Paul Klee: The Visible and the Legible

266 Pages·2015·10.691 MB·English

by  Annie Bourneuf

PAUL KLEE
P A U L K L E E
The Visible and the Legible
A N N I E B O U R N E U F
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
Annie Bourneuf is assistant professor of art history at the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2015 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2015.
Printed in China
24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 09118- 1 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 23360- 4 (e- book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226233604.001.0001
This publication is made possible in part by a grant from the Barr Ferree Foundation Fund
for Publications, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bourneuf, Annie, author.
Paul Klee : the visible and the legible / Annie Bourneuf.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-226-09118-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-226-23360-4 (e-book)
1. Klee, Paul, 1879–1940. 2. Art, Modern. I. Title.
N6888.K55B68 2015
740.92—dc23
2014026786
This book has been printed on acid- free paper.
For Ben

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
A Note on Klee’s Sequential Numbering System xiii
Introduction 1
1 The “Painter- Draftsman” 13
2 Seeing and Speculating 65
3 A Refuge for Script 141
Epilogue: Old Sound 183
Notes 187
Index 243
vii

Acknowledgments
My first and greatest debt of gratitude I owe to Brigid Doherty for
her support, her criticism, and her example. An incomparable
mentor, her thinking has inspired and guided me from the first in-
klings I had of this project. Her questions and ideas have improved
this book at every turn.
Hal Foster shaped the aims of this book, and his encourage-
ment and wisdom have sustained it. The incisive and detailed
comments of Yve- Alain Bois made me see more clearly the book’s
weaknesses and strengths. Bridget Alsdorf helped me to under-
stand how this project’s metamorphosis into a book might be ac-
complished. I owe special thanks to Charles W. Haxthausen, whose
thinking on Klee has had a profound influence on this book and
who could not have been a more welcoming and generous guide
both to Klee and to Klee studies.
I am grateful to Carol Armstrong for her criticism in the first
stage of this project, and to Michael W. Jennings for his encour- ix
agement and support. The book has benefited enormously from
discussions over the years with Saul Anton, Gordon Hughes, and
Joyce Tsai. And I am grateful as well to all who have read and
criticized portions of my study, including Maureen Chun, Noam
Elcott, Alex Kitnick, Jennifer King, and Michele Matteini. At