Johannes Theodor Baargeld

Johannes Theodor Baargeld, whose civil name was Alfred Ferdinand Gruenwald, was a German painter, writer and journalist associated with Dada. Born in Stettin in 1892 into an upper-middle-class family, he enlisted in the German army in 1914. The war shaped his political convictions, and in 1918 he joined the Independent Socialist Party of Germany (USPD). For him, art and politics went hand in hand. Like the Berlin Dadaists, he hoped Dada could help drive political change in Germany.

With Max Ernst he published the magazine Die Schammade, and he became one of the founders of the Cologne Dada group. There he was tied to the periodical Der Ventilator, which he helped sponsor, and later he contributed to Bulletin D. As a painter he collaborated with Ernst on some of the collages for the Fatagaga series, and works attributed to him include The Yellow King and The King's Clock. He gave up painting in 1921 and turned mainly to writing and photography, including series on mountains now held by the Museum Ludwig. He died in an avalanche in August 1927 while climbing the Aiguille de Bionnassay in the French Alps.

His work matters for linking Dada with political commitment and for his role in the Cologne group, although his painting output was brief.