PAUL KLEE Perhaps the most inventive artist using fantasy im-
ages to represent the nonvisible world was the Swiss-German painter
Paul Klee(1879–1940). Like Miró, he shunned formal association
with groups such as the Dadaists and Surrealists but pursued their
interest in the subconscious. Klee sought clues to humanity’s deeper
nature in primitive shapes and symbols. Like Jung, Klee seems to
have accepted the existence of a collective unconscious that reveals
itself in archaic signs and patterns and that is everywhere evident in
the art of “primitive” cultures (see “Primitivism,” page 920). The son
of a professional musician and himself an accomplished violinist,
Klee thought of painting as similar to music in its ability to express
emotions through color, form, and line. In 1920, Klee set down his
Creative Credo,which reads in part:
Art does not reproduce the visible; rather it makes visible....The
formal elements of graphic art are dot, line, plane, and space—
the last three charged with energy of various kinds....Formerly
we used to represent things visible on earth, things we either liked
to look at or would have liked to see. Today we reveal the reality
that is behind visible things.^37
To penetrate the reality behind visible things, Klee studied na-
ture avidly, taking special interest in analyzing processes of growth
and change. He coded these studies in diagrammatic form in note-
books. The root of his work was thus nature, but nature filteredthrough his mind. Upon starting an image, he would allow the pen-
cil or brush to lead him until an image emerged, to which he would
then respond to complete the idea.
Twittering Machine (FIG. 35-53) reveals Klee’s fanciful vision.
The painting, although based on forms in the tangible world easily
read as birds, is far from illusionistic. Klee presented the scene in a
simplified, almost childlike manner, imbuing the work with a poetic
lyricism. The small size of Klee’s works enhanced their impact. A
viewer must draw near to decipher the delicately rendered forms and
enter this mysterious dream world. The inclusion of a crank-driven
mechanism adds a touch of whimsy. Perhaps no other artist of the
20th century matched Klee’s subtlety as he deftly created a world of
ambiguity and understatement that draws each viewer into finding a
unique interpretation of the work.Suprematism, Constructivism,
and De Stijl
The pessimism and cynicism of movements such as Dada reflect the
historical circumstances of the early 20th century. However, not all
artists reacted to the profound turmoil of the times by retreating
from society. Some avant-garde artists promoted utopian ideals, be-
lieving staunchly in art’s ability to contribute to improving society
and all humankind. These efforts often surfaced in the face of signif-
icant political upheaval, illustrating the link established early on be-
tween revolution in politics and revolution in art. Among the art
movements espousing utopian notions were Suprematism and Con-
structivism in Russia and De Stijl in Holland.
KAZIMIR MALEVICHDespite Russia’s distance from Paris, the
center of the international art world in the early 20th century, Russians
had a long history of cultural contact and interaction with western Eu-
rope. Wealthy Russians, such as Ivan Morozov (1871–1921) and Sergei
Shchukin (1854–1936), amassed extensive collections of Impressionist,
Post-Impressionist, and avant-garde paintings. Shchukin became par-
ticularly enamored with the work of both Picasso and Matisse. By the
mid-1910s, he had acquired 37 paintings by Matisse and 51 by Picasso.
Because of their access to collections such as these, Russian artists were
familiar with early-20th-century artistic developments, especially Fau-
vism, Cubism, and Futurism.
Among the Russian artists who pursued the avant-garde direc-
tion Cubism introduced was Kazimir Malevich(1878–1935). Male-
vich developed an abstract style to convey his belief that the supreme
reality in the world is pure feeling, which attaches to no object. Thus,
this belief called for new, nonobjective forms in art—shapes not re-
lated to objects in the visible world. Malevich had studied painting,
sculpture, and architecture and had worked his way through most of
the avant-garde styles of his youth before deciding none could express
the subject he found most important—”pure feeling.” He christened
his new artistic approach Suprematism,explaining: “Under Suprema-
tism I understand the supremacy of pure feeling in creative art. To the
Suprematist, the visual phenomena of the objective world are, in
themselves, meaningless; the significant thing is feeling, as such, quite
apart from the environment in which it is called forth.”^38
The basic form of Malevich’s new Suprematist nonobjective art
was the square. Combined with its relatives, the straight line and the
rectangle, the square soon filled his paintings, such as Suprematist
Composition: Airplane Flying (FIG. 35-54). In this work, the brightly
colored shapes float against and within a white space, and the artist
placed them in dynamic relationship to one another. Malevich be-
lieved all people would easily understand his new art because of the
universality of its symbols. It used the pure language of shape and
color, to which everyone could respond intuitively.948 Chapter 35 EUROPE AND AMERICA, 1900 TO 194535-53Paul Klee,Twittering Machine,1922. Watercolor and
pen and ink, on oil transfer drawing on paper, mounted on cardboard,
2 1 1 7 . Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Although based on forms in the tangible world easily read as birds,
Klee’s Twittering Machineis a fanciful vision of a mysterious world
presented in a simplified, almost childlike manner.1 in.
35-54APOPOVA,
Architectonic
Painting,
1916–1917.