Wilhelm Wessel (1904-1971) made a name for himself in post-war Germany as an artist with an independent position. After taking over the chairmanship of the West German Artists' Association in 1952, Wessel also became an important figure for German art after 1945 as an organizer of internationally significant exhibitions. In 1954 he initiated the first exhibition of German artists abroad after the end of the Second World War – at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. A year later, together with the art dealer René Drouin, Wessel facilitated the major exhibition of contemporary, non-figurative art from Germany in Paris. Wessel exhibited together with other young artists who were still little known at the time, such as Emil Schumacher, Norbert Kricke and Karl Otto Götz.

The catalog presents Wessel's extensive oeuvre in detail and is published to accompany the exhibition at the Emil Schumacher Museum in Hagen (19.11.2023 to 17.03.2024).