Lady with a Fan Wassily Kandinsky

• The ‘Lady with a Fan’ ranks among Kandinsky’s important early prints • The motif is a copy of the fairy-tale-like, Old Russian style that characterises Kandinsky’s early work • Only a few copies of this rare print are known to exist Kandinsky first came into contact with various printmaking techniques as early as 1895, whilst serving as artistic director of the Kušnerev printing works in Moscow; however, he did not produce his first woodcuts until 1902/03 in Bavaria. In April 1903, Kandinsky visited the 17th exhibition of the Vienna Secession, where he saw numerous colour woodcuts by Emil Orlik, Elena Luksch-Makowsky, Carl Müller, Anton Nowak and Leopold Stolba. He spent the following summer in Kallmünz, where he presumably taught himself the technique of woodcutting. His pupil Maria Giesler recalled that Kandinsky "carved seventy plates in a row; it was said, day and night, until he could carve wood. We sometimes helped him with the printing (…)" (quoted from V. E. Barnett, *Das bunte Leben. Wassily Kandinsky im Lenbachhaus*, exhibition catalogue, Munich 1995, p. 80). The woodcut ‘Lady with a Fan’, created in the same year, depicts a woman wearing a richly adorned skirt, an impressive headdress and holding a fan. She is reminiscent of Russian fairy-tale figures, elegant ladies at the Tsar’s court and the wintry magic of Moscow and St Petersburg. Kandinsky depicts an everyday motif; at the same time, the technique of woodcut compels him to simplify and reduce the scene. Although, particularly in his early print works, he still follows a narrative, fantastical storyline, he increasingly abandons this in favour of abstraction. | 1866 Moskau - Neuilly-sur-Seine 1944 | Moderne Kunst | Druckgrafik | Nummer: 26x2551 | Provenance: Nachlass Hans Konrad Roethel (1956–1971, ehem. Direktor der Städtischen Galerie im Lenbachhaus, München), direkt vom Künstler erhalten; Sammlung Jean K. Benjamin, USA; Privatsammlung, USA, durch Erbfolge vom Vorbesitzer.

Estimation:16.000€

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