First Etching for Éditions "Cahiers d'Art" (Erste Radierung für die Éditions "Cahiers d'Art")

First Etching for Éditions "Cahiers d'Art" (Erste Radierung für die Éditions "Cahiers d'Art") is a significant abstract work created by Vasily Kandinsky in 1930. Executed in the challenging medium of drypoint, this specific print showcases the artist’s meticulous investigation into geometric abstraction during a crucial transitional period of his career. The piece was commissioned or created for publication by Cahiers d'Art, a highly influential Parisian review and publisher that championed modernism and non-representational art throughout the 1920s and 1930s, firmly cementing Kandinsky's status within the international avant-garde.

Unlike the fluid, often chaotic compositions of his earlier Munich years, this 1930s work demonstrates the precise structural integrity and clean draftsmanship Kandinsky cultivated while teaching at the Bauhaus in Germany. In drypoint, a sharp point is used directly on the copper plate, generating a signature velvety burr around the scored lines. This effect adds textural richness to the finished print. Kandinsky utilizes this medium to create a dynamic composition reliant on intersecting straight lines, arcs, and floating, planar geometric shapes. The energy in the work derives from the finely tuned tension between these carefully placed elements, focusing the viewer entirely on the purity of line and form independent of color.

Created shortly after the closure of the Bauhaus and during the lead-up to his final relocation to Paris, this drypoint exemplifies the evolving nature of Kandinsky’s output as he moved away from the German sphere and embraced the early 1930s French art scene. His close relationship with publications like Cahiers d’Art confirms his deep and sustained engagement with Parisian contemporaries. This work shows Kandinsky refining the geometric vocabulary that would eventually give way to the complex, biomorphic structures that defined his late style.

As a masterful example of early 20th-century abstraction, the work is classified as an important print within Kandinsky’s expansive oeuvre. The original impression of First Etching for Éditions "Cahiers d'Art" is held in the prestigious collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.