Paul Klee
Assyrian Game, 1923
Oil on cardboard, 37 x 51 cm
Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, on loan from a private collection
In this work, various abstract forms and patterns shine out of the darkness. Paul Klee called it “Assyrian Game.” Exactly what Klee meant by “Assyrian” remains unclear. Like many artists of his time, Klee looked to non-European art and culture. In 1914, Klee travelled to Tunisia and in 1928/29 to Egypt – the closest and most popular “exotic” destinations of his time. Many Western artists engaged with these cultures in a superficial, uncritical, or even stereotypical manner. In this work, Klee played with notions and conceptions of the exotic or foreign that might be associated with the word “Assyrian.” Using the title to guide our perception, he awakens further associations.
“For there are still primal beginnings in art, which one is more likely to find in ethnographic museums or at home in the nursery (don’t laugh dear reader); children can do it too.”
Paul Klee, 1912