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| Paul Klee re-examined in Tate Modern's major autumn exhibition | Paul Klee re-examined in Tate Modern's major autumn exhibition |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The man who liked to "take a line for a walk" is the subject of Tate Modern's autumn blockbuster exhibition, which will gather more than 100 works for the biggest British reassessment of Paul Klee in a decade. | The man who liked to "take a line for a walk" is the subject of Tate Modern's autumn blockbuster exhibition, which will gather more than 100 works for the biggest British reassessment of Paul Klee in a decade. |
| The exhibition, according to the Tate curator Matthew Gale, will seek to "redress the idea that he was a quirky artist, allowing his cat to paint, but rather show that he was extremely rigorous, with a clear sense of how his work was progressing ... and it will give a sense of the extraordinary variety of his production." | The exhibition, according to the Tate curator Matthew Gale, will seek to "redress the idea that he was a quirky artist, allowing his cat to paint, but rather show that he was extremely rigorous, with a clear sense of how his work was progressing ... and it will give a sense of the extraordinary variety of his production." |
| The reference to his cat relates to a story about the artist told by one of his collectors. On a studio visit, according to Gale's retelling of the anecdote, the collector saw that Klee's cat was walking over a picture, leaving coloured pawmarks on the work (photographs show a large and contented tabby). The collector, horrified, pointed this out to the artist, who told his patron not to worry: in years to come, he said, people would wonder how he had achieved such a wonderful effect. | |
| Described as "the father of modern art" by the Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota, Klee was a pioneer of abstraction, a key figure in the development of modernism and an important influence on other artists – not only the great American abstract expressionist painter Rothko but also British artists such as Victor Pasmore. | Described as "the father of modern art" by the Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota, Klee was a pioneer of abstraction, a key figure in the development of modernism and an important influence on other artists – not only the great American abstract expressionist painter Rothko but also British artists such as Victor Pasmore. |
| Most exhibitions have tackled Klee thematically, said Gale: this one takes a chronological overview, showing how the different strands of the work of this "multi-layered, mysterious, productive artist" unfurled alongside each other as he worked "in different modes simultaneously". | Most exhibitions have tackled Klee thematically, said Gale: this one takes a chronological overview, showing how the different strands of the work of this "multi-layered, mysterious, productive artist" unfurled alongside each other as he worked "in different modes simultaneously". |
| Klee catalogued each of his works as he went (in a manner not unlike musical opus numbers) and the Tate exhibition will also use his numbering system, allowing visitors to chart the precise order in which the works were made. | Klee catalogued each of his works as he went (in a manner not unlike musical opus numbers) and the Tate exhibition will also use his numbering system, allowing visitors to chart the precise order in which the works were made. |
| The exhibition, which runs from 16 October until 9 March, will be fairly small by Klee's own standards: he regularly staged vast exhibitions of his own work containing 200 and more pieces. | The exhibition, which runs from 16 October until 9 March, will be fairly small by Klee's own standards: he regularly staged vast exhibitions of his own work containing 200 and more pieces. |
| It will be supported by EY, the company formerly known as Ernst & Young, which announced a seven-figure, three-year sponsorship deal with Tate across all its sites in London, St Ives and Liverpool – a significant financial injection for the institution in the wake of 5% government funding cuts announced in last month's comprehensive spending review. | It will be supported by EY, the company formerly known as Ernst & Young, which announced a seven-figure, three-year sponsorship deal with Tate across all its sites in London, St Ives and Liverpool – a significant financial injection for the institution in the wake of 5% government funding cuts announced in last month's comprehensive spending review. |
| Born in 1879 in Switzerland, the son of a singer and a music teacher, Klee was himself an accomplished musician, playing the violin to professional level. He emerged as a significant artist in Munich in the years flanking the first world war – the city then being a centre of contemporary art, with artists such as Kandinsky, Jawlensky and the female painter Gabriele Münter working alongside each other. | Born in 1879 in Switzerland, the son of a singer and a music teacher, Klee was himself an accomplished musician, playing the violin to professional level. He emerged as a significant artist in Munich in the years flanking the first world war – the city then being a centre of contemporary art, with artists such as Kandinsky, Jawlensky and the female painter Gabriele Münter working alongside each other. |
| He continued to paint while serving behind the lines in the war, developing what Gale called "a kind of theatrical feeling in his work – pushing away from the real world into one of make-believe". | He continued to paint while serving behind the lines in the war, developing what Gale called "a kind of theatrical feeling in his work – pushing away from the real world into one of make-believe". |
| In 1920 he burst on to the wider scene with a huge show of 250 of his own works in Munich – and was invited to join the faculty of the Bauhaus under Walter Gropius where he taught on the bookbinding, tapestry and stained-glass courses. | In 1920 he burst on to the wider scene with a huge show of 250 of his own works in Munich – and was invited to join the faculty of the Bauhaus under Walter Gropius where he taught on the bookbinding, tapestry and stained-glass courses. |
| He was later joined at the school by Kandinsky and together, said Gale, they "provided a grain of unpredictable creativity" at the applied-arts school. By 1929 he was producing some of his greatest works, including | He was later joined at the school by Kandinsky and together, said Gale, they "provided a grain of unpredictable creativity" at the applied-arts school. By 1929 he was producing some of his greatest works, including |
| Fire in the Evening – patchworks of apparently simple but masterfully balanced off-squares, which will be "some of the most jewel-like works in the exhibition", according to Gale. | Fire in the Evening – patchworks of apparently simple but masterfully balanced off-squares, which will be "some of the most jewel-like works in the exhibition", according to Gale. |
| A year later, he moved to teach at the Düsseldorf Academy but survived only two terms of teaching before the catastrophe of Hitler's election and the unravelling of the artistic scene in Germany. Two days after Hitler became chancellor in January 1933, the man who had appointed Klee was sacked; by April, when contemporary artists' works were being removed from public collections, Klee was banned from teaching or exhibiting his work. | A year later, he moved to teach at the Düsseldorf Academy but survived only two terms of teaching before the catastrophe of Hitler's election and the unravelling of the artistic scene in Germany. Two days after Hitler became chancellor in January 1933, the man who had appointed Klee was sacked; by April, when contemporary artists' works were being removed from public collections, Klee was banned from teaching or exhibiting his work. |
| Fortunately for Klee and his family, they were able to move to Berne (his mother was Swiss) but his health became increasingly fragile: he fell sick with the wasting disease scleroderma. A striking work of 1939 entitled Outbreak of Fear III shows a fragmented figure, a body in the process of falling apart – perhaps a dual reference to his own failing body and the outbreak of the second world war. | Fortunately for Klee and his family, they were able to move to Berne (his mother was Swiss) but his health became increasingly fragile: he fell sick with the wasting disease scleroderma. A striking work of 1939 entitled Outbreak of Fear III shows a fragmented figure, a body in the process of falling apart – perhaps a dual reference to his own failing body and the outbreak of the second world war. |
| He kept working productively until he died in 1940, "making even bigger works and becoming even more productive in the face of his constricting world," according to Gale. | He kept working productively until he died in 1940, "making even bigger works and becoming even more productive in the face of his constricting world," according to Gale. |