Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

Vassily Kandinsky's portfolio of twelve prints, Kleine Welten (Small Worlds), is recognized as one of the masterworks of modern printmaking. Completed in 1922, the year that the artist began teaching at the Bauhaus (Germany's influential school of contemporary design), it represented a tour de force of both technique and imagery. Published by Propylaen Verlag and printed at the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar under the artist's supervision, it was limited to an edition of 230 sets.

Encompassing three different media - woodcut, intaglio, and lithography - the set explored the expressive possibilities of the graphic arts. Kandinsky captured the "spirit" of the cosmos in these little prints through his dynamic compositions, which have often been compared to musical improvisations. Generally considered the first abstract prints, the images of Small Worlds presented various states of emotion through the use of color, line, and form.