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Comedians' Handbill

Paul Klee German, born Switzerland
1938
Not on view
In tune with the motto "the medium is the message," Klee designed this handbill on a sheet of newspaper that he had covered with caramel-colored gouache. Correcting here and there the figures' contours, he filled the spaces between them with bone-colored gouache. Touches of white and pink gouache add animation. Here in these thick-stemmed, black pictographs, Klee makes his abbreviated black figures from the previous year even thicker. Leaping into our vision as boldly as an advertisement, these signs symbolize syncopated movement, frolicking creatures, and stick figures.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Comedians' Handbill
  • Artist: Paul Klee (German (born Switzerland), Münchenbuchsee 1879–1940 Muralto-Locarno)
  • Date: 1938
  • Medium: Gouache on newsprint mounted on cardboard
  • Dimensions: 21 1/2 × 14 1/4 in. (54.6 × 36.2 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: The Berggruen Klee Collection, 1984
  • Object Number: 1984.315.57
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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