Paul Klee

Alfred Flechtheim, Berlin (on commission for sale from the artist in 1929)
Galerie Simon (Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler) , Paris (on commission for sale from the artist in 1934)
Contempora Art Circle (P. L. Wiener, J. B. Neumann), New York (on commission for sale from the artist in 1934)
New Art Circle (J. B. Neumann), New York (on commission for sale from the artist in 1935)
Galerie Simon (Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler) , Paris (on commission for sale from the artist in 1936)
Roland Balaÿ & Louis Carré, Paris (acquired by 1938)
Olga Carré, Paris (her estate sale Piasa/Artcurial, Paris, December 9, 2002, lot 21)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum, Paul Klee, 1936, no. 38
Paris, Galerie Roland Balay et Louis Carre, Paul Klee, Tableaux et Aquarelles de 1917 a 1937, 1938, no.12
L'Isle-sur-sa-Sorgue, Campredon Art et Culture, Louis Carré Histoire et Actualité, 2000

The Paul Klee Foundation & Museum of Fine Arts, Bern, eds., Paul Klee Catalogue Raisonné 1927-1930, vol. V, Bern, 2001, no. 4944, illustrated p. 355

In very good condition. Colors are vibrant. Compared to the printed catalogue, the background is more bluish purple then brown. The card is glued in the corners to the mount which has been with the work for a long time and has old exhibition labels on the reverse. Tones are very strong and lively.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Klee painted the present work during his last year as an instructor at the Bauhaus, the seminal school of architecture and industrial arts. Zurücklehnende exemplifies a group of works that Klee commenced in the summer of 1929 whose compositions were based on superimposed or interlocking planes. “The problem of space occupied Klee much more insistently in 1929. After many experiments Klee wrote in April 1930 of his hope that ‘what I have achieved in the three dimensional realm’ would become lastingly fruitful for his work. He was not alluding to the perspective or illusionistic space but to the ‘flow’ of space; ‘the goal is inward, the problem mysterious,’ he said” (Will Grohmann, Klee, New York, 1958, p. 281).

While many of the paintings from this group are abstract compositions some, like the present painting, introduce a charming and witty human element. Klee constructs a three-dimensional body in space through a pattern of partially transparent quadrangles, which intersect and interpenetrate. The human element is suggested by a few simple signs which are added to the otherwise abstract structure, creating the impression of a reclining woman.

Reflecting on Klee’s ability to represent the concrete through the abstract Lisa Dennison writes: “Klee deliberately embodied polar opposites in his oeuvre. His style played between the organic and the geometric, the linear and the chromatic, the analytic and the spontaneous; his imagery encompassed representation and abstraction, the personal and the universal, the terrestrial and the cosmic, all within a profoundly harmonic whole” (Paul Klee At The Guggenheim Museum (exhibition catalogue), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1993, p. 10).

At the heart of Klee’s distinct and methodical approach to painting was his belief that his art was a manifestation of his inner-most self. The complex beauty of his paintings became the basis for his reputation as one of the great intellectual painters of the 20^th century. According to Andrew Kagan, “Klee’s greatness as a colorist and his gifts as a draftsman embrace a truly extraordinary range and diversity. His seemingly tireless experimentation and his astounding inventiveness are among his distinctive characteristics, but they make his mature work rather difficult to grasp and understand in its entirely. Klee may seem to be everywhere at once, with the most random approaches. It must be understood that his ultimate ambitions embraced the concept of an art that would resolve all apparent contradiction, an art that would reconcile all dualities and oppositions—in other works, an art of ultimate synthesis. ‘Truth,’ he declared, ‘demands that all elements be present at once’” (ibid., pp. 26-27).