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Paul Klee
An emblematic figure of the early 20th century, Paul Klee participated in the expansive Avant-Garde movements in Germany and Switzerland. From the vibrant Blaue Reiter movement to Surrealism at the end of the 1930s and throughout his teaching years at the Bauhaus, he attempted to capture the organic and harmonic nature of painting by alluding to other artistic mediums such as poetry, literature, and, above all, music. While he collaborated with artists like August Macke and Alexej von Jawlensky, his most famous partnership was with the abstract expressionist, Wassily Kandinsky.
- GenresArt
365 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1969
About the author
Paul Klee
340 books98 followersPaul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a Swiss painter and a German painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented with and eventually mastered color theory, and wrote extensively about it; his lectures Writings on Form and Design Theory (Schriften zur Form und Gestaltungslehre), published in English as the Paul Klee Notebooks, are considered so important for modern art that they are compared to the importance that Leonardo da Vinci's A Treatise on Painting had for Renaissance. He and his colleague , the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, both taught at the German Bauhaus school of art, design and architecture. His works reflect his dry humour and his sometimes childlike perspective, his personal moods and beliefs, and his musicality.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 15, 2022
This book, published for MoMA's 1987 Paul Klee retrospective, is simply a hidden gem. Perhaps it isn't so obscure to the art historian or inspired artist, but as a layperson I find myself very lucky to have discovered this remarkable collection of essays and hundreds of beautiful and thought-provoking plates at my local library.
I am deeply impressed by the four essays, which cover Klee's place in the avant-garde circles of Dada and Surrealism; situate his life and artwork within the sociopolitical tortures of the tumultuous first few decades of the 20th century; demonstrate his place within the rich tradition of German Romanticism, albeit with his cooler, more ironic, and less objective aesthetics; and describe his largely unacknowledged role in influencing American masters of abstract expressionism such as Pollock and Rothko.
As if these insightful and robustly-sourced essays, which at the time of publication seem to have filled gaps in the literature, weren't enough, editor Carolyn Lanchner (who also authored the final essay on Klee's American influence) proves herself a brilliant curator with a rich and varied selection of Klee's work, spanning from Klee's childhood drawings to works from 1940, the year he died. One can see Klee work out many problems and ideas, gradually gaining confidence around his trip to Tunisia in 1914, and then through the 1920s and 30s displaying a virtuosic and divergent brilliance and, at times, a prolific output.
The essays here are riveting to read, the plates a delight to leaf through with a cup of tea on many a sunny winter afternoon.
I am deeply impressed by the four essays, which cover Klee's place in the avant-garde circles of Dada and Surrealism; situate his life and artwork within the sociopolitical tortures of the tumultuous first few decades of the 20th century; demonstrate his place within the rich tradition of German Romanticism, albeit with his cooler, more ironic, and less objective aesthetics; and describe his largely unacknowledged role in influencing American masters of abstract expressionism such as Pollock and Rothko.
As if these insightful and robustly-sourced essays, which at the time of publication seem to have filled gaps in the literature, weren't enough, editor Carolyn Lanchner (who also authored the final essay on Klee's American influence) proves herself a brilliant curator with a rich and varied selection of Klee's work, spanning from Klee's childhood drawings to works from 1940, the year he died. One can see Klee work out many problems and ideas, gradually gaining confidence around his trip to Tunisia in 1914, and then through the 1920s and 30s displaying a virtuosic and divergent brilliance and, at times, a prolific output.
The essays here are riveting to read, the plates a delight to leaf through with a cup of tea on many a sunny winter afternoon.
March 20, 2016
Superb little book
A beautiful book on Paul Klee -- it's amazingly good in the Kindle iPad version, especially on an iPad Pro. What sublime images!
A beautiful book on Paul Klee -- it's amazingly good in the Kindle iPad version, especially on an iPad Pro. What sublime images!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews