Willi Baumeister International

Home , Edward Wadsworth, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Max Ackermann, Willi Baumeister

Willi Baumeister and European Modernism 1920s–1950s

November, 21, 2014 — March, 29, 2015

With works on loan by Willi Baumeister and Hans Arp, Julius Bissier, Carlo Carrá, Marc Chagall, Albert Gleizes, Roberta Gonzalez, Camille Graeser, Hans Hartung, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Franz Krause, Le Corbusier, Fernand Léger, El Lissitzky, August Macke, Otto Meyer-Amden, Juan Miro, László Moholy-Nagy, Amédée Ozenfant, Pablo Picasso, Oskar Schlemmer, Kurt Schwitters, Michel Seuphor, Gino Severini, Zao Wou-Ki

From the Daimler Art Collection: Hans Arp, Willi Baumeister, Max Bill, Camille Graeser, Otto Meyer-Amden, Oskar Schlemmer, George Vantongerloo

Daimler Contemporary Berlin Potsdamer Platz Berlin Introduction Renate Wiehager

Stuttgart artist Willi Baumeister (1889–1955) is one of the The collection comprises, among others, paintings by Wassily From the outset the Daimler Art Collection has, in both its most important German artists of the postwar period and Kandinsky, Hans Arp, Fernand Léger, and Kazimir Malevich. conception and its aims, gone well beyond mere corporate- among the most significant representatives of abstract paint- The focus of the exhibition is on central groups of works by image enhancement. In fact, over the years the collection ing. His influence as an avant-garde artist, as a professor at Willi Baumeister, ranging from his constructivist phase to the has become a living part of the corporation. Since it was the Frankfurt Municipal School for Applied Arts and after Mauerbilder and the late Montaru paintings as well as the inaugurated in 1977 – with the acquisition of a picture by 1946 at the Stuttgart Academy, and as a major art theoreti- Afrika series. They offer an overview of the development of Willi Baumeister – the inventory has grown to about 2,600 cian could be felt far beyond Germany. Baumeister’s oeuvre and at the same time demonstrate his works today by some 700 German and international male international reputation. The works will be supplemented by and female artists. The collection represents an important From early on, Baumeister was in close contact with French archival materials such as letters, newspaper articles, and range of predominantly abstract developments in art and artists and exhibited his works in Italy, Spain, France, and unpublished photographs that impressively illustrate the high pictorial conceptions from the 20th century to the present Switzerland. He could seamlessly resume these contacts degree to which he was recognized both in Germany and day. Moreover, it includes some 30 large pieces of sculpture, after the Second World War. The exhibition retraces his inter- abroad. Together they reveal the multifaceted image of an automobile-related works done on commission as well as an national relations to gallerists, collectors and art historians. artist who engaged in an intense exchange with the interna- inventory of international photography and object- and media It will, for the first time, present parts of his private art col- tional art scene before and after the Second World War. art that has been built up systematically since 2001. lection, which he assembled through swapping his own works for paintings by his artist friends.

Willi Baumeister packing works for his exhibition at the Gallery Jeanne Bucher 2 Paris, 1949 3 f.l.: Willi Baumeister, Hans Arp, Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart f.l.: Adolf Fleischmann, Josef Albers Both: Installation views, ‘Art from a hundred years 1909–2009’, Museum und Galerie im Prediger, 2009

Since the 1999 inauguration of the company’s own exhibition a dialogue with less recently acquired works. Since 2003 a space – Daimler Contemporary at Haus Huth on Potsdamer rotating selection of some 150 works at a time has gone Platz in Berlin – the systematic expansion of the collection on tour worldwide through major museums in Europe, the has been attentively followed by an international public. United States, South Africa, South America and Asia. New acquisitions for the Daimler Art Collection are presented there as well as internally, in Stuttgart, Berlin and Sindel fingen, in themed rotating exhibitions, where they enter into Installation view, ‘Novecento mai visto’, Brescia, 2013 4 5 f.l.: Ben Willikens, Josef Albers, Hans Arp f.l.: Oskar Schlemmer, Josef Albers, Camille Graeser, Johannes Itten

Installation view, ‘Art & Stars & Cars’, Mercedes-Benz Museum, 6 Stuttgart, 2011 7 In its early days the Daimler Art Collection focused mainly on pictures and particularly on artists from southern Germany, notably those connected with the Stuttgart Art Academy, including Adolf Hölzel and his pupils Oskar Schlemmer, Willi Baumeister, Johannes Itten, Ida Kerkovius, Camille Graeser and Max Ackermann, but also – extended to the European level – Hans Arp, Georges Vantongerloo, Otto Meyer-Amden and Max Bill. What they all had in common was an artistically motivated interest in establishing an interdisciplinary dialogue between fine art, functional product design, architecture and aesthetic theory. Linking up with this founding principle, the Daimler Art Collection is, despite its broad scope, clearly f.l.: Adolf Hölzel, Oskar Schlemmer, Willi Baumeister anchored in the ‘Classical : Modern’ exhibition and publication series, the first part of which, in 2006, introduced the concrete and constructivist tendencies of early modernist art up to the post-war era by drawing primarily on the collection itself.

All: Installation views, ‘Classical : Modern I’, 8 f.l.: Willi Baumeister, Oskar Schlemmer, Ida Kerkovius Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, 2006 9 Renate Wiehager (Ed.): Kurt Leonhard, f.l.: Georg Meistermann, Fritz Winter, Willi Baumeister, Installation Cover ‘Avantgarden in Süddeutschland view, ‘Classical : Modern II’, Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, 2008 nach 1945’, Hatje Cantz 2012

The second part of the series, in 2008, focused on the avant- horizons that are intimately connected with south-west Ger- garde tendencies of post-war southern Germany. In 2012 this man art after 1945. In keeping with the focal point of our was followed by the third part of the series: a first compre- collection as it has evolved over the years, the exhibition hensive appreciation of Kurt Leonhard (‘Avantgarden in Süd- ‘Willi Baumeister International’ will go on to Berlin at Daimler deutschland nach 1945’; all related publications can be Contemporary in 2014/15 as the best possible sequel. obtained via www.art.daimler.com). Texts by Kurt Leonhard – art critic, lyric poet, philosopher, translator and curator who died in 2004 and was a close friend of Willi Baumeister’s – All: Installation views, ‘Willi Baumeister International’, and by Ottomar Domnick open up art-historical and historical Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, 2013–14

10 11 All: Installation views, ‘Willi Baumeister International’, Kunstmuseum12 Stuttgart, 2013–14 13 Willi Baumeister International Ilka Voermann and Hadwig Goez

More than most artists, Willi Baumeister is perceived as a exhibited there and he participated in the international de- At the outset of Willi Baumeister’s career ‘international’ German painter. This is particularly true of his late work, bates on art. meant France in the first instance. Like so many other young which is inextricably linked with the art history of post-war artists of his generation, Willi Baumeister was enthusiastic Germany. This perception is not completely erroneous be- about Paul Cézanne and the French Impressionists. His early cause Willi Baumeister was indeed strongly rooted in Ger- work is clearly indebted to both. In 1910 works of his were many, especially in his native Stuttgart, which he had left shown at the Württemberg Art Association along with those only while he was a professor at the School of Decorative of both French and German artists and received critical ac- Arts in Frankfurt am Main (now the Städelschule) and for claim. He had his first international success two years later, brief periods during the Second World War. This impression is in Switzerland, when the Galerie Neupert in Zurich showed reinforced by the fact that he championed abstract art in his work alongside that of Hermann Huber and Reinhold Germany after 1945, which made him a guiding spirit in the Kündig.1 Still it would be ten years before notice was taken of debate about the future of German art after the Second his work in France as well. World War. For all that, classifying Willi Baumeister solely as a leading German painter falls far short of his significance. He was deeply rooted in the international art scene and bound by close ties to it both before and after the Second World War. He was in contact with artists, art critics and Junge am Landungssteg [Boy on a Landing Stage], 1909 Oil on cardboard, glued on the back with paper collectors in Europe and beyond Europe; his works were Wall Picture at the space of the architect Richard Döcker, 14 Werkbund-Exhibition in Stuttgart 1922 15 Ohne Titel (Figurentreppe I) Apoll II, 1921/22 [Untitled (Staircase of Figures I], 1920 Lithograph Lithograph

During the early 1920s figuration continued to yield to simple within the international avant-garde. His work was also made geometric forms in Baumeister’s painting. Now Baumeister known in France through a positive article by Paul Ferdinand realigned himself with different role models, this time the Schmidt that was published in the ‘Kunstblatt’3 in 1921 and Russian Constructivists and the Dutch group of artists known a joint exhibition with Fernand Léger at the Der Sturm gallery as De Stijl.2 This was the context in which he developed his in Berlin in 1922. In addition an essay by Waldemar George own artistic stance, with the Wall Pictures featuring a unique on Baumeister’s painting was printed (also in 1922) in the blend of painting and architecture. Although the Wall Picture journal ‘L’Esprit Nouveau’, published by Le Corbusier and idea was in fact realized only once, in the room designed by Amédée Ozenfant.4 The Waldemar article was Baumeister’s the architect Richard Döcker at the 1922 Werkbund exhibi- first contact with the French art scene and would be followed tion in Stuttgart, this work definitively positioned Baumeister up by a number of important events.5 Kopf [Head], 1920 Kopf [Head], 1920 Oil, graphite and sand on canvas Oil and sand on cardboard 16 17 Atelierbild [Studio Picture], 1925 Oil on canvas

Maschinenbild [Machine Picture], 1924 Oil on canvas

Drei gestaffelte Figuren [Three Staggered Figures], 1920 Oil, tempera and papier-mâché on canvas

Apoll und der Maler [Apollo and the Painter], 1921 Oil on canvas Figur mit Streifen II [Figure with Stripes II], 1920 Figur mit Prismafarben [Figure with Prism Colors], 1924 Oil and papier-mâché on canvas Oil and sand on canvas 18 19 In 1924 Ozenfant and Le Corbusier, with whom Baumeister had been corresponding regularly, invited him to Paris, where he met many other artists, including Piet Mondrian, Hans Arp and Fernand Léger. The following year saw Baumeister’s work presented for the first time to the French public, at ‘L’Art d’aujourd’hui’, where it met with a very positive response. By 1927 the Galerie d’Art Contemporain had dedicated a solo show to Baumeister, his first in Paris. Willi Baumeister had indeed succeeded in gaining a firm Group picture in Paris 1926, Fernand Léger and Willi Baumeister, Paris 1930 Kreisbild I [Circle Image I], 1921 Second from left: Max Ackermann, sixth from left: Enrico Prampolini, Oil and graphite on canvas foothold in the Paris art scene. How unusual his success in seventh from left: Willi Baumeister, third from right: Adolf Loos, second France was cannot be overstated at this juncture. On the from right: Piet Mondrian, far right: Michel Seuphor whole German artists found it very difficult to be taken notice of at all in France after the First World War. Relations between the French and German art scenes were notable due above all to his painting, which was perceived as ‘un- other hand, was “a form of world art and a collective for seething tensions, and the art produced by Germans German’. In his 1931 essay ‘Baumeister et l’art allemand’, style”.7 tended to be classified by the French as rather backward.6 Waldemar George stressed the fact that German painting That Willi Baumeister should have been the one to garner was so strongly dominated by Expressionism that mystical Exhibition Willi Baumeister at the Gallery d’Art rave reviews from French artists and art critics alike was romantic overtones persisted. Baumeister’s art, on the Contemporain Paris, 1927

20 21 FEHLT Baumeister’s success on the international art scene was duly noted in Germany and admired, especially by his fellow artists. Wassily Kandinsky wrote to Baumeister in 1931: “About a year ago I was in Paris briefly and noticed while there, too, that the French are very much interested in you. And there are only very few German artists who are taken seriously there, which, after all (between you and me), is hardly sur- Group picture at the Bauhaus Weimar Oskar Schlemmer and Willi 1925, top left: Herbert Bayer, top right: prising. And for the following reason: what is easy for a Baumeister, Frankfurt am 1932 Maler mit Palette [Painter Walter Gropius, beneath: Willi with Palette], 1929 Frenchman is difficult for a German artist – crossing the Baumeister, second row left outside: Oil and sand on canvas Oskar Schlemmer, bottom right with 8 border.” Baumeister’s appointment to a professorship for raised hand: Josef Albers commercial art, typography, textile printing and photography at the Municipal School of Applied Arts in Frankfurt am Main in 1928 can also be put down to his international reputation.9 also constantly reverted to earlier themes, including Der wrote the first Baumeister monograph for thePeintres Nou- Maler [The Painter], and developed them further. Nor did veaux series10 and the ‘Sélection’11 series of artist mono- In the 1930s Baumeister’s work was shaped by numerous his success in Paris wane. In 1930 the Galerie Bonaparte graphs devoted a volume to him. Le Corbusier congratulated parallel trends. That decade saw him produce very different mounted a solo show of Baumeister’s most recent work and him on this success in a letter dated 16 February 1931: “I am Der Maler mit groups of works, such as the Little Flame and Line Pictures, the following year saw the publication of two important delighted to see the strong performance of your works as- Punkten [Painter with Points], 1932 the Sport Pictures II and the Valltorta Pictures. Baumeister French monographs devoted to his work: Will Grohmann sembled here. All this is enormously pictorial. Your drawings Oil on canvas

22 23 are very fine. Since you started out in 1920 you have circulation: he sent Westerdahl a list of addresses to which exhibition, with essays by Albert Sartoris, an architect who been both sound and interesting. The future is bound to he was to dispatch the monograph.16 The list included both curated the exhibition, and Eduardo Westerdahl.18 Distin- be yours.”12 the names of numerous fellow artists as well as the ad- guished fellow artists such as Le Corbusier and Wassily Kan- dresses of international galleries. That is how the Westerdahl dinsky also contributed dedications to the catalogue. Initially The Baumeister monograph that Will Grohmann had written monograph reached the Casa d’Arte Bragaglia gallery in it seemed doubtful whether Baumeister would be as success- in French was not only of great importance to his success in Rome and the Galleria del Milione in Milan, where it piqued ful in Italy as he had been in France. Reservations about France but also opened doors for him in Spain and Italy. the interest of Gino Ghiringhelli, the proprietor, who organ- non-representational art were in any case considerably more Since 1932 Willi Baumeister had been in contact with Ed- ized a Baumeister exhibition in 1935, which subsequently prevalent in Italy than in France. Kandinsky wrote to uardo Westerdahl, a Spanish art critic who was general editor went to the Casa d’Arte Bragaglia in Rome. One can only Kleine Flammen [Small Flames], 1931 Flämmchenbild [Flamelet Picture], Baumeister about this circumstance: “I am delighted that you Oil on canvas 1931 of the journal ‘gaceta de arte’ on Tenerife. From 1932 to imagine how overjoyed Baumeister must have been about his Oil on canvas are exhibiting in Milan because interest was aroused there. It 1938 it was a leading forum for the Spanish art scene.13 continuing success abroad. would also seem to be spreading elsewhere in Italy. Only, Baumeister had sent a copy of the Grohmann monograph to when the acquisition of his painting Atelier III [Studio III], by unfortunately, really serious things are not always shown Westerdahl, who reviewed it in an issue of ‘gaceta de arte’.14 In view of the situation in his native Germany his joy must the Städtische Galerie in Frankfurt am Main was decried there, i.e., the ›Grimaces‹ re not always avoided. And I am Grohmann’s monograph and regular correspondence with have been great indeed. After the National Socialists came to by the press as a waste of taxpayers’ money.17 certain that your works will be very instructive there. So the Baumeister gave Westerdahl the idea of writing a book on the power in 1933 Baumeister had been dismissed from his best of success!”19 The reviews of the Baumeister exhibition German artist. The monograph was published in 1934 with a teaching post in Frankfurt and had returned to Stuttgart. As Hence he must have been all the happier about the prospect turned out, however, to be very positive. Nonetheless, foreword by Willi Baumeister.15 In this case, too, Baumeister early as 1930 he had had a taste of the anti-modernist mood of being able to exhibit his work for the first time in Italy. The Baumeister’s Constructivist works, which had met with such took an active role in ensuring that the book had a wide that was becoming widespread on the German art scene Galleria del Milione published a ‘Bollettino’ to accompany the acclaim in France especially, were less popular in Italy, where

24 25 the works in which he had returned more noticeably to figuration were preferred.20 Carlo Carrà, an artist whose attitude to abstraction tended to be rather negative, had only praise for the development: “Among the many examples of abstraction we are provided with internationally, Baumeister is dis- tinguished by his commitment to taking up stances that are more open-minded, more animated and humane than are usually encountered.”21 The highlight of Baumeister’s appear- ance in Milan was a talk he gave on his work a few days after the exhibition opened. Although he knew very little Italian, Baumeister managed to put across his arguments with the aid of explanatory drawings.22

Läufer mit sitzender Figur, 1934/35 Schreitende Figur [Striding Figure], 1934 Fliegende Formen [Flying Forms], 1937/38 Schwebende Formen mit Weiß [Floating Forms with White], [Runner with Sitting Figure] Oil and sand on canvas Stenciled shapes with printing ink on paper 1938 Oil and sand on canvas Oil on canvas

26 27 The exhibitions in Milan and Rome would remain some of the ists.24 ‘Twentieth Century German Art’, which opened at the few opportunities for years to come for Baumeister to pre- New Burlington Galleries in London in July 1938, can be sent his work abroad. The situation in Germany was looking viewed as representing an anti-agenda that was intended to considerably bleaker. In keeping with the National Socialist counter ‘Degenerate Art’. Baumeister was not unknown in arts policy, Baumeister’s works were removed from public London. At the suggestion of the painter Edward Wadsworth, collections and, along with numerous works by other pro- Baumeister had shown work at ‘Recent Paintings by English, scribed artists, shown at the notorious ‘Entartete Kunst’ French and German Artists’, an exhibition at the Mayor Gal- exhibition of ‘degenerate’ art, which toured Germany from lery in London in April 1933.25 1937. In 1941 Baumeister was forbidden to paint and to Baumeister had his last international exhibition before the show work. Despite this difficult situation he still managed Second World War in 1939 at Galerie Jeanne Bucher in Paris, to be a presence to be reckoned with abroad. In 1937 he a tribute to him that came about only through the unswerving showed work at ‘konstruktivisten’ at the Basle Kunsthalle. Formlinge II [Formlings II], 1937 Formlinge III [Formlings III], 1937 commitment to it shown by the gallerist Jeanne Bucher. Offset lithograph on Japanese paper Offset lithograph on Japanese paper What is more, he succeeded in sending about 90 works to the Kunsthalle in 1937 and 1938 for safekeeping, thus pre- venting the National Socialists from confiscating them.23 In 1937 the British poet and art critic Herbert Read informed Baumeister that he was planning an exhibition in London focusing on the work of artists vilified by the National Social- Tennisspieler mit Kreis [Tennis Players with Circle], 1934 Oil and sand on canvas 28 29 Ideogramm [Ideogram], 1937 Tori, 1938 Oil on cardboard Woodcut on paper

Tori, 1938, Oil on canvas

Illustration zu einer griechischen Text- Fotozeichnung [Illustration of a Greek Text-Photo-Drawing], 1944 30 31 Dialog-Zeichnungen mit Montage [Dialogue-Drawings Illustration zu einem griechischen Text, [Illustration Illustration zu einem griechischen Text [Illustration of with Montage], 1944 of a Greek Text], 1944 a Greek Text], 1944 oder 1947

All: Charcoal/oil crayon and collage with photo and reproduction on mould-made Ingres paper

In the years that followed Baumeister was severely restricted in his work by the prevailing conditions. He did manage to Afrikanische Erzählung [African Tale], 1942 Owambo, 1944-48 keep in contact with a few colleagues abroad but corre- Oil with synthetic resin and putty on cardboard Oil with synthetic resin, putty and sand on hardboard spondence with them often had to take place through devi- ous channels and third parties. Despite the adverse conditions Baumeister succeeded in continuing to work and to develop further within the framework of possibilities still open to him. During this period of ‘inner emigration’ he did some painting but also produced mainly cycles of drawings, Illustration zu einem griechischen Text [Illustration of a Greek Text], 32 1943 33 The end of the war ushered in a new wave of success for Willi Baumeister. By 1946 he had been appointed professor of painting at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. Both the French and the American occupying powers soon realized that Baumeister was a leading exponent of abstract art in Germany and viewed him as linking pre-war and post-war German art. Their high opinion of Baumeister was based above all on his having never abandoned the moral high Cover ‘Das Unbekannte in der Baumeister, curtain to Manuel de Fallas ground, his managing to continue working even during the Kunst’, Gustav Schwab Verlag, ‘Liebeszauber’ for the Stuttgarter Stuttgart 1947 Staatsoper, Cover ‘Der Spiegel’, Novem- period of ‘inner emigration’ and his maintaining contacts with ber 1947 the international art scene, which he renewed after the war. in which he addressed biblical themes and other narratives.26 On post-war visits to Paris Baumeister also forged important In 1942 or 1943 he began writing ‘Das Unbekannte in der new ties, including one with Nesto Jacometti, who was the Kunst’ [The Unknown in Art], which after the war ended co-founder of the journal ‘Guilde internationale de la gra- would become one of the most important theoretical works Willi Baumeister in his studio, Stuttgart 1947 Willi Baumeister with his daughter Krista, Stuttgart 1949 vure’, the British artist Stanley William Hayter, Fernand Grain- on abstract art in Germany.27 dorge, a collector, James Johnson Sweeney, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and even the writer Henry

34 35 Willi Baumeister in his apartment Gerokstraße, Willi Baumeister and Hans Arp, 1955 Stuttgart 1946

Miller. After 1945 Baumeister did his utmost to promote a year later Baumeister had his first post-war solo show, at cultural exchange, especially with France.28 In 1949 he took the Galerie Jeanne Bucher. That was the first exhibition any his Stuttgart students to Paris, where they visited French German artist had in France after the Second World War. artists and museums. The cultural reunion with France By then at the latest Baumeister had arrived in France once Funktion einer Form reached a high point in 1948, when Baumeister’s painting again. In 1948 he wrote in a letter to Michel Seuphor: “opéra Bewegung (auf Gelb), Jour heureux was presented to the French government to seal wrote: ›… baumeister, le picasso allemand …‹ that’s overdoing 1949 [Function of a (Form) 30 the reconciliation between France and Germany in exchange it a bit, un peu trop!” Movement (on Yellow)] for 90 French prints, which had been given to the Kunsthalle Oil with artificial resin, filler and sand on Karlsruhe by the Division de l’Education Publique.29 Only hardboard

36 37 Willi Baumeister, 1952

After 1945 Willi Baumeister’s range began to include coun- in 1952, at the Hacker Gallery in New York. He also had work tries outside Europe. Although the prewar avant-garde art in major group shows at the Guggenheim Museum and the scene had primarily concentrated on Europe, after the war Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh exhibition the importance of non-European art, especially American art, subsequently went on tour to San Francisco and, thanks to it, Ruhe und Bewegung II [Repose and movement], 1948 Metamorphose schwarz [Black Metamorphosis], 1950 grew by leaps and bounds. Long before, in 1926, Willi a major American museum acquired a Baumeister. Through Oil with artificial resin on hardboard Oil with synthetic resin on hardboard Baumeister had shown work at the ‘International Exhibition the agency of German-born curator Charlotte Weidler, the of Modern Art’ mounted by the Société Anonyme in New Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo acquiredWachstum York, but it was not until after 1945 that he was really appre- [Growth], in 1953. The painting is still there.31 ciated in the United States. He had his first US solo show

38 39 Montaru auf Rosa [Montaru on Pink], Wind, 1951 1953 Oil with synthetic resin and Oil with synthetic resin tempera on hardboard and filler on hardboard

40 41 While he was enjoying such success in the US, Baumeister also triumphed in Brazil, where he took part in the first São Paulo Biennal, in 1951. He was given the Biennal Special Award in São Paulo for the painting Kosmische Geste [Cosmic Gesture], which he promptly donated to the Museu de Arte Kessaua II, 1953 Moderna de São Paulo.32 In the 1950s Baumeister’s work Oil and synthetic resin on hardboard was shown at exhibitions worldwide. Apart from the Venice Biennale and the International Art Exhibition in Japan, it was the touring exhibitions initiated by the German Arts Council that made Baumeister famous around the world. The German Arts Council exhibitions took his work to South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and India.33 The importance of Baumeister’s work and his influence as

Schwarzer Fels mit an art theorist grew apace in Germany as well. His growing rötlichem Grund post-war reputation on all counts was triggered by his partici- [Black Rock with Monturi mit blauem Reddish Ground], pation in the 1950 ‘Darmstadt Discussions’, in which he Dreieck [Monturi with 1954 defended abstraction against arguments advanced by the art Blue Triangle], 1954 Oil with synthetic Oil with synthetic resin on hardboard historian Hans Sedlmayr. Baumeister’s hands-on committ- resin and sand

42 43 ARU, 1955 ARU-Linie [ARU-Line], 1955 Oil with synthetic resin on hardboard Oil with synthetic resin on hardboard

ment to the cause of abstract painting made him a trailblazer not been granted a visa. In 1950, however, he was elected for it in Germany and a role model for the younger generation president of the congress, which, under his stewardship, was of abstract German painters.34 held in the prehistoric caves at Altamira.35 On that occasion he finally managed to meet his old acquaintance Eduardo He also took part in debates abroad on the future of painting. Westerdahl for the first time. After the congress ended In 1950 he attended the second congress of the Escuela de Westerdahl, like so many other fellow artists, wrote a dedica-

Großes Montaru [Large Altamira, which had embarked on a mission of reviving mod- tion to Baumeister: “Twenty years later or Willi Baumeister. Montaru], 1953 ern art in Spain. In 1949 Baumeister had wanted to take part On visiting a museum in Germany a picture appeared to me. Oil with synthetic resin on hardboard in the first congress but was unable to do so because he had

44 45 Years later this picture would be the hand of a man who is developed with reference to the art of all times and peoples – full of genius and wit.”36 ranging from the Assyrians to Paul Klee, Kandinsky and Miró. And, sidestepping Expressionism, he resolutely went his own No other artist matched Willi Baumeister in taking up where very independent and distinctive way.”37 he had left off with the international success achieved before the Second World War. Nonetheless, the esteem he enjoyed in Germany after 1945 is inextricably linked to the international reputation he had had before the war. Baumeister’s international fame rested in great measure on his ability to make contacts and maintain those ties over long distances and under adverse circumstances as well as on the thrust of his work itself, which had been orientated towards the international avant-garde since the outset of his career. As Fernand Léger wrote on Baumeister’s painting in 1949: “As I see it the name Baumeister occupies an extremely important place among modern German artists. Indeed ARU auf Beige [ARU on Beige], 1955 ARU 1, 1954 Baumeister represents – when one considers his work – Oil with synthetic resin on hardboard Oil with synthetic resin on hardboard German art of an international character. His art has always

46 47 Endnotes

1 Dieter Schwarz, Baumeister und L’Esprit Nouveau, 15 (1922), pp. Will Grohmann, Pierre Flouquet, 12 »Je suis heureux de voir la belle 17 Padberg 2005 (see note 2), p. 58. 24 Letter from Herbert Read to Willi 29 Ibid., p. 20. 33 See the numerous Deutscher die Schweiz, in: Willi Baumeister: 1790–94. Waldemar George, Hans Arp, Karl tenue de vos œuvres, ici rassemb- Baumeister, 30 October 1937, Kunstrat exhibition brochures in 18 Willi Baumeister, in: Il Milione: 30 Letter from Willi Baumeister to Gemälde und Zeichnungen, exh. Konrad Düssel, Josef Gantner, lés. Tout cela est éminement pictu- Baumeister Archives at the the Baumeister Archives at the 5 For Baumeister’s activities in Bollettino della Galleria del Mili- Michel Seuphor, 17 February cat. (Museu Fundación Juan Christian Zervos, Michel Seuphor, ral. Vos dessins sont très beaux. Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. France, see also the essay by one, 13/41 (1935), n.p. 1948, copy in the Baumeister March, Palma, Kunstmuseum Fernand Léger, Le Corbusier, Ernst Dès 1920, votre départ vous êtes Brigitte Pedde, Willi Baumeister in 25 Willi Baumeister, diary entry, 17 Archives at the Kunstmuseum 34 For Willi Baumeister’s role in the Winterthur and MART Museo di Schön and Willi Baumeister), p. sain et interessant. Vous allez à 19 Letter from Wassily Kandinsky to Frankreich, in: Willi Baumeister March 1933. »Wadsworth writes Stuttgart. debate about the future of German Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di 16f. l’avenir avec sécurité.« Letter from Willi Baumeister, 17 March 1935, International, exh. cat. Kunstmu- about 2 pictures for the inaugural art in the post-war era see the Trento e Rovereto, 2011–12; Le Corbusier to Willi Baumeister, Baumeister Archives at the 31 Letter from Edgar C. Schenck to seum Stuttgart, MKM, Museum 8 Letter from Wassily Kandinsky to exhibition at a new gallery in essay by Sabine Fastert, »Häupling Düsseldorf, 2011), pp. 30 and 16 February 1931, Baumeister Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. Willi Baumeister, 3 April 1953, Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Willi Baumeister, 19 April 1931, London: Mayor Gallery.« der Moderne«. Willi Baumeister 27–43 passim. Archives at the Kunstmuseum Baumeister Archives at the Duisburg, Daimler Art Collection Baumeister Archives at the 20 Elena Pontiggia, Baumeister und und die Kunstdebatte nach 1950, Stuttgart. 26 Andreas Schalhorn: Lebenszeichen Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. For 2 Martina Padberg, ›Nichts ist Haus Huth, Berlin/München, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. die Galleria del Milione, in: Willi in Willi Baumeister International. aus der inneren Emigration. Willi Baumeister’s US contacts, see the abstrakt gemeint‹: Positionsbe- 2013, pp. 30-41. 13 Paloma Alarcó, Willi Baumeister Baumeister: Gemälde und Zeich- exh. cat. Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, 9 Padberg 2005 (see note 2), p. 57. Baumeister Uracher Jahre und die essay by Peter Chametzky: Ver- stimmung in Frankfurt: Anmerkun- und Spanien: Gemeinsamkeiten nungen, exh. cat. (Museu Funda- MKM, Museum Küppersmühle für 6 Christian Derouet, Baumeister et Zeichnungsfolge »Saul« und passte Chancen, Missverständ- gen zu Kontinuität und Innovation 10 Will Grohmann, Willi Baumeister: und Einflüsse, in: Willi Baumeister, ción Juan March, Palma, Kunstmu- Moderne Kunst, Duisburg, Daimler Cahier d’Art: Un prêté pour un »Salome«, in: Willi Baumeister nisse. Baumeister und die Verei- im Werk von Willi Baumeister, in: Les Peintres Nouveaux, Paris, exh. cat. (Sala de Exposiciones seum Winterthur and MART Museo Art Collection Haus Huth, Berlin/ rendu, in: Willi Baumeister et la International, exh. cat. Kunstmu- nigten Staaten, in: Willi Baumeister Willi Baumeister 1889–1955: Die 1931. Fundación Caja Madrid and di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea München, 2013, pp. 66-77. France, exh. cat. (Musée seum Stuttgart, MKM, Museum International, exh. cat. Kunstmu- Frankfurter Jahre 1928–1933, exh. Städtische Galerie im Lenbach- di Trento Trento e Rovereto, d’Unterlinden, Colmar, and Musée 11 Willi Baumeister: Chronique de la Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, seum Stuttgart, MKM, Museum 35 Alarcó 2004 (see note 13), p. 66f. cat. (Museum Giersch, Frankfurt haus, Munich) Munich, 2004, pp. 2011–12) Düsseldorf, 2011, pp. d’Art Moderne, Saint Étienne, vie artistique, Sélection, vol. XI Duisburg, Daimler Art Collection Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, am Main), Frankfurt am Main, 52f. and 51–73 passim. 115 and 111–20 passim, esp. p. 36 Cited in Alarcó 2004 (see note 1999–2000), Paris, 1999, pp. 83 (Antwerp, 1931) (with essays by Haus Huth, Berlin/München, Duisburg, Daimler Art Collection 2005, pp. 53 and 51–62 passim. 115. 13), p. 72. and 82–92 passim. Will Grohmann, Pierre Flouquet, 14 Ibid., p. 54. 2013, pp. 56-65. Haus Huth, Berlin/München, 3 Paul Ferdinand Schmidt, Willy Waldemar George, Hans Arp, Karl 21 Carlo Carrà, Willi Baumeister, 2013, pp. 42-55. 37 Fernand Léger, Willi Baumeister, 7 »une forme d’art mondiale, et d’un 15 Eduardo Westerdahl, Willi Bau- 27 Willi Baumeister, Das Unbekannte Baumeister, Das Kunstblatt, 5/9 Konrad Düssel, Josef Gantner, L’Ambrosiano (1935). L’Âge Nouveau, 44 (1949), p. 71. style collectif«. Waldemar George, meister (Tenerife, 1934). in der Kunst, Stuttgart, 1947. 32 Letter from Willi Baumeister to (1921), pp. 276–79. Christian Zervos, Michel Seuphor, Baumeister et l’art allemand, in: 22 Pontiggia 2011 (see note 20), p. Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho, 21 Fernand Léger, Le Corbusier, Ernst 16 A copy exists in the Baumeister 28 Martin Schieder, Im Blick des 4 Waldemar George, La Peinture en Willi Baumeister: Chronique de la 114. December 1951, copy in the Schön and Willi Baumeister). Archives at the Kunstmuseum Anderen: Die deutsch-französi- Allemagne: Willy Baumeister, vie artistique, Sélection, vol. XI Baumeister Archives at the Stuttgart. 23 Schwarz 2011 (see note 1), p. 37f. schen Kunstbeziehungen 1945– (Antwerp, 1931) (with essays by Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. 1959, Berlin, 2005, pp. 122–26.

48 49 Werkverzeichnis

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