The Sublime Side postcard for "Bauhaus Exhibition Weimar 1923" (Die erhabene Seite Postkarte zur "Bauhaus-Ausstellung Weimar 1923") is a pivotal print created by Paul Klee in 1923. This lithograph served a specific functional purpose: promoting the landmark Bauhaus Exhibition held in Weimar that year, an event crucial to redefining the school's curriculum and public image.
The work embodies Klee's unique contribution to the German avant-garde, blending his characteristic abstract geometric compositions with subjective graphic elements. Klee, who held a teaching position as a Master at the Bauhaus school, created an image that reflects the institution's drive towards synthesizing fine art and industrial design. The piece utilizes spare, precise line work and carefully balanced forms, characteristic of the simplification favored by the movement during the early 1920s. As an example of functional design, the The Sublime Side postcard transcends mere publicity, offering a distilled visual statement that summarizes the idealism inherent in the shift towards technology and mass production championed by the school’s director, Walter Gropius.
The 1923 exhibition, themed ‘Art and Technology, a New Unity,’ was vital for the school's survival, serving as a public declaration of its modernized direction. This postcard, classified as a significant historical print, provides tangible evidence of the high level of graphic design output generated by the faculty. Klee’s design, titled Die erhabene Seite (The Sublime Side), suggests a philosophical depth beneath the functional form, indicating the artist’s lifelong interest in integrating spiritual concepts within abstract geometry. This important example of German Modernism, created in 1923, is currently held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. As with many seminal prints from this period, high-resolution images of the artwork are often made available for study and sometimes fall under public domain allowances.
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