This is a relatively early example of the type of abstraction that Winter practiced during the 1930s, while still under the influence of the Bauhaus. Study with Kandinsky and Klee, as well as Naum Gabo and Hans Arp were foundational to his art. Classified as a ‘degenerate’ artist by the Nazis, Winter was banned from painting or exhibiting during the War. Upon his return to Germany in 1949, he co-founded the group known as Zen 49, which shared with the better known French painter Pierre Soulages’ (1919-2022) an interest in the calligraphic abstraction associated with Zen Buddhism.

Even in this early work, Winter employs the characteristic scaffolding of black line that he designated as a “grille,” thereby creating dynamic tension between surface and depth. His later abstractions possess a similar language of abstract forms albeit at a larger scale and using brighter colors.