UID:
kobvindex_INT0003844
Format:
1 electronic resource (196, [8] pages)
,
illustrations (chiefly black and white)
ISBN:
No
Series Statement:
Bauhausbücher ; 09 (English translation)
Uniform Title:
Punkt und Linie zu Fläche : Beitrag zur Analyse der malerischen Elemente
Content:
"In this title Kandinsky analyzed the geometrical elements which make up every painting-the point and the line. He called the physical support and the material surface on which the artist draws or paints the basic plane, or BP. He did not analyze them objectively, but from the point of view of their inner effect on the observer. A point is a small bit of color put by the artist on the canvas. It is neither a geometric point nor a mathematical abstraction; it is extension, form and color. This form can be a square, a triangle, a circle, a star or something more complex. The point is the most concise form but, according to its placement on the basic plane, it will take a different tonality. It can be isolated or resonate with other points or lines. A line is the product of a force which has been applied in a given direction: the force exerted on the pencil or paintbrush by the artist. The produced linear forms may be of several types: a straight line, which results from a unique force applied in a single direction; an angular line, resulting from the alternation of two forces in different directions, or a curved (or wave-like) line, produced by the effect of two forces acting simultaneously. The book contains many photographic examples and drawings from Kandinsky's works which offer the demonstration of its theoretical observations, and which allow the reader to experience the inner effect of the point and line to plane."
Content:
"The first unavoidable question is, naturally, the question of the art elements) which are the building materials of works of art and which, as such, must be different in every art. We must at the outset distinguish basic elements from other elements, viz.-elements without which a work in any particular art cannot even come into existence. [...] This book will deal with two basic elements which are the very beginning of every work of painting, and without which this beginning is not possible. At the same time, they constitute the conclusive material for an independent kind of painting-graphic. We must, therefore, start here with the proto-element of painting-the Point. [...] The investigation should proceed in a meticulously exact and pedantically precise manner. Step by step, this 'tedious' road must be traversed-not the smallest alteration in the nature, in the characteristics, in the effects of the individual elements should escape the watchful eye. Only by means of a microscopic analysis can the science of art lead to a comprehensive synthesis, which will extend far beyond the confines of art into the realm of the 'oneness' of the 'human' and the 'divine.' [...] The aim of this small book is merely to point out, in a general and fundamental way, the 'graphic' basic elements viewed: 1. 'abstractly,' i.e. isolated from the objective environment of the material form of the material plane, and 2. on the material plane-the effect of the fundamental characteristics of this plane. But even this must be restricted to a rather superficial investigation-as an attempt to find a standard method in this scientific research of art and to test it in its use."
Note:
INDEX NOTE: includes index
,
Preface / Hilla Rebay -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Point -- Line -- Basic plane -- Appendix -- Index
,
LANGUAGE NOTE: translation from the German language edition: Punkt und Linie zu Fläche : Beitrag zur Analyse der malerischen Elemente. München, Germany : Albert Langen, 1926. (Bauhausbücher, Vol. 9, edited by Walter Gropius and L. Moholy-Nagy)
Language:
English
Keywords:
Handbooks and manuals
