WILLI BAUMEISTER German, 1889-1955

Willi Baumeister (1889 in Stuttgart – 1955 in Stuttgart) is regarded as one of the key figures of 20th-century European abstract art. After training in Stuttgart, he early on developed an independent visual language positioned between figuration and abstraction. Baumeister’s work is characterized by a reduced formal vocabulary, rhythmic compositions, and a sustained engagement with archaic signs, scripts, and symbolic systems. After World War II in particular, he became a central figure of German postwar modernism and, as a professor at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, influenced an entire generation of artists. His works are held in major international collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Galleryin London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.