Willi Baumeister um 1907
Willi Baumeister um 1908
This brief tabular resume offers a quick view of Willi Baumeister's life and work. More detailed information on his personal development is provided in the sub-sections and work overview organized by time period. Special themes are discussed under aspects and instructor. Moreover, short autobiographies from 1946 and 1955 show how Willi Baumeister saw himself.
Short Biography
| 1889 | Born in Stuttgart. more on his background and family |
| 1905-07 | Trains as decorative painter. |
| 1905-11 | Attends the Königlich Württembergische Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Royal Württemberg Academy of Fine Arts) in Stuttgart. more on the period of his training |
| 1905-12 | Stays on Lake Constance and in Paris. First exhibition in Stuttgart. Begins friendships with Oskar Schlemmer and Otto Meyer-Amden. |
| 1912-13 | Stays in Amden, Switzerland. Participates in exhibitions including the Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon (First German Autumn Salon) at the gallery Der Sturm in Berlin. more on his first artistic steps. |
| 1914-18 | Travels to Antwerp, Amsterdam, London, and Paris. Serves in World War I. |
| 1919 | Master student of Adolf Hölzel. Co-founds the Üecht Group Stuttgart and becomes member of the Berlin Novembergruppe (November Group). First stage design. Works as typographer. |
| 1920 | Exhibits with Oskar Schlemmer and Kurt Schwitters in Dresden. |
| 1922 | First international publication in the art journal L'Esprit Nouveau, Paris. |
| 1923-26 | Exhibits in Germany and abroad. Visits the Bauhaus in Weimar. Meets Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. more on the important 1920s |
| 1926 | Exhibits at the "International Exhibition of Modern Art" in New York. Marriage with Margarete (Margrit) Oehm. |
| 1927 | First solo exhibition in Paris. Offered professorship for typography, commercial graphics, and fabric printing at the Städtische Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts), today Städelschule, in Frankfurt am Main. Becomes member of the Ring neue Werbegestalter (Circle of New Commercial Designers). more on his Frankfurt Years |
| 1928 | Moves to Frankfurt am Main. Birth of daughter Krista. |
| 1929 | Begins friendship with Julius Bissier. In Paris visits Fernand Léger, Le Corbusier, Amédée Ozenfant, Carl Einstein, Christian Zervos und Roger Ginsburger. Becomes member of the artist association Cercle et Carré. |
| 1930 | Solo exhibition in Paris. |
| 1931 | Becomes member of the artist group Abstraction - Création. First monograph by Will Grohmann published. Begins lifelong exploration of prehistoric art. Invited by Madame de Mandrot to an artist gathering at the Château La Sarraz, Switzerland. |
| 1932 | Last exhibition in Germany until 1945 at the Gallery Cassirer in Berlin. |
| 1933 | As part of the first official acts of the National Socialists Baumeister is dismissed without notice from his Frankfurt teaching position and denounced as a degenerate artist until the end of 1945. more on the period of Ostracism. Birth of daughter Felicitas. |
| 1934 | Eduardo Westerdahl's monograph Willi Baumeister published. |
| 1935 | Exhibits in Milan and Rome. Travels to Milan, meets Carlo Carrà. |
| 1937-38 | Participates in the Constructivists Exhibition in Basel. Pictures by Baumeister are shown in the exhibition "Entartete Kunst" in Munich (Degenerate Art Exhibition). Stores paintings, gouaches, and drawings in the Kunsthalle Basel to keep them out of reach from the National Socialists. Travels to Paris, meets with Fernand Léger, Le Corbusier and gallery owner Jeanne Bucher. Begins work with the Wuppertal varnish factory, Dr. Kurt Herberts & Co. researching and writing on painting techniques and their historical origins. |
| 1938 | Participates in the London exhibition Twentieth Century German Art organized by Herbert Read. Meets Hans Arp, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Joan Miró, and Wassily Kandinsky. |
| 1939 | Solo exhibition in Paris at the Gallery Jeanne Bucher. |
| 1941 | Receives prohibition on painting and exhibiting, according to the decree of the Reichskammer der Bildenden Künste (Reich Chamber of Fine Arts). In fall Baumeister travels with his family to Verona, Venice, Bologna, and Florence. |
| 1943-45 | On April 13, 1943 Oskar Schlemmer dies. Because of air raids moves to Urach in the Swabian Alps. Works on his manuscript "Das Unbekannte in der Kunst" (The Unknown in Art). Experiences the end of the war in Horn on Lake Constance. |
| 1946 | Offered professorship at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste (State Academy of Fine Arts) in Stuttgart. more on the period of the New Beginning |
| 1947 | Baumeister's manuscript "Das Unbekannte in der Kunst" published in Stuttgart. Produces stage design for Manuel de Falla's ballet Liebeszauber (Spell-bound Love) at the Württemberg Staatstheater in Stuttgart. |
| 1948 | Participates in the XXIV Biennale in Venice and in the "Salon des Réalités Nouvelles" in Paris. Produces further stage designs. |
| 1949 | Co-founder of the Gruppe der Gegenstandslosen (Group of Nonrepresentational Artists) (renamed Group ZEN 49 in January 1950). Produces stage design for Egon Vietta's "Monte Cassino", directed by Gustav Rudolf Sellner in Essen. Solo exhibition in Paris at the Gallery Jeanne Bucher. |
| 1950 | Participates in the Ersten Darmstädter Gespräch (First Darmstadt Dialogue). Travels to Spain and France and participates in the Second International Art Congress of the Escuela de Altamira in Santillana del Mar near Santander, Spain. |
| 1951 | Participates in the first Biennale (I Bienal) in São Paulo, receives Biennale Prize. |
| 1952 | Solo exhibition in New York at the Hacker Gallery. Participates in the XXVI Biennale in Venice. Monograph by Will Grohmann published. |
| 1953 | Shows at the exhibition "Younger European Painters" in New York. Produces stage design for Max Kommerell's "Kasperlespiele für große Leute" (Punch and Judy Shows for Grown-Ups), directed by Gustav Rudolf Sellner. |
| 1954 | Solo exhibitions in Stuttgart and Paris. Pictures stored in the Kunsthalle Basel in 1937-38 released and returned to Stuttgart. |
| 1955 | The Vienna Secession distinguishes Baumeister for his life achievement with the Klimt-Honor. more on the riches of the Last Years up to 1955 Visits and has solo shows in Paris and Cologne. Participates in the first documenta in Kassel and in the exhibition "Peintures et Sculptures non-figuratives en Allemagne d'Aujourd'hui" (Non-Figurative Painting and Sculpture in Germany Today), Cercle Volnay, Paris. On August 31 Willi Baumeister dies while painting in his studio in Stuttgart. |
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