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Artwork Details
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Title:Episode Before an Arab Town
Artist:Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
Date:1923
Medium:Watercolor and transferred printing ink on paper, bordered with gouache and ink, mounted on cardboard
Dimensions:10 in. × 12 7/8 in. (25.4 × 32.7 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:The Berggruen Klee Collection, 1987
Accession Number:1987.455.14
Inscription: Signed (center left): Klee; dated and inscribed on cardboard (bottom center): 1923 /// 53. Scene vor einer arabischen Stadt
Louis Gittler, New York (until ca. 1969; sold ca. 1969 to Thaw); [E. V. Thaw & Co., Inc., New York, 1969; sold in 1969 to Berggruen]; Heinz Berggruen, Paris and Berlin (1969–87; his gift to MMA)
Paris. Berggruen et Cie. "Paul Klee. Les années 20," May–July 1971, no. 29 (as "Scene vor einer arabischen Stadt [Scène devant une Ville arabe]").
Saint-Paul. Fondation Maeght. "Paul Klee," July 9–September 30, 1977, no. 53 (as "Scène devant une ville arabe," lent by a private collection, Paris).
Cologne. Kunsthalle. "Paul Klee. Das Werk der Jahre 1919–1933. Gemälde, Handzeichnungen, Druckgraphik," April 11–June 4, 1979, no. 94 (lent by a private collection, Paris).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection Two: Twentieth-Century Art," June 4–September 2, 1985, no catalogue.
Canberra. Australian National Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," March 1–April 27, 1986, unnumbered cat. (p. 45).
Brisbane. Queensland Art Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," May 7–July 1, 1986, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee: The Berggruen Klee Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 6–July 31, 1988, unnumbered cat. (p. 171).
Kunsthalle Tübingen. "Paul Klee: Die Sammlung Berggruen im Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York und im Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris," January 22–April 16, 1989, unnumbered cat. (p. 173).
London. Tate Gallery. "Paul Klee: The Berggruen Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris," May 17–August 13, 1989, unnumbered cat. (p. 173).
Mexico City. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo. "Paul Klee: Selección de sesenta obras. The Berggruen Klee Collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 1989–January 1990, no. 37.
Hamm. Gustav-Lübcke-Museum. "Paul Klee. Reisen in den Süden," January 26–April 13, 1997, no. 13.
Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig. "Paul Klee. Reisen in den Süden," May 8–July 13, 1997, no. 13.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Landscapes," November 20, 1997–February 8, 1998, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Cities," June 22–September 5, 1999, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Landscapes by Klee and Kiefer," January 19–September 30, 2001, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cityscapes by Klee and Feininger," September 25, 2002–January 26, 2003, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee the Voyager," February 4–May 4, 2003, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Creatures," December 12, 2003–March 14, 2004, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Landscapes," November 1, 2005–March 5, 2006, no catalogue.
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyons. "Le génie de l'Orient, l'Europe moderne et les arts de l'Islam," April 2–July 4, 2011, no. 208 (as "Scène devant une ville arabe").
Bern. Zentrum Paul Klee. "Paul Klee, August Macke, Louis Moilliet: The Journey to Tunisia," March 14–June 22, 2014, no. 74 (as "Scene before an Arabian Town").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Humor and Fantasy: The Berggruen Paul Klee Collection," September 1, 2016–January 2, 2017, no catalogue.
Ottawa. National Gallery of Canada. "Paul Klee: The Berggruen Collection from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 16, 2018–March 17, 2019, no catalogue.
Jean-Louis Ferrier. Paul Klee: Les années 20. Paris, 1971, ill. pp. 70–71, n. p. (color and bw), calls it "Scene vor einer arabischen Stadt (Scène devant une Ville arabe)".
Daniel Abadie. Paul Klee. [Paris], 1977, ill. p. 74, calls it "Scène devant une ville arabe," in a private collection, Paris.
Jean Duvignaud. Klee en Tunisie. Lausanne, 1980, ill. pp. 78–79 (color), as "Scène devant une ville arabe".
Margareta Benz-Zauner. Werkanalytische Untersuchungen zu den Tunesien-Aquarellen Paul Klees. Frankfurt, 1984, pp. 181–82.
Kay Vernon in20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., Australian National Gallery. Canberra, 1986, p. 41, ill. p. 45 (color).
Sabine Rewald. Paul Klee: The Berggruen Klee Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1988, pp. 108, 170–71, 237, 281, 318, ill. (color and bw), notes that this work was copied in mirror-image from Klee's pencil drawing "Woman with Child and Small Group of People" (1914; private collection, Germany; Helfenstein and Rümelin 2000, no. 1138), executed during his trip to the ancient city of Kairouan in Tunisia [see also MMA 1984.315.17, 1984.315.53].
Robin Stemp. "Artist as Transmitter." Artist (September 1989), ill. p. 18 (color).
Jane Norrie. "Paul Klee." Arts Review 41 (June 2, 1989), p. 439.
Stefan Frey inPaul Klee: Reisen in den Süden. "Reisefieber praecisiert". Ed. Uta Gerlach-Laxner and Ellen Schwinzer. Exh. cat., Gustav-Lübcke Museum, Hamm. Ostfildern, 1997, p. 247.
Uta Gerlach-Laxner inPaul Klee: Reisen in den Süden. "Reisefieber praecisiert". Ed. Uta Gerlach-Laxner and Ellen Schwinzer. Exh. cat., Gustav-Lübcke-Museum, Hamm. Ostfildern, 1997, p. 229, no. 13, ill. p. 125 (color).
Josef Helfenstein and Christian Rümelin, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 3, 1919–1922. New York, 1999, p. 164, under no. 2380.
Josef Helfenstein and Christian Rümelin, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 4, 1923–1926. New York, 2000, p. 54, no. 3146, ill., as "Scène vor einer arabischen Stadt (Scene Before an Arabian Town)".
Josef Helfenstein and Christian Rümelin, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 2, 1913–1918. New York, 2000, p. 128, under no. 1138.
Josef Helfenstein and Christian Rümelin, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 6, 1931–1933. New York, 2002, p. 49, under no. 5433.
Vivian Endicott Barnett. The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum. [Pasadena], 2002, p. 316, calls it "Scene before an Arab Town".
Rémi Labrusse. Islamophilies: L'Europe moderne et les arts de l'Islam. Exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyons. Paris, 2011, pp. 292, 393, no. 208, ill. p. 308 (color).
Michael Baumgartner inThe Journey to Tunisia, 1914: Paul Klee, August Macke, Louis Moilliet. Ed. Zentrum Paul Klee. Exh. cat., Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern. Ostfildern, 2014, pp. 117, 322, no. 74, ill. p. 134 (color).
Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
1920
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