Quotes from Willi Baumeis­ter

1943

Nat­u­ral­ism is dis­tant from nature. The more nat­u­ral­ist a paint­ing is, the more it becomes a wax corpse. It ignores the era.

(The Unknown in Art [Das Unbekan­nte in der Kun­st], 4th edi­tion, 109)

1943

The artis­tic is infi­nite, like meta­mor­phoses in nature. It con­stant­ly sur­pass­es the aver­age in per­ceiv­ing, think­ing, and man­made social laws because it comes from orig­i­nal life.

(The Unknown in Art [Das Unbekan­nte in der Kun­st], 4th edi­tion, 109)

1943

Its great works [those of cur­rent art] are always sim­ple, self-evi­dent, with­out pose. They do not look as if they were made by some­one, but as if they came into being by them­selves. Nature has expressed itself.

(The Unknown in Art [Das Unbekan­nte in der Kun­st], 4th edi­tion, 151)

1951

The mys­te­ri­ous pow­er of a work of art lies in its for­mal-abstract com­po­nent, and in the rela­tion of the rep­re­sen­ta­tion­al to its artis­tic defor­ma­tion. In all eras, art pro­ceed­ed and gave the canon the puri­fied view for the eye of human­i­ty.

(Artists See Pro­duc­tive­ly [Kün­stler sehen pro­duk­tiv], 1951)

1952

The work of art forms a cos­mos that asserts itself par­al­lel to nature.

(On the Deter­mi­na­tion by Inner Laws in Art [Über das Eigenge­set­zliche in der Kun­st], 1952)

1952

Just as in view­ing real nature, the exist­ing, felt, supreme pow­ers are not clear­ly vis­i­ble but still capa­ble of being sensed; in each high work of art a pow­er is per­ceiv­able that can­not be explained.

(On the Deter­mi­na­tion by Inner Laws in Art [Über das Eigenge­set­zliche in der Kun­st], 1952)

1952

The work of art con­structs itself accord­ing to a dif­fer­ent log­ic. It becomes an organ­ism that is not based on imi­ta­tion, but on what one calls cre­ation. A dra­ma plays out on the paint­ed sur­face that is based on col­ors and forms, on con­trasts and com­ple­ments, on influ­ences and, to a cer­tain extent, on great detours to achieve a final har­mo­ny.

(On the Deter­mi­na­tion by Inner Laws in Art [Über das Eigenge­set­zliche in der Kun­st], 1952)

1943

Pro­duc­ing the orig­i­nal is not based on a com­pa­ra­ble abil­i­ty; in this sense the orig­i­nal artist in a high state can do noth­ing […]. The genius can do noth­ing and only there­with every­thing.

(The Unknown in Art [Das Unbekan­nte in der Kun­st], 4th edi­tion, 138)

1943

The orig­i­nal sort of artist does not actu­al­ly see. Because he plunges as a front lin­er into the unknown with each work, he can­not pre­dict what he will encounter […]. Even when the artist, moved by an incom­pre­hen­si­ble pri­mor­dial will in high con­scious­ness of his action, says, chis­els, or paints his thing, he lets him­self be sur­prised by that which emerges through his hands.

(The Unknown in Art [Das Unbekan­nte in der Kun­st], 4th edi­tion, 138)

1944

The more he [the artist] con­trasts with the unknown, the more essen­tial his artis­tic per­for­mance.

(Diary, Sept. 1, 1944)

1950

Every­thing actu­al­ly needs to come into being from noth­ing. In the moment of cre­ation the genius knows noth­ing.

(Lec­ture to stu­dents at a work art school: “The Cre­ative Bold­ly Approach­es the Unknown”, [Das Kreative geht dem Unbekan­nten kühn ent­ge­gen], 1950)

1951

Dur­ing his work the artist holds onto con­nec­tions and almost simul­ta­ne­ous­ly releas­es them until he comes to a cre­ative direc­tion. The artist comes into his uncon­scious state in which he is alone with his work mate­r­i­al, with the nature of the mate­ri­als and his nature. These two natures join one anoth­er. The artist is con­nect­ed to the cen­ter of nature with his cen­ter.

(The Unknown in Artis­tic Pro­duc­tion), [Das Unbekan­nte in der kün­st­lerischen Pro­duk­tion], lec­ture at the Munich Amer­i­ca House, July 2, 1951)

1952

Thus for the gen­uine artist, the most valu­able thing that he has about him­self is not what oth­ers think about him.

(Response to an inquiry from the South Ger­man Radio [Süd­deutsch­er Rund­funk SDR], Decem­ber 17, 1952)

1949

mod­ern art does not form in imi­ta­tion of nature, but rather like nature, par­al­lel to nature.

(sim­i­lies for nature [gle­ich­nisse zur natur], Der Spiegel 3, 1949)

1949

but mod­ern pic­tures have prac­ti­cal­ly only the con­tent of the col­or and form fugue and thus there are absolute­ly no titles that can match the con­tent or sub­stance of a mod­ern pic­ture. the real sub­stance of a mod­ern pic­ture is vis­i­ble and hid­den in the com­plete­ly exter­nal dra­ma of col­ors and forms and all their rela­tion­ships to one anoth­er.

(sim­i­lies for nature [gle­ich­nisse zur natur], Der Spiegel 3, 1949)

1952

Abstract­ing or abstract art does not stand in oppo­si­tion to nature. Every mas­ter sets up a new rela­tion between human and nature, between the human and the unknown and inex­plic­a­ble, to the reli­gious. In this new and newest era, which dis­tin­guish­es itself from the last cen­tu­ry in every­thing, a new rela­tion between the human and nature and the inex­plic­a­ble is devel­op­ing again.

(Response to an inquiry from the South Ger­man Radio [Süd­deutsch­er Rund­funk SDR], Decem­ber 17, 1952)

1952

Abstract­ing or abstract art is like­wise a depic­tion of nature, a metaphor for nature.

(Response to an inquiry from the South Ger­man Radio [Süd­deutsch­er Rund­funk SDR], Decem­ber 17, 1952)

1952

Abstract paint­ing pro­vides an active exam­ple of the invis­i­ble ener­gies that con­stant­ly shape nature.

(Response to an inquiry from the South Ger­man Radio [Süd­deutsch­er Rund­funk SDR], Decem­ber 17, 1952)

1953

So-called abstract paint­ing is not abstract in the sense of a for­eign­ness to life and humans. The artist’s feel­ings are very nat­ur­al ones. A ver­ti­cal, straight line con­veys a very spe­cif­ic sen­so­ry val­ue that all peo­ple can receive equal­ly. A curved line […] in con­trast, con­veys oth­er sen­sa­tions. Col­ors and col­or com­bi­na­tions like­wise con­vey spe­cif­ic sen­sa­tions. A dark or pre­dom­i­nant­ly gray pic­ture has a total­ly dif­fer­ent expres­sion than a more col­or­ful or total­ly col­or­ful pic­ture. These sim­ple pos­si­bil­i­ties of expres­sion are also the pri­ma­ry expres­sive val­ues in ancient art, not the rep­re­sen­ta­tion­al motif. The new­er sort of art gives pri­or­i­ty to these ele­men­tary media. Par­al­lel to art, the pref­er­ence for the ele­men­tary is typ­i­cal in all intel­lec­tu­al fields today.

(Abstract? [Abstrakt?], Aral-Jour­nal, issue 2, 1953)

1943

Art view­ing is a sim­pler process than gen­er­al­ly assumed. The state of the view­er is his start­ing point, not his opin­ion or healthy com­mon sense. Both are sus­pi­cious of being deter­mined by every pre­vail­ing medi­oc­rity.

(The Unknown in Art [Das Unbekan­nte in der Kun­st], 4th edi­tion, 12)

1949

the many-years-old exclu­sive habit of view­ing nat­u­ral­is­tic pic­tures and sculp­tures is the only obsta­cle that hin­ders the pub­lic from more eas­i­ly find­ing access to con­tem­po­rary art. the pub­lic […] wants to see these paint­ed worlds accord­ing to the impres­sions it has before its eyes every day. […] for non­rep­re­sen­ta­tion­al paint­ing one needs to make com­plete­ly oth­er demands. one must gain a com­plete­ly new stance toward visu­al per­cep­tion, which in the begin­ning still […] takes a cer­tain effort.

(sim­i­lies for nature [gle­ich­nisse zur natur], Der Spiegel 3, 1949)

1950

The unnam­able val­ues of a work of art can of course be put into words just as lit­tle as a Mozart con­cert. One can talk about them, par­tic­u­lar­ly empha­size this and that, but that is all. The sub­stance of a work of art remains a secret, but it is there.

(Lec­ture to stu­dents at a work art school: “The Cre­ative Bold­ly Approach­es the Unknown”, [Das Kreative geht dem Unbekan­nten kühn ent­ge­gen], 1950)

1952

View­ing must lead to an expe­ri­ence. All the ener­gies that the artist men­tal­ly invests radi­ate back dur­ing longer view­ing. For that a longer view­ing is nec­es­sary. It is also impor­tant that one does not judge hasti­ly.

(On the Deter­mi­na­tion by Inner Laws in Art [Über das Eigenge­set­zliche in der Kun­st], 1952)

1952

Works of art can­not be viewed naive­ly enough. Since we are all over­loaded and almost buried by an exist­ing tra­di­tion in paint­ing, one first needs to for­get the mas­ters of the past when view­ing mod­ern paint­ings. The val­ues of past art, tra­di­tion, should in no way be cur­tailed, but when view­ing art of the new era one should nev­er pro­ceed from tra­di­tion, but should first make tab­u­la rasa with­in him­self. If the view­er suc­ceeds in reach­ing this state of naïveté, then all con­di­tions are avail­able to take in the work of art. Accord­ing­ly, the state of the view­er is much more impor­tant than his exist­ing art knowl­edge and deriva­tions from it.

(On the Deter­mi­na­tion by Inner Laws in Art [Über das Eigenge­set­zliche in der Kun­st], 1952)

1952

Art belongs to the human, to make him full, to give him a bal­ance, har­mo­ny, to enable him to face the con­fus­ing bus­tle of every­day life. Through the inter­ac­tion with art the human is led back to him­self.

(Response to an inquiry from the South Ger­man Radio [Süd­deutsch­er Rund­funk SDR], Decem­ber 17, 1952)

1951

Orig­i­nal see­ing is ele­men­tary, neu­tral, not spe­cial­ist. It con­tains all pos­si­bil­i­ties. Mere nat­u­ral­is­tic-repro­duc­tive see­ing, the mea­ger domain of the nat­u­ral­is­tic art teacher, is con­strict­ing and cor­rupt­ing. See­ing must pro­ceed with a pro­duc­tive effort. This way, the view­er becomes an autonomous dis­cov­er­er.

(Artists See Pro­duc­tive­ly [Kün­stler sehen pro­duk­tiv], 1951)

1951

Orig­i­nal and artis­tic see­ing is more of a look­ing. It does not imme­di­ate­ly jump to the real­i­ty of things and their prac­ti­cal val­ue; rather, col­ors and forms suf­fice for a mean­ing­ful see­ing expe­ri­ence or intro­duce it.

(Artists See Pro­duc­tive­ly [Kün­stler sehen pro­duk­tiv], 1951)

1952

The painter can­not pro­duce real move­ment on his paint­ing sur­face. But he can pro­vide a feel­ing for move­ment. This appar­ent move­ment is a fea­ture expressed in near­ly all of mod­ern art.

(On the Deter­mi­na­tion by Inner Laws in Art [Über das Eigenge­set­zliche in der Kun­st], 1952)

1952

Cézanne insert­ed move­ment and thus time sub­stance into paint­ing. Begin­ning with Cézanne, one can no longer imag­ine paint­ing up to today with­out the feel­ing for move­ment. The sta­t­ics of nat­u­ral­ism was thus aban­doned.

(Response to an inquiry from the South Ger­man Radio [Süd­deutsch­er Rund­funk SDR], Decem­ber 17, 1952)

1931

One must have felt the pow­er of a sin­gle line, the con­tour of a bison from pre­his­toric times, cer­tain­ly not due to the bison.

(From: De l’Art Abstrait, Paris 1931)

1950

We don’t have “sail­boat” yet, that must be includ­ed.

(Bon mot from Willi Baumeis­ter dur­ing the selec­tion for a Ger­man Artist Union [Deutsch­er Kün­stler­bund] exhi­bi­tion)

1943

The teacher’s task is to emp­ty, not to fill with his for­mu­lae.

(The Unknown in Art [Das Unbekan­nte in der Kun­st], 4th edi­tion, 148)

1950

Art is not teach­able.

(Lec­ture to stu­dents at a work art school: “The Cre­ative Bold­ly meets the Unknown”, [Das Kreative geht dem Unbekan­nten kühn ent­ge­gen], 1950)

1952

Fame comes to him who does not think about fame.

(Response to an inquiry from the South Ger­man Radio [Süd­deutsch­er Rund­funk SDR], Decem­ber 17, 1952)

1926

The estab­lished order is the sym­met­ri­cal one. […] The ener­gy dis­tri­b­u­tion of this arrange­ment dis­trib­utes strengths and ten­sions to both sides. Ener­gies and ten­sions mutu­al­ly can­cel each oth­er out for the ben­e­fit of bal­ance. A begin­ning and entrance for the eye is not pro­vid­ed in this sys­tem. One is con­tin­u­al­ly drawn to the cen­tral axis. This arrange­ment in no way com­plies with read­ing […]. The intro­duc­tion of the eye into the absolute sur­face-like sys­tem of the print­ed page can only occur by shift­ing the empha­sis and, name­ly, to after the begin­ning. To the start­ing point for the text. Thus the upper left. The rich­ly dec­o­rat­ed ini­tials of old hand­writ­ing were func­tion­al and thus cor­rect. The text fol­low­ing now needs be hung onto this eye-catch­er, like the cars on a loco­mo­tive. The basic move­ment leads from the upper left to the low­er right.

(From: “New Typog­ra­phy”, [Neue Typogra­phie], in Ker­mer 1989, 165 ff. )