Claus Bastian (1909-1995) German, Oil on Canvas. "Ballet #1" 1964. Signed and dated 1964. Provenance: Dr. Baldhard Falk, buron, acquired from Lesser Galleries exhibition, San Francisco, 1965. Claus Bastian was a German painter , sculptor , doctorate in law and the first prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp. Claus Bastian, who came from an upper-class background, grew up with his five siblings in Utting am Ammersee . His father Richard Bastian was a well-known engineer who played a leading role in port development in major European cities and became known as the designer of the profile of the railway track. Bastian interrupted his school education for two years, during which he worked as a shepherd, blacksmith and farmer. After completing his schooling, he studied law at the University of Munich . From 1929 Bastian studied for a year at the Sorbonne , worked part-time as a tap dancer at the Folies Bergère and moved socially in artist circles. After returning to Germany, he briefly became a member of the KPD , founded the Marxist student union and was a university boxing champion in the early 1930s . At the University of Munich he campaigned for the legal scholar Hans Nawiasky , who was threatened with beatings by members of the SA . Overall Size: 32 1/2 x 24 3/4 in. Sight Size: 31 1/4 x 23 1/2 in.