Walter BECKER
1893–1984, Germany

Walter Becker biography:

After an apprenticeship as graphic designer Walter Becker began to study at the Karlsruhe Academy in 1915. He belonged to the artist group "Rih", with which he had his first exhibition in 1919. In the early 1920s he illustrated bibliophile editions of classical literature and, together with his friend Karl Albiker, was active as sculptor. In 1922 he followed him to Dresden and continued his studies at the Art Academy as his master pupil. After he had married the daughter of the painter Leo von König, Becker moved to the south of France, where he, interrupted by stays in Paris and journeys to Italy, resided until the mid-1930s. Through the social contacts of the family of Leo von König, he established friendships with figures such as Georges Braque, George Grosz, Thomas Mann, Julius Meier-Graefe and others. After he had moved to Lake Starnberg in 1938, Becker attained an independent artistic expression: In terms of style he neither followed the "Brücke" art nor Fauvism, instead he made poetic paintings of calm interiors in a restrained choice of colors. Between 1951 and 1958 the painter worked as a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe. The most important phase of his artistic creation is the decade between 1958 and 1968. The color attained independence, behind which the compositions in the simplest forms is recessed. Both figures from the present as well as from mythology appear next to each other in dream-like scenes. In 1968 Becker had to give up painting due to an eye complaint, however, he continued in 1976, almost blind, making shadowy paintings in which the color takes on an absolute position.

Source: http://www.kettererkunst.com