Private Collection
Hanover Gallery, London
Galerie Berggruen, Paris
Sale: Kornfeld, Berne, June 19, 1980, lot 595
Contemporary Art Establishment (and sold: Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London, December 3, 1980, lot 156) 
Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)
Galerie Thomas, Munich
Acquired from the above in July 2009

The Artist's Handlist, Watercolors: II, 1932, no. 455, Gerade u. schief
Vivian Endicott Barnett, Kandinsky Watercolors: Catalogue Raisonné, vol. II, New York, 1994, no. 1066, illustrated p. 325

This work is in overall very good condition. Executed on cream laid paper mounted on card. Some extremely minor wear to the upper two extreme corners and a vertical crease to the right side of the upper edge. A small repaired tear to the upper part of the extreme right edge.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Composed of crisp, clean geometric forms against a softly rendered background, Gerade und Schief beautifully depicts Kandinsky’s shift away from the more irregular, free-flowing forms of his early work.  Though purely geometric and intentionally abstracted in form, Kandinsky hints at figural representation in this work, a sign of the dramatic stylistic changes apparent in his work during his time at the Bauhaus in 1929.

Kandinsky viewed the differences between his early and later works as a logical progression. As Vivian Endicott Barnett and Helmut Friedel write, “Kandinsky bases his theory about his own artistic development on the principle of ‘natural’ growth. On no account does he wish to give the impression that his art constitutes a radical break from tradition. And it is precisely his repeated assertion that all that is new in art must grow out of what went before which might also be the reason why Kandinsky, much later, during his Bauhaus years, was particularly delighted whenever he came across one of his own works from an earlier period” (Vivian Endicott Barnett & Helmut Friedel, Vasily Kandinsky, A Colorful Life, New York, 1996, p. 17).