The Thinking Eye. The Notebooks of Paul Klee. Volume I.

First digital edition of this classic of art and philosophy, now in a searchable format.

'The writings which compose Paul Klee's theory of form
production and pictorial form have the same importance and
the same meaning for modern art as had Leonardo's writings
which composed his theory of painting for Renaissance art.
Like the latter, they do not constitute a true and proper
treatise, that is to say a collection of stylistic and technical
rules, but are the result of an introspective analysis which
the artist engages in during his work and in the light of the
experience of reality which comes to him in the course of
his work. This analysis which accompanies and controls the
formation of a work of art is a necessary component of the
artistic process, the aim and the finality of which are brought
to light by it . . .'

So writes Giulio Carlo Argan in his Preface to this first
volume of Klee's notebooks. The backbone of his Bauhaus
courses was provided by the lecture notes contained in
'Contributions to a Theory of Pictorial Form' which are here
published in their entirety. From more than 2,500 pages of the
notebooks (consisting of memoranda, teaching projects,
constructive drawings, and sketches for his pictures) it has
been possible to reconstruct additional courses of instruction.
Also included are the 'Creative Credo', 'Ways of Nature
Study', the Jena lecture of 1924 and the essay' Exact
Experiments in the Realm of Art'.

The volume includes a magnificent collection of over one
thousand drawings which illustrate the notes, as well as
188 half-tone illustrations, eight of these reproduced in full color.