The sculptor Gustav Seitz has been living and teaching in Hamburg since 1958. He enjoys travelling and docs a lot of it. Seitz paid his first visit to Paris in 1928. At that time he did something which for a young and unknown artist was unusual: he called on Maillol and Despiau. That meeting with the classic modem French sculptors was more than a mere incident for Seitz, It had the effect of clarifying his own position. The painterly treatment of surface, the delight in telling a story, the play of light and the charm of the passing moment led to a stricter, more tangible form, and to the desire for three-dimensional structure and volume.

Seitz comes from Mannheim; he was born in 1906. In Berlin, his most important teacher was Wilhelm Gerstel, and his first, decisive proselyte and patron was Alfred Flechtheim, who achieved fame and fortune as one of die most active intermediaries between French and German art. As long ago as 1932 the Mannheim Kunstverein presented a large-scale exhibition of work by Seitz, assembling 45 sculptures and 60 drawings. His first museum purchase occurred in the same year. Today, sculptures and drawings by Seitz may be found in all the great museums and private collections in Europe.