Rock-Cut Temple

Prints and Drawings

December 30, 1925

Paul Klee
German, born Switzerland, 1879-1940

A professor at the Bauhaus from 1920 to 1933, Klee often experimented with the systemic use of line. One of Klee’s favored theories, that of the distinction between form and formation through the use of line, is demonstrated here. In this drawing, parallel lines create new architectural structures, highlighting the formative power of the artist and his line. For Klee, the end result, the form, was not important; the act of creation and the limitless possibilities of line were what mattered.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Paul Klee
Title: Rock-Cut Temple
Place: Germany (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1925
Medium: Pen and black ink on buff laid paper, laid down on artist's mount comprised of cream wove card ruled in pen and black ink
Inscriptions: Signed and dated upper right: "Klee 30.12.1925"; dated and titled on the artist's mount
Dimensions: Sheet: 16.4 × 26.9 cm (6 1/2 × 10 5/8 in.); Mount: 24.2 × 34.6 cm (9 9/16 × 13 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
Reference Number: 2013.960
Copyright: © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Paul Klee Stiftung (editors), Paul Klee: Catalogue Raisonné, 1923-1926, IV (Bern, 2000), p. 394, no. 3933 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Bridget Riley Drawings: From the Artist’s Studio”, p. 30, fig. 8 (ill.), cat. by Jay Clarke, et. al.

Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, “XIII Esposizione Nazionale Quadriennale d’Arte di Roma: Valori Plastici,” 1998-99, cat. 37.
London, The Hayward Gallery, “Paul Klee: The Nature of Creation,” 2001, cat. 49 (ill.).
Saarbrücken, Saarlandmuseum, “Paul Klee, Tempel, Städte, Paläste,” 2006-2007, cat. 76 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, “The Thrill of the Chase: Drawings for the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection,” Mar. 15-June 15, 2014, no cat.

Private collection, Milan; private collection; sold, Sotheby’s, London, June 26, 2008, lot 220, to Dorothy Braude Edinburg, Brookline, MA; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2013.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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