Watercolour on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/paul-klee-1417" aria-label="More by Paul Klee" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Paul Klee</a>
A Young Ladys Adventure
Purchased 1946
abstraction
adults
animals: birds
bird - non-specific
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
figure
from recognisable sources
gender
male sexual organs - arrow
people
symbols and personifications
vulnerability
woman
<p>This watercolour was known as ‘The English Miss’ by students at The Bauhaus, the German art school where Klee taught. It has fairy-tale qualities, with the young woman in the centre seemingly trapped, by what one art critic called ‘oppressive spirits… The evil bird takes hold of her, while the arrow threatens to attack.’ Klee was known to use arrows in his work as a phallic symbol, so the 'young lady's adventure' referred to in the title could be sexual in nature.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2019</em></p>
paper unique watercolour
1 January 2002 – 31 March 2002
2002-03-31
1 January 2002 – 31 March 2002
2002-03-31
2002-01-01
Hayward Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.hayward-gallery.org.uk
2002-01-01
Paul Klee: Main Ways and Byways
Loan-out
16 October 2013 – 9 March 2014
2014-03-09
14 October 2013 – 9 March 2014
2014-03-09
2013-10-14
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2013-10-16
The EY Exhibition - Paul Klee: Making Visible
Exhibition
A Young Lady’s Adventure
support: 625 × 480 mm
frame: 686 × 510 × 20 mm
Purchased 1946
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<p>This watercolour was known as ‘The English Miss’ by students at The Bauhaus, the German art school where Klee taught. It has fairy-tale qualities, with the young woman in the centre seemingly trapped, by what one art critic called ‘oppressive spirits… The evil bird takes hold of her, while the arrow threatens to attack.’ Klee was known to use arrows in his work as a phallic symbol, so the 'young lady's adventure' referred to in the title could be sexual in nature.</p>
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Display caption
2019-10-04T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>Paul Klee</b><span> 1879-1940 </span>
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<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/klee-a-young-ladys-adventure-n05659" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05659</span></a> </span><b>A Young Lady's Adventure</b><span> 1922 </span>
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<p><span>Inscribed 'Klee' b.l.; also '1922/152' on mount b.l. and 'Abenteuer eines Fräuleins' b.r.</span>
<br/><span>Watercolour on paper, 17 1/4 x 12 5/8 (43.5 x 32)</span>
<br/><span>Purchased from Frau Lily Klee (Knapping Fund) 1946</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
Lent by the artist to the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Weimar, 1923-30; </span><i>Paul Klee 1879-1940</i><span>, National Gallery, London, December 1945-January 1946 (61); </span><i>Paul Klee 1879-1940</i><span>, Arts Council touring exhibition, 1946 (21, repr.)</span>
<br/><i>Lit:</i><span>
Christian Geelhaar, </span><i>Paul Klee and the Bauhaus</i><span>
(Bath 1973), p.54, repr. pl.23 in colour</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i><span>
</span><i>Cahiers d'Art</i><span>, 1945-6, p.33; Carola Giedion-Welcker, </span><i>Paul Klee</i><span> (London 1952), p.46; John Rothenstein, </span><i>The Tate Gallery</i><span> (London 1958), p.153 in colour </span>
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<p><span>Will Grohmann commented on this work (letter of 14 June 1953): 'Klee had a very distant relation to women and saw in general their comic side. This mannequin-like female figure must represent a fashionable lady, who in spite of her striking elegance is more or less helpless in face of the oppressive spirits. The evil bird takes hold of her, while the arrow threatens to attack. It is probably also a "Temptation". It is amusing to recall that this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a> was known at the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/b/bauhaus" title="Glossary definition for 'Bauhaus'"><span>Bauhaus</span></a> as "The English Miss".' </span>
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<p><span>Christian Geelhaar (loc. cit.), on the other hand, has tended to emphasise its erotic aspects, and has drawn attention to the significance of the arrow in various of Klee's works as a phallic symbol. 'Formally speaking this watercolour belongs to the group of </span><i>colour gradations</i><span>: into the olive-green grades are set red accents and these explain the nature of the maidenly adventure: in the area of tension between the red sex of the small preying animal below on the left and the young girl's lap a red shaft of lightning is discharged.' </span>
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<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.387-8, reproduced p.387</span>
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Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction adults animals: birds bird - non-specific emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas figure from recognisable sources gender male sexual organs - arrow people symbols and personifications vulnerability woman