Wassily Kandinsky, R. Piper & Co., and others
Sounds
1913
Scroll
- Artist/Author: Wassily Kandinsky
- Publisher: R. Piper & Co.
- Printer (color woodcuts): F. Bruckmann Verlag
- Printer (woodcuts and letterpress): Poeschel & Trepte
Sounds
1913
Physical Qualities
Bound volume with color woodcuts, woodcuts, and letterpress, Book: 286 x 286 x 17 mm. (11 1/4 x 11 1/4 x 11/16 in.)
Sheet: 281 x 275 mm. (11 1/16 x 10 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
The Ryda Hecht Levi Collection of Illustrated Books, Gift of Ryda H. Levi, Baltimore
Object Number
2001.445
Kandinsky thought of "Sounds" as a “musical album” in which his poems would harmonize with his woodcuts, as if in a symphony. The spread shown here demonstrates the artist’s attempt to synthesize the visual with the aural. In the poem “Seeing,” Kandinsky repeated the phrase “weißem Sprung” (or “white leap”), causing the words to lose their meaning and become pure sound. In some sense, this parallels the color woodcut, which may be seen both as an image of a rider on a horse and as a composition of black lines and colored shapes. The poem ends, “That’s where everything begins...with a...crash.”
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2001; Mrs. Ryda H. Levi, Lutherville, Maryland; purchased from William H. Schab Gallery, NY
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Baltimore Collects: Illustrated Books From the Collection of Ryda and Robert H. Levi," September 6 - October 16, 1988
Susan Dackerman, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Modern Renaissance: German Expressionist Prints and Drawings," July 10 - September 29, 1996
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "New on View," June 19 - October 6, 2002
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Art of Music from the Baltimore Museum of Art," circulated to Mansion at Strathmore, North Bethesda, Maryland, January 8, 2005 - February 26, 2005; The Washington Country Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland, September 30, 2005 - November 20, 2005; The Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland, December 9, 2005 - February 5, 2006; Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Gallery, St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, February 15, 2006 - April 9, 2006
Rena Hoisington, BMA, "Off the Shelf: Modern and Contemporary Artists' Books," May Gallery 2, March 12 - June 25, 2017.
Susan Dackerman, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Modern Renaissance: German Expressionist Prints and Drawings," July 10 - September 29, 1996
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "New on View," June 19 - October 6, 2002
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Art of Music from the Baltimore Museum of Art," circulated to Mansion at Strathmore, North Bethesda, Maryland, January 8, 2005 - February 26, 2005; The Washington Country Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland, September 30, 2005 - November 20, 2005; The Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland, December 9, 2005 - February 5, 2006; Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Gallery, St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, February 15, 2006 - April 9, 2006
Rena Hoisington, BMA, "Off the Shelf: Modern and Contemporary Artists' Books," May Gallery 2, March 12 - June 25, 2017.
Signed: 1-4
Inscribed: TITLE PAGE: 'KANDINSKY/ KLANGE/ MUNCHEN R. PIPER & CO. VERLAG'; VERSO TITLE PAGE: ' Von diesem Buche/ wurden dreihundert vom/ Verfasser numerierte und signierte ... dies Exemplar is Nummer/ 47/ [in ink artist signature] Kandinsky'
