KANDINSKY Vassily (1866-1944).

6 L.A.S. "Wassily Kandinsky" or "Wassily K" (the last unsigned), Munich February-July 1900, to Andrei Andreevitch PAPPE; in Russian; 40 pages in-8 (2 in pencil; some cracks in folds delicately restored); mounted on tabs or inserted in an in-8 volume, semi-rigid black box, boards decorated with a cold-stamped decoration, quartered in red and blue on the first board, and in green and blue on the second, with ivory and ebony rivets at the central corner of each of the rectangles; blue suede lining, red box spine slipcase (J. de Gonet 1999). Extraordinary correspondence, illustrated with 5 sketches, aesthetic and practical reflections on the art of painting and drawing. A Moscow lawyer and art lover, Andrei PAPPE (1865-1919) had met Kandinsky in Odessa. After Kandinsky's departure for Munich, Pappe continued to submit his own drawings to him. Kandinsky, then 33 years old, came to study in Munich; he evokes here the teaching of Anton Azbe (whom he was to leave to attend the courses of Franz von Stuck at the Beaux-Arts), and endeavours to transmit to Pappe the principles of the master, in particular the famous Kugel-System, the principle of the sphere. The second letter contains five sketches intended to correct his correspondent's mistakes. Kandinsky insists on the necessity of composition and the overall perception of the objects represented. He also gave a number of technical tips on the use of colours and the preparation of a canvas. 22 February (8 pages, with a small pen-and-ink sketch). He has received Pappe's letter, but the charcoal drawing has been torn and partly erased. He advises him to use a fixative and a sprayer (which he draws), before commenting on his friend's drawing: this head is not bad, Pappe has a disposition, "what we call 'the eye'", but he lacks knowledge. Kandinsky suggested that he get a skull and draw it with rigour, paying particular attention to the proportions and symmetry of the parts... "It is necessary to constantly compare and check the direction of each line [...] and think about the skull all the time. Thus you will learn to see the whole head simultaneously and to take into account the correspondence of its parts. [...] At the beginning, try to take as generally as possible the light, the shadows and the direction of the lines". Charcoal is used like a brush "when painting by strokes". Then he evokes his teacher [Anton AZBE] who remarked "that no sculptor will ever start the head with the ear, the nose or the eye, but he will start by "carving" the head, that is to say giving to the clay or the marble a shape which resembles that of the head, paying no attention to the details"... So you have to translate "the shape of the head-skull [...] into its cardinal proportions and mount the main feature of that skull [...] otherwise your eyes will be set too high, your ears too low, the jaws will stick out of the skull, etc.". Such a process in your work on the skull will be useful for any drawing, it will give you a good knowledge of drawing in general, the understanding of form and proportion, the accuracy of the eye. Painting by the line with all the details can only give the change. You draw something that looks like a pigeon and you can't draw a chair"... March 25 (9 pages, including 2 in pencil, with sketch). He did not want to tell his friend that he should stop working; besides, it is almost impossible to pronounce decisively for or against a work, and he hardly knows three artists to whom he could advise to give up. He sees nothing hopeless about Pappe's skull drawings. "There's a throwaway manner and an overall view of things in your drawings. What is weakest is the proportions. Then remember that all perspective is built on the conception that the object of the drawing and the painter's eye are two immobile points, while you consecutively move your eye or your skull (rather the eye), which is why one sees at the same time on your drawing the parts of the skull that it is impossible to see at the same time." Pappe drew his skull "en face" and in profile... Kandinsky offers to send him back his corrected drawing and asks him in return to do something in colour: "It is the beginning that counts here as well as elsewhere. As for your failures, don't be confused, as it often happens that a promising beginning bursts into a soap bubble. From what I have observed, premature talents (having never seen geniuses, I am speaking only of normal talents) give rise to dependent art, similar to "parasitic" plants. The one who has his own soul and eyes, may very well end up with nothing, but if he ever about