Vignette next to "Early Spring" (Vignette bei "Vorfrühling") (headpiece, folio 14, verso) from Klänge (Sounds)

Vignette next to "Early Spring" (Vignette bei "Vorfrühling") (headpiece, folio 14, verso) from Klänge (Sounds) is a significant woodcut created by Vasily Kandinsky in 1913. This piece functions as a headpiece within the artist's seminal illustrated book, Klänge (Sounds), which contained fifty-six woodcuts interspersed with Kandinsky's own poetic texts. This particular image, found on folio 14, verso, visually accompanies the poem titled “Early Spring,” forming an integral component of the holistic artistic experience Kandinsky sought to create.

The publication Klänge (1913) is a foundational text of early abstraction, demonstrating Kandinsky's comprehensive exploration of synesthesia-the link between visual art and sound. Although created by a Russian master associated primarily with German Expressionism, this illustrated book is often classified within the broader French cultural sphere of the time. This classification reflects the transnational nature of avant-garde printmaking during this period and the crucial role French publishers and markets played in disseminating these modern ideas across Europe. Kandinsky utilized the inherent boldness and directness of the woodcut technique, creating simplified and dramatically expressive black-and-white forms.

Kandinsky's graphic style in these prints emphasizes stark contrasts, moving rapidly away from descriptive representation toward highly abstracted compositions. These high-contrast graphic elements provide a visual rhythm and counterpoint to the accompanying prose poems, reinforcing the artist’s belief in the spiritual resonance of abstract imagery. The medium of the woodcut was essential to the artist's aesthetic goals, offering a primal and forceful means of expression ideally suited to the theoretical concepts he explored in his treatise, Concerning the Spiritual in Art. As an illustrated book, Klänge fully integrates text and image, solidifying Kandinsky’s role as a key pioneer of abstract modernism. This important work from the 1913 publication resides in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.