Paul Klee

by Paul Klee, Silvia Canals (Editor)

PAUL KLEE

Genres: Art

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Paul 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.

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

A wonderful souvenir from an exhibition of Paul Klee that I was lucky enough to see in Lille in 2020.

It is a slightly bizarre little book. On the left hand page there is a quotation from Klee's writings, mostly from his Journals (originally written in German) in a French version with a translation into English from the French underneath. On the facing page there is a colour illustration of one of Klee's works. Although the book is in a small format, many of Klee's paintings were also quite small -around A4, so these reproductions in some cases are 1/4 or 1/5th of the original size. Occasionally I had the impression that there was some relation between the quote and the illustration, but possibly I am fooling myself as mostly there appeared to be no connection at all.

The illustrations are in colour, the works featured here don't cover the full range of Klee's output, but then he could be extremely productive.

A quote:
Genesis of a work
1. draw rigorously from nature, if necessary using a telescope.
2. Turn the drawing (1) upside down, and bring out the its main lines in keeping with the feeling.
3. Turn the sheet back up the right way, and harmonise (1) nature with (2) picture. (p.48)

The telescope is a nice touch I find.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Jeff DeLisle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent photos of the artwork, about 1/3 black and white and 2/3 color. Well preserved after all these years. Dense scholastic commentary.

[Michael Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!