Now available again, this beautiful volume offers high-quality reproductions and the latest biographical information on Paul Klee, who helped pave the way for Modernism.

Readers of this book will find much to discover and relish in Paul Klee’s art. Reproductions of his iconic works as well as those that are more rarely exhibited are featured alongside in-depth biographical information that looks beyond his many artistic achievements to explore the life and times of the artist. Photographs of Klee and his circle, as well as entertaining and enlightening anecdotes, offer a multifaceted perspective on a groundbreaking artist and the events that helped shape his colorful and imaginative work.

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Пролистать книгу Paul Klee: Life and Work

Thinking eye. A unique language of symbols, literature, and light 

With careful theories and many thousands of paintings, drawings, and watercolours, Paul Klee (1879-1940) is considered one of the most cerebral and prolific leaders of 20th-century European art. Though typically small in scale, his works are remarkable for their sophisticated thought and meticulous nuances of line, colour, and tonality. Klee s stylistic formation was shaped by early affiliation with the German expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter and, in particular, by a 1914 trip to Tunisia which transformed his use of colour. 

After the war, he taught at the esteemed Bauhaus school, where his lectures, like his emerging practice, emphasized the symbolic potential of shades, lines, and geometries. Klee was also inspired by Cubism, poetry, music, literature, language, and the simplistic power of children s art. Famed for his simple stick figures, he often combined the appearance of untutored naivety with rigorous composition and intellectual significance.

This book provides a selection of key Klee works to introduce his style and influence. From sun-drenched landscapes to enigmatic wordplay, discover a world at once simplistic, symbolic, and dazzlingly colourful.

About the series:

Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art series features:

- a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
- a concise biography
- approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

Geometrical figures and hieroglyphic elements

The delightfully unclassifiable work of a master painter

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, Klee’s paintings have their roots in theoretical considerations, their recurrent symbols conveying personal and at times political content.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:

• a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist
• approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions
• a concise biography

A comprehensive, illustrative monograph on the life and work of Paul Klee
All of the masterpieces in one volume

Paul Klee (1879–1940) is one of the most important representatives of modern art. His oeuvre is as universal as it is individual, standing tall among all of the currents and “isms” of his day. His overwhelming body of paintings, drawings, and other visual works; his letters, journal entries, and, last but not least, his teaching notes form the background for this pointed depiction of the life and work of the meditative artist and visual thinker.
This richly illustrated volume traces Klee’s eventful biography, ranging from his artistic beginnings with caricature-like drawings and nudes, his encounter with the avant-garde and the famous watercolors from his journey to Tunisia, the abstract color compositions from the Bauhaus era, to the mysterious, inventive images of his last years in Bern.

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 indepth 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.

"Педагогические эскизы" Пауля Клее - первая из трех самых значительных книг знаменитой серии "Книги Баухауза" о современном искусстве и природе творчества, за которой последовали "Точка и линия на плоскости" Василия Кандинского и "Беспредметный мир" Казимира Малевича. Она публикуется на русском языке впервые, факсимильно сохраняя конструктивный полиграфический стиль раннего Баухауза, разработанный тогда специально для этой книги Ласло Мохой-Надем.

В "Педагогических эскизах" Клее изложил все главные принципы своего основного учебно-теоретического курса по формообразованию, который он читал в Баухаузе, придав им предельно концентрированный и даже афористичный вид, что было характерно для теоретических манифестов искусства того времени.

По отношению к самому Клее, одному из крупнейших художников-авангардистов ХХ века, создавшему свыше десяти тысяч живописных и графических работ и написавшему несколько тысяч страниц теоретических и педагогических текстов, эта книга является ключом для понимания всего его творческого наследия.

Книга о швейцарском живописце, графике и теоретике искусства; одном из самых выдающихся художников первой половины ХХ века Пауле Клее (1879–1940). Клее испытал серьезное влияние югендстиля, линейно-декоративный характер которого отвечал склонности молодого художника к иллюстрации и фантастике. Его работы отличаются взаимопроникновением предметного и абстрактного, сочетанием архитектурно-статических и динамических элементов. Он прибегал одновременно к разным техникам и материалам: к маслу, темпере, акварели и пастели; использовал холст, бумагу, картон, джутовую мешковину и льняное полотно. В 1920-е годы Клее преподавал в Баухаузе. Он читал лекции об эволюции форм и качестве цвета, изучал ткацкое мастерство и живопись на стекле. Плодотворный обмен идеями связывал его с такими художниками, как Кандинский, Шлеммер и Фейнингер. Живопись Клее эволюционировала от предметности к абстракции, от едкого юмора к ассоциациям из сновидений. В более поздний период Клее безоговорочно сводил выразительные средства к языку символов и знаков. Из последних работ следует упомянуть композиции из полос разной толщины, частью обведенных черным контуром. Издание состоит из семи глав, рассказывающих о жизни художника и об истории создания каждой картины, представленной в издании. В конце книги приводится летопись жизни и творчества мастера, проиллюстрированная документальными фотографиями.