Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky 1866 - 1944 Aus der Tiefe (From the Depth). 1932. Watercolor. Monogrammed and dated in the lower left. Inscribed with the work number “490” on the reverse. Additionally dated and titled “Aus der Tiefe” on a loose fragment of the original backing board, and inscribed with the work number “No. 490”, there presumably inscribed by Galka Scheyer as “De profundies” [sic]. The fragment on the backing board is mounted under protective plastic film. On firm wove paper. 47.9 x 34.1 cm (18.8 x 13.4 in), the full sheet. Also known under the title “De Profundis”. The work is listed in the artist’s handwritten lists of watercolors for September 1932 as “viii 1932, 490, Aus der Tiefe”. [CH] More works from the Kropatscheck Collection are offered in our Evening Sale on Friday, December 4, 2026; our “Valuable Books” auction on Monday, November 23, 2026; and in our Online Sale from January 15 through February 15, 2027. • Between the Bauhaus and exile: In 1932, the Bauhaus in Dessau was closed by the Nazis; the following year, Kandinsky emigrated to France. • With its balanced composition between movement and static stability, this is a wonderful example of the art theory developed by Kandinsky in “Point and Line to Plane” (1926). • Artistic exchange: Through Paul Klee, his colleague at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Kandinsky discovered the spraying technique in 1927, which he employs very effectively here. • The strictly geometric compositions from the Bauhaus years are considered the artist’s most sought-after works on paper on the international auction market. • Outstanding provenance: Originally part of the collection of Galka Scheyer, the legendary American gallery owner and friend of Jawlensky, and later held for over four decades in the renowned Winston-Malbin Collection in New York. • The artist’s watercolors and gouaches from the significant 1930s are also found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. We are grateful to Gilbert Holzgang of the Galka Emmy Scheyer Center in Brunswick for his kind assistance. PROVENANCE: Collection of Galka E. Scheyer (1889–1945), Los Angeles (acquired directly from the artist in 1933, held until 1945). The Pinacotheca Gallery (Rose Fried), New York (acquired in 1948; bears a loose gallery label on the back of the frame, clear plastic sleeve). Lydia and Harry Lewis Winston Collection, Birmingham, Michigan; subsequently the Winston-Malbin Collection, New York (acquired from the above in 1948, held until 1990; several loose labels on the reverse, clear plastic sleeve). Private collection, Tokyo, Japan (acquired from the above in 1990, Sotheby’s, New York). Fritz Eugen and Hannemarie Kropatscheck Collection, Hamburg (since 1999, Hauswedell & Nolte). EXHIBITION: . EXHIBITION: The Blue Four: Feininger, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Klee, Los Angeles Museum, Los Angeles, October 1933, cat. no. 120. Paintings by Wassily Kandinsky, the “Old Master” of Abstract Art, The Oakland Gallery, Oakland, Jan. 2–30, 1935. Collection Modern Art. Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lewis Winston, Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, September 27–November 3, 1957; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, December 13, 1957–January 5, 1958; San Francisco Museum of Art, Jan. 23–Mar. 13, 1958; Milwaukee Art Institute, Apr. 11–May 12, 1958, cat. no. 54 (on the backing board of the frame with the loose exhibition label, clear plastic sleeve). Selections from The Lydia and Harry Lewis Winston Collection (Dr. and Mrs. Barnett Malbin), Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, July 18, 1972–April 20, 1973. Futurism. A Modern Focus, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, November 15, 1973–Feb. 2, 1974, cat. no. 51 (with ill.). LITERATURE: Vivian Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky. Catalogue Raisonné of watercolors, vol. II (1922–1944), Munich 1994, CR no. 1101 (with b/w ill.). - - Vivian Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky at the Guggenheim, New York 1983, p. 199. Sotheby’s, New York, Auction: The Collection of Lydia Winston Malbin, May 16, 1990, lot 38 (with color illustration). Nagel, Stuttgart, Modern Art Auction, October 24, 1998, Lot 982 (with color illustration). Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, 19th- and 20th-Century Modern Art Auction, December 4, 1999, lot 996 (with color illustration). Called up: December 5, 2026 - ca. 15.56 h +/- 20 min.

Estimate:£41,716.60

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