Kandinsky and Klee in Tunisia

Name: Kandinsky and Klee in Tunisia
Brand: Unknown
SKU: 9780520283657
Price: 94.99 NZD
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By Cristina Ashjian and Roger Benjamin

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Summary

Kandinsky and Klee in Tunisia examines crucial artistic journeys that shaped European modernism. It contrasts Wassily Kandinsky and Gabriele Münter's 1904–05 expedition, rich in painting and photography, with Paul Klee's 1914 breakthrough trip alongside August Macke and Louis Moilliet. Through close study of Tunisian cities, the book explores the intersection of colonial culture, visual ethnography, and Islamic architecture, revealing how these voyages influenced the European avant-garde in dialogue with cultural difference.
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Format: Hardback

$94⁹⁹

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Kandinsky and Klee in Tunisia

$94⁹⁹

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers interested in arts and culture, particularly those fascinated by European modernism, colonial history, and cultural encounters in early 20th-century North Africa.

Offers an understanding of how the European avant-garde was formed in dialogue with cultural difference. This book looks closely at the cities of Tunis, Sousse, Hammamet, and Kairouan to flesh out a profound confrontation between European high modernism and the wealth of Islamic lifeways and architecture.

Description

Paul Klee experienced his 1914 trip to Tunisia as a major breakthrough for his art: "Colour and I are one," he famously wrote. "I am a painter." Kandinsky and Klee in Tunisia sets the scene for Klee's breakthrough with a close study of the parallel voyage undertaken in 1904–5 by Wassily Kandinsky and Gabriele Münter, who would later become Klee's friends.

This artist couple, then at an early stage in their celebrated careers, produced a rich body of painting and photography known only to specialists. Paul Klee's 1914 trip with August Macke and Louis Moilliet, in contrast, is a vaunted convergence of cubism and the exotic.

Roger Benjamin refigures these two seminal voyages in terms of colonial culture and politics, the fabric of ancient Tunisian cities, visual ethnography, and the tourist photograph. The book looks closely at the cities of Tunis, Sousse, Hammamet, and Kairouan to flesh out a profound confrontation between European high modernism and the wealth of Islamic lifeways and architecture.

Kandinsky and Klee in Tunisia offers a new understanding of how the European avant-garde was formed in dialogue with cultural difference.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

MAURICE RUMMENS praises the book as essential reading for understanding the art inspired by these journeys, highlighting its sensitive exploration, extensive sources, fieldwork, and accessible writing.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780520283657

Publisher: University of California Press

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 18 August 2015

Country: United States

Imprint: University of California Press

Illustration: 79 color, 46 b-w, 2 maps

Audience: Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 20.0mm

Width: 178.0mm

Height: 254.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 248

Collections

Arts & Culture Cristina Ashjian Non-Fiction Roger Benjamin

About the Author

Roger Benjamin is Professor of Art History at the University of Sydney. His notable publications include the prize-winning Orientalist Aesthetics: Art, Colonialism, and French North Africa, 1880--1930. In 1995 he co-curated Matisse for the Queensland Art Gallery, and in 1997 his exhibition Orientalism: Delacroix to Klee was held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. He is former Director of the Power Institute at the University of Sydney. Cristina Ashjian is an independent scholar based in New England, where she is chair of the Moultonborough Heritage Commission. She earned her MA in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute, London, and as German Chancellor Fellow at the University of Munich in 1995--96 she researched her doctoral dissertation, "Representing 'scenes et types': Wassily Kandinsky in Tunisia, 1904--1905." She has collaborated on the research for Kandinsky and Klee in Tunisia.