Improvisation 22, Variation I (Improvisation 22, Variation I) (headpiece, folio 31) from Klänge (Sounds)
Vasily Kandinsky
French, born Russia. 1866–1944
(1913)
A small woodcut headpiece printed in Kandinsky’s 1913 artist’s book Klänge, created to translate the idea of musical improvisation into a compact, abstract visual motif that sits above a German text.
A compact, ovaled tangle of black, mask‑like fragments and curved strokes immediately draws the eye, sitting like a visual refrain above the bold word “WASSER” and a dense block of text so the page reads as a rhythmic interplay of image and word.
This work exemplifies Kandinsky’s pursuit of synesthesia—using abstract printmaking and the artist‑book format to make visible the rhythms and sounds of music—and helped open modernist graphic language that links image, typography, and sonic idea.
Medium
Woodcut from an illustrated book with fifty-six woodcuts
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 2 15/16 x 2 7/8" (7.5 x 7.3 cm); page: 11 1/16 x 10 7/8" (28.1 x 27.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Louis E. Stern Collection
Accession
858.1964.28
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
