Ruth Baumgarte (1923–2013) created an artistic oeuvre during a time marked by radical upheavals, in which humans and their fragile existence were a core issue. In the first volume of the catalogue raisonné, essays by renowned authors place the artist’s multi-layered life’s work in the context of art history. They pithily trace the eventful stages of the artist’s life as a figurative artist from a cultural and art-historical perspective, explain her close artistic relationship to the African continent, and for the first time examine the filmographic aspect within her oeuvre. A detailed, illustrated biography rounds off the first volume.