Homo Novus. 1913.
Pen and ink drawing.
Klee 1031. Upper left signed. Titled, inscribed with the work number "129" on the backing board and with the date. On yellowish wove paper, mounted on board by the artist. 12.7 x 9.5 cm (5 x 3.7 in). Backing board: Ca. 27,8 x 24,5
Inscribed by Reinhard Piper with an annotation on the backing board: «Homo novus. Hierzu sagte Ernst Neumann: "Schöner ist er nicht geworden."» [AR].
• This drawing was made shortly before Paul Klee discovered color for his art.
• Odd figures and their hard to unravel actions are frequent guests in drawings made as of 1913 and hint at his liking for the fantastic and bizarre
• From the Collection Reinhard Piper, one of the most important modernist publishers in Germany.

PROVENANCE: Collection Reinhard Piper, Munich (with the collector's stramp on the reverse)
Private collection Western Germany.

EXHIBITION: München und die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts. Der Blaue Reiter. Der Weg von 1908-1914. Haus der Kunst, Munich, September-October 1949.
Traces du sacré, Centre Pompidou, Paris, May 7 - August 11, 2008; Haus der Kunst , Munich September 19, 2008 - January 11, 2009.

LITERATURE: Christina Kröll, Die Bildtitel Paul Klees. Eine Studie zur Beziehung von Bild und Sprache in der Kunst des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts, dissertation, Bonn 1968.
Catalogue raisonné Paul Klee, vol. 2, 1913-1918, published by the Paul-Klee Foundation, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern 2000.
Alessandro Fonti, Paul Klee. "Angeli" 1913-1940, Milan 2005.
Brigitte Uhde-Stahl, Paul Klees geheime Symbolik, Berlin 2018.
Giovanni Volpe, Paul Klee. La formula poetica, Bologna 2019.

Drawing in good condition. Backing board with a small bend in upper left corner and witzh slight handling marks, a faint trace of sunning (presumably from old mount), also with pencil marks and a small stain in upper margin. Bottom margin of board slightly irregular.