Sale: 545 / Evening Sale, Dec. 08. 2023 in Munich Lot 1


1
Paul Klee
Kleines Tiergespenst, 1929.
Pen drawing and Watercolor, partly sprayed
Estimate:
€ 70,000 / $ 76,300
Sold:
€ 88,900 / $ 96,901

(incl. surcharge)
Kleines Tiergespenst. 1929.
Pen drawing and Watercolor, partly sprayed.
Signed in lower left. Signed, dated, titled and inscribed "3.H.7" in bottom center, lower left signed "V SCI" on the original backing board with borders. On Ingres paper, originally laid on the backing by the artist. 22.7 x 31 cm (8.9 x 12.2 in), the full sheet. Backing board: 51,5 x 40 cm (20,2 x 15,7 in).
[EH].

•Tender and frivolous drawing with a great humoristic quality.
• Paul Klee marked this important sheet as part of his unsalable "Sonderklasse".
• Klee attributed a special quality to the few works that he described as 'special class' in view of his oeuvre as a whole.
• For the first time shown at Neue Kunst Fides in Dresden in 1930 and henceforth part of many exhibitions.
• From the Deutsche Bank Collection
.

We are grateful to the Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, for the kind support in cataloging this lot.

PROVENANCE: Rudolf Probst (Galerie Neue Kunst Fides; Das Kunsthaus), Dresden/Mannheim 1930-1932 (on consignment).
Collection Lily Klee, Bern (1940-1946, inv. no.673).
Presumably Klee-Gesellschaft, Bern (1946-1950 the latest, inv. no. SJJV).
Werner Allenbach, Klee Gesellschaft, Bern (1950 the latest -1952).
Collection Werner Allenbach, Bern (1953-1954).
Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne (1954-1957).
World House Galleries, New York (1957).
Barbara F. Babcock, New York (1960).
Hirschl & Adler Gallery, New York (1980-1982).
Wolfgang Wittrock Kunsthandel, Düsseldorf (1982-1984).
Deutsche Bank Collection, Frankfurt am Main (inv.no. 810030).

EXHIBITION: Paul Klee zum 50. Geburtstage. Aquarelle aus den Jahren 1920 - 1929, Galerie Neue Kunst Fides, Dresden, February 1 - early March 1930, no. 102.
Paul Klee. Aquarelle aus 25 Jahren, 1905 to 1930, Staatliches Museum Saarbrücken, March 23 - April 22, 1930, no. 136.
Paul Klee. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Graphik 1903 - 1930, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover March 7 - April 5, 1931, no p.
New York, World House Galleries, Paul Klee, March 8 - April 2, 1960, cat no. 20.
BAUHAUS-Künstler. Malerei und Grafik aus den Beständen der Kunstsammlungen zu Weimar und der Deutschen Bank, Kunsthalle am Theaterplatz, Weimar / Museum Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden / Bauhaus Dessau July 2, 1993 – January 30, 1994, cat no. 76 (with illu.).
Auf Papier. Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts aus der Deutschen Bank, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt a. M. / Berlinische Galerie, Landesmuseum für Moderne Kunst, Photographie und Architektur, Berlin / Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, March 3 - September 24, 1995, cat no. 92, fig. p. 167.
Aus Deutscher Sicht, Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Deutsche Bank, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, November 17, 2004 - January 16, 2005, p. 199.
25. Fünfundzwanzig Jahre Sammlung Deutsche Bank, Berlin, Deutsche Guggenheim, April 23 - June 19, 2005, p. 62, no. 02 (fig.).
Paul Klee. BildWelten, Stadtgalerie Klagenfurt, June 24 - September 25, 2005, cat no. 70 (fig. p. 111).
Paul Klee. Teatro magico, Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta, Milan, January - April 2007, cat no. 40 (fig. p. 114).
Paul Klee - Sonderklasse, unverkäuflich, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, / Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, October 2014 – May 2015, cat no. 207, fig. pp. 101 and 389.
Paul Klee. Zwischen Himmel und Erde. Bilderwelten von Paul Klee, Stadtmuseum Lindau, April 1 - August 27, 2017, p. 107 (color fig.)
Paul Klee. Tierisches, Kunstforum Ingelheim - Altes Rathaus, September 5 - November 8, 2020, p. 29 (with color illu.).

LITERATURE: Paul-Klee-Foundation, Kunstmuseum Bern (ed), Paul Klee. Catalogue raisonné, vol. 5 1927 - 1930, p. 394, catalogue raisonné no. 5063.

In 1929, Paul Klee was at the peak of his success. He had been teaching at the Bauhaus since 1921 and was in negotiations with the Düsseldorf Art Academy about a teaching post. He had become one of the most internationally acknowledged German artist of his time: both the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Nationalgalerie Berlin and the important Galerie Alfred Flechtheim honored him with grand exhibitions on the occasion of his 50th birthday.

Paul Klee often wraps his lyrical world of thoughts and shapes, brimming with an exuberant imagination, in strictly geometrically structured compositions. But there are also works, that do not fit this description, as is the case with the present “Tiergespenst” (Animal Ghost). It is a wonderful example of the poetic and surreal qualities found in Paul Klee's work. With a sweeping line, he creates an animal ghost from his mythical world, a metaphorical, cat-like creature with a human habitus. Maybe his own cat served as model for the cat lover Klee. The animal ghost floats in a powdered cloud, executed in a subtle spray technique, which makes it is the first in a series of 10 sheets in this make.

Paul Klee inscribed this sheet with the letters “SCl”, making it one of the “special class” of works not for sale. Since the sheet was shown at Neue Kunst Fides (Rudolf Probst) Dresden the year after it was made, as well as in the exhibition at the Saarbrücken State Museum in 1930 and at the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover in 1931, it seems that he initially wanted to make it available the art market and only then assigned it to the ‘special class’. It is known that it was only after he had returned to Switzerland from the USA after the war that he cleared some works from this exclusive group for sale. [EH]



1
Paul Klee
Kleines Tiergespenst, 1929.
Pen drawing and Watercolor, partly sprayed
Estimate:
€ 70,000 / $ 76,300
Sold:
€ 88,900 / $ 96,901

(incl. surcharge)