How do artists deal with difficult conditions? Do they perceive a lack of materials as a limitation, or as an incentive to re-examine old habits and try something new? Or to put it another way: can a new material inspire artists to explore innovative techniques?

These are questions that the German painter Willi Baumeister (1889–1955) asked himself, particularly between 1930 and 1955. Due to Nazism and World War II, traditional painting materials were in short supply, and this inspired him to experiment with new painting techniques. Dr. Kurt Herberts, a German paint manufacturer, provided him with a safe space for his experiments during the war.

Today, we are searching for Baumeister's answers to the aforementioned questions in his paintings: the art technological research project based at the ABK Stuttgart in the painting and sculpture conservation program is taking a closer look at his works and their materiality during this period.

To this end, we are examining his paintings and other archival materials in the Archiv Baumeister at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart and the Willi Baumeister Stiftung  (Stuttgart).

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By answering these questions, we are laying the foundation for a fundamental understanding of the painting materials and their associated aging processes: What condition are his paintings in today, and how will their condition change going forward? These art technology and conservation science research questions are our form of basic research.

To answer these questions, we are working together in an interdisciplinary team and jointly evaluating various sources.

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The questions we pose have drawn us to the intersection of various disciplines in the humanities and natural sciences. Because no single researcher can answer all the questions on their own, and each member of the team contributes specific expertise to the project, we work in an interdisciplinary team.

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The sources are very diverse: We examine material sources such as paintings, palettes, and tube paints, and also written sources such as letters, diary entries, and invoices. Image sources such as historical photos and film recordings, may also provide interesting information. Fortunately, Baumeister liked to keep all kinds of things, which can still be found today in his estate in the Archiv Baumeister at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. Like pieces of a puzzle, the individual sources each contain important bits of information, but it is only when they are put together that they form a complete picture.

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What is special about art technology methodology is that many different types of sources are evaluated for this purpose. To analyze we use a range of  methods from the humanities and natural sciences. This requires interdisciplinary collaboration and the willingness of researchers to engage with different ways of thinking and working. Collaborating in this way is challenging, but also quite interesting.

At the end of the research process, the individual results must be brought together and evaluated jointly in a team effort: Can they yield answers to the research questions, or is there still information missing?

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The Wüstenrot Stiftung is supporting this part of our project, which is divided into two stages: providing information on the research process during the ongoing project, and communicating the research results at the end of the project.

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