Wassily Kandinsky: Improvisation XIV (1910)

Wassily Kandinsky began to experiment with abstracting from landscape and with painting expressive narrative pictures that were symbolic, though not taken from real scenes. This painting is one of his ‘improvisations’, implying that it is constructed rather than painted from observation, yet there is clearly a landscape within the balanced, rhythm of Fauve-like colours.

It is around this time that Kandinsky and Franz Marc formulated the ideas that were to define Der Blaue Reiter, a group of artists who shared artistic vision and exhibited together, based around an occasional journal also titled Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider).

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You can find an image of this painting amongst this gallery of Kandinsky's Improvisations 

Click on image above for more info or to buy this excellent Taschen book on Kandinsky

Hans Hartung: untitled prints (1950s)

Hartung was one of the pioneers of abstract expressionism, particularly the use of grand gestural mark-making. Many of his mid-career works, particularly his prints, are composed of strong dark strokes and lively scribbles that ‘argue’ with the blankness they almost fill, but by which they are ultimately contained. He maintained that abstract art was a form of direct expression and was not aligned with any of the many ‘isms’ and should not be thought of as a movement, being the product of individuals who strive to express themselves and their feelings as clearly and honestly as possible.

Hans Hartung originally studied philosophy and the history of art and only sought practical tuition after he became a ‘painter’. His compositions deal with movement, expressive gestures and the balance or imbalance of forms.

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You can read a rather good illustrated article about Hans Hartung at the Deutsche Bank's artmag by Dr. Hans-Werner Schmidt...

There are some examples of his works, with brief notes, at the Tate Website