WILLI BAUMEISTER | MO V

Karl Ströher, Darmstadt (acquired directly from the artist in 1954)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Willi Grohmann, Willi Baumeister - Leben und Werk, Cologne 1963, p. 147, no. 1521, illustrated
Erika Pohl, Ursula Ströher and Gerhard Pohl, Eds., Karl Ströher, Sammler und Sammlung, Stuttgart 1982, p. 44, no. 48, illustrated 
Peter Beye and Felicitas Baumeister, Eds., Willi Baumeister. Werkkatalog der Gemälde, Band II, Stuttgart 2002, p. 782, no. 1977, illustrated

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is slightly warmer in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There are artist's pinholes towards the lower right hand corner tip. Close inspection reveals some light abrasions, tiny specks of loss and minute media accretions in isolated places throughout. There are some light handling marks and scuffs to the artist's frame. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra-violet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Mo V brilliantly encapsulates the idiosynctatic painterly language of Willi Baumeister’s final and most celebrated paintings. In the present work, a rich iconography of weightless biomorphic abstractions float across on the picture plane, evoking the primordial forms that maintained the artist’s fascination throughout his career. The torn edges of each form and highly textural surface of the painting evoke a dreamlike arrangement of monumental geological formations. The writer Will Grohamnn highlights the celestial quality of Baumeister’s paintings from this period: “We can almost believe that they pass by like constellations, but there is no attempt at an impression of depth: after all, the constellations on the horizon look as if they were drawn on an astronomical chart" (Will Grohmann, Willi Baumeister: Life and Work, London 1985, p. 142). Through Baumeister’s artistic language of planar abstract forms, void of superfluous decoration, the artist magnificently achieves the sense of universality and cosmic mystery at the very heart of his oeuvre.   Mo V is one of the last paintings that Baumeister made before his untimely death  in 1955. In the 1930s and 1940s, faced with an exhibition prohibition under National Socialism, Baumeister continued to exhibit his paintings abroad. Unlike many artists of his generation, Baumeister remained in Germany throughout the second world war in the face of political discrimination, relegation and isolation. Baumeister had had the unique opportunity to continue a vigorous development of his artistic practice from the confines of a paint factory owned by the progressive entrepreneur Kurt Herberts in Wuppertal. Baumeister’s practice flourished in the postwar years, taking on a markedly optimistic tone as the artist developed his distinctly personal lexicon of playful, uninhibited abstraction, which amounted to the most important works of his rich and prolific career. "During the last years Baumeister was more independent and inventive than ever before. There was not a sign that he was over sixty; indeed his vitality and intellectual activity had increased" (Ibid, p. 142).  This surreal and weightless composition attests to the vitality and optimism of the artist’s final years.