Friesbild auf Grau. 1944/1948.
Oil with synthetic resin on cardboard, laid on fiberboard.
Beye/Baumeister 1042, revised (the photo in the catalog raisonneé shows an earlier state). Signature scratched into the wet paint in upper right. Inscribed "Fries-Bild Rötlich“ and dated "1944/48“ on its verso. 23 x 65 cm (9 x 25.5 in).
Owing to the later revision, the original signature in lower left was covered. [AM].
• Clear pictorial language characterized by a strong expressiveness.
• This is a particularly unusual frieze picture by Willi Baumeister, the acclaimed protagonist of German post-war Modernism.
• Surface structure with a strong haptic appeal.
• For the first time on the international auction market (source: artprice.com).

We are grateful to Felicitas Baumeister and Hadwig Goez, Baumeister Archive at Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, for their kind expert advice.

PROVENANCE: Private collection (acquired from the artist in 1951).
Private collection Southern Germany (inherited in 2003).

LITERATURE: Will Grohmann, Willi Baumeister, Stuttgart 1952, p. 58, no. 79 (with illu.).
Will Grohmann, Willi Baumeister. Leben und Werk, Cologne 1963, p. 295, no. 714 (no illu.).