Freies, streng gefasst (Free forms rigidly mounted)
Freies, streng gefasst (Free forms rigidly mounted)
Freies, streng gefasst (Free forms rigidly mounted)
Freies, streng gefasst (Free forms rigidly mounted)

Currently not on view

Freies, streng gefasst (Free forms rigidly mounted),

1930

Paul Klee, 1879–1940; born Münchenbuchsee, Germany; died Muralto, Switzerland
x1986-92
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More Context

Born into a musical family, the painter, educator, and theoretician Paul Klee joined the Blaue Reiter circle in Munich in 1912. Following military service in the First World War, Klee joined the teaching staff at the Bauhaus, a post he held until the institution was dissolved in reaction to the rise of Fascism in 1933. The profoundly influential German school of fine and applied arts and architecture lasted only fourteen years yet propagated an aesthetic that came to epitomize international modernist design throughout the second half of the twentieth century.

Information

Title
Freies, streng gefasst (Free forms rigidly mounted)
Dates

1930

Maker
Paul Klee
Medium
Watercolor
Dimensions
sight: 61 x 46.8 cm (24 x 18 7/16 in.) frame: 80 × 65 × 2 cm (31 1/2 × 25 9/16 × 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Clinton Wilder, Class of 1943
Object Number
x1986-92
Signatures
Signed in ink, lower left: Klee
Inscription
In ink, lower right, on mount: Freies streng gefasst [in artist's hand] In ink, lower left, on mount: 1930. Y. 3 [in artist's hand] In pencil, lower left, on mount: VI In ink, on verso, upper right, on mount: Inv. No. [number obliterated] In ink, on verso, upper right, on mount: 2T In pencil, on verso, lower left, on mount: Nr. 5120 | [circular stamp of Buchholz Gallery] | NY 11373 On mount: E.V. Thaw
Culture
Swiss
Type
drawings, watercolors
Materials
watercolor, paper (fiber product)
Subject
abstraction

Lily Klee, Bern (1940-46); Klee-Gesellschaft, Bern (1946-1949); Curt Valentin (Buchholz Gallery; Valentin Gallery), New York; Frederick C. Schang, South Norwalk, Connecticut; Eugene V. Thaw & Co., New York; Gallery Stephen Hahn, New York; Clinton Wilder, New York.

This provenance for the drawing is published in Klee's Catalogue Raisonne, vol. 5, no. 5259.

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The Museum regularly researches its objects and their collecting histories, updating its records to reflect new information. We also strive to catalogue works of art using language that is consistent with how people, subjects, artists, and cultures describe themselves. As this effort is ongoing, the Museum’s records may be incomplete or contain terms that are no longer acceptable. We welcome your feedback, questions, and additional information that you feel may be useful to us. Email us at collectionsinfo@princeton.edu.

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