Klemm, Rudi Lot n° 3263

(1904 Stuttgart 1955). Icarus falls. Silhouette in several parts in black, white a. red on blue paper, c. 1953. 48 x 34 cm. At the lower. Glued to paper at the lower corners. Verso inscribed and dated by Klemm's widow Anneliese. "Rudi Klemm 1953". From the estate of Rudi Klemm, then private property Southern Germany. Rudi Klemm studied architecture and interior design at the Kunstgewerbeschule Stuttgart 1922-24, later at the academy there. After a stay in Berlin in 1925/26 as an architect in the studio of Professor de Vries, he turned to animation and animated film. From 1927 to 1933 he worked as a chief draughtsman and cameraman for Julius Pinschewer in Berlin (Pinschewer Film AG). There he made several silhouette films, among them Die chinesische Nachtigall (1929), the first advertising clay film ever. From 1949 onwards, he designed advertising, cartoon, drawing and puppet films as well as coloured silhouettes as children's book illustrations in his own studio in Stuttgart (cf. beyars.com). "A large part of the coloured silhouettes arose from the need to give fairy tale illustration in particular a different, new face. Since my actual field of work is the production of animated films and commercials, it is only natural that the precise form of the animated film technique is also reflected in the works shown here." (Rudi Klemm in the flyer for his exhibition at the Amerikahaus Stuttgart, 1951). Both in terms of the overall composition and in the choice of colors, Klemm's silhouette is strongly reminiscent of Matisse's famous Icare (created 1943/44, published in Jazz in 1947). ╔Henri Matisse╗ discovered the technique of ╔gouaches decoupées╗ for himself in 1943 and made it his preferred means of expression. D