CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL IN ART BY WASSILY KANDINSKY

To understand this text to its full potential, it was important to contextualise it; as it was stated in the beginning of the essay “Every work of art is a child of its age”. This was published at the cusp of modernism and when Wassily Kandinsky's first abstract painting was made. The ideals of this text stemmed from romanticism which was against the scientific explanation of the universe and what was clear to the naked eye did not necessarily summarise or represent a feeling or emotion.

Kandinsky goes on to say that artwork that is an attempt to emulate ideas “achieve only a similarity of form and remain soulless for all time” referencing the 'soul' of an art work. This entire introduction is based around the idea of a spiritual experience in relation to art steering away from the traditional anglo conceptions of a soul. Perhaps it may be more likened to the funky meaning of soul where something has a natural aura or attraction to it. Kandinsky on abstract art has similarities with ancient Chinese art critic Xie He, where the first of six guidelines for rating a painting is 'Spirit Resonance' which is the energy of the painting. This seems to be a less esoteric definition of the spirituality of art and is summarised as an overall energy of an artwork. This is an energy that is visible but not seen or described. Futurism and Romanticism and abstraction have many similarities and also quite contrasting. Kandinskys definition of abstraction speaks strongly about the future and progression and with clear aesthetic similarities depicting speed and movement.

It is hard to grasp the full impact of this text today because imagining contemporary art without abstraction seems to be impossible for me as I am simply 'a child of my age'. Kandinsky speaks abstraction as being a radical point of view where in current times it is hard to imagine contemporary art without abstraction.

The comparisons between contemporary abstraction and the modernists abstraction are still apparent but may not be making the same romantic statements. Although you can't completely detach spirituality from abstraction, today it sees like it is a language similar to the instrumental of a song where emotion can be induced without the use of words.