In Der Angler (The Angler) a network of lines depicts a fisherman: jagged marks describe his face, and curving, parallel lines form his body, from which the fishing pole and line appear to sprout. Klee said of his drawn line, “It goes out for a walk, so to speak, aimlessly for the sake of the walk.”
Gallery label from On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century, November 21, 2010-February 7, 2011.
We have identified these works in the following photos from our exhibition history.
Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity
Nov 8, 2009–Jan 25, 2010
2 other works identified
Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity
Nov 8, 2009–Jan 25, 2010
1 other work identified
On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century
Nov 21, 2010–Feb 7, 2011
3 other works identified
On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century
Nov 21, 2010–Feb 7, 2011
2 other works identified
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This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.
Acquired from the artist by the Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1923 [1]; removed as “degenerate art” by the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, 1937 [2]; on consignment to Karl Buchholz, Berlin, 1939; to Buchholz Gallery (Curt Valentin), New York; sold to John S. Newberry, Grosse Pointe, by 1940 [3]; acquired by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1961 (John S. Newberry Collection).
[1] Paul-Klee-Stiftung, Kunstmuseum Bern, eds. Paul Klee: catalogue raisonné. Bern: Benteli and New York: Thames and Hudson, vol. 3 (1999), no. 2731. One of four works the Nationalgalerie acquired from the artist for 40 million M during the inflation of 1923 (see Annegret Janda and Jörn Grabowski, eds., Kunst in Deutschland 1905-1937: Die verlorene Sammlung der Nationalgalerie im ehemaligen Kronprinzenpalais, exh. cat. Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1992, no. 227). Included in the exhibition Paul Klee, Nationalgalerie, Kronprinzenpalais, Berlin, February 1923. On view at the Kronprinzenpalais of the Nationalgalerie, Berlin until 1933 (ibid.).
[2] EK no. 16308: Der Angler. Included in the exhibition Degenerate Art, Hofgarten-Arkaden, Munich, July 19-November 30, 1937 and other venues (Berlin, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Salzburg). See Charles Werner Haxthausen, "A 'Degenerate' Abroad: Klee's Reception in America, 1937-1940," Josef Helfenstein and Elizabeth Hutton Turner, eds., Klee and America, exh. cat. New York: Neue Galerie, 2006, pp. 159-162.
[3] Lender to the memorial exhibition Paul Klee, October 9-November 2, 1940, Buchholz Gallery (Curt Valentin) and Willard Gallery, New York (no. 13).
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