VARIOUS ARTISTS

Title: Fraternity | Fraternité, 1939

Technique: Complete Set of Nine Original Hand Signed Etchings on Montval Wove Paper with the Accompanying Text and Portfolio

Portfolio size: 24 x 17.5 x 2 cm. / 9.5 x 6.9 x 1 in.

Additional information: Each of the works in the portfolio is hand signed in pencil by each artist.
The portfolio is hand numbered in pencil “97” on the justification page.
This portfolio was printed in the limited edition of 101 by Atelier 17 and Henri Hecht, there were a further 12 copies produced for the collaborators.
Presented in the original green paper bound portfolio sleeve and cover. The cover bears a further etching by Stanley William Hayter.
The portfolio contains the poem by English poet Stephen Spender, titled “Fall of a City”. The poem was translate into French by Louis Aragon, who has signed the translation “Aragon” in pencil.
The contributing artists are:

1. John Buckland-Wright
2. Stanley William Hayter
3. Josef Hecht
4. Dalla Husband
5. Wassily Kandinsky
6. Roderick Mead
7. Joan Miró
8. Dolf Reiser
9. Luis Vargas

Note: This work was commissioned in support of the Spanish Republic and was published to mark the fall of Madrid on 29th March 1939.

Provenance: From the Library Collection of R. & B. L., Paris (with their label)

Condition: Very good condition. Minor toning of the interior pages. The portfolio case showing minor signs of wear.

WASSILY KANDINSKY 1866-1944
Moscow 1866 – 1944 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France (Russian/German)

Title: Woodcut for the Ganymede Portfolio | Holzschnitt für die Ganymed-Mappe, 1924

Technique: Original Hand Signed Woodcut on Thin Wove Paper

Paper size: 24 x 31.6 cm. / 9.4 x 12.4 in.
Image size: 15 x 20 cm. / 5.9 x 7.8 in.

Additional Information: This original woodcut is hand signed in pencil by the artist “Kandinsky” at the lower right margin.
It is also monogrammed in the plate “VK” at the lower left image.
It was published in the third Ganymed folder of a special edition of the fifth Yearbook of the Marées-Gesellschaft, Munich.
This woodcut was printed by C. Wolf & Sohn, Munich in a limited edition of 100 signed and unnumbered impressions and it was published by, R. Piper & Co. Munich (of the Marées-Gesellschaft, Munich).

Note: In 1922 Kandinsky accepts an invitation of Walter Gropius and joins the Bauhaus with Paul Klee. He developed the basic design course and taught the mural painting workshop. Kandinsky also worked much and experimented with colour, applying his analytical foundation and the conclusions in his teaching.
Painting was not formally part of the curriculum at the Bauhaus. Kandinsky, along with Paul Klee, taught courses aimed at giving their students a better grasp of form, colour and tone. He used techniques that resurfaced in his own work. His earliest work from the time of joining the Bauhaus is the series “Small Worlds'”. In these 12 pictures, executed in colour lithograph, woodcut and drypoint, we can see clearly the influence of the Russian artists.

Literature:
Roethel, H. K. (1970). Kandinsky: Das Graphische Werk [The Graphic Works]. New Hampton, NY: Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg.
Reference: Roethel 181

Condition: Very good condition. Very pale, unobtrusive light staining around the image. Remnants of adhesive along the upper sheet edge, verso.

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KANDINSKY, Wassily (1866-1944)