KANDINSKY WASSILY: (1866-1944) Russian Painter.

KANDINSKY WASSILY: (1866-1944) Russian Painter.
A.L.S., Kandinsky, one page, 8vo, Murnau, 20th June 1913, to the editor of Le Thyrse, in German. Kandinsky asks his correspondent to forward his notice as he requires it 'to be published in your magazine'. Accompanied by the original holograph statement, signed ('Kandinsky') at the conclusion, one page, 8vo, n.p (Murnau), n.d. (20th June 1913), in German. Kandinsky's statement reads 'Although I do not intend to initiate an argument about this, I hereby wish to protest against the epithet "Orphiste" which has been used to designate me, and this is for the simple reason that the doctrine of such a trend is completely unknown to me'. A contemporary red ink translation of Kandinsky's letter and statement into French (in an unidentified hand, although evidently for the purposes of publication in the French language) appear below each line of the artist's bold black text. A statement of interesting content. VG, 2Le Thyrse was an Art & Literature magazine published in Brussels from 1899 to 1965.Orphism (or Orphic Cubism), a term coined by French poet Guillaume Apollinaire in 1912, was an offshoot of Cubism that focused on pure abstraction and bright colours, influenced by Fauvism. This movement, perceived as key in the transition from Cubism to Abstract art, was pioneered by Frantisek Kupka, Robert Delaunay and Sonia Delaunay. Critics and biographers of Kandinsky have frequently considered the artist a key contributor to Orphism, however the present statement would suggest that the artist himself distanced himself from the movement, declaring it 'completely unknown' to him.The Russian painter and art theorist Kandinsky is credited with painting one of the first purely abstract works. In 1896 he settled in Munich where he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts before returning to Moscow in 1914 after the outbreak of World War I. Kandinsky was unsympathetic to the official theories on art in Communist Moscow, and returned to Germany in 1921. There, he taught at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture from 1922 until it was closed by the Nazis in 1933. The artist then moved to France, where he remained for the rest of his life, becoming a French citizen in 1939 and producing some of his most prominent art.