Paul Klee Notebooks, Vol. 2: The Nature of Nature CD-ROM

San Francisco, Calif.: Wittenborn Art Books, 2014. Recent Publication.. First digital edition, fully searchable PDF on CD-ROM. 534 pages. Edited by Jurg SpillerTranslated by Heinz Norden from 'Unendliche Naturgeschichte' The Documents of Modern Art Series, Vol. 17. This second volume of Klee's notebooks follows on where volume one left off, and comprises essentially the notes and illustrations for the 'General system of pictorial media combined with nature study' on which Klee lectured at the Bauhaus in the winter of 1923/4. It overlaps with and complements the material included in the first volume, but it is not limited to the lecture notes proper for the years 1923/4. Related material, problems and notes from Klee's other papers have also been included where they help to develop particular arguments.During the period at the Bauhaus covered by the two volumes, Klee was preoccupied in his teaching with the same themes, to which he returned again and again, but the emphasis differed, and in this volume the emphasis is on the study of nature as a starting point for the creative processes of the artist. The combination of facsimile pages from the artist's lecture notes and drawings and reproductions of the artist's works points up the enormously fertile dialogue between the didactic and introspective side of Klee's career and his own creative output. In addition to the wealth of formal examples reproduced, the volume includes 243 reproductions of the artist's works, fifteen of them in full color- making a total of over 600 illustrations. A unique and immensely valuable feature of the English language edition is the bibliography by Bernard Karpel of the Museum of Modern Art, New York which has been specially commissioned for this volume. It contains 629 entries of writings by and about the artist. New.