Curriculum Materials: Amazing Animals in
Art
|
|
|
Image 5 Paul Klee Essays: Questions: |
Style
Klee was one of the most inventive and highly individual of modern artists. Though his work defies stylistic categorization, he assimilated the ideas of the various modern art movements that flourished in Munich in the early 20th century, particularly those of the Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) artists. This group, which was united by Wassily Kandinsky and Frans Marc, shared with Klee the belief in the spiritual essence underlying all the arts. Klee was also introduced to the Fauves and Cubists during a visit to Paris in 1912.
Throughout his career, Klee moved freely between figurative painting and abstraction. While Howling Dog has clear references to nature in the dog and the moon, the artist approaches abstraction in his simplification of forms and addresses the formal elements of line, shape, space, color, and the relationships among them. The dreamlike, fantastic quality of the image is reinforced by its abstract nature. Typical of Klee's work, the painting is small in scale and intimate, inviting the viewer to move in close to decipher and examine the delicately rendered forms and enter this mysterious world. Klee's application of color and his rich, gestural effects contribute to the painting's pulsating rhythm and lyrical movement, and also remind us of the artist's creative process.
Although Klee's specific working method for this painting is not known, an important aspect of all his work is his constant experimentation and inventiveness with unusual combinations of materials and techniques. Sometimes he painted on roughly textured cloth with various kinds of paint, or on grounds built up with plaster, papers, and ENCAUSTIC. He combined chalks, paste, and even crayons with paint to create glowing colors and richly worked surfaces. Hence, as in this painting, his technique and media often defy analysis.
|
|