Point and Line to Plane
1926
In this book, published 16 years after Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Kandinsky digs deeper in the research of interaction of nature, arts, and human, though from a concrete position already. Starting from the centerpiece, i.e. a point, he studies its basic properties and capabilities: at first academically, then in fine art and other arts, and finally in natural and practical contexts. A line is born from a moving point. Multiple lines interact on the “basic plane”* to produce a composition: “a composition is nothing other than an exact law-abiding organization of the vital forces which, in the form of tensions, are shut up within the elements.”
Kandinsky develops his theory in a peculiar language, where geometrical, physical, aesthetic, and spiritual concepts coexist naturally. This so-called synesthetic text is not just academic theorization, but observations and conclusions supported by experience of a reputable artist. Kandinsky reflects on creating “the science of art” or “artistic science”. As for practical application, the artist’s paintings displayed today in museums are his true scientific experiments.
Allocating art** as an independent world existing along with nature, Kandinsky expresses his confidence that these two worlds will eventually find common rules of the “world composition”, elaborating the great world order of the external and the internal.
* basic plane is "the material plane which concept is called upon to receive the content of the work of art".
** obviously, the artist means abstract art, since, according to him, objective art is “impossible to incorporate completely the inner of one realm into the outer of another”.
READ "Point and Line to Plane"
BUY "Point and Line to Plane"
Kandinsky develops his theory in a peculiar language, where geometrical, physical, aesthetic, and spiritual concepts coexist naturally. This so-called synesthetic text is not just academic theorization, but observations and conclusions supported by experience of a reputable artist. Kandinsky reflects on creating “the science of art” or “artistic science”. As for practical application, the artist’s paintings displayed today in museums are his true scientific experiments.
Allocating art** as an independent world existing along with nature, Kandinsky expresses his confidence that these two worlds will eventually find common rules of the “world composition”, elaborating the great world order of the external and the internal.
* basic plane is "the material plane which concept is called upon to receive the content of the work of art".
** obviously, the artist means abstract art, since, according to him, objective art is “impossible to incorporate completely the inner of one realm into the outer of another”.
READ "Point and Line to Plane"
BUY "Point and Line to Plane"
