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Kinder mit Krähen (Children and Crows)

Maker

(artist)
1879-1940

Title

Date of Production

1932

Medium

brush and black ink on laid paper, laid down on artist's card mount

Dimensions

Height: 31.1 cm
Width: 46.9 cm

Accession Number

LD.2020.HK.20

Mode of Acquisition

Karshan Collection, long-term loan, 2020

Credit

Promised gift by Linda Karshan in memory of her husband, Howard Karshan. On long-term loan to The Courtauld Gallery, London

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

On display

Label Text

Paul Klee’s favourite subjects included children and animals playing games or dancing. Here, he depicts the figures in a deceptively naive manner, with humans and birds interacting as equals. The children and crows are described in a flurry of short, dashed marks, as if caught in the wind. The lively use of pen and brush
echoes their whirling motion. The poet Rainer Maria Rilke once described Klee’s drawings as ‘transcriptions of music’. Here, there is a rhythm to the circular flow of the composition. However, the spiky quality of Klee’s lines and the strange interaction of children and large crows also conveys an unsettling atmosphere.

Provenance

Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles; Robert J. and Helen McIntosh, Los Angeles; purchased from them by a private collector, United States, 1976; their estate sale, Sotheby's, New York, 6 May 2010, lot 371 (repr) [sale cat. in file]; purchased there by Howard Karshan (1933-2017); Promised gift by Linda Karshan in memory of her husband, Howard Karshan. On long-term loan to The Courtauld Gallery, London.

Exhibition History

Modern Drawings: The Karshan Gift, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 19/11/2021-09/01/2022

Literature

Modern Drawings: The Karshan Gift, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 20 Nov. 2021 - 9 Jan. 2022
cat. no. 5
Fig. p. p. 55

The Paul Klee Foundation (ed.), Paul Klee. Catalogue raisonné 1931-1933, Bonn 2002
vol. 6, p. 234, no. 5840
Fig. p. repr.

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: lower left corner: "M B M" (Ingres d'Arches paper, still made today).

Inscription: Recto: lower left, pen and black ink, signed: "Klee"; on artist's card mount, lower edge: "1932 R 4 Kinder und Krähen".

Label: Frame, Verso: black ink printed on white label: “Jerry Solomon Enterprises, Inc. / 960 North LaBrea Avenue / Los Angeles, CA 90038 / (213) 851-7241 / Custom Picture Framing”; beside that, printed in black ink on a white label with an image of the drawing: “TMP 2012-140.18 / Paul Klee / Children and Crows, / 1932 / Brush and ink on paper / with the artist’s mount, 12 / 7/8 x 19 in. (32.6 x / 48.5 cm / [added in pen and black ink, Courtauld temp no.] LD.2020.HK.20”; upper left, black ink printed on white label, two of the same label applied: “EIMP / [barcode] / 5NMY2 / PAUL KLEE, Kinder mit Krühen / Signed; also titled.” and added to only the upper label, in black ink: “131 NO 8634” and in red ink: “B07B”.

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