In Kandinsky's hand list 2 the picture is listed in Russian as 'Fragment Kompozitsiyi 4 (13.1.)' - that is to say 'Fragment of Composition 4 (13.1.)' - but in his hand list 3 written by Gabriele Münter (which appears to be a draft for hand list 2 written by Kandinsky himself), it appears as: Will Grohmann referred to the Tate's picture as an oil study for 'Composition 4', but the five preliminary drawings which are known for the larger picture, a charcoal drawing, two brush drawings and two watercolours, are all studies for the complete composition, including the right-hand section, and therefore do not really bridge the gap between them. Kandinsky wrote a retrospective analysis of 'Composition 4' in March 1911 (first published in the Sturm-Album of 1913) which describes it both in abstract terms (effects produced purely by different colours and forms) and in terms of specific objects (horses, figures, the castle and so on) this analysis also applies to some extent to the present work. The right-hand part includes several additional themes, particularly two lying figures which introduce a diagonal movement to the right. All these features except the birds are also present in 'Composition 4' but are compressed sideways in order to fit almost exactly into the left-hand half of the composition, with the right-hand lance forming a vertical division down the centre.
In the Tate's painting one can identify: top left, two Cossacks on horseback fighting with sabres bottom right, three more Cossacks, two of whom hold lances top right, a castle on a hill and a party of birds in flight. ('Composition 4' is No.125 in the house catalogue and the five intervening numbers refer to completely different compositions).īoth pictures are ' objective abstractions' in which an expressive arrangement of colours and lines is of primary importance, but a certain representational element still remains. It appears as No.119 in Kandinsky's house catalogue, where it is dated 13 January 1911, which conflicts with the date 1910 on the picture itself: presumably it was either finished in 1911 or painted at the end of 1910 and not entered in the catalogue until a few weeks later. This picture is related to the left-hand section of the much larger ' Composition 4' now in the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen at Düsseldorf, which measures 159.5 x 250.5cm. p.353, pl.52 Paul Overy, Kandinsky: the Language of the Eye facing p.48, fig.7 Will Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky: Life and Work (London 1959), No.119, pp.121-3 and 331, repr. Kandinsky, 'Komposition 4: nachträgliches Definieren' in Kandinsky 1910-1913 (Sturm-Album, Berlin 1913), pp.23-4 Kenneth Lindsay, 'The Genesis and Meaning of the Cover Design for the First Blaue Reiter Exhibition Catalogue' in Art Bulletin, XXXV, 1953, pp.48-9, repr. Mrs Hazel McKinley, London (purchased from the artist through Guggenheim-Jeune, London, 1938) Exh: Kandinsky, Kunsthaus Schaller, Stuttgart, 1928 (no catalogue) 20th Century German Art, New Burlington Galleries, London, July 1938 (211, ex catalogue) as 'Cosaques' 1911 The Blue Rider Group, RSA, Edinburgh, August-September 1960 (60) as 'Study for Composition IV' 1911 Tate Gallery, September-October 1960 (60) Lit: and, on stretcher, 'KANDINSKY-Zu Komposition 4 (Fragment) 1910' and 'No.119 | 130 x 94' Oil on canvas, 37 1/4 x 51 1/4 (94.5 x 130) Presented by Mrs Hazel McKinley 1938 Prov:
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