography shop.  But his first important body of prints was a group of woodcuts -- decorative, jewel-like images of the 1900s, including several sparkling night scenes whose bright colors on dark grounds bring to mind stained glass windows. Reflecting influences from Jugendstil and Symbolism to Russian folklore and Bavarian glass painting, the roughly 50 woodcuts from these years depict romantic views of crinoline-clad ladies and fairytale figures in medieval garb, and reveal his early mastery of the medium.

Kandinsky's endeavors in woodcut reached a climax a few years later with his book of poems titled Klänge, 1913. Comprising 56 woodcuts, Klänge reprises his work of the last ten years, incorporating the symbolist visions of the earlier paintings as well as the dramatic explorations into abstraction that preoccupied him at the time.  The prints distill his complex, layered paintings into modestly-scaled, predominantly black and white works with eleven printed in color (see above for one example) that the artist often considered an improvement on the paintings. An ambitious compendium of bold and graphic imagery, Klänge ranks among the masterpieces of twentieth-century printed art.

During the years 1922-1933, while teaching at the revolutionary Bauhaus school, Kandinsky expanded his repertoire as a printmaker, completing several important lithographs and etchings. Printmaking was an important feature of the Bauhaus curriculum since it brought together craftsmanship and technology, two pillars of the institution's progressive agenda. In his seminal book Point and Line to Plane, written during this period, Kandinsky even discussed the characteristics of the individual printmaking mediums. Enveloped in the collaborative atmosphere of the school, and with constant access to print shops and like-minded colleagues such as Lionel Feininger and Paul Klee, Kandinsky participated in the school's numerous portfolio projects. The Bauhaus print shop remained active producing portfolios for their influential teachers, including series by Feininger and Oskar Schlemmer, as well as group portfolios by a range of Bauhaus masters published to help support the school. Not surprisingly, Kandinsky completed his most important portfolio there, Kleine Welten of 1922. 

By this point in his career, Kandinsky's abstract vocabulary had become increasingly hard-edged and geometric, reflecting the Constructivism he encountered while living in Russia between 1916-1921. Kleine Welten, begun soon after his return to Germany in 1922, merges these new interests, with the irregular invented forms he developed in the early teens. One can even decipher realistic details of hilltop towers and boats with oars in a few of the suite's twelve prints. Others feature grids and checkerboards that first appeared in Russian works from about 1920. These graphic elements also turned up in the didactic materials featured in Bauhaus classrooms.  Unlike Klänge, Kleine Welten comprises a range of mediums: two woodcuts, four drypoints, and six lithographs; six of the prints are printed in black and six in color. With this landmark portfolio -- and the help of printers at the auspicious school -- Kandinsky extended his methodical approach and inquisitive nature into new imagery and new techniques. He went on to create other important prints there before the print shop closed in 1925.  

The years at the Bauhaus mark Kandinsky's last major projects in printmaking. After moving to Paris in 1933 he made only 6 prints before his death in 1944, mostly commissions for books and periodicals. He had become a consummate craftsman whose woodcuts, lithographs and etdhings made a significant contribution to the story of twentieth century printed art. It would be exciting to see a comprehensive presentation of this rich facet of his work as well.

By Wendy Weitman, Independent Curator

Image 1: Vasily Kandinsky, "Allerheiligen" from Klänge, 1911; Image 2: Vasily Kandinsky, "Kleine Welter XII".