I am making preparations for a new Humanities course I will be teaching, “Art of Film” at women’s college that offers accelerated courses. One of the ways I enhance their studies is to present students with visual works that parallel with themes or concepts from the course. In the Art of Film, I plan to share the early 20th century, avant-garde painter Wassily Kandinsky and his oil on canvas from 1913, “Composition VII; it parallels with their readings centered on “score,” as in musical score. “Score is one device that is used to tell the audience what emotions the scene is supposed to conjure. Unlike the soundtrack, made up of music that is preexisting, the score is comprised of several orchestral instruments which are specifically timed to be cues to begin and end at exact moments during the film, in order to create a dramatic and emotional impact at specific points in the narrative.” (Mendel Polish)
Image Credit: Moscow, The State Tretyakov Gallery
Kandinsky created compositions of color and form; swirled hurricanes or oranges and pinks and deep blues; their vibrancy colliding into organic forms, engaging both sight and sound; the depth of human emotion is expressed in a universal, pictorial abstract language. His inner experience is a collaborative with the spirit and for the viewer, a communal connection.