During World War I, every moment that he could get away from his clerical duties in the paymaster’s office at Gersthofen, near Augsburg, Klee devoted to his work. He would take a box of watercolors and paint out-of-doors. Here, a green moon and its mauve crescent are the only curved forms within an angular composition whose rectangles, triangles, and squares suggest the roofs and facades of houses.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Colorful Architecture
Artist:Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
Date:1917
Medium:Gouache on paper mounted on cardboard
Dimensions:10 1/4 × 7 7/8 in. (26 × 20 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:The Berggruen Klee Collection, 1984
Accession Number:1984.315.10
Inscription: Signed (upper left): Klee; dated and inscribed on cardboard (lower left): 1917. 54.; signed, dated and inscribed (verso of original cardboard backing): AR 265/ 1917 54/ Farbige Architectur/ Klee
the artist, Munich (1917–20; sold in May–June 1920 to Goltz); [Galerie Neue Kunst Hans Goltz, Munich, from 1920]; Ida Maria Fuld, Frankfurt (until d. 1975; her bequest to private collection); private collection (1975; sold in November 1975 to Adler); Siegfried Adler, Montagnola and Baden Baden (1975–76; sold in 1976 to Berggruen); Heinz Berggruen, Paris and Berlin (1976–84; his gift to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection Two: Twentieth-Century Art," June 4–September 2, 1985, no catalogue.
Canberra. Australian National Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," March 1–April 27, 1986, unnumbered cat. (p. 42).
Brisbane. Queensland Art Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," May 7–July 1, 1986, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee: The Berggruen Klee Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 6–July 31, 1988, unnumbered cat. (p. 83).
Kunsthalle Tübingen. "Paul Klee: Die Sammlung Berggruen im Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York und im Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris," January 22–April 16, 1989, unnumbered cat. (p. 79).
London. Tate Gallery. "Paul Klee: The Berggruen Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris," May 17–August 13, 1989, unnumbered cat. (p. 79).
Mexico City. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo. "Paul Klee: Selección de sesenta obras. The Berggruen Klee Collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 1989–January 1990, no. 7.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee in Munich," January 12–July 21, 1996, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Cities," June 22–September 5, 1999, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee's Best," May 24–September 22, 2002, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cityscapes by Klee and Feininger," September 25, 2002–January 26, 2003, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Abstract," September 5–December 7, 2003, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Humor and Fantasy: The Berggruen Paul Klee Collection," September 1, 2016–January 2, 2017, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Ettore Sottsass: Design Radical," July 21–October 8, 2017, no catalogue.
Ottawa. National Gallery of Canada. "Paul Klee: The Berggruen Collection from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 16, 2018–March 17, 2019, no catalogue.
Kay Vernon in20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., Australian National Gallery. Canberra, 1986, pp. 41–42, ill. (color).
Sabine Rewald. Paul Klee: The Berggruen Klee Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1988, pp. 82–83, 273, 317, ill. (color and bw).
Josef Helfenstein and Christian Rümelin, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 2, 1913–1918. New York, 2000, p. 398, no. 1738, ill., as "Ohne Titel (Untitled)".
Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
1920
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