Bauhaus
An influential German school of art and design founded in Dessau in 1919 under the architect Walter Gropius. It was based on workshop training rather than academic studios, and is celebrated for its functional design.
Biography
Born
1879
Died
1940
Nationalities
Swiss
German
German
Birth place
Münchenbuchsee
Death place
Muralto
Klee was born near Berne, Switzerland and studied art in Munich. In 1912, his work was included in the second exhibition of the Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) Expressionist group. In the same year, he saw an exhibition of cubist paintings in Paris, which had a great influence on his style. Klee spent ten years as a teacher at the Bauhaus from 1921, along with Kandinsky. He was dismissed from a teaching post at the Düsseldorf Academy in 1933 by the Nazis and his work was included in the 'Degenerate' Art exhibition. A highly inventive and prolific artist, Klee produced around nine thousand pieces in his lifetime, usually working on a small scale.
Glossary terms
Degenerate Art
The term Degenerate Art ('Entarte Kunst' in German), was coined in the 1930s by the Nazis to ridicule modern art that did not fit with Hitler’s vision'. Confiscated by the German government, exhibitions of 'Degenerate' art took place in cities including Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig. In addition to this ridicule, the Nazi's banned artists branded with the term from exhibiting or holding teaching posts.
Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider)
A German Expressionist group founded in Munich in 1911 by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. Its membership, who shared an interest in expressing a spiritual dimension in painting, featured in an almanac of the same name published in 1912. The group dispersed with the onset of the First World War.