Life must have been tough for Kandinsky. Born in Odessa in 1866, his parents divorced when he was aged 5 and he suffered from depression in his youth. At the age of 30 Kandinsky bravely relinquished a promising legal career and moved to Munich to study art. The onset of World War 1 caused him to return to his homeland, only to be embroiled in the Russian Revolution. All his family wealth was confiscated during this time and his only child, Vsevolod, died aged 2, partially as a result of malnutrition. His stay in Germany was cut short by the rise of National Socialism, resulting in a further transfer to Paris in 1933. He died there of a stroke in 1944.

It is fascinating to observe the changes in Kandinsky's style with his geographic moves. This is clearly deliniated in this catalogue of the present Guggenheim exhibition. Kandinsky's most important phase coincided with his stays in Munich and Murnau (1908-14). This is where he developed his initial abstract style. Although his later works (Paris) are regarded as less significant, I enjoy the playfulness and impeccable sense of color and balance of this period.

This catalogue gives an excellent overview of Kandinsky's work and life. Most of the introductory essays and painting annotations are informative and help shed light on the artist's sometimes difficult and esoteric style. An exception is Matthias Haldemann's prolix artspeak essay eg " The picture-in-picture principle makes itself known as a kind of reflection. It is generated and dissolved like visibility as an interaction from outside and inside, and with that, subject to iconicity." Work that out if you can!

The print and reproduction quality of this book is above average. It is a pity however that the page size is on the small side; a larger format would have shown Kandinsky's works to far better advantage. Recommended with minor reservations.

This book is the catalogue for the current blockbuster Kandinsky exhibition held at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC, which already appeared in Munich and Paris. It is divided into several chapters which tackle such aspects as Kandinsky and America, Kandinsky's relationship with the art dealer and critic Herwarth Walden, founder of the art gallery, publishing company and art magazine "Der Sturm" in the early 1910's (who was to become one of the major proponents of Kandinsky's art, as well as that of the other members of the Blaue Reiter), Kandinsky and abstraction (and the sources of inspiration that lead the artist to follow such a radical path), etc. An interesting essay by Vivian Endicott Barnett (one of the most respected Kandinsky scholars) studies the artist's career as a succession of self-recreations and decisive turning points.

Even though there are no close-ups, the illustrations are of a high quality and manage to give the viewer a fair idea of the explosive power of Kandinsky's large compositions and of his gift as one of the major colorists in the history of art. The accompanying essays have, to my knowledge, no equivalent in other publications in English, and therefore this book is a must-have for anyone interested in the "founder of abstraction".