Open-Air Sport

1923

Paul Klee Swiss, 1879-1940

Not On View

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.

About the Artwork

Some of Klee's most compelling and accomplished works were produced in the 1920s while he was a teacher at the Bauhaus, an influential German school of architecture and applied arts. This watercolor is a fine example of the wit that critics have delighted in noting in Klee's work. In an era when physical fitness is the fashion, we can empathize with these earnest humans of all shapes and sizes, trapped in an environmental web, the pictorial structure of undulating horizontal bands devised by the artist. However, It is not only the humor of this watercolor which Is appealing but also its harmonious colors in shades of blue, green, and pale orange.

Title Open-Air Sport

Artwork Date 1923

Artist Paul Klee

Life Dates 1879-1940

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Swiss

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Pen and black ink and watercolor on paper mounted on thin cardboard; decorative border of watercolor surrounds mounted sheet

Dimensions Sheet: 9 × 10 inches (22.9 × 25.4 cm) Mount: 9 1/2 × 10 inches (24.1 × 25.4 cm) Framed: 16 × 16 1/2 × 7/8 inches (40.6 × 41.9 × 2.2 cm)

Classification Drawings

Department Prints, Drawings & Photographs

Credit Bequest of Robert H. Tannahill

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 70.343

Markings

Signed Signed, in pen and black ink, upper right: Klee

Inscriptions Inscribed, in pen and black ink, grey border at bottom of composition: 1923 83 Lichtund Luftsport Inscribed, in pencil, verso, lower left: [illegible] Gross | Birk Inscribed, on partial label glued to lower right corner, in pen and blue ink: C217 over 1088

Marks Partial label, glued to lower right corner bearing partial stamp: RIE NIERENDOR [Galerie Nierendorf]

Provenance

Galerie Nierendorf

1940, J.B. Neumann (New York, New York, USA)

Robert H. Tannahill (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, USA)

1970-present, bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

Uhr, H. German Drawings and Watercolors. New York, 1987, pp. 266-267, no. 146.

Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.

Suggest Feedback

Catalogue Raisoneé

Please note: This section is empty

Credit Line for Reproduction

Paul Klee, Open-Air Sport, 1923, pen and black ink and watercolor on paper mounted on thin cardboard; decorative border of watercolor surrounds mounted sheet. Detroit Institute of Arts, Bequest of Robert H. Tannahill, 70.343.