Kandinsky's rich, trail-blazing work and complex personality have compelled attention since the start of his career. In his native Russia, the Communists ostracized him as a "formalist", while the Nazis exhibited his work as "Degenerative Art". Member of the Blaue Reiter and the Bauhaus, close ally of Franz Marc and Paul Klee, Kandinsky influenced virtually the entire spectrum of modern art, but for decades much of his oeuvre languished unseen in the former USSR. The opening up of the former USSR in 1989 brought in its wake the first ever Kandinsky retrospective in his homeland. Works presumed lost, and others totally unknown, were brought to light. Perceptions of Kandinsky were transformed overnight. This monograph takes into account these findings. Over 50 works never before reproduced, from the East and from private collections in the West, are included. Kandinsky's own eloquent and lucid essays, many previously unpublished, are used as commentary. Studies are incorporated to shed light on the vehemently disputed areas of his life and thought.
Jelena Hahl-Koch is co-publisher and part-translator of Kandinsky's collected writings, and has published many catalogues, commentaries and essays on the artist and his work.