KANDINSKY, WASSILY

born Dec. 4 [Dec. 16, New Style], 1866, Moscow, Russia died Dec. 13, 1944, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Fr. Russian in full Vasily Vasilyevich Kandinsky Russian-born artist, one of the first creators of pure abstraction in modern painting. After successful avant-garde exhibitions, he founded the influential Munich group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider; 191114) and began completely abstract painting. His forms evolved from fluid and organic to geometric and, finally, to pictographic (e.g., Tempered lan, 1944). Additional reading Will Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky: Life and Work (1959), is a sympathetic biography by a friend of the artist. Hans K. Roethel and Jean K. Benjamin, Kandinsky (1979), is an illustrated treatment of his work, while Kandinsky: Catalogue Raisonn of the Oil-paintings, 2 vol. (198284), is a comprehensive reference work. Peg Weiss, Kandinsky in Munich: The Formative Jugendstil Years (1979), studies the influences in pre-World War I Munich. Rose-Carol Washton Long, Kandinsky: The Development of an Abstract Style (1980), examines his subjects and meanings.