Etching on heavy wove paper, 1904. 153x168 mm; 6x6 3/4 inches, wide margins. Second state (a) (of 2 b). Edition of approximately 50. Signed in pencil, lower right. Printed by Max Girardet, Bern. A very good, evenly-printed, well-inked impression of this exceedingly scarce, early etching.
We have found only 6 other impressions at auction in the past 30 years.
Klee (1879-1940) was a transcendentalist artist who synthesized music, literature and philosophy with painting, drawing and printmaking. A tenet of Klee's art is his deliberate use of color and his well-developed color theory—this interest was sparked in 1914 on a trip to North Africa. He was a member of the German Expressionist art group Der Blaue Reiter, and taught at the Bauhaus school, though he had to flee to Switzerland in 1933 when the scool came under Nazi rule. In 1937, 17 of his works were displayed in the Nazi-curated Entartete Kunst exhibition alongside many of his contemporaries, such as Wassily Kandinsky and Lyonel Feininger.
The current lot was created at the beginning of Klee's career and inspired by masks worn in ancient Greek comedies. He said of this work, "This is my most personal work up to now...Its expression flowed from my deepest soul." Kornfeld 10.
