There is a great tradition of embodying the infinite in artwork throughout human history. Individuals like Wassily Kandinsky sought to embody a transcendent spiritual encounter within a piece of art and revitalize the western pursuit of self realization. His endeavors made it possible for American Modernists Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko to form distinct minimal styles. The Modernists overcame our culture’s dependence on archetypal imagery and functioned in an abstract vocabulary composed of pure layered color, line, and form. Their endeavors accentuated particular philosophical thought, revitalizing western Idealism.
(Wassily Kandinsky. Several Circles, 1926)
Wassily Kandinsky is considered the father of Modernism and distinguished himself an insightful, writer, artist, and critic. In 1911, Kandinsky published Concerning the Spiritual in Art, in which he made the statement that artists and philosophers are “intellectuals who examine matter over and over again and finally cast doubt upon matter itself, which yesterday was the basis for everything, and upon which the whole universe was supported.”
Kandinsky redirected the role of the artist in society, defining an artist as an individual tasked with questioning the human condition. He continues, "When religion, science, and morality are shaken, when the external supports threaten to collapse, man's gaze turns away from the external toward himself."
🖤 Annie