5 Art Lessons From Bauhaus Master Paul Klee

1/3/2017 5ArtLessonsfromBauhausMasterPaulKlee
THE DAILY EDITORIAL NEWSLETTER
The latest art-world news

and stories in your inbox
Enter your email address SUBSCRIBE
How to Be an Artist, According to Paul Klee

ARTSY EDITORIAL
BY SARAH GOTTESMAN
DEC 21ST, 2016 10:23 PM
One of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century, Paul Klee was also a prolific teacher, serving as a faculty
member of the Bauhaus school between 1921 and 1931. Promoting a theoretical approach to artmaking, the
painter taught a variety of courses across disciplines, from bookbinding to basic design, and left behind over
3,900 pages in lecture notes. These documents, partly compiled in Klees Pedagogical Sketchbook (1925), reveal the
artists innovative and unusual lesson plans, which often provided students with a step-by-step approach to artistic
expression. Weve pulled some of his key lessons about art and design. Lets start with the basics.
Lesson #1: Take a Line for a Walk
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsyeditorialhowtobeanartistaccordingtopaulklee 1/15
Pages from Paul Klees notes. Images via Zentrum Paul Klee.
An active line on a walk, moving freely, without goal. So begins KleesPedagogical Sketchbook,which served as
something of a textbook for many Bauhaus students. Five pages follow this famous description of the most basic of
human marks, outlining the various types of lines, from those that circumscribe themselves to others that contain
fixed points. Each example is accompanied by a diagram, which Klee likely drew on the blackboard during his
lectures.
Many of Klees lessons center around this type of categorization, demonstrating the multiple ways in which a point
can become a line, a line can become a plane, and so on.Beginning with the fundamentals, Klee modeled his
teaching methods after the way children learn to read. First letters, then symbols, then, finally, how to read and
write, he explained. Just as you can rearrange a series of letters to make different words, Klee would ask his
students to repeat the same form in as many positions as possible. Such painstaking tasks would lay the
groundwork for future works of art and design, and needed to be mastered before tone and color entered the
picture.
Lesson #2: Observe a Fishtank
Paul Klee Paul Klee

Sans Titre (Deux poissons, un hameon, un ver),1901 Schlamm-Assel-Fisch (Mud-Woodlouse-Fish),1940
"Paul Klee: L'ironie l'oeuvre" at Centre Pompidou, Paris Fondation Beyeler
When Klee hosted classes in his home, he often required that students spend time observing the tropical fish in his
large aquarium. The artist would turn the lights on and off, coaxing the fish to swim and hide, while encouraging
students to carefully take note of their activity.
For those who know Klee as the father of abstract art, this lesson may seem surprising. However, Klee was deeply
concerned with creating movement in his compositions. And he asserted that allartworkseven the most abstract
should be inspired by nature. Follow the ways of natural creation, the becoming, the functioning of forms, he
taught his students. Then perhaps starting from nature you will achieve formations of your own, and one day you
may even become like nature yourself and start creating.
Lesson #3: Draw the Circulatory System
Paul Klee Paul Klee

Park near Lu,1938 Paysage prs de E. (en Bavire),1921
The EY Exhibition: Paul Klee - Making Visible, Tate Modern, London "Paul Klee: L'ironie l'oeuvre" at Centre Pompidou, Paris
Klee studied nature obsessively, and took a particular interest in the branching forms of plants, organ systems, and
waterways. In his lectures, he described these patterns with scientific specificity, mapping mathematical equations
and arrow-filled diagrams on the board. He explored how seeds sprout, how leaves develop ribs, and how lakes
break off into streams, almost always ending with an awe-inspiring assertion about the magic contained in natures
growth and development.
In one of these lessons, Klee explored the circulatory system, sketching on the chalkboard the movement of blood
through the body. He claimed that this bodily process reflected the manner in which art is created. Afterwards,
Klee asked his students to draw the circulatory system themselves. Their renderings, he insisted, should portray the
transition of blood from stage to stage, shifting from red to blue, using line and density to represent shifts in
weight, nutrients, and force. Go ahead, give it a try.
Lesson #4: Weigh the Colors
Left: Paul Klees color chart, from his notes. Image via Zentrum Paul Klee; Right: Goethes color wheel, published inTheory of Colours.
Image via Wikimedia Commons.
Only after students grasped the intricacies of lines and planesand could find these forms in naturedid Klee
introduce color. Like much of his teachings, Klees lessons about color combined scientific precision with a deep
sense of mysticism. His theories primarily drew upon Johann Wolfgang von Goethes color wheel, put forth a
century earlier, in 1809, which proposed the idea that red opposed green, orange opposed blue, and yellow
opposed violet.
Klee added a new dimension to this diagram, turning it into a sphere, with white at the top and black at the base.
This framework, he taught, should encompass all aspects of color, including hue, saturation, and value. Klee
required his students to create color diagrams of their own, including one assignment in which they visually
weighed one color against anotherthe color red, as it turns out, is heavier than the color blue.
While grounded in science, Klee was also a romantic when it came to color. He often made connections between
color and music, explaining that combinations of colors (much like musical notes) can be harmonious or dissonant
depending on the pairing. He would sometimes even play the violin for his students. Klees most existential
statement about color, however, came from beyond the classroom. Color and I are one, he declared in his diary
in 1914. I am a painter.
Lesson #5: Study the Greats
RELATED ARTICLE
Search MORE LOG IN SIGN UP
What You Need to Know about Paul Klee

When discussing the work of other artists, Klee used the following metaphor. If a new product like a toothpaste or
a laundry detergent was popular with customers, its competitors should research the items chemical elements so
that they could replicate the success. Or if a food induced illness, scientists should strive to determine which
specific ingredients were poisonous and which were benign.

As such, artists should break down the artworks of their peers and predecessors into the most elementary
componentsline, form, and colorto determine what makes an image successful or problematic. We do not
analyze works of art because we want to imitate them or because we distrust them, he once said. Instead, we do so
as to begin to walk ourselves.
In his later years at the Bauhaus, Klee provided students with feedback on their works in his home. Students would
bring in their fresh paintings and place them on empty easels, as Klees unfinished works hung in the background.
Klee would sit, gliding back and forth in his rocking chair, and inspect the images in silence. Only then would he
provide an analysis of the works, albeit in his famously lofty fashion, speaking to a larger problem in the field of
painting or identifying a subconscious idea that manifested itself in the work. Afterward, the class would sit around
a large, glazed clay pot, smoke cigarettes, and discuss artmaking. Of all the Bauhaus masters, Klee was the only one
who did not give grades.
Sarah Gottesman
SHARE ARTICLE

THE DAILY EDITORIAL NEWSLETTER
The latest art-world news and

stories in your inbox
Enter your email address SUBSCRIBE
What Art History Can Tell Us about Female Beauty Ideals

ARTSY EDITORIAL
BY DANIEL KUNITZ
JAN 2ND, 2017 7:00 PM

Mickalene Thomas
A Little Taste Outside of Love,2007
Collection: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn
Imagineas you probably do now and againthat you are God, laboring under the self-appointed task of creating
an Eve who will be accounted beautiful at all times and places. History shows you will be disappointed in your

effort. Rather than a stable set of features, physical beauty is an ever-morphing construct, a fickle collective dream
that
we Search
fall into once in a while. MORE LOG IN SIGN UP
But as slippery as our fleshly aspirations may be, they tend nevertheless to have outlines. These have been most
visible throughout history in the pictures drawn by those self-elected gods we call artists. History provides us a
record, and from it one basic, inescapable, and ultimately unconscionable truth stands out: the ideals women are

asked to embody, regardless of culture or continent, have been hammered out almost exclusively by men. This fact,
more than any sort of evolutionary determinism, has meant that a fairly narrow range of attributes resurfaces across
eras, returning every couple of decades or so like a new strain of the flu.
Physical ideals are changeable, manifestations of the cultures they come from, yet some aspects change more readily
than others. Even when produced by those of their own gender, images of women have historically followed a
pattern set down by males. Little about Artemisia Gentileschis Sleeping Venus (1625-1630), for example, suggests
its female maker. In it, as in virtually all pictures of women, passivity is the norm, whether manifested as softness,
slack musculature, or a deferential pose. Another abiding trait, the outline of the hourglass, reminds us that the
Female is always a sort of clock, which we try to freeze at the moment of youth.
READ MORE
WHAT TO READ NEXT
How the TV Has

8 Women Who Turned The Top Art News
Radically Changed Our
Food into Feminist Art Stories of 2016Part 2
Homes
From Joan Jonas to Theaster Gates, These 8 Artists Fooled

the Art World with Alter Egos
ARTSY EDITORIAL
BY ALEXXA GOTTHARDT
JAN 2ND, 2017 4:00 PM
At one point or another, everyone wants to become someone new. Maybe don a wig, adopt a new name, or

adjust your personality. If David Bowie could seamlessly transform into Ziggy Stardust, and Beyonc can
metamorphose
Search into Sasha Fierce, why cant we do the same? MORE LOG IN SIGN UP
Artists of all stripes have long used alter egos to unlock or enhance aspects of their work. Marcel Duchamp, the
king of conceptual art, was one of the first. He surprised the artist community by stepping out in 1920 as his
feminine foil, Rrose Slavy, who sat for Man Ray and made her own sculptures. Its said that the Dada trickster
used Slavy to expand the traditional definitions of art and artist, conventions he worked long and hard upend.


Since then, many creatives have incorporated alter egos into their practices. Lynn Hershman Leeson used hers
the awkward, heavily maquillaged Roberta Breitmoreto explore feminist identity politics. Theaster Gates
concocted histhe fictional Japanese ceramicist Shoji Yamaguchito kickstart conversations about the
marginalization of certain ethnic groups and artistic mediums. And sometimes, as in the case of Rammellzee, artists
have taken their projects even further, completely assuming their constructed persona in the studio and in everyday
life. Here are eight artists whose oeuvres wouldnt be the same without their alter egos.
Theaster Gates Follow
READ MORE
WHAT TO READ NEXT
How the TV Has

Homes
The Berlin Artist-Run Galleries You Need to Know

ARTSY EDITORIAL
BY ARIELLE BIER
DEC 31ST, 2016 4:00 PM


Left to right: Carrick Bell and Michael Rocco Ruglio-Misurell of HORSEANDPONY Fine Arts; Christian Siekmeier of Exile;Barbara
Wolff and Katharina Stoever of Peles Empire.
Berlin continues to top the charts as a global cultural capital. The city is saturated with creatives, and the jestful
adage If you throw a stone in Berlin, youll hit an artist, quite frankly, rings true. In recent years, artists, curators,
and art connoisseurs alike, have flocked to the nations capital to set up shop, chasing after the next big thing.
Though public financing is scarce and the local art market is relatively weak (compared to New York or London),
exhibiting in Berlin has become a necessity for international artists looking to build or establish their careers.
Although the commercial gallery culture is more than plentiful, working artists and budding curators with an eye
for the most progressive and relevant artwork keep experimentation
READ MORE with exhibition formats alive, pumping fresh
energy into the community by contributing their voices and visions to the mix in spaces of their own.
WHAT TO READ NEXT
How the TV Has

Homes
8 Women Who Turned Food into Feminist Art

ARTSY EDITORIAL
BY PHILOMENA EPPS
DEC 30TH, 2016 10:00 PM
Search
The
MORE LOG IN
erotic associations betweenfood(thestill life) and the female body (thenude) have been prevalent
SIGN UP
throughout the history of art. The female nudes inTitiansVenus of Urbino(1536-38) orIngressLa Grande
Odalisque(1814), for instance, recline passively and provocatively on daybeds, the objects of the male gaze.
They are poised for consumption, rather like a glistening apple in anOld Masters still life painting.

But in the 20th century,Surrealistfemale artists likeMeret Oppenheimbegan to question this relationship. InMy
Nurse(1936), she bound a pair of high heels in string, suggesting prepared poultry or meat on a serving platter.
The splayed arrangement of the shoes resembles a woman lying on her back with her legs spread apart. This
disturbing construction created a metaphorical representation of womens status in society.

With the rise of feminist art practices in the 1970s, and the production of iconic works such asMartha Roslers
parody video,Semiotics of the Kitchen(1975), women began to subvert and destabilize these notions of a womans
position in the world. Below, we bring you some of the myriad ways in which female artists have turned this
relationship on its head over the last five decades.
Carolee Schneemann, Meat Joy, 1964
READ MORE
WHAT TO READ NEXT
The Story behind How the TV Has

The Top Art News
Forgotten German Radically Changed Our
Stories of 2016Part 2
Surrealist Painter Homes
Richard Oelze
The Top Art News Stories of 2016Part 2

Look back at this years biggest news moments with our rundown of the top 20 events of the year. Find Part 1here.
ARTSY EDITORIAL
DEC 30TH, 2016 4:00 PM

11 The art world was rockedwhen new evidence was discovered in one of art
historys biggestand yet most arbitrarydisputes.
RELATED ARTICLE
How One Art History Teacher Solved Two of the

How One Art History Teacher Solved Two of the
Biggest Mysteries about Van Gogh

The evidence in question, unearthed inJuly, pertained to just how much of his ear Vincentvan Goghsevered.
While researching thePost-Impressionistpainters life, author Bernadette Murphystumbled across a notein an
American archive written by van Goghs doctor. It included two sources which appear to indicate that the artist
lopped off his entire ear, not simply a piece, as some historians believe. Research for Murphys book, appropriately
titledVan Goghs Ear: The True Storyalso shed light on the identity of the girl to which van Gogh gifted his
severed ear. Long assumed to be a prostitute named Rachel, it turns out that she was actually a maid in a brothel
whose given name was Gabrielle Berlatier. Amore important debate around the artists oeuvrecame
inNovemberwhen two respected art historians proclaimed 65 ink drawings in a newly revealed sketchbook to be
authentic works by van Gogh. TheVan Gogh Museumresponded swiftly with a wholehearted rejection of the
claim. The books French publisher, Le Seuil, has subsequently threatened legal action due to the losses theyve
incurred following the dispute.
12The 1MDB corruption scandal sent ripples through the art worldwhen works
from the collection of Jho Low, a Malaysian financier and rising art patron, were
seized by prosecutors.
TheJulyseizure arose following allegations that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had personally recieved
over $1 billion, largely from the 1Malaysia Development Bhd. fund, more commonly referred to as
1MBD.According to reports, Low purchased works includingMonetsGreat Saint George(1908-1912; for $35
million) andWater Lilies With Reflections of Tall Grass(1914-17; for some $13.6 million) with funds from 1MDB.
Four works have been seized so far by prosecutors. Low is a confidant of Prime Minister Razak and quickly
ascended in the art world ranks over the past three years, thanks to multiple high profile, eight-figure purchases at
Christies and Sothebys. InOctober, the matter was complicated further when David Nahmad claimed thatWater
Lilies With Reflections of Tall Grasswas in fact his painting and thus should not have been confiscated. Though the
court complaint details communications between Nahmad and Low regarding the purchase of the painting, the
dealer claimed that the deal had not been completed. Nahmad had purchased the work at a Sothebys sale in 2013
for $13.6 million. The court filing only detailed an initial $2.25 million transfer from Lows account to Nahmads.
13 Artists erected statues of a naked Donald Trump across five U.S. cities, one
example of the many critical artworks created in response to the now-President-
elect.
Thework,
titledThe Emperor Has No Balls,was conceived of by anonymous anarchist art collective INDECLINE
and simultaneously placed in public spaces in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Seattle on the
morning ofAugust18th. The collective worked with a Las Vegas-based artist named Ginger to produce the life-
sized Trump from 300 pounds of clay. The obese caricature lacks a particular body part but has otherwise
exaggerated physical features, from veins to stomach fat. The work was created in protest to the Republican

nominee and immediately set off a slew of selfies with the naked Trumpalong with critiques for body shaming.
But this was neither the first nor the last instance of artistic protest. In November, more than 150 of New Yorks
artists and art-world figures gathered in SoHo, outside of Ivanka Trumps apartment, to make a plea to president-
elect Trumps daughter in a candlelight vigil as part of the @dear_ivanka Instagram campaign organized by curator
Alison Gingeras and artistJonathan Horowitz. Among those in attendance were artistsMarilyn Minter,Cecily
Brown,Rob Pruitt, and art dealer Bill Powers.
14Following a bizarre four-year-long legal battle over the authorship of an

alleged Peter Doig painting, a federal judge ruled that it was not the artists work.
Though the owner of the painting claimed it was byDoigthe internationally renowned artist whose paintings
are worth millionsthe artist insisted that he could not have painted the work. U.S. District Judge Gary
Feinerman agreed,rulinginAugustthat Doig absolutely did not paint the disputed work based on massive
evidence put forward over the seven-day trial in Chicago. The ruling also determined the creator of the work was
actually Peter Edward Doige, a carpenter and amateur painter who has since passed away. Following the hearing,
Doig issued a statement regretting the duration, and the mere existence, of the case: Todays verdict is the long
overdue vindication of what I have said from the beginning four years ago: a young talented artist named Pete
Edward Doige painted this work, I did not. Thankfully, justice prevailed, but it was way too long in coming.
That a living artist has to defend the authorship of his own work should never have come to pass. Meanwhile,
gallerist Peter Bartlow still believed the work was by Doig, while fellow plaintiff Robert Fletcher, who owns the
painting, maintained that he brought the case in a desire to uncover the truth about the paintings authorship,
rather than for a potential payday. The painting was estimated to have been worth $6 millionif it was found to
have been painted by Doig.
15 The judge presiding over a long-running Holocaust restitution lawsuit

shocked observers by ruling that the Norton Simon Museum will keep two
Cranach the Elder paintings.
RELATED ARTICLE
Why the Norton Simon Museum Is Getting to

Keep Two Pieces of Nazi-Looted Art

Marei von Saher, the heir to Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, sued the museum nearly a decade ago, arguing
that Search MORE LOG IN
the twoLucas Cranach the Elderpieces were forcibly taken when Nazi Hermann Gring took control of
SIGN UP
Goudstikkers company in 1940. As such, argued Von Sahers lawyers, the works should be restituted to her. In
hisAugustruling just weeks before the case was set to go to trial, U.S. District Court judge John Walterdismissed
the restitution claim, finding that the Norton Simon Museum had legal title to the Cranach paintings. Walter
ruled that Desi Goudstikker, Jacquess widow, and her representatives failed to make a claim on the works in the

requisite timeframe required by Dutch law following the conclusion of the war. The Norton Simon case is but one
of many Holocaust restitution suits this year, whichalso sawLondonsNational Gallerysued over a $30
millionHenri Matissepainting allegedly stolen after World War II and heirs of a famous Jewish art dealertaking
the German stateof Bavaria to court over eight works allegedly seized during Hitlers campaign of Aryanization

16The market for works by emerging artists cooled significantly in 2016, with
the value of some artists falling nearly 90% at auction.
At the Phillips New Now sale inSeptember, works byHugh Scott-DouglasandChristian Rosafetched just
$30,000 and $22,500, respectively, and aLucie Stahlpainting (low estimate: $6,000) went for just $563. Scott-
Douglas and Rosa works had previously achieved prices of six figures during the period of emerging art speculation
that took place in 2013 and 2014. Totals across the auction market this year were down significantly, but emerging
art was perhaps the hardest hit. During Londons Frieze Week auctions, totals at Phillips were again down almost
50% (though they mustered a solid 94% sell-through rate by value.) The auction house, which has traded
consistently in new and trendy names over recent years, has refocused, dropping some of the frothier artists from
READ MORE
its New York sales in November and adding in a greater selection of blue chip material. The strategy paid off, with
WHAT TO READ NEXT
How the TV Has The Story behind

8 Women Who Turned
Radically Changed Our Forgotten German
Food into Feminist Art
Homes Surrealist Painter
Richard Oelze
Home Museums
Artists Fairs
Shows Auctions
Galleries Magazine
SIGN UP LOG IN

About Artsy Terms of Use Privacy Policy




5 Art Lessons From Bauhaus Master Paul Klee

Transféré par

Informations du document

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

5 Art Lessons From Bauhaus Master Paul Klee

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

1/3/2017 5ArtLessonsfromBauhausMasterPaulKlee

THE DAILY EDITORIAL NEWSLETTER

The latest art-world news

Enter your email address SUBSCRIBE

How to Be an Artist, According to Paul Klee

Lesson #1: Take a Line for a Walk

Lesson #2: Observe a Fishtank

Paul Klee Paul Klee

Lesson #3: Draw the Circulatory System

Paul Klee Paul Klee

Lesson #4: Weigh the Colors

Lesson #5: Study the Greats

Search MORE LOG IN SIGN UP

What You Need to Know about Paul Klee

THE DAILY EDITORIAL NEWSLETTER

The latest art-world news and

Enter your email address SUBSCRIBE

Search MORE LOG IN SIGN UP

What Art History Can Tell Us about Female Beauty Ideals

WHAT TO READ NEXT

How the TV Has

From Joan Jonas to Theaster Gates, These 8 Artists Fooled

Theaster Gates Follow

WHAT TO READ NEXT

How the TV Has

The Berlin Artist-Run Galleries You Need to Know

Search MORE LOG IN SIGN UP

WHAT TO READ NEXT

How the TV Has

8 Women Who Turned Food into Feminist Art

Carolee Schneemann, Meat Joy, 1964

WHAT TO READ NEXT

The Story behind How the TV Has

The Top Art News Stories of 2016Part 2

How One Art History Teacher Solved Two of the

14Following a bizarre four-year-long legal battle over the authorship of an

15 The judge presiding over a long-running Holocaust restitution lawsuit

Why the Norton Simon Museum Is Getting to

WHAT TO READ NEXT

How the TV Has The Story behind

Search MORE LOG IN SIGN UP

Search MORE LOG IN SIGN UP

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi