Max Ackermann initially studied sculpture in Dresden, but he soon decided to change to painting and attended the Art Academy in Munich to study with Franz von Stuck, then continued his studies in Stuttgart. There he met Adolf Hoelzel, whose influence made him create the first abstract works, but he also still painted representational works well into the 1940s. He established a “Teaching Studio for New Art”, later a “Seminar for Abstract Painting” in Stuttgart. Under the National Socialists he was banned from teaching and his works were considered “degenerate”. Despite a working ban, he created abstract glass paintings for newly built houses. His studio was hit by a bomb and most of his early works were destroyed. Like many other artists, Ackermann moved to Lake Constance near the Swiss border.
After the war, he was rehabilitated and received numerous honours and prizes. He became a member of the “Deutscher Künstlerbund”.
Ackermann now exclusively painted abstract works, and was greatly influenced by music.
Ackermann is considered one of the major proponents of post-war abstraction in Germany. His late and best known works are characterized by abstract-geometrical compositions.
