Walter Jonas 19101979

The rediscovery of a visionary universal thinker: Walter Jonas (1910-1979) developed a unique late expressionism as a young painter in Berlin and Paris. During World War II, significant cultural figures gathered in his Zurich studio; among them, Friedrich Dürrenmatt wrote his first literary texts there. From 1954, Jonas hosted the first art programs on Swiss television; his travels to India and Brazil expanded his expressive forms as a painter. However, the versatile artist became known for his spectacular vision of a city of the future: starting in 1960, he presented his funnel house and the Intrapolis as an urban concept that combines social, ecological, and aesthetic ideas. This biography by publicist Stefan Howald, oriented around Jonas' extraordinarily diverse work, is accompanied by illustrations by Ge.