Paintings by Heinrich Hoerle, born 1895, Franz Wilhelm Seiwert, born 1894, and Anton Räderscheidt, born 1892, all in Cologne, Germany.

Heinrich Hoerle was a self-taught painter and sporadically attended the Cologne School of Arts and Crafts. In 1913 he set up his first studio in his parents´ apartment in Cologne. In 1913 he became a member of the artist group "Lunisten" which also included Max Ernst and Otto Freundlich. Together with Seiwert he co-founded the "group of progressive artists" in Cologne. From 1924 they presented in group exhibitions in Cologne, Nuremberg, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris and Chicago. In 1929 he founded the magazine "A to Z" with Seiwert.

Franz Wilhelm Seiwert studied from 1910 to 1914 at the Cologne School of Arts and Crafts. In 1919 he met Max Ernst and took part in Dada activities. He was invited to exhibit in the large Dada exhibit in Cologne but withdrew at the last moment. In 1919 he formed the Stupid group which included Heinrich Hoerle and Anton Räderscheidt. By the mid-1920s he co-founded the "group of progressive artists". In 1930, the group had exhibitions in Cologne, Hannover, Nuremberg, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Amsterdam, Prague, Chicago and Paris. In 1931, they exhibited in New York, Cologne, Dusseldorf and Berlin, and 1932 in Cologne, Dusseldorf and Copenhagen.

Anton Räderscheidt studied from 1910 at the Cologne School of Arts and Crafts and at the Art Academy in Dusseldorf. Between 1915 and 1917 he had to quit his studies for military service, in which he was severely wounded by grenades at Verdun. From 1919, he earned his living as a freelance artist and made acquaintance with, among others, Franz Wilhelm Seiwert, Heinrich Hoerle, Hans Arp and Wilhelm Fick.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, their art was defamed as "degenerate" and sold or destroyed.

In 1933, Seiwert fled to Siebengebirge, but his health was deteriorating, and friends brought him back to Cologne, where he died on July 3, 1933. Heinrich Hoerle died on the same day three years later. Räderscheidt fled to Paris and later to Sanary into exile. After WWII Räderscheidt returned to Cologne. He died on March 8, 1970.