Hannah
Paul Klee
German, born Switzerland. 1879–1940
1910
An ink-on-paper portrait in which Paul Klee pares a face to elemental lines and gray washes to probe character more than likeness.
You’re struck by the masklike face—helmeted hair and banded shoulders sketched in urgent, calligraphic lines while soft, bleeding ink washes make features seem both weighty and ephemeral.
Executed in 1910, the drawing marks Klee’s move toward symbolic reduction and graphic economy that helped bridge Expressionist feeling and the modernist visual language he later developed and taught.
Medium
Ink on paper on board
Dimensions
12 5/8 x 9 1/2" (32.1 x 24.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Joan and Lester Avnet Collection
Accession
108.1978
Palette
Exhibitions
