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An abstract landscape at night

An arrangement of rectangular shapes, clustered in two groups, one at left and one at center, are painted on water color on paper. Each cluster features a narrow light orange colored rectangle, from which larger rectangles extend outward in a subtle color gradation of light orange to dark green. Behind and above the clusters in a dark green sky is a black half moon shape at upper right, and a black square hovers like a star at upper left. A transparent black border surrounds the design. At lower left it is signed in black ink, “Klee 1922/73”. Below, on the card onto which the sheet is mounted on there are two inscriptions. At left in black ink and underlined, “1922 73” and at right, also in black ink, “Grün-orange Stufung”

Identification and Creation

Object Number
BR62.86
People
Paul Klee, Swiss (Münchenbuchsee near Bern, Switzerland 1879 - 1940 Muralto-Locarno, Switzerland)
Title
Green-Orange Gradation with Black Half Moon
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Grün-orange Stufung mit dem schwarzen Halbmond
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1922
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/196984

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black ink and watercolor over graphite on white wove paper, mounted to off-white card
Dimensions
27.5 x 37.7 cm (10 13/16 x 14 13/16 in.)
mount: 34.8 x 47.1 cm (13 11/16 x 18 9/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: in black ink at l.r.: Klee 1922/73
  • inscription: l.l. of mount, black ink, handwritten, in artist's hand: 1922 73 (underlined)
  • inscription: l.r. of mount, black ink, handwritten, in artist's hand: Grün-orange Stufung

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Provincial Museum, Hannover, , removed from the collection by the National Socialist (Nazi) authorities, August 17, 1937 (EK7125); Ferdinand Moeller. [Fine Arts Associates, New York, New York], sold; to Fogg Art Museum, 1951.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Association Fund
Copyright
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Accession Year
1962
Object Number
BR62.86
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Charles Werner Haxthausen, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, Abbeville Press (New York, NY, 1980), p. 110, repr.
  • Peter Nisbet and Emilie Norris, Busch-Reisinger Museum: History and Holdings, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1991), p. 69, ill.
  • Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997
  • Peter Nisbet and Joseph Koerner, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, ed. Peter Nisbet, Harvard University Art Museums and Scala Publishers Ltd. (Cambridge, MA and London, England, 2007), p. 136
  • Laura Muir, Object Lessons: The Bauhaus and Harvard, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, 2021), p. 240, plate 6, ill. (color)

Exhibition History

  • From Werkbund to Bauhaus: Art and Design in Germany 1900-1934, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 05/12/1980 - 04/26/1980
  • Works from the 20th Century Collection of the Busch-Reisinger, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 06/15/1980 - 09/01/1980; Wildenstein Gallery, New York, New York, 09/23/1980 - 10/24/1980
  • Klee and Kandinsky: Works from the Harvard Collection and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 11/21/1980 - 01/17/1981
  • 20th-Century Works on Paper from the Permanent Collection, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 09/07/1981 - 11/11/1981
  • Deutsche Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts aus dem Busch-Reisinger Museum, Stadtische Galerie im Stadelschen Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, 10/23/1982 - 01/16/1983; Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin 30, 02/10/1983 - 04/17/1983; Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, 05/08/1983 - 06/26/1983
  • Paul Klee, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/17/1993 - 06/13/1993
  • Visual Music, 1905-2005, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, 02/13/2005 - 05/22/2005
  • HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 08 Rotation 3), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 11/20/2008 - 02/08/2009
  • HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 09 Rotation 3), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 11/13/2009 - 01/17/2010
  • 32Q: 1520 Art in Germany Between the Wars (Interwar and Bauhaus), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/07/2015 - 09/16/2015
  • The Bauhaus and Harvard, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/08/2019 - 07/28/2019

Subjects and Contexts

  • The Bauhaus

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu