"Die Heilige vom inneren Licht' gives a sense of Klee's use of hue and form during this stage of his career. The flattened, abstract treatment of the figure is echoed in the artist’s 1922 'Der wilde Mann' (now in the collection of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich), which takes Narasimha, the man-lion avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, as its subject. Klee found meaning in the ancient literature of India, and he is known to have read the Mahabharata, one of the great sacred Hindu texts that tells the story of Narasimha." —Philadelphia Museum of Art
Narasimha statue, 8th century A.D., Eastern India, © National Museum, New Delhi In Weimar, Lyonel Feininger directed a graphic printing workshop which produced and sold portfolios of work by Bauhaus masters and contemporary artists, made in collaboration with the bookbinding workshop. They had three goals: to give students printmaking experience; to raise money for the school; and, via the work of its masters, students and international avant-garde artists, to illustrate the Bauhaus’s artistic philosophies.
Printed and published as an edition in Bauhaus-Drucke. New European graphics. First portfolio. Masters of the State Bauhaus in Weimar, on October 31, 1921, the Bauhaus artists decided in a meeting to issue the "Bauhaus prints", a series of graphics by the Bauhaus masters and artist friends. In the prospectus, five portfolios were announced for 1921, but the first portfolio was not delivered until 1922 and the last portfolio appeared in 1924.
Literature
Eberhard W. Kornfeld 81 IIb
19
Die Heilige vom innern Licht (The Saint of the Inner Light) from Bauhaus-Drucke. Neue europäische Graphik. Erste Mappe. Meister des Staatlichen Bauhauses in Weimar (from Bauhaus Prints. New European Graphics. First Portfolio. Master of the State Bauhaus in Weimar)
1921
Lithograph in colors, on wove paper, with full margins.
I. 12 1/4 x 8 7/8 in. (31.1 x 22.5 cm)
S. 15 3/8 x 10 1/2 in. (39.1 x 26.7 cm)
Signed, annotated with the date and work number '1921/122' in pencil, from the edition of 100 (there were also 10 on Japanese paper), Kornfeld's second (final) state, published by Staatliches Bauhaus, Weimar, unframed.
Estimate
$9,000 - 12,000
Sold for $13,860
Editions & Works on Paper
New York Auction 21 - 22 October 2020