KANDINSKY, Wassily.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Art of Spiritual Harmony. First edition in English of Kandinsky's seminal theoretical publication. In this volume the artist explores theosophy, outlines his theories of the artist as a "prophet" (p. 15), and argues for expression and spirituality in the place of naturalistic representation. Extracts from this translation were published in Wyndham Lewis's Blast magazine later in 1914, quickly establishing Kandinsky's reputation in Britain. The work was published in German in 1911 as Über das Geistige in der Kunst.This copy has the bookplate of George H. Green, likely the cartoonist and renowned xylophone player (1893 - 1970), who played on behalf of Steamboat Willie in the Disney cartoon, and was an early adopter of the vibraphone, which became a popular jazz instrument in the 1930s. This is a lovely provenance, given Kandinsky's claim that the power of art is to cause "vibrations of the soul" (p. 104). The first edition was issued in grey boards, as here, and also in quarter cloth with marbled boards

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