Fritz Winter

Fritz Winter (22 September 1905 in Altenbögge (now part of Bönen) – 1 October 1976 in Herrsching) was a German painter of the postwar period best known for his abstract works in the Art Informel style.

Within two years this affinity led to his admission to the Bauhaus, the state-sponsored Weimar school of art and applied design founded in 1919 by architect Walter Gropius.

After leaving the Bauhaus, Winter taught at the Pädagogische Akademie, Halle an der Saale, Germany, but resigned following the establishment of the National Socialist regime in 1933.

He nonetheless produced art during periods of leave and in 1944 executed his Triebkräfte der Erde (Driving forces of the earth), a major series of 45 paintings on paper that symbolically represent the struggle of anti-Fascist artists and intellectuals in Germany.

In 1955 Winter began teaching at the Landeskunstschule, Hamburg, West Germany, and two years later he was appointed professor at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Kassel.

The Fritz Winter Foundation was founded in 1965 by Konrad Knoepfel and is dedicated to promoting science and research as well as art and culture by assisting talented young people in these fields.

[2] As part of its mission beginning in 1986 the foundation awards the Fritz Winter Prize to promote young talents in science and research as well as art and culture.