Klee

by Paul Klee (Creator)

As in Novalis's texts, we find a unification of oppositions in Paul Klee's work. Mysticism and logic, poetry and mathematics, day and night, metaphysical and physical realms, the visible and the invisible, the conscious and the unconscious, childlike naivety and aesthetic sophistication, death and life, the organic and the inorganic, East and West, order and anarchy, irony and commitment, are often simultaneously present.

For Klee, the making of art was a simile for the creation of the world. Like Goethe, whom he considered the only bearable German, and whose experience of nature seemed allied to his own, Klee attempted to capture nature in terms of primal images; and like the poet, the artist discovered analogies to the universal design in the tiniest leaf.

On an early trip to Italy, undertaken with the Swiss sculptor Hermann Haller, Klee was intrigued less by the legacy of visual artists - with the exception of Leonardo - than by the structural principles of Italian architecture, which he saw as a continuation of natural laws by human hands, and by the fantastic aquatic flora and fauna in the Naples aquarium. Between these two poles lay the garden, organic nature domesticated and shaped by man, which inspired many of Klee's finest pictures. And it was between these two poles, those of construction and imagination, that his rich ouvre slowly and continually developed.

The Paul Klee portfolio features high quality prints that beg to be framed. Tucked in the portfolio are 14 large-format reproductions, each with a brief description.

Genres: Art, Art History, Nonfiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

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

[carl theaker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've always appreciated the artists of the 'Blaue Reiter' group,
especially Franz Marc and Kandinsky. Paul Klee was also a member
however for me, his work is too 'Expressionistic'. Yet he's still
an interesting artist of the era.

This introductory style book consists of basic info on Klee; a
several page biography and then a collection of plates.
However only a title is provided for the plates - no history,
interpretation, not even a date (though on some Klee
provided that on the painting).

Coincidentally just visited the Dallas Museum of Art 10/06/2011
and they had a Klee. Looked like a painting of a place mat, but
still interesting experience.

[Alejandro Teruel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fourteen large-sized reproductions of Paul Klee's paintings. Such a small and necessarily idiosyncratic selection of Klee's work will of course leave any Klee fan mystified as to the selection criteria. Each reproduction includes, on its back the title, date painted, medium and a short sentence, in many cases a quotation from Klee which may or not be pertinent to the painting.

Taschen's reproductions are, as usual, breathtaking in quality. Since this book belongs to the series "Portfolio", there is next to no text in them -a brief paragraph introduces the book and a bare-bones all too brief chronology closes it.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tiny book is excellent! There are an abundance of gorgeous full color plates (91) of Klee's work from the earliest date until his death with notes about each piece. The introduction (11 pages) gives an excellent overview of his life and personal inspiration. This is a great book to introduce anyone to this artist.