Comedy of Birds (Vogelkomödie)

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Original lithograph, signed with copy pen in the lower corner. Published by Franz Seraph Hanfstaengl in Munich 1918 for the portfolio,25 Original Lithographs by the Munich New Secession' (25 Original-Lithographien der Münchener Neuen Secession). Printed on,van Gelder zonen paper'. The edition of the portfolio was only 50 copies (including 5 on Japan paper and 45 on van Gelder Zonen or Stratford "Bütten" papers). The lithograph,comedy of birds' was created by Paul Klee for the portfolio,25 Original Lithographs by the Munich New Secession'. It is based on two superimposed drawings. One of them in the background a horizontally positioned figure with raised arms and the other, in the foreground, a treelike structure surrounded by cloud-like forms and populated by figures, heads and birds. Paul klee has created this lithograph in 1918, in the last year of the First world War, while he was serving in the military in Southern Germany. He was lucky that his superiors gave him plenty of free time to work artistically while he was in the military. Recent research suggests, that he was referring here to the ancient Greek comedy,The Birds' by Aristophanes. The theme of this ancient Greek is the influencing of the uneducated masses by demagogues. During the First World War Paul klee experienced the consequences of this firsthand. The graphic has undergone a careful restoration. Stains in the paper have been removed and a tear on the bottom right (below the bird) has been carefully repaired.