Lot Essay
In the early 1920s when Klee was working at the Bauhaus in Weimar, he made a number of whimsical compositions based on theatre, comic opera, fairy tales, actors and puppets. He populated these works with child-like figures whose schematized features were entirely inspired by his fancy. Klee loved the theatre and held regular marionette performances in his home, making the puppets himself.
The squared background adds a very distinct structure to this playful design and anticipates Klee's first 'magic square' paintings of 1923, when the constructive elements in his work became increasingly important. As Chevalier writes, "At the Bauhaus, his deep-seated duality - he was neither pure poet nor pure painter - was revealed in striking fashion. Order and method were constantly being super-imposed on imagination and humour" (D. Chevalier, Klee, New York, 1979, p. 40).
In 1928 Klee began his own 'Werkkatalog' in which he kept an inventory of all his works from 1918 onwards. He used various classifications throughout to distinguish the value and quality of each work. Sonder Classer, or simply S. Cl., was Klee's highest classification, denoting a work which was, in his opinion, of the very best quality. Klee considered Scene unter Mädchen worthy of the S. Cl. inscription which appears on the mount at the lower left of the subject. It is interesting to note that besides denoting a work which could only be sold at a very high price, it was generally these works which Klee chose to keep for himself. A great proportion of them are now housed in the Kunstmuseum, Berne.
This work is recorded as follows in the Artist's Werksverzeichnis: 1923.148
Scene unter Mädchen
Oelfarbezeichnung und Aquarell
französisch Inges MBM
leicht tonig
The squared background adds a very distinct structure to this playful design and anticipates Klee's first 'magic square' paintings of 1923, when the constructive elements in his work became increasingly important. As Chevalier writes, "At the Bauhaus, his deep-seated duality - he was neither pure poet nor pure painter - was revealed in striking fashion. Order and method were constantly being super-imposed on imagination and humour" (D. Chevalier, Klee, New York, 1979, p. 40).
In 1928 Klee began his own 'Werkkatalog' in which he kept an inventory of all his works from 1918 onwards. He used various classifications throughout to distinguish the value and quality of each work. Sonder Classer, or simply S. Cl., was Klee's highest classification, denoting a work which was, in his opinion, of the very best quality. Klee considered Scene unter Mädchen worthy of the S. Cl. inscription which appears on the mount at the lower left of the subject. It is interesting to note that besides denoting a work which could only be sold at a very high price, it was generally these works which Klee chose to keep for himself. A great proportion of them are now housed in the Kunstmuseum, Berne.
This work is recorded as follows in the Artist's Werksverzeichnis: 1923.148
Scene unter Mädchen
Oelfarbezeichnung und Aquarell
französisch Inges MBM
leicht tonig