Werner Graeff

Werner Graeff painter, graphic artist, typographer, photographer and sculptor is an important Bauhaus artist and a significant representative of Constructivism in Germany. Prompted by his friend Mies van der Rohe he wrote his moving autobiography Hrdenlauf durch das 20. Jahrhundert (The Obstacle Race of the 20th century), which this volume publishes for the first time with a representative selection of texts. Werner Graeff ( 1901 1978 ) was a student at the Bauh aus in Weimar and from 1921 a member of the De Stijl Dutch artists group. Together with Willi Baumeister he was also closely associated with the ring neue werbegestalter founded in 1927 by Kurt Schwitters. At an early stage he focused much of his attent ion on film and photography, but in 1951 after his return to the Ruhr region from exile in Switzerland he once again increasingly devoted himself to his work as an independent artist. Illustrated with a large number of paintings, pictograms, multiples, dra wings and graphic works from the artists estate, this volume leads the reader through Graeffs life and works and is at the same time a fascinating journey through the German art history of the 20 th century.