Paul Klee's Living Arts Influence Explored in New Publication

A new book, 'Paul Klee, Le théâtre et la vie', published by Actes Sud, examines the influence of dance, circus, theater, opera, and music on Paul Klee's work. The collective volume argues that performing arts were crucial for Klee's understanding of reality. It also explores how Klee's work influenced video art of the 1960s, citing structural analogies. Examples include comparisons with William Wegman's grotesque dog scenes and Markus Schinwald's imaginary psychological theater. The book features over 150 pages of illustrations, with short analytical texts in the final third. Klee's fascination with dance stemmed from a desire to analyze kinetic principles, akin to Aby Warburg's search for sacred energies. His circus interest began during his Munich studies, with works like 'Young Girl on a Rope' (1901) and later pieces such as 'Braked Ascent' (1914) and 'Suicide on the Bridge' (1913) reflecting existential danger. Teaching at the Bauhaus from 1920, Klee used acrobat motifs to explore plastic problems. After leaving Germany in 1933, traveling performers became metaphors for exile. Klee's theater attendance at the Bauhaus influenced his masks and marionettes, hybrid constructions mixing imagination and reality. He favored a theater of infinite human behaviors over the stereotypes of Oskar Schlemmer's workshop. Pierre Boulez contributed a text noting that Klee's visual suggestions led to musical consequences. The book is edited by Jérôme Lebrun.