Paul Klee
Traveling Circus
1936
Scroll
Paul Klee
Traveling Circus
1936
Physical Qualities
Mixed media on canvas, 25 1/2 x 19 3/4 in. (64.8 x 50.2 cm.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Saidie A. May
Object Number
1951.317
In Klee’s whimsical Traveling Circus, a one-eyed clown wearing a sombrero, a female acrobat, and a donkey appear before a circus tent with pennants flying. The artist uses subtle colors and a stippled technique to create this nocturnal scene. It is hard to reconcile the childlike playfulness of the drawing with the political events of 1937. During that year, Nazis seized 102 of Klee’s works from museums and collections throughout Germany, and included seventeen of these works in the Degenerate Art exhibition at the Haus der Kunst in Munich. Perhaps Traveling Circus alludes to the artist’s own unsettled situation, as he had been forced to leave Germany and was living in Swiss exile at the time of its creation.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest 1951; The Baltimore Museum of Art on extended loan, 1941-1951; Saidie A. May, by purchase 1940; from Buchholz Gallery/Curt Valentin, New York, by purchase; from the artist through Gallerie Simon, Paris
Galerie Simon, Paris, "Paul Klee", January 24th-February 2nd, 1938, no. 7.
Buchholz Gallery, NY, "Klee: Paintings", 1938.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Century of Baltimore Collecting", June 6-September 1,1941, no. 94.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Saidie A. May Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture", March 17-April 16, 1950, cat. 57, ill. p. 13.
Fort Worth Art Center, "Inaugural Exhibition", 1954.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Themes and Variations", April 16-May 23, 1948, no. 80.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "4000 Years of Modern Art", November 27, 1956-January 13,1957, cat. 112, ill. p. 31; circulated through June 1957.
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, "All About the Circus", August 4-August 30,1959, cat. 28, ill. p. 12; circulated to California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco.
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, "The Image Lost and Found", (inaugural exhibition), May 14-August 28, 1960.
Denver Art Museum, "Paul Klee in Review", April 7-May 5, 1963, cat. 39, ill.
Gertrude Rosenthal, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works by European and American Artists", October 22-December 8,1968, cat. 118, ill. p. 141.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "20th Century European Paintings and Scupture", July 9-September 23,1969.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Saidie A. May Collection", April 6-November 22,1972, p. 83, ill.
Helen Molesworth and Katy Rothkopf, BMA, "European Abstraction from the Collection 1912-1948", February 28-December 2, 2001.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, "Impressionism to Surrealism from The Baltimore Museum of Art. Selections from the Collection of Claribel and Etta Cone, Saidie Adler May and Blanche Adler", February 8-April 21, 2002, cat. 6, p. 16. ill.
"Klee and America", The Neue Galerie, NY, March 1-May 31, 2006; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 1 June-10 September 2006; The Menil Collection, Houston, TX, 1 October 1 2006-14 January 2007.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Circus Family: Picasso to Léger", February 22-May 17, 2009.
Buchholz Gallery, NY, "Klee: Paintings", 1938.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Century of Baltimore Collecting", June 6-September 1,1941, no. 94.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Saidie A. May Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture", March 17-April 16, 1950, cat. 57, ill. p. 13.
Fort Worth Art Center, "Inaugural Exhibition", 1954.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Themes and Variations", April 16-May 23, 1948, no. 80.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "4000 Years of Modern Art", November 27, 1956-January 13,1957, cat. 112, ill. p. 31; circulated through June 1957.
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, "All About the Circus", August 4-August 30,1959, cat. 28, ill. p. 12; circulated to California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco.
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, "The Image Lost and Found", (inaugural exhibition), May 14-August 28, 1960.
Denver Art Museum, "Paul Klee in Review", April 7-May 5, 1963, cat. 39, ill.
Gertrude Rosenthal, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works by European and American Artists", October 22-December 8,1968, cat. 118, ill. p. 141.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "20th Century European Paintings and Scupture", July 9-September 23,1969.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Saidie A. May Collection", April 6-November 22,1972, p. 83, ill.
Helen Molesworth and Katy Rothkopf, BMA, "European Abstraction from the Collection 1912-1948", February 28-December 2, 2001.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, "Impressionism to Surrealism from The Baltimore Museum of Art. Selections from the Collection of Claribel and Etta Cone, Saidie Adler May and Blanche Adler", February 8-April 21, 2002, cat. 6, p. 16. ill.
"Klee and America", The Neue Galerie, NY, March 1-May 31, 2006; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 1 June-10 September 2006; The Menil Collection, Houston, TX, 1 October 1 2006-14 January 2007.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Circus Family: Picasso to Léger", February 22-May 17, 2009.
Sylvia Shipley, "Travelling Circus," Baltimore Museum of Art News, April 1945, p. 4-6, ill.
The Baltimore Museum of Art News, “Catalogue of the Saidie A. May Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture,” March, 1950, cat. 57, p. 16, ill. p.13.
Will Grohmann, "Paul Klee," NY: Harry N. Abrams, 1954, p. 293, ill. p. 325.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Picture Book," 1955, ill. p. 73.
Zauho PRess, ed., "Klee, L'Art Moderne du Monde," Tokyo: Shueisha, 1971, vol. 13, ill. p. 50.
Thomas H. Messer, "Paul Klee at The Baltimore Museum of art," "Annual IV: Studies in Honor of Gertrude Rosenthal, Part Two," Baltimore Museum of Art, 1972, p. 39, ill. p. 70.
J. H. Cone, "Saidie A. May Collection, " "Baltimore Museum of Art Record," 3:1, 1972, p. 53.
Guy Hubard, "Art in Action," San Diego: Coronado, 1986.
Josef Helfenstein and Elizabeth Hutton Turner, ed. "Klee and America." Ostfilfern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2006, 141, ill.
Susan Helen Adler, "Saidie May Pioneer of Early 20th Century Collecting" Baltimore: Stonehouse Design, 2008, p. 212.
Rosenthal, Gertrude, ed. From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works by European and American Artists. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1968, pp. 141, ill.
