Vignette next to "Unchanged" (Vignette bei "Unverändert") (headpiece, folio 21) from Klänge (Sounds)

Vignette next to "Unchanged" (Vignette bei "Unverändert") (headpiece, folio 21) from Klänge (Sounds) by Vasily Kandinsky is a pivotal example of the artist's pioneering abstract work, created during the crucial year of (1913). This specific print functions as an abstract headpiece within the larger, seminal Illustrated Book, Klänge (Sounds), a unique collection of experimental prose poems and visuals entirely conceived by the artist. Utilizing the inherent graphic strength of the woodcut technique, this piece is one of fifty-six original woodcuts included in the publication, representing a unified endeavor to harmonize text and image.

Kandinsky utilized the medium of prints, specifically the woodcut, for its direct, unmediated quality, allowing him to communicate the spontaneous, non-representational forms he was developing in paint. The stark black and white contrasts amplify the emotional resonance of the composition, a key goal in his exploration of synesthesia and the spiritual basis of art. Although of Russian origin, the rapid circulation and impact of this volume throughout the continent established the work within the broader avant-garde environment of the period, deeply influencing the French cultural sphere’s embrace of non-objective art.

While serving a specific structural function as a vignette on folio 21, the abstract composition maintains the energetic density and formal complexity seen in Kandinsky’s larger canvases from the same era. The expressive forms, divorced entirely from objective reality, underscore the artist’s commitment to "internal necessity" over external description. As a vital component of a landmark Illustrated Book in the history of abstraction, this series of original woodcut prints is preserved and studied in the distinguished collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), providing crucial insight into the artist’s full transition toward pure abstraction in 1913.