Vasily Kandinsky
Upward
1929
On view
Vasily Kandinsky
January–June 1922
Vasily Kandinsky referred to the early 1920s as his “cool period.” From this time, geometric shapes became increasingly prevalent in his work. Here the title isolates a detail of the composition, the white cross at upper right, a formal consequence of the checkerboard pattern (a recurrent motif in works of this period). In this instance negative space is treated as positive form. Once the cross of the title is seen, one begins to perceive throughout the work a proliferation of others, varying in degrees of explicitness. Though Kandinsky, like Kazimir Malevich, uses it as an abstract element, the cross is an evocative, symbolic form. The viewer’s compulsion to read imagery literally is used to unexpected ends by Kandinsky, who includes two signs resembling the numeral 3 upended and affixed to directional arrows. The variations in direction of the resulting forms suggest the rotation of the entire canvas. The antigravitational feeling of floating forms and the placement of elements on a planar support against an indefinite background in White Cross reveal affinities with Malevich’s Suprematist works.
On view
Artist | Vasily Kandinsky |
Original Title | Weisses Kreuz |
Date | January–June 1922 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 100.5 x 110.6 cm |
Credit line | Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York) |
Accession | 76.2553 PG 34 |
Collection | Peggy Guggenheim Collection |
Type | Painting |
Copy caption
On view
Vasily Kandinsky
1929
On view
Eduardo Chillida
1999
Not on View
Tancredi Parmeggiani
1952–53
Not on View
Vasily Kandinsky
1913
On view