KLEE & KANDINSKY 5479_5480_s001-360_klee_kand.indd 1 15.05.15 09:01 5479_5480_s001-360_klee_kand.indd 2 15.05.15 09:01 5479_5480_s001-360_klee_kand.indd 3 15.05.15 09:01 5479_5480_s001-360_klee_kand.indd 4 15.05.15 09:01 5479_5480_s001-360_klee_kand.indd 5 15.05.15 09:01 5479_5480_s001-360_klee_kand.indd 6 15.05.15 09:01 KLEE & KANDINSKY NEIGHBORS FRIENDS RIVALS EDITED BY MICHAEL BAUMGARTNER ANNEGRET HOBERG CHRISTINE HOPFENGART WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY VIVIAN ENDICOTT BARNETT, MICHAEL BAUMGARTNER, MONIKA BAYER-WERMUTH, KAI-INGA DOST, FABIENNE EGGELHÖFER, CHARLES WERNER HAXTHAUSEN, ANNEGRET HOBERG, CHRISTINE HOPFENGART, WOLFGANG THÖNER, PETER VERGO, ANGELIKA WEISSBACH LENBACHHAUS PRESTEL MÜNCHEN MUNICH | LONDON | NEW YORK 5479_5480_s001-360_klee_kand.indd 7 15.05.15 09:01 CONTENTS FOREWORD ESSAYS 10 PETER FISCHER, MATTHIAS MÜHLING 256 “TO MY DEAR FRIEND OF MANY YEARS”— KLEE AND KANDINSKY’S WORKS ON PAPER, 1911–1937 CHRONOLOGY VIVIAN ENDICOTT BARNETT 12 CHRISTINE HOPFENGART 268 PAUL KLEE’S NATURE COSMOLOGY— STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS AND INTRODUCTION IMAGINARY MORPHOLOGY 34 KLEE AND KANDINSKY— MICHAEL BAUMGARTNER GOOD NEIGHBORS CHRISTINE HOPFENGART 280 KANDINSKY—THE “NATURAL WORLD” AND A NEW “ARTIFICIAL WORLD” ANNEGRET HOBERG 292 KLEE, KANDINSKY, AND MUSIC CATALOGUE PETER VERGO 58 –255 WITH TEXTS BY VIVIAN ENDICOTT BARNETT, 302 “FORCES MOVING IN DIFFERENT MICHAEL BAUMGARTNER, ­DIRECTIONS” —PAUL KLEE AND MONIKA BAYER-WERMUTH, WASSILY KANDINSKY IN THE ENSEMBLE KAI-INGA DOST, ANNEGRET HOBERG, OF PAINTERS AT THE BAUHAUS CHRISTINE HOPFENGART WOLFGANG THÖNER 5479_5480_s001-360_klee_kand.indd 8 15.05.15 09:01 317 PAUL KLEE AND WASSILY KANDINSKY— APERÇUS TEACHING PAINTERS AT THE BAUHAUS CHRISTINE HOPFENGART FABIENNE EGGELHÖFER, ANGELIKA WEISSBACH 38 FELIX KLEE—ENLIVENED WITH A SENSE OF EUPHORIA 318 PAUL KLEE’S THEORY OF THE PATHS TO FORM 262 DRINKING TEA OUTSIDE FABIENNE EGGELHÖFER THE MASTER’S HOUSE 326 THE LAWS OF OPPOSITE[S]— 316 LEARNED ASIAN KANDINSKY’S TEACHING AT THE BAUHAUS 322 THE IMMORTALS ANGELIKA WEISSBACH 336 A MISSED PHOTO OPPORTUNITY 334 “CONTRASTING SOUNDS”—KLEE, KANDINSKY, AND THE GERMAN CRITICS CHARLES WERNER HAXTHAUSEN APPENDIX 344 LIST OF WORKS 351 BIBLIOGRAPHY 356 IMAGE CREDITS 357 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 360 INDEX 5479_5480_s001-360_klee_kand.indd 9 21.05.15 10:06 FOREWORD IN 1929, when Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee period from 1900 to 1940. The focus is on the var- posed for a vacation photo in imitation of the ious phases of Klee and Kandinsky’s personal Goethe-Schiller Memorial in Weimar, an element interaction during the years of Der Blaue Reiter of irony may have been palpable. At the same and of the Bauhaus, particularly the Dessau period time, the image displays the decided self-confi- beginning in 1926. While the main emphasis lies on dence so characteristic of these artists during the the similarities and mutual “influences” between years spent at the Bauhaus in Dessau, a highpoint these two artists, their attempts to distinguish in the careers of both men. With their interlocked themselves from one another and their dissimilar- double handshake, Kandinsky and Klee appear as ities are also explored. equals. The image reveals much about the com- Even before becoming acquainted in 1911 plexity of one of the most remarkable and fruitful within the scope of the activities of Der Blaue creative friendships in the history of art. Reiter, Kandinsky and Klee were neighbors on Today, the names Klee and Kandinsky are syn- ­Ainmillerstrasse in the artist’s quarter of Schwa- onymous with “classical modernism.” Since the fif- bing in Munich. Beginning in 1922, they were again ties, the two have been regarded as the founding neighbors at the Bauhaus in Weimar, and became fathers of abstract art. Yet this retrospective and especially close during the Dessau years, when idealized image of friendship and camaraderie they lived side by side in a semidetached house for obscures the reality that although their oeuvres the Bauhaus masters built by Walter Gropius. Their and biographies display numerous parallels, they friendship and mutual esteem—which lasted more had markedly different personalities—both as indi- than thirty years—deepened once again during a viduals and as artists. And despite many conver- brief reunion in Bern in 1937, both having emi- gences, their careers took very different paths. grated from Germany in 1933. In a letter dated Now, for the first time, the Zentrum Paul Klee March of that year, Lily Klee wrote to Nina Kandin- and the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus—the sky: “Just think of all that we’ve experienced leading centers worldwide for research into the together. Despite all the negative aspects, what lives and works of Klee and Kandinsky—have joined rich years we had in Weimar and Dessau, and finally forces to portray this pivotal artistic friendship six years living right next door to one another. in a comprehensive way and to trace the contours Despite everything, incredibly lively years. And we of its eventful history. This exibition covers the already lived right next door to your husband on 10 5479_5480_s001-360_klee_kand.indd 10 15.05.15 09:01 Edith Heinimann and Kai-Inga Dost at the Zentrum Paul Klee, and Karin Dotzer and Monika Bayer- Wermuth at the Lenbachhaus. We extend our thanks as well to the authors for their substantial contributions, and to the designers and publishing house staff for realizing this beautiful volume. Not least of all, our sincer- est thanks are due to the lenders, including numer- ous private collectors, without whom this project would have been impossible, and who have allowed us to assemble marvelous and illuminating pairings of works by our two artists. In Bern, in addition to regular contributions from the Canton of Bern, we received valuable support from SWISSLOS / Kultur Kanton Bern, from the Paul Klee-Stiftung der Bur- Ainmillerstrasse in Munich. All of us still young gergemeinde Bern, Die Mobiliar, JTI, and the then, during those phenomenal last prewar years, ­Artephila Stiftung, as well as from patrons who before the world was turned upside down.” wished to remain anonymous. The two artists competed for exhibitions and In Munich, the Lenbachhaus owes a debt of galleries, not just in Germany but in France as gratitude to its main benefactor, the State Capital well, with Klee enjoying a distinct advantage over of Munich, and to all of its citizens, for allowing us Kandinsky in terms of reception beginning in the to realize such an ambitious and demanding pro- twenties. ject. We hope that this catalogue publication and The exhibition and catalogue concept is the exhibition will awaken substantial public inter- based on the wide-ranging preparatory work of est in the artistic exchange between these two Christine Hopfengart, who has been developing important personalities, whose biographies and the project since 2010, when she was still a cura- fortunes reflect the momentous cultural and tor at the Zentrum Paul Klee. A co-curator and a political upheavals of recent history. co-editor of this catalogue, she has supervised this endeavor continuously ever since, and has made a PETER FISCHER Director, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern fundamental contribution to its realization, for which we extend our heartfelt thanks to her. MATTHIAS MÜHLING Director, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich Responsible for the project in our respective insti- tutions are Michael Baumgartner, head of the department of Collection, Exhibitions, Research at the Zentrum Paul Klee, and Annegret Hoberg, Curator of the Blue Rider Collection and the Kubin Archive at the Lenbachhaus. Many thanks to both of them as well. Particularly with regard to Kan- dinsky, we have relied on the expertise and sup- port of Vivian Endicott Barnett. All of the special- ists from both partner museums contributed to this major project; we would like to make special mention of our registrars and research assistants: 11 5479_5480_s001-360_klee_kand.indd 11 15.05.15 09:01 C H R O CHRISTINE HOPFENGART N CHRONOLOGY O L WASSILY KANDINSKY is born in Moscow on 1885 – 96 Kandinsky returns to Moscow and O * December 4, 1866, the son of the tea merchant begins to study law and economics. In 1892, he G Wassily Silvestrovich Kandinsky and his wife Lidia. marries his cousin Anja Shemiakina; in 1893, he Y His father heads a large tea company, and the passes his law exams and becomes an academic family is affluent. assistant. He begins a dissertation, which he how- In 1871, the artist moves with his parents to ever abandons in 1895. He instead takes over the Odessa. When his parents divorce, Kandinsky artistic directorship of the Kušnerev Press in Mos- remains with his father. He receives a good educa- cow. tion at a humanistic grammar school. He learns In 1896, an exhibition of French art becomes German, takes drawing lessons, and begins to play a key experience for him: there, he sees a painting piano and cello. from Claude Monet’s Haystacks series and is over- whelmed by the expressive power of its colors. At the same time, through Richard Wagner’s Lohen­ grin he becomes aware of a synaesthesia that joins painting and music. Subsequently, he turns down a scapes, but draws from nature as well. At the same time, he fills school exercise books with satirical drawings in the margins. In their mixture of irony and critical distance, these small-format pictorial commentaries already betray an essential trait of Klee’s basic stance as an artist and as a man. At the same time, Klee learns to play the violin. Given his PAUL KLEE is born in Münchenbuchsee near Bern on Decem- rapid progress, he is permitted to perform as an extraordinary ber 18, 1879, the second child of Hans and Ida Klee. His father is member of the orchestra of the Bern Music Society. a music teacher and a genuine patriarch—in his outer appear- ance as well.