In the 1900s, Kandinsky was a supporter of the ideas of Symbolism and Art Nouveau. He collaborated with the magazine Mir iskusstva (World of Art) — the main publication of Russian Symbolism. Themes typical of artists of this movement appeared in his works, related to the aristocratic culture of the 18th and first half of the 19th century. Crinoline Lady is one of the central works on this theme. It combines an Impressionist understanding of color (perceived as a result of a certain intensity of illumination), a tendency toward monumental and decorative generalization characteristic of Art Nouveau, and a certain understatement arising from an unclear storyline, typical of Symbolism. The masters of Mir iskusstva revived the world of manorial estates as if it were real, looking at the past with a distance created by lyrical and ironic intonations and the construction of "toy-like" images. Kandinsky builds the composition without relying on the plot: it is organized on the basis of rhythm in the arrangement of figures that emerge as if they were ghosts of the past. The artist seeks to convey the flavor of a bygone life.

hank from california: Art is life...CREATION/PROCREATION. Gotta love the creators. But, I see this same great stuff weekly on the New Yorker Magazine. We're forever finding someone or thing to lionize.

Timeline

1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944