Jelena Hahl-Fontaine

What the venerated artist’s letters reveal about his life and art. Wassily Kandinsky was not only the inventor of abstract painting but its gifted advocate. His letters reveal an artist who thought, communicated, and organized incessantly. He was also straightforward and warm-hearted, so it is especially surprising that a significant portion of his correspondence has remained unpublished until now. Through astute—and at times witty and polemical—letters that Kandinsky wrote to his colleagues and friends, readers gain an insight into the artist’s way of thinking and his everyday life. His correspondence also reflects the dramatic times in which he worked; Kandinsky lived through two revolutions, two world wars, the Nazi regime, four emigrations, and transformative events within the art world. Wassily Kandinsky: A Life in Letters provides rich context into the corpus, circumstances, and personality of a monumental artist.