Paul Klee

Works in the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein - Westfälen, Dusseldorf.

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Paul Klee, the Swiss German painter influenced by expressionism, cubism and surrealism, also produced a number of etchings in his early years, beginning in 1903. These works, remarkable for their technical proficiency, illustrate his evolution from a traditionalist to one of modern art's most daring masters. Previously published in 1945 and 1947, this third revised edition was issued by the Museum of Modern Art and by Graphic Matter in 2013 in a limited edition of 500, printed and bound by Trifolio, Verona. It beautifully reproduces each of Klee/s prints on fine paper, which are accompanied by original texts and an updated list of plates.

The two volumes of the notebooks of the artist Paul Klee (1879–1940) contain the majority of the material used for his Bauhaus school lectures on art and the creative process and include drawings, notes, and illustrations. (Volume 2 is entitled The Nature of Nature.). "The writings which compose Paul Klee's theory of form production and pictorial form have the same importance and the same meaning for modern art as had Leonardo's writings which composed his theory of painting for Renaissance art. Like the latter, they do not constitute a true and proper treatise, that is to say a collection of stylistic and technical rules, but are the result of an introspective analysis which the artist engages in during his work and in the light of the experience of reality which comes to him in the course of his work. This analysis which accompanies and controls the formation of a work of art is a necessary component of the artistic process, the aim and the finality of which are brought to light by it . . ." So writes Giulio Carlo Argan in his Preface to this first volume of Klee's notebooks. The backbone of his Bauhaus courses was provided by the lecture notes contained in 'Contributions to a Theory of Pictorial Form' which are here published in their entirety. From more than 2,500 pages of the notebooks (consisting of memoranda, teaching projects, constructive drawings, and sketches for his pictures) it has been possible to reconstruct additional courses of instruction. Also included are the 'Creative Credo', 'Ways of Nature Study', the Jena lecture of 1924 and the essay' Exact Experiments in the Realm of Art'. The volume includes a magnificent collection of over one thousand drawings which illustrate the notes, as well as 188 half-tone illustrations, eight of these reproduced in full color.

From the Inside Flap: Known for their subtle and vibrant color, their fantastic dream images, their wit, and their playful imagination, the works of painter Paul Klee are among the most famous and recognizable of modern art. In this ground-breaking new volume, an essential group of 150 oils, watercolors, drawings, and prints, representative of Klee's entire career, is released to the public for the first time. These unpublished works are held in the Burgi Collection. Hanni Burgi (1880-1938) and her son Rolf (1906-1967) were intimately bound to Paul Klee and his family, and during the two and a half decades Hanni knew the artist, she built up the second largest collection of his pictures in the world: as early as 1938, it was described as "a very beautiful, full collection of [Klee's] works, which reflects the whole of his development as an artist." Rolf Burgi continued to add to it after his mother's death. It was Rolf, also, who, as the Klees' closest friend and adviser, made possible their escape from Nazi Germany in 1933, and, after Paul Klee's death, administrated his estate, saved it from liquidation, and set up the Paul Klee Foundation. Offering new art-historical insight into Klee's career-from his early Impressionist-inspired works, through his Expressionism with Kandisky and his Bauhaus period between the wars-this book contains the only reproduction of these important but little-known pieces collected by the Burgis, and will become essential to all enthusiasts of the art of Paul Klee and the modern period. The Burgi Collection represents a legacy of enduring loyalty and commitment to Paul Klee and his work that this lavishly illustrated volume handsomely honours.