Fritz Winter (1905 Altenbögge/Westphalia - 1976 Herrsching am Ammersee) Untitled Abstract composition. Winter is one of the leading German abstract painters of the 20th century; from 1927-1930 Fritz Winter studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau under Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Josef Albers and Oskar Schlemmer. In 1929, he took part in the travelling exhibition "Young Bauhaus Painters" in Halle/S., Braunschweig, Erfurt and Krefeld with 12 works. In the same year, he visited Ernst-Ludwig Kirchner in Davos for the first time, with whom he had a close friendship ever since. In 1930, Winter worked for three months in Naum Gabo's studio in Berlin and had his first solo exhibition at the Buchholz Gallery in Berlin. Museums in Halle, Hamburg, Mannheim, Breslau and Wuppertal acquired works by him during this time. From 1931, Winter initially lived in Halle/S., moving to Dießen am Ammersee via Munich and Allach in 1933 after the National Socialists "seized power". In 1937, Winter's works were confiscated and destroyed from museums in Hanover and Hamburg as part of the Nazi "Degenerate Art" campaign, and the artist was banned from painting and exhibiting. Between 1939 and 1949, military service and Soviet captivity were a personal and artistic caesura. As a founding member of the "ZEN 49" group, Winter actively participated alongside Willi Baumeister in the realisation of abstract, non-objective art. In 1950, he was awarded 2nd prize at the Venice Biennale and met Hans Hartung and Pierre Soulages in Paris. In 1955, Winter was appointed professor at the Staatl. Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Kassel. 1955-1964 he took part in the documenta I-III. Mixed media with oil a. gouache/cardboard. Signed a. r. a. dat. (19)54. Approx. 74.5 cm x 100 cm. Frame. The work was known as authentic to the niece and executor of the artist's estate Helga Gausling (1939 - 2022) of Fritz-Winter-Haus in Ahlen. Provenance: Gump's Gallery, San Francisco (with remnants of the old label on the reverse of the frame); exhibited at the 3rd Biennial, São Paulo 1955; South German private collection. Mixed media with oil and gouache on cardboard. Signed and dated (19)54.