Inscription: Signed (upper left): Klee; dated and inscribed on cardboard (lower center): 1935 K 2 grobgeschnittener Kopf; (lower left): II
the artist, Bern (1935–d. 1940; on consignment, 1937–40, to Galerie Simon [Daniel Henry Kahnweiler], Paris); his widow, Lily Klee, Bern (1940–46); Paul Klee Society, later Paul Klee Foundation, Bern (from 1946); Hermann and Margrit Rupf, Bern; [Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, in 1949]; [J. B. Neumann, New York, in 1952; sold to Schang]; Frederick C. Schang, South Norwalk, Conn. and New York (by 1953–at least 1968); Heinz Berggruen, Paris and Berlin (1981–84; his gift to MMA)
Stockholm. Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet. "Beaudin, Gris, Kermadec, Klee, Lascaux, Léger, Manolo, Masson, Picasso, Roger, Roux," November–December 1947, no. 53 (as "Tête taillée à coups de hache").
Stockholm. Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet. "Paul Klee," March 1949, no. 50 (as "Grovhugget huvud").
Frankfurt. Galerie Buchheim-Militon. "Paul Klee. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Graphik," opened November 10, 1950, no. 19.
New York. New Art Circle, J. B. Neumann. "Klee," April 13–May 30, 1952, no. 31 (as "Roughly Hewn Head").
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "40 Works by Paul Klee from the Collection of F. C. Schang," June 5–August 31, 1955, no. 33.
Kunstmuseum Bern. "Paul Klee," August 11–November 4, 1956, no. 661 (lent by Mr. F. C. Schang, New York City).
New York. Saidenberg Gallery. "Third Bi-annual Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Paul Klee," November 11–December 14, 1957, no. 40 (as "Gross geschnittener Kopf [Roughly hewn head]," lent anonymously).
Waltham, Mass. Brandeis University. Slosberg Music Center Gallery. "Paul Klee," May 15–June 15, 1960, no. 30 (as "Roughly Hewn Head," lent by Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Schang, Jr., New York City).
Pasadena Art Museum. "Paul Klee 1879–1940. A Retrospective Exhibition," February 21–April 2, 1967, no. 144 (as "Roughly Hewn Head [Grossgeschnittener Kopf]," lent by F. C. Schang, New York).
San Francisco Museum of Art. "Paul Klee 1879–1940. A Retrospective Exhibition," April 13–May 14, 1967, no. 144.
Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. "Paul Klee 1879–1940. A Retrospective Exhibition," May 25–June 25, 1967, no. 144.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Paul Klee 1879–1940. A Retrospective Exhibition," July 5–August 13, 1967, no. 144.
Kansas City, Mo. William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art. "Paul Klee 1879–1940. A Retrospective Exhibition," September 1–30, 1967, no. 144.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Paul Klee 1879–1940. A Retrospective Exhibition," October 6–November 19, 1967, no. 144.
Washington University Gallery of Art, St. Louis. "Paul Klee 1879–1940. A Retrospective Exhibition," December 3, 1967–January 5, 1968, no. 144.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Paul Klee 1879–1940. A Retrospective Exhibition," January 15–February 15, 1968, no. 144.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection Two: Twentieth-Century Art," June 4–September 2, 1985, no catalogue.
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. 248).
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. 259).
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. 259).
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. 59.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee: Of Men and Women," opened March 27, 1990, no catalogue.
Haus der Kunst München. "Elan vital oder Das Auge des Eros," May 20–August 14, 1994, no. 382.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paul Klee: Figures and Faces," August 23–November 16, 1997, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Figures," October 5, 2001–March 10, 2002, 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: The Late Years," March 19–June 27, 2004, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Late Klee," October 18, 2012–March 31, 2013, no catalogue.
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.
Douglas Cooper. Paul Klee. Harmondsworth, 1949, pl. 28, as "Head Hewn with an Axe" in the collection of the Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris.
Paul Klee. Collection of F. C. Schang. South Norwalk, Conn., June 1, 1953, unpaginated brochure, no. 36, as "Roughly Hewn Head".
Will Grohmann. Paul Klee. New York, [1954], pp. 319, 418, no. 355, ill. p. 403, cat. 152, calls it "Rough-Hewn Head" in the chronological catalogue and "Roughhewn Head" in the text; locates it in the collection of F. C. Schang, New York.
Gualtieri di San Lazzaro. Klee: A Study of His Life and Work. New York, 1957, pp. 200–201, 298, ill. p. 147, as "Roughhewn Head," in the collection of F. C. Schang, New York.
Paul Klee (1879–1940). Collection of F. C. Schang. New York, April 1, 1957, unpaginated brochure, no. 39, as "Roughly Hewn Head".
Paul Klee (1879–1940). Collection of F. C. Schang. New York, April 1, 1959, unpaginated brochure, no. 32, as "Roughly Hewn Head".
Max Huggler. Paul Klee. Die Malerei als Blick in den Kosmos. Frauenfeld, 1969, pp. 154–55.
Margaret Plant. Paul Klee. Figures and Faces. London, 1978, p. 40, calls it "Rough-hewn Head"; remarks that it resembles a primitive mask reproduced in Amédée Ozenfant's book, "Foundations of Modern Art," published in German in 1931, and which may have been known to Klee.
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. 248–49, 287, 319, ill. (color and bw).
Jane Norrie. "Paul Klee." Arts Review 41 (June 2, 1989), p. 439.
Lance Esplund. "Rand the Magician." Modern Painters 10 (Spring 1997), p. 124, ill.
Vivian Endicott Barnett. The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum. [Pasadena], 2002, p. 337, calls it "Roughly Hewn Head".
Josef Helfenstein and Christian Rümelin, ed. Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné. Ed. Paul Klee Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. Vol. 7, 1934–1938. New York, 2003, p. 158, no. 6784, ill., as "Grobgeschnittener Kopf (Roughly Hewn Head)".
Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
1920
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