A new type of women started to appear in Germany during 1920-1930s and unlike his previous work, Klee began to create works, which related to this new type of modern woman. This paper is a study of Klee’s image of New women in the 1920-1930s, and reflects on Klee’s professional achievements and his perception of these times, based on their social background, which was reflected on the shapes of the ‘New women’ that he portrayed.
The labor power shortage that resulted in the aftermath of the First World War provided women with employment opportunities and they were therefore able to actively contribute to the economy. Klee recognized the fact that the female gender role that had been limited to being a wife and mother at home, changed drastically as women participated more in politics and social activities. This was illustrated by the diverse images and activities of contemporary women in the performing arts, and portrayed in magazines, newspapers, and film.
The liberation of bodies was expressed through dance or gymnastics and the social atmosphere of the time promoted the performances of modern female dancers. Consequently, there was a significant increase in the number of new women who enjoyed dancing and this led to the production of a large number of dance studios and professional dancers. Klee’s images of dancing women shown in his works at the beginning of the 1920s were formed using mysterious and erotic shapes and vibrant lines. However, towards the end of the decade, expressionistic and dark black lines were more prevalent in his dance related works. Clearly repeating straight lines and curves produced geometric and pictorial structures, which expressed perfectly the dynamic motions of dancing women. The 1920s in particular can be said to have been an innovative period of expressionistic dances, and dancers expressed the inner world of human emotions through free movements.
The leaping dancers produced by Klee could also be connected to the gymnastics performed at the Bauhaus. At that time, gymnastics was seen as a link between pop culture and the practice of high class art. Overwhelmingly, many participants in gymnastics were women who embraced pop culture and saw themselves as being popular modern women. During the late 1920s, Klee focused on jumping and shifting shapes while concentrating on the creation of geometric abstraction, which meant that the geometrically simplified shapes lost their concreteness and comprised of crosses of planes. Therefore, the gymnastic rhythms that appeared in Klee’s works emphasized movements based on the geometric body shapes, which were connected to an observance of the participants in physical activities.

Ⅰ. 서론
 Ⅱ. 1920-1930년대 사회적 배경과 신여성의 등장
  1. 바이마르 공화국의 문화
  2. 바이마르 시기의 신여성상
 Ⅲ. 신여성과 신체해방
  1. 신여성과 댄스
  2. 신여성과 바우하우스 체조
 Ⅳ. 결론

• 최연희(숙명여자대학교) | Choi YeonHee