Product Description
Now available in a flexi format, this dazzling monograph features some of Klee's favorite works, created during his most productive artistic period.

As an avant-garde artist of the twentieth century, painter Paul Klee's work defies classification. What is indisputable, however, is its originality and brilliance. Taken from the artist's most prolific years,1917-1933, this book presents works that Klee never intended to sell. More than 100 color plates reveal Klee's chromatic genius and wide stylistic range. Along with an in-depth biography, the book features three essays, which examine Klee's versatility, place him in context with his contemporaries, and discuss his process for cataloging his works. The result is a unique and far-reaching exploration of one of the twentieth century's most important and admired artists, at the most fecund stage of his career. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The Klee Universe
We were fortunate to have obtained a windfall of 9 Klee books:
This book presents quite a punch.The new kid (book) in town (2007).
Wonderfully ingrains Klee into his era and into art history.Limited to his 'master years' 1917 - 1933.None the less a great representation of Klee's genius.

13 reproductions plus 80 fantastic plates.Great color quality.And a wonderful selection of his works.Alot of pictures not readily available in most klee books.

Starts with the history of his dramatic artistic output and his art story.Ends with his personal and family history.Many photos of Klee.

This is THE gem of all the Klee books.

Please see our other Klee reviews

Personal Favorites of Klee, nothing to do with "genius"
As an artist myself I understand the need to keep certain pieces, and have also been denied the chance to buy pieces from other artist friends due to the personal nature of certain works. This in no way has anything to do with it being a particularly great work, just that it has personal extra meaning to the artist.

This book is a different set of work that in no way represents the totality of Klee work. I was disappointed with this. It seems that Klee himself didn't have much personal connection to his signature style of work if you buy the premise, and major selling point, of this book! If you want the Klee that made him famous and loved don't get this one, it won't show you that. If you want personal favorites of Klee that seem out of place in the context of the totality of his work, get this. Also if you are looking for the cheapest book on Klee here get this.

Quality and Affordability
The size of the book is a little small.However, the quantity and quality of the images is definitely worth the price.

who is great?,,,,Paul Klee
I found a few color repros in this book that I haven't seen in other books.I like most of the selections with the exception of a few that look like Kandinsky.Yet, I prefer the Kandinskys that are similar to Klee.I have a large collection of postcards of Klee from museums,I am always on the lookout for Klees that I haven't seen The reproductions are very good.I have over 40 books on Klee. I have visited the Klee Foundation collection in Berne.The Klees in the Philips collection + MOMA and the Guggenheim,.Lenbachaus (Munich)I went to MOMA's Klee exhibition awhile back...you had to wait in line to see each piece.This book is well worth the price .Others have commented on the high quality of the design of the book.The essays are a worthwhile read.Especially the piece on the presentation of Klee's work, his method of mounting drawings and watercolors,sometimes adding color to the border of a work,His mounting of paper over burlap. Only a few books reproduce the work with the frame showing.. This discussion is something that is not found in the plethora of literature on Klee. Number one mentions Klee's extensive influenceon modern painters. They fail to mention Picasso, (from a Picasso museum catalogue) ---"Picasso did many of the drawings for Guernica after meeting Klee in Suisse,that may have been influenced by Klee".They do discuss the culture of experimentation that both artists shared.To really understand Klee it is a good idea to buy every book you can on this wonderful artist.A pervasive attitude during the fifties was:the work is a secret..My problem in buying books : I read the essays right away..the first day.In this case 36 pages. The fifteen dollars is still worthwhile because of the gorgeous plates of Klee's work.I continue to look at the work more than any prolix essays.The type of soft cover of this type holds up well over time.This is a book you can take to bed with you and study a painting ..and pleasantly send you off to dream land!

Beautiful, and a bargain!
This is one of the most beautiful and in-depth studies on the art of Paul Klee I have ever seen.The essays give wonderfully in-depth background on Klee's creative process, based on the study of the works that he kept for his personal collection.In many of these works we find the archetypes that informed most of his very personal and highly expressive iconography.The works in the exhibition, 80 works, are all top-quality Klee, and offer a well-rounded selection of works created during his most prolific and creative period (1917-1933).But there are also works included up to 1939, as well.Prestel has really outdone themselves in this incredibly splendid publication.The design, printing, and quality of manufacturing are all first-rate, and the price is astonishingly low...even the Amazon list price is a bargain, and this superior volume is discounted even more.Anyone with an interest in 20th Century art will absolutely want to own this gorgeous book, and if you are a fan of the work of Klee, as I am, you will find it an indispensible addition to your library. ... Read more

Product Description
There are artists whose metier is the observation or documentation of the world, and artists who set the world aside altogether to build their own visionary cosmology, designing its constituent parts from scratch as a personal mythology relayed in motifs. Paul Klee (1879-1940) was such an artist, as his aphorism Art does not reproduce the visible, rather it makes visible" testifies, and The Klee Universe addresses his work from this perspective. In 1906, Klee noted in his diary, "All will be Klee," and in 1911, as the encyclopedist of his cosmos, he began to meticulously chronicle his works in a catalogue that, by the time he died, was to contain more than 9,000 items. Here, in the fashion of an Orbis Pictus or a Renaissance emblem book, Klee's oeuvre is made legible as a cogent entirety, in thematic units address: the human life cycle, from birth and childhood to sexual desire, parenthood and death; music, architecture, theater and religion; plants, animals and landscapes; and, finally, darker, destructive forces in the shape of war, fear and death. The Klee Universe reimagines the artist as a Renaissance man, an artist of great learning whose cosmos proves to be a coherent system of ideas and images.
Paul Klee (1879-1940) was born and died in Switzerland, though he never obtained Swiss citizenship. Technically of German nationality, he taught at the Bauhaus from 1921 to 1926, alongside Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc and others. Seventeen of his works were included in the Nazi's infamous 1937 Munich exhibition of "degenerate art."" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Klee Universe
First this book comes from a publishing house (Hatje Cantz) that produces very beautiful pieces on artists. If you are a fan of Paul Klee this is a must have.
The reproductions are exquisite, the writing, for all us 'non reading' artists, is accessible on every page. And the book is so fine that reading is invitational.
This book is an interesting companion piece to one that was given to me recently (Paul Klee the thinking eye - Percy Lund,Humphries & Co Publisher 1964) by a Cal Arts graduate. This book was used then as a text for a 2D Design course. Having taught the same class for 30 College Art Course years I am not sure I could have made Klee's instructions decipherable. But with the Klee Universe in hand I would be encouraged to try.

Making the invisible visible.
Undoubtedly the best recent publication on Paul Klee, this book is the catalogue for an exhibition held at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin in late 2008-early 2009. It encompasses the entire career of the Swiss artist, with first-rate color illustrations of numerous works on all kinds of media (paintings on canvas, on board, on gesso, drawings, watercolors, prints...). Based on the many works by Klee donated by the late art dealer Heinz Berggruen to various museums (the Pompidou Center in Paris, the Met in NYC and the Berggruen Museum in Berlin) and complemented by numerous loans from around the world, it is accompanied by in-depths studies of various aspects of Klee's art (music, animals, nature, Eros, travels, women, men, lettering, religion, war, etc). The illustrations are mostly full-page and the essays tackle such themes as Klee's inspirational sources, his relationship to the city of Berlin, or his rise as a modern master. Berggruen's son Olivier also writes about his father's relationship to the art of Paul Klee (whom he never got to meet)which he relentlessly promoted until his death.

A must-have for anyone interested in Klee, this book should be ranked equal to the monography published by Moma in NYC in 1987 (Paul Klee: His Life and Work), which is now out of print. ... Read more

Product Description
Between 1916 and 1925 Paul Klee (1879-1940) made some 50 hand puppets for his son, Felix, of which 30 are still in existence. For the heads, he used materials from his own household: beef bones and electrical outlets, bristle brushes, leftover bits of fur and nutshells. Soon he began to sew costumes. These characters and small works, do not pretend to be great art, but at the same time, they are superbly imaginative, sweetly reminiscent of Klee’s relationships with his family, and beautifully illustrative of the artistic and social developments of the time. Readers will see the chronological proximity of Dada and Kurt Schwitters’s collages in Klee’s Matchbox Ghost; the German National caricatures one of the era’s more ominous political types. An introductory essay tracks the work’s links to other avant-garde puppetry and to Klee’s sculptural works, and notes his connections to the theater. For their part, Klee’s son Felix and his grandson Alexander tell the story of how the figures were created. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Magical context
If you like the work of Klee, this book will show a larger picture of
his life, family and times. The puppets are raw and made with whatever
was near. With a light hand, the political and social events
are added to give a feeling of where these were created in time.

These puppets seem very modern and ancient at once. So glad to have it in
my collection.

Superb!
If you are familiar with Klee's museum work, this book will knock your socks off! I was on an art holiday in SoCal, not having yet had a chance to look through the Norton-Simon Museum, and I discovered this book. I had to work at associating Klee's work that I knew with the material in this book. These puppets are insight to the mythology of his family and his ethnic and cultural history. These are raw and sweet. I was quite taken aback. I thought is this the doodle guy who occasionally draws happy faces? Okay. A gross characterization. But these very intimate pieces provide an insight into the personal world of Paul Klee and a sense of play and delight. Hard to believe these were never catalogued as a part of his oeuvre. With a grandmother of 92, with a rich history, I may work, her and I, on a few puppets. Inspiring.

Paul Klee: Hand Puppets
This is a great book for more "out there" puppeteers, artists and lovers of Paul Klee's art. His son, Felix, reminisces about his childhood with his artistic Papa, who built whimsical, sometimes scary and political, puppets for his young son's enjoyment. There are many photos of the restored puppets and Felix's stories about them and his father are charming.

Totally amazing unseen puppet photos and info!
I just got this newly published book and it is simply wonderful.I have a huge puppet book library and having just skimmed through it, I am thrilled to see all photos/puppets are ones I've never seen anywhere else.The puppets of Klee are an absolute inspiration, and I am so glad there is a new book that introduces them to a new generation.The only other book about these puppets is in the range of $500.00 if you can even find one, so this is an absolute steal, and probably will become collectible as well.This is put out by the new Paul Klee museum and text and photos are all fascinating.You must have this for your puppet library! ... Read more

Product Description
Paul Klee was endowed with a rice and many-sided personality that was continually spilling over into forms of expression other than his painting and that made him one of the most extraordinary phenomena of modern European art. These abilities have left their record in the four intimate Diaries in which he faithfully recorded the events of his inner and outer life from his ninteenth to his fortieth year. Here, together with recollections of his childhood in Bern, his relations with his family and such friends as Kandinsky, Marc, Macke, and many others, his observations on nature and people, his trips to Italy and Tunisia, and his military service, the read will find Klee's crucial experience with literature and music, as well as many of his essential ideas about his own artistic technique and the creative process. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Wonderful
It is truly a relief to see this great artist, Paul Klee, express such doubt and self-deprecation with respect to his abilities. This collection of diaries is an excellent inner chronicle of the life and artistic development of the man. Klee was truly a great writer as well as painter, his descriptions of music sing with a kind of clarity few have matched. It is also particularly interesting to read his interactions with the other prominent painters of his period, such as Kandinsky. Although we do not get the same kind of depth of insight that you may find in the letters of Van Gogh, this is nevertheless a welcome view into the life of this brilliant creator of art.

The Book Every Aspiring Artist Should Keep On Hand
When I picked up the Paul Klee Diaries it fell open to the sentence every artist must secretly yearn to see: "...I am still incapable of painting, in spite of my sharp observation of tonal values and inspite of my clever way of determining the proper gradations of light and dark." Well! If he had trouble, there must be hope for the rest of us! The diaries, edited by his son and published posthumously, cover his 19th to 40th years as he travels, attends concerts, draws, paints and engages in intense artistic discourse with friends like Kandinsky and Macke. An exquisite writer, Klee captures whole experiences in a few brief words. The book is a chronicle of the development of both the artist and the art of his time. I especially liked the precise descriptions of his drawing experiments and periodic review of his progress. His grasp of techniques and insights into the creative process can be returned to again and again. ... Read more

Product Description
Few modern artists captivate young audiences as much as Paul Klee, whose whimsical drawings and paintings are both childlike and sophisticated, filled with joy, color, and humor. Among the most beloved of his works are those in which animals - birds, fish, cats, and others - seem to frolic across the page.

This collection of color illustrations, facts, and fun engages younger audiences in an artistic dialog as educational as it is liberating. Author Christian Rumelin takes a close look at some of Klee's most famous animal drawings, including The Twittering Machine, Fish Picture, and Where the Eggs and the Good Roast Come From, to explore the artist's use of color, symbol, and abstraction, and his famous method of improvisation, which can be summed up in his memorable statement, "A line is a dot that went for a walk." Asking questions about the artist's motivation - does he want to confuse his audience or tell a story? - Rumelin encourages readers to open their imaginations and stretch their creative muscles/ A perfect introduction to one of the most important artists of the modern era, this journey through Klee's animal kingdom will delight children of all ages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A glimpse of Klee's humor
Paul Klee was not only an excellent musician but an artist who often gave us a little wink in his art work.In the pieces gathered for this book we can enjoy the whimsical animals drawn using a few lines.And, it's not just a book for a single age group but can be enjoyed by young and old.I have been passing it around among the faculty of the school where I teach.Those who know Klee's work are delighted and those new to his work express an interest in learniing more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Great Book
This book is simply great - I recommend it highly to any serious student of art. It is one of the classics of modern art, of interest to artists, teachers, students, theoreticians, historians, and fans of Paul Klee. Pedagogical Sketchbook is the distilled essence of Klee's concepts of art production.Created in 1923 as a teaching tool for his students at the Bauhaus, it was the second of fourteen Bauhaus Books edited by Walter Gropius and L. Moholy-Nagy. First published in England in 1953 and the United States in 1960, it has been an important influence on generations of practicing artists and theoreticians.

An abstraction of his ideas on teaching and creating art, it can sometimes be difficult to follow, since it assumes that some narrative and examples will be added during classes. However, Sibyl Moholy-Nagy writes a narrative introduction that explores Paul Klee's aesthetic ideas related to teaching, and a concluding note with brief suggestions as to how the sketchbook can be used for teaching or artistic research.

Titled " Initial Plan for a Section of the Theoretical Instruction at the German Bauhaus", this book is a set of working notes that are the basis for art instruction at the Bauhaus - you can almost see Paul Klee presenting the ideas in a class. Beginning with the primary graphic element of a point moving forward to create a line, it is a course on how to make art based on Klee's deeply considered artistic process. It consists of step-by-step lessons, with abstract written concepts that analyze artistic process, and drawings that are examples of how those ideas can be put into practice.

Although it was based on the then-current 2D graphic arts of painting, drawing, and printmaking, it is also valuable for current artists working in time based and interactive forms since it considers aesthetics and structure as the result of process. In a relatively short space, it investigates a wide range of practical and conceptual approaches to art making, from line, to plane, to structure and composition, to materials, physics, symbols, and motion. Its well-considered concepts enable artists of any aesthetic persuasion to apply its ideas and lessons to their own work. It requires concentration to understand, but it is truly worth the effort.

Excellent tool
I found this book to be a wonderful tool, once understood... and that may take some time!! ... Read more

Product Description
Many call Paul Klee a magician. He was no such thing; he did not conjure up anything. He was a creator who found beauty in the world around him, wrote one of Klee's students from the legendary Bauhaus. The Swiss-born painter, like many of his contemporaries--Kandinsky among them--was interested in Transcendentalism and found nature an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Much of his oeuvre depicts gardens and parks--from real locations such as the Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Worlitz in Germany or the Tunisian Hammamet to fantastic, fragmentary vegetal abstractions. An amateur naturalist, Klee would often collect flowers and leaves on walks, to later identify and store in an herbarium. With more than 200 color illustrations, this publication explores the spiritual, scientific and aesthetic manifestations of Klee's engagement with nature, revealing a complex approach, by turns coolly analytical and completely subjective.
Born in 1879, Paul Klee belonged to the Munich-based proto-Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), which was active from 1911-1914. Members sought to express spiritual truths in their work, which--radically for the time--moved progressively towards complete abstraction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Flora of Paul Klee
It may come as a surprise to many that Paul Klee had a strong interest in botany, having made a miniature herbarium of his own as a child and beginning his artistry by drawing botanical specimens. Five writers in this book describe his development as an artist and his paintings of plants, his motives and his methods. Illustrations are mostly from the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern. Persons interested in botanical art, in this artist, and the history of 20th century art will appreciate this work.

paul klee's enchanted garden
It's a wonderful book---I only wish the reproductions had been a little larger.Art is to be SEEN, and there is a lot of excess margin around the paintings.Better still, a bigger book.

Making the invisible visible
This book is the catalogue for a recent exhibition at the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, Switzerland, centered on the artist's fascination with botanic. It is full of high-quality illustrations of paintings, drawings and prints, most of them drawn from the Zentrum's own holdings, but also from some private collections.

The text is divided into five chapters, the first, strictly chronological,shows that plants were a lifelong theme in Klee's works, the second studies Klee's dialogue with nature, the third is a very interesting comparison between Klee's theories and ideas on nature and those of the XVIIIth century Swedish scientist Carl Von Linné, the "father of taxonomy" (who, as a widely travelled scholar, endeavoured to register and describe the outer appearance of all living forms), the fourth chapter dwells on a series of 1939 drawings that Klee called "Inferner Park" to study his interest on motion, on becoming, on genesis, on growth, and the fifth and last is an overlook on the most important philosophical writings on Klee's art (by Heidegger,Deleuze, Foucault, Merleau-Ponty, etc).

A very interesting book, full of beautiful reproductions enhanced by a text that sheds new light and opens new fields of study on the work of one of the greatest painters of the XXth century. ... Read more

Product Description
With the help of amusing questions and comments from children, the viewer's eyes are taken on a tour of Klee's pictures.'Dreaming Pictures' provides an insight into the artist's composition, unlocking the paintings' mysteries and revealing the pleasures to be found by entering Klee's dream world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Book with many ways of teaching art
If you are in early education this book is great for children to see line and patterns.Paul Klee is know for his childlike artwork and it gives children ideas of what to look for in his paintings. The history of his life is also very interesting and that is on the last 2 pages.

A book guaranteed to fascinate all ages
This charming book is presented as a children's book, but is suitable for all ages. The large, beautiful illustrations and reproductions coupled with the whimsical text make this imaginative book a delight to look at and read.Small children will appreciate the bright colors of the artworks, and the parents will appreciate the inventive way the author introduces an artist to children - without pretension or difficulty.Any parent wishing to raise culturally educated children should buy this book today! (PS: I say this with experience, both my 3 year old and my 10 year old love this book, but for very different reasons -- and I even catch my husband flipping through it at times) ... Read more

Product Description
Now available in flexi-cover, this illuminating work examines the fascinating relationship between music and painting in Paul Klee’s art.

A talented violinist as well as a painter, Klee drew much of the inspiration for his abstract art from musical rhythms and structures. Like a composer, he developed and harmonized pictorial themes, weaving a complex series of signs and symbols into his painting. The book focuses on Klee’s decade-long tenure at the Bauhaus, where the artist’s theories and practice first merged, and where he developed his Color Spectrum, Square, and Polyphone painting series. Illustrated throughout with full-color reproductions of Klee’s paintings and etchings, as well as entries from his diaries, this unique study sheds light on an important aspect of Klee’s work while providing insights into his development as an abstract artist. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

beautiful book
I was delighted to obtain a copy of "Paul Klee: Painting Music" through Amazon.This book is a specialty item with beautiful reproductions of Klee's works that show visual depictions of his musical thinking.The book provides inspiration for anyone who thinks, works or participates in the integration of the arts and artistic expression.It shows the direct link between Klee's visual genius and his gift as a performing musician--principle violinist in his string quartet.

nice, but distant
this is a beautiful book.It is also interesting.But it lacks some intimacy with the artist and his emotions.

Good for its central thesis
Like all the books in this series, this publication is great for its color reproductions and extremely concise summary of a specific aspect of Klee's oeuvre.Düchting's writing is approachable and straightforward.Though occasionally dry and not exactly dynamic in style, I recommend Marcel Franciscono's monograph for more in-depth information on the life and historical context of the artist.

An excellent insight into the world of Klee
If you have an interest in Klee and in particular his knowledge/love of music and how he tried to portray it through art, then this book is for you. Or even if you are looking for ways to portray music in your own artwork.For the money this book provides a wealth of information. The text is well written, avoids the "flowery" writing style that seems to abound in the world of art and its narratives. Originally written in German, the translator has done an excellent job. The quality of the book itself is excellent. It is liberally populated with colour and black & white images (the b/w images mainly reserved for pen and ink pieces). I think you would be very hard pushed to find a book on Klee offering better value for money than this one.

The paintings, drawings, and philosophy of Klee
This beautifully illustrated and wonderfully informative monograph is devoted to the reasonable (and wholly accepted) thesis that Paul Klee's dedication to, and love for, musical forms informed his prolific life in art, specifically drawing and painting.Duchting has chosen illustrations that consistently reinforce his assertions. The commentary is smart, informed, and lively. Even if you dozed in Art History, this book is excellent. Duchting has done his homework, consulting Klee's own (published) diaries, notebooks, and sketchbooks, andthe extensive writings of Klee friend and biographer Will Grohmann, and additional early biographers. In addition Duchting has spent a lot of time looking at the paintings themselves.Some of Klee's incredible lecture notes (which you must see to believe) from his years of teaching art are included, as are several quick drawings and works of artists who were associated with Klee.

This book has terrific production values. The paper is good,and the approximately 100 color reproductions are exquisite. Photographs of Klee, his wife Lily, and his studio. Page layout is a visual treat. It's really a gem of a book, right down to the lemon-yellow endpapers. There is a a short biography, pages of good endnotes, and a 'Selected Bibliography' (page 111). ... Read more

Product Description
- paperback versions of the highly successful hardback series; - an entertaining and humorous introduction to famous artists; - excellent colour reproductions of the artists work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great book
I bought all of the books in this series for our homeschool art curriculum.They are easy to read and a fun supplement that can lead to a nice trip to the Smithsonian Gallery of Art.

Paul Klee
I was not a fan of this artist until I saw his work in a museum.It was there that I discovered a unique array of creativity and imagination that brought about colors, lines, forms, music and rhythm all within a painting.
This book gave a brief yet descriptive history about one of the less talked abstract artists in history.His eclectic painting techniques and style grasped the attention of many different spectators.
I enjoyed reading and sharing this book to others, especially kids.The book opened the eyes of students who found it difficult to find their inner creativity.The book also talks about how music and rhythm are incorporated into his abstract and colorful paintings.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Poor reproductions
A previous reviewer is so infatuated with Klee that he doesn't notice what a poorly reproduced collection this is. His review is more about his love affair with Klee's work than anything else. I am very attracted to Klee's work, but this book isn't worth the paper it's printed on. What's the point of a drawing that you can't even see? One would be better off buying a larger, higher quality book of all his works that includes drawings. Every one of the books I've ordered of master artists' drawings have had this same problem. Buyer beware.

"The Drawings of Paul Klee"
I have to admit that Klee is an artist close to my heart and when I paint
I see his work in my mind, and have been told my work carries his playful spirit and I
feel humbled. These drawings are an inside view of Klee's brain working.
When I buy books that concern the drawings of an artist....I expect to play
with them in my own sketch books. Klee is so unique, it is almost impossible
to play with his sketches because they are so whispy.This is a book with
very little words , it is page after page of his ink pen spirits breathed up
for his paintings.I have to say, I expected grounded dark ink templetes,
but as in his paintings that gently appear on magical materials... putting
together medias that continue to surprise, the drawings do the same, but without his finished touch.So unlike the book I acquired
on Picasso's sketches...Klee's sketches seem locked in a little magical safe
that one must have the combination to retreive the jewels.
When I first received the book, I felt a bit cheated.
Now, though, looking at the drawingsagain and again, the combination seems
to slowly appear and time after time, I receive another bit of information, or
number , if you will, to the drawing in the jeweled box.
The book contains 30 - 40 or more drawings.To appreciate this book one needs
view each drawing over and over and the conversation begins.One will see
drawings that became works of collected materials only Klee could put together.
I started to give this book 4 stars and then I remembered that his secrets
are embryos and impossible to judge by just viewing the drawings.I think one
needs to play the game of matching up the idea on paper with the painting.
Paul Klee is all about breathing color.So one must get past the shock of
the naked drawings and see beyond.I loved this book.If you are a Klee fan, you must own this.

... Read more

Product Description
This series draws together some of the most influential artists of our time, exploring their work in relation to their life and what was happening in the world around them. ages 10+ ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

child's book?
Written for young people,this book has some information that isn't in other books. Such as, Klee hated the Sistine chapel. There is a timeline that follows the text . The author traces the artist development from childhood to his fatal illness. Some of his early techniques , glass painting ,black watercolor,and the magical squares. The latter is explained as no other book has. Jazz was popular when some of these paintings were painted and considered avante garde. The squares try to evoke the rhythms of the music..I find this interesting in light of Mondrian's late work, such as" Broadway Boogie Woogie" of the late forties.The book has many illustrations black and white and a few of some well known Klees in color..with interpretations bythe writer.A 46 page book that has its own little points about this important artist's work.There is no need for a glossary for the seasoned klee student. But, remember this was written for youth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Klee's best friend's paintings
This book reveals the secrets of one of the best private collectionsof Paul Klee's works, held by the Bürgi family in Switzerland. From prints, to drawings, from watercolorsto paintings (in various media), there are more than a hundred little-known works wonderfully illustrated in a book that sheds a new light on Klee's working process.

Some short essays, unburdened by unecessary erudition, describing the artist's method and the relationship between Klee and the Bürgis complement the many reproductions.

Highly recommended to anyone who loves the art of Paul Klee.
... Read more

Product Description
This compact guide is a must for visitors to the Zentrum Paul Klee Museum. It introduces readers to the life and work of Klee and focuses on the many highlights of the collection. This book also contains a brief description of Renzo Piano's extraordinary architecture and a summary of the museum's divers activities.Essays by Michael Baumgartner, Ursina Barandun, Stefan Frey, Christine Hopfengart, Benedikt Loderer, Andreas Marti, Tilman Osterwold, Adrian Weber and Kaspar Zehnder.Paperback, 5.5 x 8.5 in./120 pgs / 80 color and 30 b&w. ... Read more

Product Description
The Zentrum Paul Klee, which opened its doors during the summer of 2005, is not an art museum in the traditional sense--just as its raison d'être, Paul Klee, was by no means a traditional artist. Klee, who was also a musician, teacher, and poet, ranks comfortably as one of the 20th-century's most significant and beloved artists. His artworks, which partook marvelously in the spirit of the naïf and the childlike, were the visual wonder of an intellect that also produced fascinating theoretical and educational treatises. The center, housed in a marvelously undulating building designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano, is set to become the leading resource worldwide for mediations on the life and work of Paul Klee, as well as the reception of his art. The diversity of Klee's artistic activities will be thoroughly represented here, with nearly 40 percent of the artist's entire oeuvre accounted for, totalling some four thousand paintings, watercolors, and drawings, as well as plentiful archives and biographical material. The collection has been compiled from a number of contributing sources, including generous donations and loans from the founding Klee and Müller families, the former Paul Klee foundation, and numerous private holdings.Essays by Ursina Barandun, Klaus Baumgartner, Michael Baumgartner, Stefan Frey, Christine Hopfengart, Benedikt Loderer, Andreas Marti, Lorenz Meyer, Tilman Osterwold, Rolf Soiron, Adrian Weber, and Kasper Zehnder, et. al.Hardcover, 8.75 x 10.25 in./400 pgs / 185 color and 120 b&w. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A beautiful museum
A very good and beautifully illustrated museum guide, a bit too extensive, though, on the building itself and the story of how and why the museum was conceived. But it is the largest collection of Klee's works in the world, so if you can't make it to Bern, buy the book. ... Read more

Product Description
Designated as "degenerate" by the Nazis, Paul Klee (1879-1940) is today considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century. His works stand out for the variety in their forms of artistic expression. His Tunisian water-colours depicting landscape, architecture and, above all, the North African light of this Mediterranean land constitute the true beginning of Klee's painting career. Although these paintings still fall under the heading of "objective", they already exhibit indications of his tendency toward abstraction and a language of forms. Geometrical figures and hieroglyphic elements characterize the majority of these works, which for this reason seem reminiscent of "naive" and playful children's painting. In reality, however, his paintings have their roots in theoretical considerations, their recurrent symbols conveying personal and at times political content. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Klee Universe
We were fortunate to have obtained a windfall of 9 Klee books:
Here Taschen presents a straight up non-complicated art book.All of Klee's standard landmark paintings are reproduced in the usual Taschen grade style.86 mostly color (some b&w) reproductions.

The biography from draughtsman to painter to world master shall leave your palate satisfied and fully knowledged with his life.

pluses(+):affordable generic Taschen fare.
minuses (-):many reproductions very small.Some of the blue is vulgar.

Book available in large and small editions (paperback)

Please see our other Klee reviews.

Great Little Art Book
I now own and have read six books on Paul Klee, and this is my favorite so far.The text clearly explains the artist's life and works.The reproductions are beautiful and include many of Klee's most important pieces.And the price is great even for a short art book, since it does such a wonderful job in its limited space.I have already purchased several more of the Taschen basic art series on the strength of this one, and plan to purchase more.

Very poorly written
I have 8 of the books in this series and this is by far the worst; the others are good or very good. The writing and organization is very poor. The first time I tried to read it, I found myself reading the first several pages a few times to make some sense of it.The rest of the book is no better. ... Read more

Product Description
A broad selection of representative color reproductions presented with individual analysis and supplemented with a brief biography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An exceptional contribution
This is the catalogue for an exhibition that was held at the Hayward Gallery in London a couple of years ago. It benefits from the exceptional contribution of British artist Bridget Riley, one of this rare brand of artists who do not keep their thoughts on other artists to themselves. Seldom can you get an inside view of a painter's work through another painter's eyes.
The exhibition itself was small, but with some of the best examples of Klee's paintings, coming from all over the world. The illustrations are lavish, colors are well rendered; on the whole, one of the best publications on Klee in English.

Huge Hardback That Captures Klee Exhibit of 1980s
This hardback was issued by the museum when the Klee show toured the USA.It was a spectacular show that captured the essence of this 20th century artistic genius and I was fortunate enough to see the show and buy the book.Paul Klee explored just about every art style there was in his quest to develop modern art and his seemingly simplest paintings were usually his best.Klee lived an often traumatic life as well and when you are exposed to all of his works, you can easily see that quality in his paintings. I found the most eloquent ones were the ones he did as he approached his own painful death. The book does a tour de force job of covering the paintings which were in the show, which is the way the show now lives on.

Careful and thorough introduction to Klee
This is an efficient and careful monograph that succeeds on many levels. Grohmann was Klee's biographer and longtime friend. He is respectful without being sycophantic, and thorough but never plodding. He uses a variety of source materials, including Klee's own writings (diaries and letters).Grohmann establishes Klee's lasting importance to art and to painting by asserting, "It is as though he were still among us, to be consulted on every problem of life and art." Grohmann's generous(40 pages, 58 illustrations) and lively essay on Klee is also charming and personal. It combines biography, criticism, a wealth of references, andthought-provoking appreciation. It's generously illustrated with photographs of Klee and his studio, plus ink, tusche, chalk, and pencil drawings, collage, watercolor, tempera, and oil paintings, a woodcut study, and etchings.

Thetext that accompanies the following forty color plates (a selection of paintings) is the calm, clear art criticism that Grohmann is so good at. The plates' reproduced colors are good but not great.What's best is that Grohmann is such an able teacher. He describes each painting straightforwardly, and then asks intelligent questions, suggests answers that seem well-thought-out, and inspires one to further thought and research. His friendship with Klee gave him some additional understanding of his friend's work and lifelong passions and motives.

A very worthwhile book on a great artist. ... Read more