Variation after Improvisation 21 (Variation nach Improvisation 21) (plate, folio 13) from Klänge (Sounds) is a crucial woodcut created by Vasily Kandinsky in 1913. This influential work is one of fifty-six woodcuts included in the illustrated book Klänge (Sounds), a landmark publication that fused Kandinsky’s poetic writings with his pioneering abstract visual language. The creation of such prints allowed the artist to explore the dynamic interplay between expressive line, form, and spiritual expression that characterized his early period of total abstraction.
Kandinsky's adoption of the woodcut medium in this period emphasized sharp contrasts and bold, flattened forms. The Variation after Improvisation 21 translates the spontaneous, musical quality inherent in the 'Improvisation' series, typically seen in his oil paintings, into the stark, powerful language of black-and-white graphic art. As part of his comprehensive move toward non-representational art, the artist utilized an abstract arrangement of angular and curvilinear shapes that suggest movement and inherent chaotic energy without referencing specific objective forms. This piece serves as a visual analogue to music, aligning with the artist's revolutionary theoretical pursuits outlined in his contemporary treatise, Concerning the Spiritual in Art.
Though Kandinsky was a founding figure of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter, the distribution and influence of the illustrated book Klänge were integral to shaping modern art movements internationally, including within French artistic circles during this formative time. Classified specifically as an illustrated book, the complex interplay between image and text positions this publication as a key monument of avant-garde printmaking from 1913. The availability of these striking prints facilitated the wide dissemination of Kandinsky’s theories on synesthesia and color abstraction across Europe. This significant example of early abstraction is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
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