Montaru 2e

"Typical of the upright pictures are 2a-2e: a big black continent fills the picture plane almost entirely, yet always remains free-floating, set off along the edge of the canvas by coloured foils, mostly vermillion, yellow and blue. They lie in front or behind, without affecting the impression of flatness, and are seldom transparent. The ornamental froms on the edges - some also green and violet - play around the big form; but they do not penetrate it and make us feel that the deep black is not a recess or opening, but is situated a little in front of the picture plane. The two "drops", which in the Faust pictures we are tempted to view as eyes, are seldom lacking. What can they mean here? Continents have no eyes and, although Baumeister has repeatedly insisted that in ultimate analysis all his shapes are allied to those of the human body, it is hard to see any figurative elements in these works. What we are looking at is a nonfigurative no man's land where nothing points to any known reality, not even the grace notes. Here even the slack spiral that reaches into the void is not a symbol, but a possible way to make this ghost of a continent breathe." (W. Grohmann op. cit., pp. 141-142)