Oskar Schlemmer (1888-1943) was a German painter, sculptor, and stage designer. His single subject was the human figure, which he reduced to puppet-like, two-dimensional shapes that were expressive of the human body as a perfect system of proportions and functions analogous to the machine age.

Oskar Schlemmer was born on September 4, 1888, in Stuttgart to Carl Leonhard Schlemmer and his wife Mina Neuhaus. The youngest of six children, Schlemmer learned at an early age to provide for himself following the untimely death of both his parents around 1900. As early as 1903 the young Schlemmer was completely independent and supporting himself as an apprentice in an inlay workshop.

In 1906 Schlemmer enrolled at the Stuttgart Academy, where he studied under Landenberger until he left for Berlin to work independently in 1910. While in Berlin Schlemmer painted his first important pictures--some landscapes and two rare self-portraits. These early pictures anticipate Schlemmer's life-long search for...