1955 After Paul Klee "Still Life", First Edition Lithograph

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A striking vintage offset lithograph, print, after Still Life (1940) by Paul Klee. Comes from a rare art folio published … Read more A striking vintage offset lithograph, print, after Still Life (1940) by Paul Klee. Comes from a rare art folio published in 1955. First Limited American Edition. Signed in the print. Printed on one side. Hand tipped-in on a sheet of heavy paper. Information regarding the original artwork will be found by lifting the piece. Copy on the back of the heavy paper is related to another piece in the folio. Vivid colors. Excellent condition - never framed.

10.85"W x 14.75"H overall
7"W x 8.65"H image

Klee's last work, which he didn't not sign or caption. A curious requiem which he composed for himself, just as Mozart did. Apparently it represents a domestic scene, with a table on which a green (mint) coffee-pot and pale violet sculpture are placed. Flowers are scattered over the orange cloth; they look like letters of an alphabet. At the upper left there is a red (coral) tabletop with vases, one of which has an arm-like appendage and red (salmon) flowers. The background is of the deepest black (ebony), with a moon as yellow as the yolk of an egg.

All of a sudden the picture seems sinister. The intimacy of a still life seems to have changed. The black is the night, and the moon does not illuminate it. The flowers on the table are transformed into artificial flowers like those thrown into graves. But there is a clue to the riddle - a white card at the lower left, near the frame. On the card we see a winged figure held back by hands clenched into fists - probably an image of Jacob wrestling with angel. Jacob was one of the elect; thus Klee's last work offers us a parable of hope fr life beyond death. See less