KANDINSKY, W. (1966-1944) MARC, F. (1880-1916) Der Blaue Reiter Publishers: Kandinsky, Franz Marc. Munich: R. Piper and Co. Verlag, 1912. Extremely rare.

[4], 140 pp.: ill., 2 pp. of notes, [14] pp. of advertisements, announcements, 1 sheet of colour ill. (frontispiece), 3 sheets of colour ill., 30 sheets of black-and-white ill., 4 sheets of notes; 29x23 cm. Edition of 1,200 copies. In German. In a later owner’s full cloth binding. The original illustrated publisher’s cover by Vassily Kandinsky has been preserved. Minor spots and surface soiling visible on the front cover. The Blue Rider was one of the most striking phenomena of the avant-garde movement in Europe in the 1910s. Founded in 1911 in Munich under the influence of Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, it brought together artists, musicians and writers from Russia, Germany and France. Initially, the name referred only to the almanac. From December 1911, exhibitions also began to be called by this name. Most of the artists who showed their works at the first exhibition of The Blue Rider participated in one way or another in the creation of the almanac, or their works were reproduced in it. In May 1912, the only issue of the Blue Rider almanac was published. Two years later, an additional print run was published and a second issue was planned, but its publication was halted by the war. The almanac contains reproductions of paintings and illustrations by artists V. Kandinsky, F. Mark, D. Burliuk, Kampendonk, P. Cézanne, R. Delaunay, V. Gauguin, E. Heckel, E. Kirchner, P. Klee, A. Matisse, E. Nolde, Pablo Picasso, Henri Rousseau, and others. Vignettes by Arp and Mark Texts by W. Kandinsky, F. Mark, D. Burliuk, A. Schoenberg, and others. Three scores by A. Schoenberg, A. Berg, and A. von Webern.