No comments about The Diaries of Paul Klee 1898-1918.

No comments about The Making of Paul Klee's Career, 1914-1920.

No comments about Paul Klee (Art for Children Series).

No comments about Klee, Kandinsky, and the Thought of Their Time: A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE.

No comments about Drawings of Paul Klee (Master Draughtsman Series).

3 comments about Paul Klee on Modern Art (Faber Paper Covered Editions).

1. This slim volume is the text of a lecture Klee delivered in 1924 on the occasion of the opening of a museum exhibit of modern art. It is both an educational lecture on color and form and an explanation of modern art that largely escapes being a defense. Klee's discourse is not simply an historical piece. It is as valid today as it was when he delivered it seventy-two years ago. Klee was Kandinsky's neighbor during the years they both taught at the Bauhaus. They shared more than the basement that connected their duplex apartments; they shared a belief in art as a spiritual pursuit.



2. Just a quick note on the number of pages. It only contains 56 pages of text amd images, not the over 150 pages as provided in the item description.

   As for the content 5 out of 5.




3. Herbert Read in his Introduction to this work says that it constitutes " the most profound and illuminating statement of the aesthetic basis of the modern movement in art ever made by a practicing artist" I do not have the professional knowledge or aesthetic training to quarrel with Read. I can only give my personal impression of Klee's treatise which was given at the opening of an exhibition in Jena in 1924. I understand that Klee is in the Treatise arguing against the view that the criterion for judging the work of the artist is its being an accurate copy of nature. Klee puts the emphasis on the organic shaping power of the creative process , and gives examples of how this works. The text contains sketches by Klee illustrative of the process. My suspicion is that this focus on the 'organic ' the growing and developing element is what makes Klee so congenial to Herbert Read whose Theory of Art focuses on this concept.
   However I personally could not really understand the process as Klee describes it in this work. Read says the book is cryptic and aphoristic. I did not find it aphoristic but I did find it cryptic and more.
   Perhaps here however it is wiser to "Trust the Artist and not the Reader" as my own understanding in these matters is limited.
   One point. The work is very short, the illustrations 'pleasant' if not perhaps as profound as Klee maintains them to be.
   Other readers truly have to judge for themselves.

No comments about Paul Klee: Art and Music.

No comments about The Life And Work Of Paul Klee (The Life and Work of).

2 comments about Paul Klee, 1879-1940 (Basic Art).

1. I have 8 of the books in this series and this is by far the worst; the others are good or very good. The writing and organization is very poor. The first time I tried to read it, I found myself reading the first several pages a few times to make some sense of it. The rest of the book is no better.



2. I now own and have read six books on Paul Klee, and this is my favorite so far. The text clearly explains the artist's life and works. The reproductions are beautiful and include many of Klee's most important pieces. And the price is great even for a short art book, since it does such a wonderful job in its limited space. I have already purchased several more of the Taschen basic art series on the strength of this one, and plan to purchase more.

2 comments about Pedagogical Sketchbook.

1. I found this book to be a wonderful tool, once understood... and that may take some time!!



2. This book is simply great - I recommend it highly to any serious student of art. It is one of the classics of modern art, of interest to artists, teachers, students, theoreticians, historians, and fans of Paul Klee. Pedagogical Sketchbook is the distilled essence of Klee's concepts of art production. Created in 1923 as a teaching tool for his students at the Bauhaus, it was the second of fourteen Bauhaus Books edited by Walter Gropius and L. Moholy-Nagy. First published in England in 1953 and the United States in 1960, it has been an important influence on generations of practicing artists and theoreticians.
   
   An abstraction of his ideas on teaching and creating art, it can sometimes be difficult to follow, since it assumes that some narrative and examples will be added during classes. However, Sibyl Moholy-Nagy writes a narrative introduction that explores Paul Klee's aesthetic ideas related to teaching, and a concluding note with brief suggestions as to how the sketchbook can be used for teaching or artistic research.
   
   Titled " Initial Plan for a Section of the Theoretical Instruction at the German Bauhaus", this book is a set of working notes that are the basis for art instruction at the Bauhaus - you can almost see Paul Klee presenting the ideas in a class. Beginning with the primary graphic element of a point moving forward to create a line, it is a course on how to make art based on Klee's deeply considered artistic process. It consists of step-by-step lessons, with abstract written concepts that analyze artistic process, and drawings that are examples of how those ideas can be put into practice.
   
   Although it was based on the then-current 2D graphic arts of painting, drawing, and printmaking, it is also valuable for current artists working in time based and interactive forms since it considers aesthetics and structure as the result of process. In a relatively short space, it investigates a wide range of practical and conceptual approaches to art making, from line, to plane, to structure and composition, to materials, physics, symbols, and motion. Its well-considered concepts enable artists of any aesthetic persuasion to apply its ideas and lessons to their own work. It requires concentration to understand, but it is truly worth the effort.