Riesenblattlaus (Giant Aphid) from Deutsche Graphiker der Gegenwart (German Printmakers of Our Time) by Paul Klee; Klinkhardt & Biermann Verlag; Unknown, is a pivotal lithograph created in 1920. This graphic work is one of the prints featured in a comprehensive bound volume designed to showcase the foremost contemporary graphic artists active in the German-speaking world during the nascent years of Modernism.
The volume, Deutsche Graphiker der Gegenwart, included a diverse array of printmaking techniques, documented as containing fifteen lithographs, eight woodcuts, eight photomechanical reproductions, and one drypoint. Klee's contribution, created during the critical period of 1901 to 1925, reflects his growing focus on translating abstract and organic motifs into systematic linear compositions. Although Klee was primarily a Swiss artist, his professional career was deeply embedded in the German avant-garde, aligning him perfectly with the intent of this publication.
As a lithograph, the technique allowed Klee to execute precise, fine lines that define the insect's structure. Despite its title, Riesenblattlaus is characteristic of Klee's tendency to synthesize biological subjects into forms that skirt the boundary between the representational and the abstract. The 'Giant Aphid' is depicted not through strict realism, but rather as a simplified, graphic creature composed of intersecting lines and shapes, evoking a sense of structural clarity and playful whimsy often associated with his later work at the Bauhaus.
This piece serves as a key document of Klee's involvement in the post-World War I effort to disseminate Modernist ideas through affordable, high-quality prints. The work evidences his transition from earlier expressionistic tendencies toward a more analytical and geometrically disciplined style. This impression of the lithograph resides within the collection of the National Gallery of Art, providing a crucial historical reference for the development of graphic art in the early twentieth century. As with much of the foundational art from the 1920s, this work is often studied by historians and is available for broader academic access through documentation of public domain and museum collections.
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