The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the grandson of James H. Laughlin , a banker and co-founder of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company .
134-449: Among the artists represented in the collection are Pierre-Auguste Renoir , Gustave Courbet , El Greco , Vincent van Gogh , Henri Matisse , Claude Monet , Pablo Picasso , Georges Braque , Pierre Bonnard , Paul Klee , Arthur Dove , Winslow Homer , James McNeill Whistler , Jacob Lawrence , Augustus Vincent Tack , Georgia O'Keeffe , Karel Appel , Joan Miró , Mark Rothko and Berenice Abbott . Duncan Phillips (1886–1966) played
268-570: A Pittsburgh window glass millionaire and member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club , owners of the dam whose failure resulted in the Johnstown Flood . Beginning with a small family collection of paintings, Phillips, a published art critic, expanded the collection dramatically. A specially built room over the north wing of the family home provided a public gallery space. With the collection exceeding 600 works and facing public demand,
402-493: A "significant link in a chain which began with Goya and which [led] to Gauguin and Matisse ." Polly Fritchey, hostess and wife of columnist Clayton Fritchey , helped the Phillips Collection evolve from a small family museum into a public art gallery and was one of the first trustees appointed from outside the family. Moreover, she helped launch its national fundraising campaign. The Phillips Collection, opened in 1921,
536-569: A 1920 version of the book edited by Kurt Wolff. Around this time, Klee's graphic work increased. His early inclination towards the absurd and the sarcastic was well received by Kubin, who befriended Klee and became one of his first significant collectors. Klee met, through Kubin, the art critic Wilhelm Hausenstein in 1911. Klee was a foundation member and manager of the Munich artists' union Sema that summer. In autumn he made an acquaintance with August Macke and Wassily Kandinsky , and in winter he joined
670-517: A Klee never became another Klee." One of Klee's paintings, Angelus Novus , was the object of an interpretative text by German philosopher and literary critic Walter Benjamin , who purchased the painting in 1921. In his "Theses on the Philosophy of History" Benjamin suggests that the angel depicted in the painting might be seen as representing the angel of history. Another aspect of his legacy, and one demonstrating his multi-faceted presence in
804-403: A Klee painting is the very pleasant discovery, what everyone of us could or could have done, to try drawing like in our childhood. Most of his compositions show at the first glance a plain, naive expression, found in children's drawings. […] At a second analyse one can discover a technique, which takes as a basis a large maturity in thinking. A deep understanding of dealing with watercolors to paint
938-878: A catalogue. Critic René Crevel called the artist a "dreamer" who "releases a swarm of small lyrical louses from mysterious abysses." Paul Klee's confidante Will Grohmann argued in the Cahiers d'art that he "stands definitely well solid on his feet. He is by no means a dreamer; he is a modern person, who teaches as a professor at the Bauhaus." Whereupon Breton, as Joan Miró remembers, was critical of Klee: "Masson and I have both discovered Paul Klee. Paul Éluard and Crevel are also interested in Klee, and they have even visited him. But Breton despises him." The art of mentally ill people inspired Klee as well as Kandinsky and Max Ernst, after Hans Prinzhorns book Bildnerei der Geisteskranken (Artistry of
1072-526: A child, Pierre, in 1885. After marrying, Renoir painted many scenes of his wife and daily family life including their children and their nurse, Aline's cousin Gabrielle Renard . The Renoirs had three sons: Pierre Renoir (1885–1952), who became a stage and film actor; Jean Renoir (1894–1979), who became a filmmaker of note; and Claude Renoir (1901–1969), who became a ceramic artist. Around 1892, Renoir developed rheumatoid arthritis . In 1907, he moved to
1206-449: A color field from individually stamped dots, surrounded by similarly stamped lines, which results in a pyramid. Above the roof of the " Parnassus " there is a sun. The title identifies the picture as the home of Apollo and the Muses . During his 1929 travels through Egypt, Klee developed a sense of connection to the land, described by art historian Olivier Berggruen as a mystical feeling: "In
1340-602: A critic by Klee, who shows through denaturation of the birds, that the world technization heist the creatures' self-determination. Other examples from that period are der Goldfisch (The Goldfish) from 1925, Katze und Vogel (Cat and Bird), from 1928, and Hauptweg und Nebenwege (Main Road and Byways) from 1929. Through variations of the canvas ground and his combined painting techniques Klee created new color effects and picture impressions. From 1916 to 1925, Klee created 50 hand puppets for his son Felix. The puppets are not mentioned in
1474-532: A cultural pessimism, which can be found at the turn of the 20th century in works by Symbolists . The Invention Nr. 6, the 1903 etching Zwei Männer, einander in höherer Stellung vermutend (Two Men, Supposing the Other to be in a Higher Position), depicts two naked men, presumably emperor Wilhelm II and Franz Joseph I of Austria , recognizable by their hairstyle and beards. As their clothes and insignia were bereft, "both of them have no clue if their conventional salute […]
SECTION 10
#17328803998461608-513: A famous quote by Pierre-Auguste who, when asked why he continued to paint with his painful arthritis in his advanced years, once said "The pain passes, but the beauty remains." Renoir's paintings are notable for their vibrant light and saturated color, most often focusing on people in intimate and candid compositions. The female nude was one of his primary subjects. However, in 1876, a reviewer in Le Figaro wrote "Try to explain to Monsieur Renoir that
1742-596: A favorite painting location resulted in a distinct change of subjects. Renoir was inspired by the style and subject matter of previous modern painters Camille Pissarro and Édouard Manet . After a series of rejections by the Salon juries, he joined forces with Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, and several other artists to mount the First Impressionist Exhibition in April 1874, in which Renoir displayed six paintings. Although
1876-488: A few circles. The colored rectangle became his basic building block, what some scholars associate with a musical note, which Klee combined with other colored blocks to create a color harmony analogous to a musical composition. His selection of a particular color palette emulates a musical key. Sometimes he uses complementary pairs of colors, and other times "dissonant" colors, again reflecting his connection with musicality. A few weeks later, World War I began. At first, Klee
2010-406: A green pot, sculpture and an angel. The moon on black ground is separated from these groups. During his 60th birthday Klee was photographed in front of this picture. Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible. "Klee's act is very prestigious. In a minimum of one line he can reveal his wisdom. He is everything; profound, gentle and many more of the good things, and this because: he
2144-511: A magazine illustrator failed. Klee's art work progressed slowly for the next five years, partly from having to divide his time with domestic matters, and partly as he tried to find a new approach to his art. In 1910, he had his first solo exhibition in Bern, which then travelled to three Swiss cities. In January 1911, Alfred Kubin met Klee in Munich and encouraged him to illustrate Voltaire 's Candide . His resultant drawings were published later in
2278-408: A model, who posed for him ( The Large Bathers , 1884–1887; Dance at Bougival , 1883) and many of his fellow painters; during that time, she studied their techniques and eventually became one of the leading painters of the day. In 1887, the year when Queen Victoria celebrated her Golden Jubilee , and upon the request of the queen's associate, Phillip Richbourg, Renoir donated several paintings to
2412-452: A musician; but he decided on the visual arts during his teen years, partly out of rebellion and partly because modern music lacked meaning for him. He stated, "I didn't find the idea of going in for music creatively particularly attractive in view of the decline in the history of musical achievement." As a musician, he played and felt emotionally bound to traditional works of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, but as an artist he craved
2546-402: A personal method in oil, structured in decorative shapes, let Klee stand out in the contemporary art and make him incomparable. On the other side, his experiment was adopted in the last 30 years by many other artists as a basis for newer creations in the most different areas in painting. His extreme productivity never shows evidence of repetition, as is usually the case. He had so much to say, that
2680-671: A seminal role in introducing America to modern art . Born in Pittsburgh —the grandson of James H. Laughlin , a banker and co-founder of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company —Phillips and his family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1895. He, along with his mother, established The Phillips Memorial Gallery after the sudden, untimely deaths of his brother, James Laughlin Phillips (May 30, 1884 – 1918), and of his father, Duncan Clinch Phillips (1838–1917),
2814-409: A specialist." Klee was still dividing his time with music, playing the violin in an orchestra and writing concert and theater reviews. Klee married Bavarian pianist Lily Stumpf in 1906 and they had one son named Felix Paul in the following year. They lived in a suburb of Munich, and while she gave piano lessons and occasional performances, he kept house and tended to his art work. His attempt to be
SECTION 20
#17328803998462948-551: A teaching post at the Academy of Art in Stuttgart. This attempt failed but he had a major success in securing a three-year contract (with a minimum annual income) with dealer Hans Goltz , whose influential gallery gave Klee major exposure, and some commercial success. A retrospective of over 300 works in 1920 was also notable. Klee taught at the Bauhaus from January 1921 to April 1931. He
3082-426: A woman's torso is not a mass of decomposing flesh with those purplish green stains that denote a state of complete putrefaction in a corpse." Yet in characteristic Impressionist style, Renoir suggested the details of a scene through freely brushed touches of colour, so that his figures softly fuse with one another and their surroundings. His initial paintings show the influence of the colorism of Eugène Delacroix and
3216-407: Is Diana , 1867. Ostensibly a mythological subject, the painting is a naturalistic studio work; the figure carefully observed, solidly modeled and superimposed upon a contrived landscape. If the work is a "student" piece, Renoir's heightened personal response to female sensuality is present. The model was Lise Tréhot, the artist's mistress at that time, and inspiration for a number of paintings. In
3350-644: Is "In Engelshut" (In the Angel's Care). Its overlaying technique evinces the polyphonic character of his drawing method between 1920 and 1932. The 1932 painting Ad Parnassum was also created in the Düsseldorf period. 100 cm × 126 cm (39 in × 50 in) This is one of his largest paintings, as he usually worked with small formats. In this mosaic-like work in the style of pointillism he combined different techniques and compositional principles. Influenced by his trip to Egypt from 1928 to 1929, Klee built
3484-453: Is America's first museum of modern art . Featuring a permanent collection of nearly 3,000 works by American and European impressionist and modern artists, the Phillips is recognized for both its art and its intimate atmosphere. It is housed in founder Duncan Phillips’ 1897 Georgian Revival home and two similarly scaled additions in Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle neighborhood. The museum
3618-481: Is a 30-minute program presented initially as an in person activity, after COVID-19 pandemic is presented online, it is a free access activity that is held through Zoom software, a free videoconference tool that can be installed in mobile phones, laptops and Smart TVs .. The activity itself promote wellness and help to cope with the stress promoted by the current culture values and with the challenges brought by COVID-19 itself. 360-Degree tours are virtual tours of
3752-473: Is also one of his largest, most finely worked paintings. He produced nearly 500 works in 1933 during his last year in Germany. However, in 1933, Klee began experiencing the symptoms of what was diagnosed as scleroderma after his death. The progression of his fatal disease, which made swallowing very difficult, can be followed through the art he created in his last years. His output in 1936 was only 25 pictures. In
3886-438: Is artisanal bakery founded by Mark Furstenberg, it also serves wines, empanadas and other creations by Mark's team of chefs. Phillips collections offers education services in collaboration with District of Columbia Public Schools and other institutions in the area, it also present many live programs in the main building both in the house and in the galleries section. Since the museum's early years, when art classes were held on
4020-488: Is in order or not. As they assume that their counterpart could have been higher rated", they bow and scrape . Klee began to introduce a new technique in 1905: scratching on a blackened glass panel with a needle. In that manner he created about 57 Verre églomisé pictures, among those the 1905 Gartenszene (Scene on a Garden) and the 1906 Porträt des Vaters (Portrait of a Father), with which he tried to combine painting and scratching. Klee's solitary early work ended in 1911,
4154-493: Is innovative", wrote Oskar Schlemmer , Klee's future artist colleague at the Bauhaus, in his September 1916 diary. Novelist and Klee's friend Wilhelm Hausenstein wrote in his work Über Expressionismus in der Malerei (On Expressionism in Painting), "Maybe Klee's attitude is in general understandable for musical people—how Klee is one of the most delightsome violinist playing Bach and Händel, who ever walked on earth. […] For Klee,
The Phillips Collection - Misplaced Pages Continue
4288-422: Is noted for its broad representation of both impressionist and modern paintings, with works by European masters such as Gustave Courbet , Pierre Bonnard , Georges Braque , Jacques Villon , Paul Cézanne, Honoré Daumier , Edgar Degas , Vincent van Gogh , Paul Klee , Henri Matisse , Claude Monet , and Pablo Picasso . In 1923, Phillips purchased Pierre-Auguste Renoir 's impressionist painting, Luncheon of
4422-455: Is particularly noteworthy for its sophisticated technique. It employs watercolor on gauze and paper with a chalk ground, which produces a rich texture of triangular, circular, and crescent patterns. Demonstrating his range of exploration, mixing color and line, his Warning of the Ships (1918) is a colored drawing filled with symbolic images on a field of suppressed color. In 1919, Klee applied for
4556-473: Is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau ." He was the father of actor Pierre Renoir (1885–1952), filmmaker Jean Renoir (1894–1979) and ceramic artist Claude Renoir (1901–1969). He was the grandfather of the filmmaker Claude Renoir (1913–1993), son of Pierre. Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in Limoges , Haute-Vienne , France, in 1841. His father, Léonard Renoir,
4690-770: The Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Heinrich Knirr and Franz von Stuck . He excelled at drawing but seemed to lack any natural color sense. He later recalled, "During the third winter I even realized that I probably would never learn to paint." During these times of youthful adventure, Klee spent much time in pubs and had affairs with lower-class women and artists' models. He had an illegitimate son in 1900 who died several weeks after birth. After receiving his Fine Arts degree, Klee traveled in Italy from October 1901 to May 1902 with friend Hermann Haller . They visited Rome, Florence, Naples and
4824-681: The Barnes Foundation , in Philadelphia . A five-volume catalogue raisonné of Renoir's works (with one supplement) was published by Bernheim-Jeune between 1983 and 2014. Bernheim-Jeune is the only surviving major art dealer that was used by Renoir. The Wildenstein Institute is preparing, but has not yet published, a critical catalogue of Renoir's work. A disagreement between these two organizations concerning an unsigned work in Picton Castle
4958-669: The English Channel with a varied landscape of beaches, cliffs, and bays, where he created fifteen paintings in little over a month. Most of these feature Moulin Huet , a bay in Saint Martin's, Guernsey . These paintings were the subject of a set of commemorative postage stamps issued by the Bailiwick of Guernsey in 1983. While living and working in Montmartre, Renoir employed Suzanne Valadon as
5092-668: The Kirchenfeld district [ de ] . From 1886 to 1890, Klee visited primary school and received, at the age of 7, violin classes at the Municipal Music School . He was so talented on violin that, aged 11, he received an invitation to play as an extraordinary member of the Bern Music Association. His other hobbies, drawing and writing poems, were not fostered in the same way as music was. In his early years, following his parents' wishes, Klee focused on becoming
5226-596: The Stuttgart Conservatory , where he met his future wife Ida Frick. Hans Wilhelm Klee was active as a music teacher at the Bern State Seminary in Hofwil near Bern until 1931. Klee was able to develop his music skills as his parents encouraged and inspired him throughout his life. In 1880, his family moved to Bern, where they eventually, in 1897, after a number of changes of residence, moved into their own house in
5360-480: The USASA Field Station Augsburg ) to work as a clerk for the treasurer until the end of the war. This allowed him to stay in a small room outside of the barrack block and continue painting. He continued to paint during the entire war and managed to exhibit in several shows. By 1917, Klee's work was selling well and art critics acclaimed him as the best of the new German artists. His Ab ovo (1917)
5494-532: The University of Rochester (NY), assumed the directorship. Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir ( / r ɛ n ˈ w ɑːr / ; French: [pjɛʁ oɡyst ʁənwaʁ] ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Renoir
The Phillips Collection - Misplaced Pages Continue
5628-452: The carriage house , is the site of the lively programs and classes on modern and contemporary art and artists. In 2015, the Phillips launched a partnership with The University of Maryland with a shared vision to transform scholarship and innovation in the arts. the Center was renamed The "University of Maryland Center for Art and Knowledge at The Phillips Collection", which is the expansion of
5762-451: The porcelain factory adopted mechanical reproduction processes in 1858, Renoir was forced to find other means to support his learning. Before he enrolled in art school, he also painted hangings for overseas missionaries and decorations on fans. In 1862, he began studying art under Charles Gleyre in Paris. There he met Alfred Sisley , Frédéric Bazille , and Claude Monet . At times, during
5896-457: The "French Impressionist Paintings" catalog as a token of his loyalty. In 1890, he married Aline Victorine Charigot , a dressmaker twenty years his junior, who, along with a number of the artist's friends, had already served as a model for Le Déjeuner des canotiers ( Luncheon of the Boating Party ; she is the woman on the left playing with the dog) in 1881, and with whom he had already had
6030-489: The "Gymnasium" of Bern, where he qualified in the Humanities . With his characteristic dry wit, he wrote, "After all, it's rather difficult to achieve the exact minimum, and it involves risks." On his own time, in addition to his deep interests in music and art, Klee was a great reader of literature, and later a writer on art theory and aesthetics . With his parents' reluctant permission, in 1898 Klee began studying art at
6164-511: The "cool romanticism of abstraction". In gaining a second artistic vocabulary, Klee added color to his abilities in draftsmanship, and in many works combined them successfully, as he did in one series he called "operatic paintings". One of the most literal examples of this new synthesis is The Bavarian Don Giovanni (1919). After returning home, Klee painted his first pure abstract, In the Style of Kairouan (1914), composed of colored rectangles and
6298-665: The 1860s, he did not have enough money to buy paint. Renoir had his first success at the Salon of 1868 with his painting Lise with a Parasol (1867), which depicted Lise Tréhot , his lover at the time. Although Renoir first started exhibiting paintings at the Paris Salon in 1864, recognition was slow in coming, partly as a result of the turmoil of the Franco-Prussian War . During the Paris Commune in 1871, while Renoir painted on
6432-435: The 1918 watercolor painting Einst dem Grau der Nacht enttaucht , a compositional implemented poem, possibly written by Klee, he incorporated letters in small, in terms of color separated squares, cutting off the first verse from the second one with silver paper. At the top of the cardboard, which carries the picture, the verses are inscribed in manuscript form. Here, Klee did not lean on Delaunay's colors, but on Marc's, although
6566-676: The Amalfi Coast, studying the master painters of past centuries. He exclaimed, "The Forum and the Vatican have spoken to me. Humanism wants to suffocate me." He responded to the colors of Italy, but sadly noted, "that a long struggle lies in store for me in this field of color." For Klee, color represented the optimism and nobility in art, and a hope for relief from the pessimistic nature he expressed in his black-and-white grotesques and satires. Returning to Bern, he lived with his parents for several years, and took occasional art classes. By 1905, he
6700-549: The Bauhaus catalog of works, since they were intended as private toys from the beginning. Nevertheless, they are an impressive example of Klee's imagery. He not only dealt with puppet shows privately, but also in his artistic work at the Bauhaus. In 1931, Klee transferred to Düsseldorf to teach at the Akademie; the Nazis shut down the Bauhaus soon after. During this time, Klee illustrated a series of guardian angels. Among these figurations
6834-572: The Bern years; ten of these were made between 1903 and 1905 in the cycle "Inventionen" (Inventions), which were presented in June 1906 at the "Internationale Kunstausstellung des Vereins bildender Künstler Münchens ' Secession '" (International Art Exhibition of the Association for Graphic Arts, Munich, Secession), his first appearance as a painter in the public. Klee had removed the third Invention, Pessimistische Allegorie des Gebirges (Pessimistic Allegory of
SECTION 50
#17328803998466968-400: The Boating Party (1880–81), the museum’s best-known work. From the 1920s to the 1960s, Phillips re-arranged his galleries in installations that were non-chronological and non-traditional, reflecting the relationships he saw between various artistic expressions. He presented visual connections—between past and present, between classical form and romantic expression—as dialogues on
7102-586: The Boating Party " in 1996. Jay Gates became director in 1998. Under his leadership, The Phillips Collection continued to grow and broaden its presence in Washington, D.C., across the country, and internationally. Dorothy M. Kosinski, previously a curator at the Dallas Museum of Art , took over as director in May 2008. Kosinski became director emerita in 2023 as Jonathan Binstock, from the Memorial Art Gallery of
7236-467: The Center for the Study of Modern Art in the museum and the nexus for academic work, scholarly exchange, and innovative interdisciplinary collaborations. Some of the key collaborations of the partnership include developing a new arts curriculum and extended studies courses, postdoctoral fellowships, a biennial book prize, and programming and events. Bread Furst is the current Café at the Phillips Collection, it
7370-673: The Church of St Roch at the time. However, due to the family's financial circumstances, Renoir had to discontinue his music lessons and leave school at the age of thirteen to pursue an apprenticeship at a porcelain factory. Although Renoir displayed a talent for his work, he frequently tired of the subject matter and sought refuge in the galleries of the Louvre . The owner of the factory recognized his apprentice's talent and communicated this to Renoir's family. Following this, Renoir started taking lessons to prepare for entry into Ecole des Beaux Arts . When
7504-602: The German classic painter of the Cubism, the world music became his companion, possibly even a part of his art; the composition, written in notes, seems to be not dissimilar." When Klee visited the Paris surrealism exhibition in 1925, Max Ernst was impressed by his work. His partially morbid motifs appealed to the surrealists. André Breton helped to develop the surrealism and renamed Klee's 1912 painting Zimmerperspektive mit Einwohnern (Room Perspective with People) to chambre spirit in
7638-601: The German word for death, "Tod", appearing in the face. He died in Muralto , Locarno, Switzerland, on 29 June 1940 without having obtained Swiss citizenship, despite his birth in that country. His art work was considered too revolutionary, even degenerate, by the Swiss authorities, but eventually they accepted his request six days after his death. His legacy comprised about 9,000 works of art. The words on his tombstone, Klee's credo, placed there by his son Felix, say, "I cannot be grasped in
7772-671: The Idea (1915). After finishing the military training course, which began on 11 March 1916, he was committed as a soldier behind the front. Klee moved on 20 August to the aircraft maintenance company in Oberschleissheim , executing skilled manual work, such as restoring aircraft camouflage , and accompanying aircraft transports. On 17 January 1917, he was transferred to the Royal Bavarian flying school in Gersthofen (which 54 years later became
7906-515: The Mentally Ill) was published in 1922. In 1937, some papers from Prinzhorn's anthology were presented at the National Socialist propaganda exhibition " Entartete Kunst " in Munich, with the purpose of defaming the works of Kirchner , Klee, Nolde and other artists by likening them to the works of the insane. In 1949 Marcel Duchamp commented on Paul Klee: "The first reaction in front of
8040-595: The Mountain), in February 1906 from his cycle. The satirical etchings, for example Jungfrau im Baum/Jungfrau (träumend) (Virgin on the tree/Virgin (dreaming)) from 1903 and Greiser Phoenix (Aged Phoenix) from 1905, were classified by Klee as "surrealistic outposts". Jungfrau im Baum ties on the motive Le cattive madri (1894) by Giovanni Segantini . The picture was influenced by grotesque lyric poetries of Alfred Jarry , Max Jacob and Christian Morgenstern . It features
8174-409: The Nazis. In 1935, two years after moving to Switzerland and working in a very confined situation, Klee developed scleroderma , an autoimmune disease resulting in hardening of connective tissue. He endured pain that seems to be reflected in his last works of art. In his last months he created 50 drawings of angels. One of his last paintings, Death and Fire , features a skull in the center with
SECTION 60
#17328803998468308-438: The Phillips as in no other place I know." In 2013, the museum opened its second permanent installation, a room covered in wax by artist Wolfgang Laib . Though Laib's work is often interpreted as evocative of nature, the piece, which is 6 feet by 7 feet and illuminated by one bare bulb, can also seem harsh and enigmatic. Laib became interested in the site-specific installation, which requires about 500 pounds of wax, after visiting
8442-426: The Phillips family moved to a new home in 1930, turning the entire 21st Street residence into an art museum. Duncan Phillips married painter Marjorie Acker in 1921. With her assistance and advice, Phillips developed his collection "as a museum of modern art and its sources", believing strongly in the continuum of artists influencing their successors through the centuries. His focus on the continuous tradition of art
8576-470: The Piano , 1892, and Grandes Baigneuses , 1887. The latter painting is the most typical and successful of Renoir's late, abundantly fleshed nudes. A prolific artist, he created several thousand paintings. The warm sensuality of Renoir's style made his paintings some of the most well-known and frequently reproduced works in the history of art. The single largest collection of his works—181 paintings in all—is at
8710-579: The actress and highlight Renoir's skill just five years before his death. Renoir died in Cagnes-sur-Mer on 3 December 1919 at the age of 78. Pierre-Auguste Renoir's great-grandson, Alexandre Renoir , has also become a professional artist. In 2018, the Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center in Hendersonville, Tennessee, hosted Beauty Remains , an exhibition of his works. The exhibition title comes from
8844-479: The addition is known as the Goh Annex , it is named in their honor. To accommodate its ever-growing collection of art, audiences, and activities, the Phillips completed a major building project in April 2006. With 65 percent of the added 30,000 square feet (2,800 m) located below ground, the expansion preserves the intimate scale and residential quality that distinguishes The Phillips Collection, as well as respects
8978-427: The advanced stages of his arthritis, he painted by having a brush strapped to his paralyzed fingers, but this is erroneous; Renoir remained able to grasp a brush, although he required an assistant to place it in his hand. The wrapping of his hands with bandages, apparent in late photographs of the artist, served to prevent skin irritation. In 1919, Renoir visited the Louvre to see his paintings hanging with those of
9112-593: The artists," and his ideas still guide the museum today. The Phillips Collection is also known for its groups of works by artists whom Phillips particularly favored. For example, he was overwhelmed by Bonnard's expressive use of color, acquiring 17 paintings by the artist. Cubist pioneer Braque is represented by 13 paintings, including the monumental still-life The Round Table (1929). The collection has an equal number of works by Klee, such as Arab Song (1932) and Picture Album (1937), as well as seven pieces by abstract expressionist artist Mark Rothko . The Rothko Room,
9246-418: The back of his head there is a large "X", symbolizing that his art was no longer valued in Germany. In this period Klee mainly worked on large-sized pictures. After the onset of illness, there were about 25 works in the 1936 catalogue, but his productivity increased in 1937 to 264 pictures, 1938 to 489, and 1939—his most productive year—to 1254. They dealt with ambivalent themes, expressing his personal fate,
9380-599: The banks of the Seine River , some Communards thought he was a spy and were about to throw him into the river, when a leader of the Commune , Raoul Rigault , recognized Renoir as the man who had protected him on an earlier occasion. In 1874, a ten-year friendship with Jules Le Cœur and his family ended, and Renoir lost not only the valuable support gained by the association but also a generous welcome to stay on their property near Fontainebleau and its scenic forest . This loss of
9514-482: The best-known Impressionist works is Renoir's 1876 Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette ( Bal du moulin de la Galette ) . The painting depicts an open-air scene, crowded with people at a popular dance garden on the Butte Montmartre close to where he lived. The works of his early maturity were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling color and light. By the mid-1880s, however, he had broken with
9648-527: The character of the Dupont Circle neighborhood. The new spaces, known as the Sant Building , incorporate expanded galleries, among them the first to accommodate larger-scale post-1950s work; a 180-seat auditorium for lectures, films, and events; an outdoor courtyard; and a new shop and café. The architect for the new building was Arthur Cotton Moore . Two of the most notable elements of the new structure are
9782-653: The collection is called the Goh Annex. The Phillips house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Duncan Phillips House. Over time, the building was adapted to include more galleries and offices, particularly after the Phillips family moved out in 1930. In 1960, Phillips added a modernist wing. This addition was renovated and reconceived in 1989 with the aid of a $ 1.5 million gift from Japanese businessman Yasuhiro Goh and his wife Mes. Hiroko Goh,
9916-419: The collection—Dove and Marin in particular—and consistently purchased works by artists and students for what he called his "encouragement collection." The museum also served as a visual haven for artists such as Richard Diebenkorn , Gene Davis , and Kenneth Noland . In a 1982 tribute to the museum, Noland acknowledged, "I’ve spent many hours of many days in this home of art. You can be with art in
10050-455: The critical response to the exhibition was largely unfavorable, Renoir's work was comparatively well received. That same year, two of his works were shown with Durand-Ruel in London. Hoping to secure a livelihood by attracting portrait commissions, Renoir displayed mostly portraits at the second Impressionist exhibition in 1876. He contributed a more diverse range of paintings the next year when
10184-441: The definition of art, using Duncan Phillips's writings as source material. Guests could send text messages to a computer engineer who projected them onto a wall, creating a group art project. In 2021, the museum hosted a juried invitational exhibition titled Inside Outside, Upside Down , which was described by The Washington City Paper as forcing "us to remember a time that left us 'confused, battered, and disoriented' through
10318-412: The desert, the sun's intense rays seemed to envelop all living things, and at night, the movement of the stars felt even more palpable. In the architecture of the ancient funerary moments Klee discovered a sense of proportion and measure in which human beings appeared to establish a convincing relationship with the immensity of the landscape; furthermore, he was drawn to the esoteric numerology that governed
10452-477: The editorial team of the almanac Der Blaue Reiter , founded by Franz Marc and Kandinsky. On meeting Kandinsky, Klee recorded, "I came to feel a deep trust in him. He is somebody, and has an exceptionally beautiful and lucid mind." Other members included Macke, Gabriele Münter and Marianne von Werefkin . Klee became in a few months one of the most important and independent members of the Blaue Reiter , but he
10586-435: The eyes of 64 D.C.-area artists." Artwalks are events hold in the museum the third Thursday of every month between 5 P.M. and 8 P.M. A curator or an invited guest walk with visitors through the gallery while talk about the life and work of the author or authors and give insights of history behind the art works exposed. Meditation is a free wellness activity led by local yoga teacher Aparna Sadananda. This weekly meditation
10720-738: The ferment of Cubism and the pioneering examples of "pure painting", an early term for abstract art . The use of bold color by Robert Delaunay and Maurice de Vlaminck also inspired him. Rather than copy these artists, Klee began working out his own color experiments in pale watercolors and did some primitive landscapes, including In the Quarry (1913) and Houses near the Gravel Pit (1913), using blocks of color with limited overlap. Klee acknowledged that "a long struggle lies in store for me in this field of color" in order to reach his "distant noble aim." Soon, he discovered "the style which connects drawing and
10854-509: The few plastic works are hand puppets made between 1916 and 1925, for his son Felix. The artist neither counted them as a component of his oeuvre, nor did he list them in his catalogue raisonné . Thirty of the preserved puppets are stored at the Zentrum Paul Klee , Bern. Some of Klee's early preserved children's drawings, which his grandmother encouraged, were listed on his catalogue raisonné . A total of 19 etchings were produced during
10988-571: The first major monograph on Klee's work was published, written by Will Grohmann. Klee also taught at the Düsseldorf Academy from 1931 to 1933, and was singled out by a Nazi newspaper, "Then that great fellow Klee comes onto the scene, already famed as a Bauhaus teacher in Dessau. He tells everyone he's a thoroughbred Arab, but he's a typical Galician Jew." His home was searched by the Gestapo and he
11122-430: The first public space dedicated solely to the artist's work, was designed by Phillips in keeping with Rothko's expressed preference for exhibiting his large, luminous paintings in a small, intimate space, saturating the room with color and sensation. The Rothko Room is the only existing installation for the artist's work in collaboration with the artist himself. Phillips was initially attracted to Rothko's work because he saw
11256-458: The freedom to explore radical ideas and styles. At sixteen, Klee's landscape drawings already show considerable skill. Around 1897, Klee started his diary, which he kept until 1918, and which has provided scholars with valuable insight into his life and thinking. During his school years, he avidly drew in his school books, in particular drawing caricatures , and already demonstrating skill with line and volume. He barely passed his final exams at
11390-418: The garden are clearly visible, a further steering towards abstraction is noticeable. In his diary Klee wrote the following note at that time: In the large molding pit are lying ruins, on which one partially hangs. They provide the material for the abstraction. […] The terrible the world, the abstract the art, while a happy world produces secularistic art. Under the impression of his military service he created
11524-431: The group presented its third exhibition; they included Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette and The Swing . Renoir did not exhibit in the fourth or fifth Impressionist exhibitions, and instead resumed submitting his works to the Salon. By the end of the 1870s, particularly after the success of his painting Mme Charpentier and her Children (1878) at the Salon of 1879, Renoir was a successful and fashionable painter. It
11658-484: The here and now, for my dwelling place is as much among the dead as the yet unborn. Slightly closer to the heart of creation than usual, but still not close enough." He was buried at Schosshaldenfriedhof , Bern, Switzerland. Klee has been variously associated with Expressionism , Cubism , Futurism , Surrealism , and Abstraction , but his pictures are difficult to classify. He generally worked in isolation from his peers, and interpreted new art trends in his own way. He
11792-544: The intimacy of the museum's oak-paneled Music Room. The concerts have featured ensembles and soloists ranging from Glenn Gould , Jessye Norman , Jean-Yves Thibaudet , and Emanuel Ax to some of the most talented young musicians performing today. Sunday Concerts are held from October through May. They begin promptly at 4 pm. Live music is presented in the House, with local musician performances and sometimes visitor musicians from abroad. They are presented in many events, among them
11926-516: The last resort, for lack of income, illustrations. Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee , Switzerland, as the second child of German music teacher Hans Wilhelm Klee (1849–1940) and Swiss singer Ida Marie Klee, born Frick (1855–1921). His sister Mathilde (died 6 December 1953) was born on 28 January 1876 in Walzenhausen . Their father came from Tann and studied singing, piano, organ and violin at
12060-432: The late 1860s, through the practice of painting light and water en plein air (outdoors), he and his friend Claude Monet discovered that the color of shadows is not brown or black, but the reflected color of the objects surrounding them, an effect known today as diffuse reflection . Several pairs of paintings exist in which Renoir and Monet worked side-by-side, depicting the same scenes ( La Grenouillère , 1869). One of
12194-657: The later 1930s, his health recovered somewhat and he was encouraged by a visit from Kandinsky and Picasso. Klee's simpler and larger designs enabled him to keep up his output in his final years, and in 1939 he created over 1,200 works, a career high for one year. He used heavier lines and mainly geometric forms with fewer but larger blocks of color. His varied color palettes, some with bright colors and others somber, perhaps reflected his alternating moods of optimism and pessimism. Back in Germany in 1937, seventeen of Klee's pictures were included in an exhibition of " Degenerate art " and 102 of his works in public collections were seized by
12328-430: The luminosity of Camille Corot . He also admired the realism of Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet , and his early work resembles theirs in his use of black as a color. Renoir admired Edgar Degas ' sense of movement. Other painters Renoir greatly admired were the 18th-century masters François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard . A fine example of Renoir's early work and evidence of the influence of Courbet's realism,
12462-423: The movement to apply a more disciplined formal technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of women. It was a trip to Italy in 1881 when he saw works by Raphael , Leonardo da Vinci , Titian , and other Renaissance masters, that convinced him that he was on the wrong path. At that point he declared, "I had gone as far as I could with Impressionism and I realized I could neither paint nor draw". For
12596-481: The museum buildings, expand and professionalize the staff, conduct research on the collection, and make the Phillips more accessible to the public. In 1992, Charles S. Moffett, a noted author and curator, was named director. Moffett was directly involved with the presentation of several ambitious exhibitions during his six-year tenure, including the memorable "Impressionists on the Seine: A Celebration of Renoir’s Luncheon of
12730-412: The museum exhibitions and installations it includes full screen images, the describing text of the art work, and audio guides. When Duncan Phillips died in 1966, his wife Marjorie succeeded him as museum director. Their son, Laughlin , became director in 1972. He led The Phillips Collection through a multi-year program to ensure the physical and financial security of the collection, renovate and enlarge
12864-401: The museum's Rothko Room. The Phillips Collection is housed in a distinctive space in Washington's Dupont Circle neighborhood. From the beginning, Duncan Phillips exhibited his collection in special galleries at his home. A Georgian Revival house dating to 1897, known as the Phillips house, it is the southern section now forms the southern section of the museum building, the north section of
12998-505: The museum's educational programs. In 2015, the museum joined forces with the University of Maryland . The two institutions will work together to establish the University of Maryland Center for Art and Knowledge at the Phillips Collection. Phillips After 5 combines live jazz, gallery talks, modern art, and a cash bar on the first Thursday of every month from 5 to 8:30 pm. Sunday Concerts , founded in 1941, offer classical chamber music in
13132-511: The museum's walls. Giving equal focus to American and European artists, Phillips juxtaposed works by Winslow Homer , Thomas Eakins , Maurice Prendergast , James Abbott McNeill Whistler , and Albert Pinkham Ryder with canvases by Pierre Bonnard , Peter Ilsted and Édouard Vuillard . He exhibited watercolors by John Marin with paintings by Cézanne, and works by van Gogh with El Greco’s The Repentant St. Peter (circa 1600–05). Phillips’ vision brought together "congenial spirits among
13266-600: The next several years he painted in a more severe style in an attempt to return to classicism. Concentrating on his drawing and emphasizing the outlines of figures, he painted works such as Blonde Bather (1881 and 1882) and The Large Bathers (1884–1887; Philadelphia Museum of Art ) during what is sometimes referred to as his " Ingres period". After 1890 he changed direction again. To dissolve outlines, as in his earlier work, he returned to thinly brushed color. From this period onward he concentrated on monumental nudes and domestic scenes, fine examples of which are Girls at
13400-484: The object; a permanent segregation never took place. It took over ten years that Klee worked on experiments and analysis of the color, resulting to an independent artificial work, whereby his design ideas were based on the colorful oriental world. Föhn im Marc'schen Garten (Foehn at Marc's Garden) was made after the Turin trip. It indicates the relations between color and the stimulus of Macke and Delaunay. Although elements of
13534-406: The old masters. During this period, he created sculptures by cooperating with a young artist, Richard Guino , who worked the clay. Due to his limited joint mobility, Renoir also used a moving canvas, or picture roll, to facilitate painting large works. Renoir's portrait of Austrian actress Tilla Durieux (1914) contains playful flecks of vibrant color on her shawl that offset the classical pose of
13668-591: The other if the result is achievement." Klee was also a member of Die Blaue Vier (The Blue Four), with Kandinsky, Lyonel Feininger , and Alexej von Jawlensky , which formed in 1923, at the instigation of Galka Scheyer, who subsequently organized exhibitions of their work in the United States. In 1924, Klee had his first exhibits in Paris, and he became a hit with the French Surrealists. Klee visited Egypt in 1928, which impressed him less than Tunisia. In 1929,
13802-511: The painting Trauerblumen (Velvetbells) in 1917, which, with its graphical signs, vegetal and phantastic shapes, is a forerunner of his future works, harmonically combining graphic, color and object. For the first time birds appear in the pictures, such as in Blumenmythos (Flower Myth) from 1918, mirroring the flying and falling planes he saw in Gersthofen, and the photographed plane crashes. In
13936-604: The paintings of Raphael in Rome. On 15 January 1882, Renoir met the composer Richard Wagner at his home in Palermo , Sicily. Renoir painted Wagner's portrait in just thirty-five minutes. In the same year, after contracting pneumonia which permanently damaged his respiratory system, Renoir convalesced for six weeks in Algeria. In 1883, Renoir spent the summer in Guernsey , one of the islands in
14070-726: The picture content of both painters does not correspond with each other. Herwarth Walden , Klee's art dealer, saw in them a "Wachablösung" (changing of the guard) of his art. Since 1919 he often used oil colors, with which he combined watercolors and colored pencil. The Villa R (Kunstmuseum Basel) from 1919 unites visible realities such as sun, moon, mountains, trees and architectures, as well as surreal pledges and sentiment readings. His works during this time include Camel (in rhythmic landscape with trees) as well as other paintings with abstract graphical elements such as betroffener Ort (Affected Place) (1922). From that period he created Die Zwitscher-Maschine (The Twittering Machine), which
14204-466: The plate and are embossed "Vollard" in the lower margin. They are not numbered, dated or signed in pencil. A small version of Bal du moulin de la Galette sold for $ 78.1 million 17 May 1990 at Sotheby's New York. In 2012, Renoir's Paysage Bords de Seine was offered for sale at auction but the painting was discovered to have been stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1951. The sale
14338-587: The political situation and his wit. Examples are the watercolor painting Musiker (musician), a stick-man face with partially serious, partially smiling mouth; and the Revolution des Viadukts (Revolution of the Viadukt), an anti-fascist art. In Viadukt (1937) the bridge arches split from the bank as they refuse to be linked to a chain and are therefore rioting. Since 1938, Klee worked more intensively with hieroglyphic-like elements. The painting Insula dulcamara from
14472-457: The realm of color." Klee's artistic breakthrough came in 1914 when he briefly visited Tunisia with August Macke and Louis Moilliet and was impressed by the quality of the light there. He wrote, "Color has taken possession of me; no longer do I have to chase after it, I know that it has hold of me forever... Color and I are one. I am a painter." With that realization, faithfulness to nature faded in importance. Instead, Klee began to delve into
14606-525: The same year, which is one of his largest (88 cm × 176 cm (35 in × 69 in)), shows a white face in the middle of the elements, symbolizing death with its black-circled eye sockets. Bitterness and sorrow are not rare in much of his works during this time. Klee created in 1940 a picture which strongly differs from the previous works, leaving it unsigned on the scaffold. The comparatively realistic still life , Ohne Titel , later named as Der Todesengel (Angel of Death), depicts flowers,
14740-696: The third floor of the house, significant attention has been given to educational outreach. Today, the museum features an active schedule of lectures, gallery talks, classes, parent/child workshops, and teacher training programs. It also reaches out to the community through initiatives such as Art Links to Literacy, combining programs for underserved students at District of Columbia Public Schools and their parents and caregivers with professional development for their teachers. These and other ventures are facilitated by new exhibition spaces for student art, an art activity room for hands-on education projects, and an art technology lab for developing interactive resources based on
14874-503: The use of color as similar to Bonard's. Throughout his lifetime, Phillips acquired paintings by many artists who were not fully recognized at the time, among them John Marin , Georgia O'Keeffe , Arthur Dove , Nicolas de Staël , Milton Avery , Betty Lane and Augustus Vincent Tack . By purchasing works by such promising but unknown artists, Phillips provided them with the means to continue painting. He formed close bonds with and subsidized several artists who are prominently featured in
15008-486: The violin, I would have guessed that on many occasions his drawings were transcriptions of music." Pamela Kort observed: "Klee's 1933 drawings present their beholder with an unparalleled opportunity to glimpse a central aspect of his aesthetics that has remained largely unappreciated: his lifelong concern with the possibilities of parody and wit . Herein lies their real significance, particularly for an audience unaware that Klee's art has political dimensions." Among
15142-487: The warmer climate of "Les Collettes", a farm at the village of Cagnes-sur-Mer , Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur , close to the Mediterranean coast. Renoir painted during the last twenty years of his life even after his arthritis severely limited his mobility. He developed progressive deformities in his hands and ankylosis of his right shoulder, requiring him to change his painting technique. It has often been reported that in
15276-461: The way in which these monuments had been built." In 1933, his last year in Germany, he created a range of paintings and drawings; the catalogue raisonné comprised 482 works. The self-portrait in the same year—with the programmatic title von der Liste gestrichen (removed from the list)—provides information about his feeling after losing his professorship. The abstract portrait was painted in dark colors and shows closed eyes and compressed lips, while on
15410-466: The winding white interior staircase and the external sculptural stone relief of a bird relating to Georges Braque 's painting Bird from the museum's collection. The 2006 addition also made possible The Phillips Collection Center for the Study of Modern Art. This new museum-based educational model brought together scholars from across academic fields in an ongoing forum for discussion, research, and publishing on modern art. The two-story building, formerly
15544-491: The year he met and was inspired by the graphic artist Alfred Kubin , and became associated with the artists of the Blaue Reiter . During his twelve-day educational trip to Tunis in April 1914 Klee produced with Macke and Moilliet watercolor paintings, which implement the strong light and color stimulus of the North African countryside in the fashion of Paul Cézanne and Robert Delaunay's cubistic form concepts. The aim
15678-439: The yearly New Year Celebration, the Phillips Collection anniversary among other events. Centennial music commission are creative dialogues between music and visual art, where composers respond to works in the collection. These audiovisual artworks free to reproduce on the Phillips collection website. In December 2009, The Pink Line Project put together a multimedia evening called "Art Is _____." Visitors were invited to remix
15812-525: Was Schwarz-Weiß , as it only regarded graphic painting. Initially planned to be released in 1911, the release date of the Der Blau Reiter almanac by Kandinsky and Marc was delayed in May 1912, including the reproduced ink drawing Steinhauer by Klee. At the same time, Kandinsky published his art history writing Über das Geistige in der Kunst . The association opened Klee's mind to modern theories of color. His travels to Paris in 1912 also exposed him to
15946-501: Was a "Form" master in the bookbinding, stained glass, and mural painting workshops and was provided with two studios. In 1922, Kandinsky joined the staff and resumed his friendship with Klee. Later that year the first Bauhaus exhibition and festival was held, for which Klee created several of the advertising materials. Klee welcomed the many conflicting theories and opinions within the Bauhaus: "I also approve of these forces competing one with
16080-892: Was a natural draftsman, and through long experimentation developed a mastery of color and tonality. Many of his works combine these skills. He uses a great variety of color palettes from nearly monochromatic to highly polychromatic . His works often have a fragile childlike quality to them and are usually on a small scale. He often used geometric forms and grid format compositions as well as letters and numbers, frequently combined with playful figures of animals and people. Some works were completely abstract. Many of his works and their titles reflect his dry humor and varying moods; some express political convictions. They frequently allude to poetry, music and dreams and sometimes include words or musical notation . The later works are distinguished by spidery hieroglyph -like symbols. Rainer Maria Rilke wrote about Klee in 1921, "Even if you hadn't told me he plays
16214-465: Was a tailor of modest means, so, in 1844, Renoir's family moved to Paris in search of more favorable prospects. The location of their home, in rue d'Argenteuil in central Paris , placed Renoir in proximity to the Louvre. Although the young Renoir had a natural proclivity for drawing, he exhibited a greater talent for singing. His talent was encouraged by his teacher, Charles Gounod , who was the choirmaster at
16348-566: Was also in 1879 that he met the man who was soon to become his main patron, Paul Bérard , who regularly invited him to paint and enjoy the Normandy seaside at the Château de Wargemont . In 1881, he traveled to Algeria , a country he associated with Eugène Delacroix , then to Madrid , to see the work of Diego Velázquez . Following that, he traveled to Italy to see Titian 's masterpieces in Florence and
16482-439: Was at the centre of the second episode of the fourth season of the television series Fake or Fortune . In 1919, Ambroise Vollard , a renowned art dealer, published a book on the life and work of Renoir, La Vie et l'Œuvre de Pierre-Auguste Renoir , in an edition of 1000 copies. In 1986, Vollard's heirs started reprinting the copper plates, generally, etchings with hand applied watercolor . These prints are signed by Renoir in
16616-551: Was cancelled. On 7 December 2019 the Alberta Symphony Orchestra presented a Tribute to Renoir at Triffo Theater in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, under the direction of pianist and conductor Emilio De Mercato , for the 100th anniversary of the death of Renoir. Paul Klee Paul Klee ( German: [paʊ̯l ˈkleː] ; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style
16750-461: Was developing some experimental techniques, including drawing with a needle on a blackened pane of glass, resulting in fifty-seven works including his Portrait of My Father (1906). In the years 1903–05 he also completed a cycle of eleven zinc-plate etchings called Inventions , his first exhibited works, in which he illustrated several grotesque characters. He commented, "though I'm fairly satisfied with my etchings I can't go on like this. I'm not
16884-472: Was fired from his job. His self-portrait Struck from the List (1933) commemorates the sad occasion. In 1933–34, Klee had shows in London and Paris, and finally met Pablo Picasso , whom he greatly admired. The Klee family emigrated to Switzerland in late 1933. Klee was at the peak of his creative output. His Ad Parnassum (1932) is considered his masterpiece and the best example of his pointillist style ; it
17018-530: Was for the Renaissance . He and his colleague, Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky , both taught at the Bauhaus school of art, design and architecture in Germany . His works reflect his dry humor and his sometimes childlike perspective, his personal moods and beliefs, and his musicality. First of all, the art of living; then as my ideal profession, poetry and philosophy, and as my real profession, plastic arts ; in
17152-572: Was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism , cubism , and surrealism . Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented with and eventually deeply explored color theory , writing about it extensively; his lectures Writings on Form and Design Theory ( Schriften zur Form und Gestaltungslehre ), published in English as the Paul Klee Notebooks , are held to be as important for modern art as Leonardo da Vinci 's A Treatise on Painting
17286-477: Was inventive in his methods and technique. Klee worked in many different media— oil paint , watercolor , ink , pastel , etching , and others. He often combined them into one work. He used canvas, burlap, muslin, linen, gauze, cardboard, metal foils, fabric, wallpaper, and newsprint. Klee employed spray paint, knife application, stamping, glazing, and impasto, and mixed media such as oil with watercolor, watercolor with pen and India ink, and oil with tempera. He
17420-656: Was later removed from the National Gallery . After being named defamatory in the Munich exhibition " Entartete Kunst ", the painting was later bought by the Buchholz Gallery, New York, and then transferred in 1939 to the Museum of Modern Art . The "twittering" in the title refers to the open-beaked birds, while the "machine" is illustrated by the crank. The watercolor painting appears at a first glance childish, but it allows more interpretations. The picture can be interpreted as
17554-520: Was not to imitate nature, but to create compositions analogous to nature's formative principle, as in the works In den Häusern von Saint-Germain (In the Houses of Saint-Germain) and Straßencafé (Streetcafé). Klee conveyed the scenery in a grid, so that it dissolves into colored harmony. He also created abstract works in that period such as Abstract and Farbige Kreise durch Farbbänder verbunden (Colored Circles Tied Through Inked Ribbons). He never abandoned
17688-576: Was not yet fully integrated. The release of the almanac was delayed for the benefit of an exhibition. The first Blaue Reiter exhibition took place from 18 December 1911 to 1 January 1912 in the Moderne Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser in Munich. Klee did not attend it, but in the second exhibition, which occurred from 12 February to 18 March 1912 in the Galerie Goltz , 17 of his graphic works were shown. The name of this art exhibition
17822-540: Was revolutionary when America was largely critical of modernism , which was seen as a break from the past. Phillips collected works by masters such as El Greco , calling him the "first impassioned expressionist"; Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin because he was "the first modern painter"; Francisco Goya because he was "the stepping stone between the Old Masters and the Great Moderns like Cézanne "; and Édouard Manet ,
17956-506: Was somewhat detached from it, as he wrote ironically, "I have long had this war in me. That is why, inwardly, it is none of my concern." Klee was conscripted as a Landsturmsoldat (soldier of the reserve forces in Prussia or Imperial Germany) on 5 March 1916. The deaths of his friends August Macke and Franz Marc in battle began to affect him. Venting his distress, he created several pen and ink lithographs on war themes including Death for
#845154