Composition

Otto Freundlich, 1924

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Artist: Otto Freundlich (German, 1878–1943)
Medium: Pastel
Size: Overall: 74.6 x 53.8 cm (29 3/8 x 21 3/16 in.)
Culture: Germany, 20th century
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

After studying art in Germany and Italy, Freundlich visited Paris for the first time in 1908, and worked alongside avant-garde writers and artists such as Apollinaire, Braque, and Picasso in the bohemian district of Montmartre. Freundlich painted his first purely abstract works in 1911 and henceforth became committed to pioneering abstraction. His work was included in groundbreaking exhibitions before and after World War I in Berlin, Munich, and Paris. Some of his most lyrically intense pastels—such as Composition—were made in 1924 following a trip to Paris when he participated in the Salon des Indépendants.