PAUL KLEE AND COMIC MODERNISM By Jesine Lynn Munson A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Art History MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY Bozeman, Montana November 2015 ©COPYRIGHT by Jesine Lynn Munson 2015 All Rights Reserved ii TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1 2. TERMINOLOGY ................................................................................................................................... 9 3. EARLY SATIRICAL WORKS ...........................................................................................................13 4. MASKS, PUPPETS, AND, PERFORMERS ...................................................................................23 5. THEATRICAL LANDSCAPE ...........................................................................................................31 6. HAND PUPPETS AND PUPPET THEATER ...............................................................................40 7. BAUHAUS THEATER WORKSHOP .............................................................................................48 8. FINAL YEARS .....................................................................................................................................54 9. CONCLUSION .....................................................................................................................................62 10. BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................... 105 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Paul Klee, Kaiser Wilhelm Raging, 1920 ...................................................................................... 13 2. Paul Klee, Illustrated Schoolbook .................................................................................................... 16 3. Paul Klee, Comedian, 1904 ............................................................................................................18 4. Paul Klee, Virgin in a Tree, 1903 .................................................................................................19 5. Paul Klee, Zwei Männer, 1903 ......................................................................................................19 6. Paul Klee, The Hero with a Wing, 1905 ....................................................................................20 7. Polykleitos, Doryphorus, ca. 450-440 BCE ................................................................................. 20 8. Paul Klee, Singer of the Comic Opera, 1923 ............................................................................24 9. Paul Klee, Senecio, 1922 ................................................................................................................26 10. Pablo Picasso, Harlequins, 1905, 1924 ..................................................................................26 11. Paul Klee, Mask, 1912 ..................................................................................................................27 12. Paul Klee, Mask, 1921 ..................................................................................................................27 13. Paul Klee, Mask of Fear, 1932 ...................................................................................................28 14. Ferdinand Léger, Three Figures, 1921 ...................................................................................28 15. Giorgio de Chirico, Hector and Andromache, 1912 ...........................................................28 16. Paul Klee, Puppet on Violet Ribbons, 1906 ...........................................................................29 17. Paul Klee, Ventriloquist and Caller in the Moor, 1923 ......................................................29 18. Paul Klee, Colorful People, 1914 ...............................................................................................35 19. Paul Klee, Hermitage, 1918 ........................................................................................................36 20. Paul Klee, Stage-Landscape, 1937 ...........................................................................................37 iv LIST OF FIGURES CONTINUED Figure Page 21. Paul Klee, High Spirits, 1939 .....................................................................................................37 22. Honoré Daumier, Mr.Thingamabob,Leading Tightrope Walker of Europe, 1833 ........38 23. Paul Klee, Hand Puppets, 1916-25 ..........................................................................................40 24. Felix and Paul Klee, Puppet Theater Sets, 1924 ..................................................................41 25. Paul Klee, Big-Eared Clown, 1925 and Electrical Spook, 1923 .....................................45 26. Paul Klee, Self-Portrait, 1922 and Emmy “Galka” Scheyer, 1922 .................................47 27. Paul Klee, Bartolo: La Vendetta, Oh! La Vendetta!, 1921 ................................................49 28. Lothar Schreyer, Costume Design 1 for the play “Mann”, 1923 ...................................49 29. Paul Klee, Illustration of the Bauhaus Teaching Program, 1922 ..................................50 30. Paul Klee, The March to the Summit, 1922 ...........................................................................50 31. Paul Klee, Moonplay, 1923 .........................................................................................................50 32. Paul Klee, Hoffmaneske Geschicte, 1921................................................................................51 33. Paul Klee, Mask Lapul, 1939 ......................................................................................................55 34. Paul Klee, Compose Oneself, 1939 ............................................................................................56 35. Paul Klee, Mephisto as Pallas, 1939 ........................................................................................56 36. Paul Klee, URCHS: From the Heroic Age, 1939....................................................................57 37. Paul Klee, Insula Dulcamara, 1938 .........................................................................................57 38. Paul Klee, Angel Applicant, 1939 .............................................................................................59 39. Paul Klee, Death and Fire, 1940 ...............................................................................................59 40. Paul Klee, Der Inferner Park “At the Beginning,” 1939 ....................................................59 v LIST OF FIGURES CONTINUED Figure Page 41. Paul Klee, Der Inferner Park: “At the Place of Superabundance,” 1939 .....................59 42. Paul Klee, Der Inferner Park: The Ship of Dubious Salvation,” 1939 ...........................59 vi ABSTRACT Paul Klee tends to resist stylistic classification, since his style and materials varied widely over the course of his career. Klee participated in and was influenced by a range of artistic movements including surrealism, cubism, and expressionism, but was not faithful to any one particular movement. The one element that is consistent throughout his work is his use of comic themes. My research revolves around the evolution of comedic theater techniques used as formal elements in the works of Paul Klee. While many scholars comment on Klee’s sense of humor, and his use of irony and wit, comedy, as a set theatrical conventions, has not been thoroughly analyzed. There is a strong presence of the theater in Klee’s work that has been addressed in recent scholarship but not in terms of the comedic. The 2006 exhibition, Paul Klee: Theater Everywhere chronicled his wide-ranging references to theater, but it did not analyze the role of comic theater’s particular traditions and the pictorial conventions derived from them. In this study, I will assess Klee’s application of comic theatrical traditions as innovative strategies for constructing visual compositions. Separating his works into cohesive study sets that include: early satirical works, masks, puppets, and performers, theatrical landscapes, hand puppets and small stage sets, and Klee’s years at the Bauhaus. While Klee used satirical and cathartic devices that date back to classical Greek theater, I will concentrate on the ways that Klee used the technical apparatuses of modern theatrical comedy as formal devices for his two-dimensional compositions. I am specifically interested in his use of the alienating techniques of Bertolt Brecht’s “epic theater” and the relief-like stage of the Künstlertheater. As consistently as his work changes through his development as an artist, comedy is a factor that consistently carries through. 1 INTRODUCTION Paul Klee tends to resist classification in terms of style, since his style varied widely over the course of his career. Klee participated in and was influenced by a range of artistic movements including surrealism, cubism, and expressionism, but was not faithful to any one particular genre. Klee kept meticulous records of his production, from 1911 until his death in 1940, even gathering drawings from his childhood. Klee was an artist who was particularly self-aware. His archive contains close to 10,000 drawings, prints, watercolors, and oil paintings documented in chronological order, and accompanied by his writings and pedagogical