Accession Number
1948/1.371

Title
Monarchist

Artist(s)
Paul Klee

Artist Nationality
Swiss

Object Creation Date
1904

Medium & Support
etching on paper

Dimensions
6 ¼ in x 6 ¼ in (15.88 cm x 15.88 cm);16 ½ in x 12 ⅝ in (41.91 cm x 32.07 cm);19 3/10 in x 14 ⅜ in (49.05 cm x 36.51 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Label copy
In this early etching Klee shows his debt not only to the tight precision of Swiss/German graphic work of the 15th and 16th century, but to such later masters as Goya and Blake. Klee's early prints were also heavily influenced by the work of his contemporaries Max Klinger and Alfred Kubin. The subject here is an abject man, literally falling over himself in a preposterous display of obeisance to a crown. Standing on the edge of a cliff, this activity places him in some danger of a fall. The image is almost certainly a pointed political reference to the dangerous nationalism and monarchy-worship then growing in pre-World War I Germany.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Western

Rights
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Keywords
Expressionism
modern and contemporary art