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Artwork Details
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Title:Theater-Mountain-Construction
Artist:Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
Date:1920
Medium:Oil, gouache, and ink on paper mounted on cardboard
Dimensions:18 7/8 × 24 3/4 in. (47.9 × 62.9 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:The Berggruen Klee Collection, 1987
Object Number:1987.455.4
Inscription: Signed, dated, and inscribed (lower right): Klee 1920 28; dated and inscribed on cardboard (lower center): 1920/28 Bühnen-Gebirgs-Konstruktion
Walter Hugelshofer, Zürich (in 1929?); Bruno Streiff, Aarthal/Zürich; Studer (until 1982; sale, Kornfeld und Klipstein, Bern, June 23–25, 1982, no. 379, sold to Berggruen); Heinz Berggruen, Paris and Berlin (1982–87; his gift to MMA)
Munich. Neue Kunst/ Hans Goltz. "75. Ausstellung. Sommerschau 1922," July–September 1922, no. 6.
Dresden. Galerie Neue Kunst Fides. "Paul Klee," May 1924, no catalogue.
Kunsthalle Mannheim. "Zwei Künstlerphantasten. Paul Klee und Alfred Kubin," November 23, 1924–January 10, 1925, checklist no. 23.
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Ausstellung Abstrakte und Surrealistische Malerei und Plastik," October 6–November 3, 1929, no. 49.
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. 105).
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. 105).
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. 105).
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. 14.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. "The 1920s: Age of the Metropolis," June 20–November 10, 1991, no. 306.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Expressionist Utopias: Paradise, Metropolis, Architectural Fantasy," October 21, 1993–January 2, 1994, no. 117 (as "Bühnen-Gebirgs-Konstruktion [Stage-mountain-construction]").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee and Friends," June 8–November 26, 1995, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee in Munich," January 12–July 21, 1996, no catalogue.
Berlin. Martin-Gropius-Bau. "The Age of Modernism: Art in the 20th Century," May 7–July 27, 1997, no. 367.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Landscapes," November 20, 1997–February 8, 1998, 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. "Klee Abstract," September 5–December 7, 2003, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Klee Landscapes," November 1, 2005–March 5, 2006, 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.
Will Grohmann. "Paul Klee 1923/24." Der Cicerone 16, no. 17 (1924), p. 792.
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. 104–5, 275, 317, ill. (color and bw) and fig. 16 (installation photo in Klee's studio, 1920), notes that it is recorded in Klee's oeuvre catalogue as "Landschaftliche Holzarchitectur oder Bühnengebirgs-Konstruktion (Wooden Architecture in the Manner of a Landscape or Mountainous Theater-Construction)".
Constance Naubert-Riser inThe 1920s: Age of the Metropolis. Ed. Jean Clair. Exh. cat., Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Montreal, 1991, pp. 123, 560, no. 306, pl. 165, relates this work to the Utopian glass constructions designed by the architect Bruno Taut.
Wolfgang Kersten inMeisterwerke I: 9 Gemälde des deutschen Expressionismus. Exh. cat., Galerie Thomas. Munich, 1995, p. 114.
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. 162, no. 2372, ill., as "Bühnen-Gebirgs-Konstruction (Stage-Mountain Construction)".
Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
1929
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