Paul Klee

Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Paris
Berggruen & Cie, Paris (acquired by 1954)
Galerie M. Ruosso, Paris 
R.F. Windfohr, Fort Worth (acquired by 1954)
Anne Burnett Tandy, Fort Worth (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 11, 1988, lot 140)
Private Collection, New York (acquired at the above sale)
Marisa Del Re Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in February 2008

Brussels, Galerie Dietrich, Paul Klee, 1938, no. 12
Stockholm, Svensk-Franksa Konstgalleriet, Paul Klee, 1949, no. 32

The Artist's Handlist, 1935, no. 78 (M18)
Christian Rümelin, Paul Klee, Jahre der Meisterschaft, 1917-1933 (exhibition catalogue), Balingen, 2001, illustrated p. 218
The Paul Klee Foundation, ed., Paul Klee, Catalogue Raisonné, 1934-1938, vol. VII, Bern, 2003, no. 6840, illustrated p. 177

In very good condition. Executed on cream colored laid paper. A few tiny tears along right edge. Verso contains a small, seemingly unfinished composition as well as scattered tape remnants along top edge. Otherwise fine.
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.

Landschaftsteile Gesammelt (Parts of a Landscape Assembled) perfectly encapsulates Paul Klee’s endless oscillation between the figurative and the abstract and his mastery of both organic and geometric forms. The playful title is very much in keeping with his whimsical yet profound practice and relates to his interest in the drawings of children and the exploratory, meandering, experimental nature of the act of play. Andrew Kagan discusses: "In many pictures, Klee made explicit the debt of this line to children’s art through the simple, childlike rendering of the subject. Like the drawings of the very young, these treatments are flat; they neither create depth nor suggest volume. The visualization is direct and economical. Again, such borrowings are a source of some of the appeal and universality of Klee’s art, and they enabled him to exploit the raw energy of the child artist… From the Broad, rough line of children’s art he forged an artistic tool of genuine force—a line of stability, assertion, and power—that was one of the most daring and important innovations in painting of 1935-45. It endowed his drawings and paintings with a monumentality they had never known before and with a new level of content, and it formed one of the most venerable features of his rich legacy to later generations of artists" (Paul Klee at the Guggenheim Museum (exhibition catalogue), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1993, pp. 46-47).

In the present drawing the linear and chromatic elements of the composition draw equal weight, achieving a satisfying balance of horizontal and vertical forms. The years of 1933-36, while difficult for Klee who lived as a refugee in Switzerland after being driven out of Germany by the Nazis, gave way to a major transformation in the artist's approach. While his sensibility to tonal harmony remained consistent, the fine rectangular shapes of earlier compositions were replaced by more fluid, organic forms and thicker, stronger lines, as evidenced here.

As Andrew Kagan describes this period in the artist's career: "It signaled an authentic and substantial strengthening of his line, the first real advance in two decades. The heavy-brush-drawn line now exists as a potential new force. To realize that potential, Klee needed to invent new formats and applications. To the extent that he was able to ponder artistic problems during the difficult years 1933-36, what must have most concerned him was how to formulate a new type of linear art to assume the place that color had formerly occupied in his ambitions" (ibid., p. 45).

According to the Paul Klee Foundation, the artist himself detached this sheet from it's original card mounting in 1935. The image relates closely to Schatz Über Tag (Treasure Above Ground) of the same year, though the present work is executed in much larger scale (see fig. 1).