Klänge Pl.18 1913

Wassily Kandinsky made this dynamic woodcut, Klänge Pl.18, at a time when he was pushing abstraction to its limits, and thinking about the spiritual in art. The stark contrast of black ink on paper creates a powerful, immediate impact. Look closely, and you’ll see the way Kandinsky uses the woodcut technique to carve out solid forms. The velvety blacks and the sharp lines are really what makes this piece sing. The textured patterns, like the spots on the towering structure, create a push-pull effect. Is it a giraffe? A mountain? And what’s going on with the parade of horses underneath? It’s this ambiguity that really grabs me, because you realize, the process isn’t about figuring out what it is, but about what it *feels* like. Kandinsky, like Paul Klee who was working around the same time, invites us into a world of pure sensation. It’s about the experience, not the explanation, and I think that’s pretty neat.