Willi Baumeister

Baumeister. Gouache, 1923. Private collection.

He was born in Stuttgart, 1889 and is the least German and possibly, the most European of the German painters. He was active during the German Expressionism movement but his paintings did not reflect that style at all. Instead, one can notice Neo-Plasticism, Constructivism, African or Aztec art, speleology, prehistory and calligraphy.
During the war, prohibited from teaching by the Hitler regime, Baumeister began to devote himself to scientific research on color, and became passionately absorbed in the study of prehistoric archaeology. This influence was infused in his work. He has been compared to Legerr and Miro. (Samuelson, Kaplan, Hart and Marchutz)