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)

Paul Klee

Senecio, 1922. Oil on canvas mounted on panel. Kunstmuseum, Basel.

This adaptation of the human face is divided by color into rectangles. Flat geometric squares are held within a circle representing a masked face and displaying the multi-colored costume of a harlequin. A portrait of the artist-performer Senecio, it can be seen as a symbol of the shifting relationship between art, illusion and the world of drama. This painting demonstrates Klee's principles of art, in which the graphic elements of line, color planes and space are set in motion by an energy from the artist's mind. In his imaginative doodlings, he liked, in his own words, to 'take a line for a walk'.

From 1921 to 1931 he was a brilliant teacher at the Bauhaus school of design, publishing many writings on his theory of art. Two years later the Nazis exiled him from Germany, when over 100 of his works were removed from German galleries as 'degenerate.' (Butler, Van Cleave, Stirling)

Johann Zoffany

Charles Towneley's Library in Park Street, 1783. Oil on canvas. Towneley Hall Art Gallery, Burnley

Marble athletes, nymphs, gods, goddesses and portrait busts are crammed into the library of the collector. Towneley, seated in the chair on the right, his faithful dog at this feet, is surrounded by fellow antiquaries and connoisseurs. The elegant library contains all the accouterments of the cultured 18th century gentleman with highly refined tastes. The bust of Clytie on the desk is said to have been such a favorite of his that he referred to it as his wife. German by birth, Zoffany (1733-1810) travelled and studied extensively in Italy. He met Towneley in Florence and the 2 men became close friends. Zoffany arrived in London in 1760 and set up as a painter of portraits, interiors and theatrical scenes. In 1783, he went to India where he made his fortune painting portraits. (Butler, Van Cleave and Stirling)

When I first looked at this painting, it was hard to tell who was real and who was a sculpture... it struck me as humorous. Surrounding one's self with all that sculpture would maybe combat loneliness. :) On the flip side, Mr. Towneley was obviously a man of information, wealth and a serious art collector.