Comb, Pastels and Buttermilk

The artist Willi Baumeister (1889-1955) also regarded himself as a craftsman. He experimented with diverse materials and techniques. Using a steel comb, he ploughed the background or the surface of the so-called comb pictures. He covered black areas, which already appeared in his early works, temporarily with buttermilk, thus creating a matt colour effect. Entire work series are characterised by sand and putty. Baumeister's rarely presented pastel drawings enter into a dialogue with works by his teacher Adolf Hölzel (1853-1934) and by his student Fritz Seitz (1926-2017). The State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, where Baumeister studied and worked as a Professor, is participating in the exhibition with research and studies of painting and material techniques.