Totemiczny wymiar abstrakcji. Wokół narodzin malarstwa bezprzedmiotowego i „Kompozycji 5“ Wassilego Kandinskiego

Abstract

Totemism of Abstract Painting. About Birth of Non- Representational Art and Composition 5 by Wassily Kandinsky

The article is devoted to totemism applied in the field of art history. It examines the avant-garde phenomena of the beginning of 20th century on the example of abstract painting by Wassily focusing on his Composition 5 (1911, private collection) which has been exhibited during the First Exhibition of Der Blaue Reiter Group (Thannhauser Galerie, Munich, 1911-1912). The author sees in the Blue Rider emblem a totemic figure that expresses the main category of Kandinskys cosmogonical system of art: the inner necessity (die Innere Notwendigkeit in Concerning the Spiritual in Art). The abstract painting is presented as a totemic screen that divides the reality into two spheres: sacrum and profanum. The analysis of Compostion 5 proves the artwork shows the essential processes of creation and elements of primitive expressionist art. 2.