Bearded Old Man

Wassily Kandinsky's 'Bearded Old Man' (1904) is a figure portrait from his pre-abstract period — his engagement with the figure subject was less central to his practice than his landscapes and eventual abstract works, but his portrait subjects showed his ability to apply his developing visual approach to human subjects. The bearded old man as a figure type connected to the Russian folk painting tradition he admired and to his own cultural background, the aged male face with its long beard having specific cultural associations within the Orthodox Christian world he came from.

Kandinsky renders the bearded old man with the decorative boldness and color directness that characterized all his figurative work — the figure simplified somewhat from naturalistic portraiture toward the expressive, slightly stylized handling that distinguished his approach. His handling of the beard's specific form and the old man's weathered face within his characteristic color world creates the figure's presence within his developing style.