CHEERFUL SQUARES AND LOTS OF SMILES......

A day in London, especially with Pierrette, is something I had been looking forward to for some time. We were off to see the Paul Klee (1879-1940)  exhibition « Making Visible ». I have seen many of Klee’s exhibitions but not a retrospective of his work. There have been « musical » works on at the Cité de la Musique in Paris: and exhibition of his puppets and theatre in Brussels and then another smaller one in Geneva. 


I have obviousy enjoyed his work all over the world in Mondern Art Museums. Here, I didn’t quite know what to expect. I did know however, that this was the first large-scale exhibition in the UK for over a decade. He was always considered to be a solitary dreamer  with a considerable sense of humor, which is not a surprise as so much of his work is funny, colorful even if it is structured.

Coming back on the Eurostar the same evening, I read that we had seen over 130 drawings,  watercolors and paintings. The exhibition spans the three decades of his career from his beginnings in Munich in the 1910’s, through his years of teaching at the Bauhaus in the 1920’s up to his final paintings in Bern at the outbreak of the Second World War. He had never taught so his experience at the Bauhaus showed just how well prepared and enjoyed were his lessons by students. 

Angelus Novus 1920

Rememberance sheet of a Conception 1918

Persian Nightingales 1917

The exhibition is catalogued as he had done it for himself at the key moments in his life. Naturally they have been dispersed over a long period but the Tate Modern was able to get them together again and show the works alongside each other for the first time since Klee did so himself. This was fascinating as there is work that I have seen but in such a situation the work looked more structured than I remembered it to be when just seeing one period. Or one « classification ».  He started out as a musician. I can see his work well from the the exhibition I had seen at the Cité. Somehow though, all those little boxes even if highly coloured did not appeal to me as much as before. As if they had been taken out of context. On the 130 + works we saw, I probably had seen no more than 10! 

Battle scene from the Comic-Fantastic Opera 1923

A young ladies adventure 1922

They're bighting 1920

He worked along side Kandinsky in the « Blue Rider » group in 1912. This is when the Tate starts the exhibition just before the first world war. There too there was this patchwork of color.
Another technique he used was the « oil transfer »  paintings like « They’e Biting » in 1920….we know this kind of work but I certainly didn’t know the technique, nor how much he had worked on burlap 



He too was dismissed from the Bauhaus (by the Nazis),  from his teaching position and took refuge with his family in Switzerland. His work was removed from collections in Germany and labelled as « degenerate » I’m still inclined to think that this description made so many of the modern artists of that period very famous. As you know, it’s a period I really love when it comes to art….no-one could like it otherwise.

Static synamic Graduation, 1923

FEAR - Gouache and wax on burlap 1934

Comedy 1921

Twilight Flowers 1940 - Burlap mounted on a 2nd burlap

Outbreak of fear lll 1939

Walpurgis Night 1935 Gouache on fabric on plywood

Fire at Full Moon 1933

From me to Pierrette

 










Seeing such a retrospective made me think more about his work than I had in previous exhibitions. Then I had always come away cheeful and smiling. Theatre and music  lent to such concepts. I think that on the whole I prefer to see his work by periods rather than so much at the one time. There is a museum dedicated to his work in Switzerland. I now intend to visit it.

The end of the year is upon us. I hope for all of you it has been or will be a joyous period and that 2014 will be up to your expectations. For those who follow me, a very big thank you.