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sjstuart's review
5.0
This is a great book for any fan of Kandinsky's art. It has 40 full-page color plates of some of his most significant works, spanning more than 40 years of his professional output. Each of these is accompanied by several paragraphs of focused analysis. The first 50 pages of the book feature an in-depth biography and analysis of Kandinsky's progression as he moves to between Germany, Russia, and France, and his art evolves through several distinct periods. The biographical half of the book contains another 40 pictures of the artist, his contemporaries, and other artworks. All of these are black and white, which is understandable for the historical photographs, but unfortunate for the reproductions of artwork.
While I'm sure that more comprehensive biographies exist, and more complete catalogs of his art, this seems like the perfect balance of art, analysis, and biography for anyone other than a Kandinsky scholar. After reading it and poring over the gorgeous art, I have a surprisingly complete and coherent picture of his development as an artist.
The parallel structure of the narrative text and the analysis accompanying the color plates made it somewhat cumbersome to read. And there were a surprising number of sloppy edits (duplicated sections of text, etc) for a book which otherwise seems meticulously prepared. But I certainly can't begrudge it the fifth star, considering how much I enjoyed it, and how much I learned from it at the same time.
While I'm sure that more comprehensive biographies exist, and more complete catalogs of his art, this seems like the perfect balance of art, analysis, and biography for anyone other than a Kandinsky scholar. After reading it and poring over the gorgeous art, I have a surprisingly complete and coherent picture of his development as an artist.
The parallel structure of the narrative text and the analysis accompanying the color plates made it somewhat cumbersome to read. And there were a surprising number of sloppy edits (duplicated sections of text, etc) for a book which otherwise seems meticulously prepared. But I certainly can't begrudge it the fifth star, considering how much I enjoyed it, and how much I learned from it at the same time.
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