Sketch 160A, c. 1912 by Wassily Kandinsky

Sketch 160A, by Wassily Kandinsky dissolves a bird and a horse with rider into loose, spontaneous ink lines and washes of red, blue, and gold over a warm pale ground, the forms hovering at the edge of recognition rather than resolving into a scene. Painted in 1912 by the Russian-born pioneer of abstract art during the pivotal years just before the First World War, the horse-and-rider motif recalls the imagery that gave Der Blaue Reiter, the group Kandinsky co-founded, its name.

Artist: Wassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866-1944). Date: 1912.

Sketch 160A, c. 1912 by Wassily Kandinsky. Der Blaue Reiter Watercolor and Ink Reproduction Canvas Print.