This is a short book (96 pages) on August Macke, the German painter who was a member of the "Blaue Reiter" group. Sadly, he was killed in the initial months of World War I at a tragically early age. Who knows what he would have accomplished? His sense of color and reduction of form and shape to flat, almost abstract design is revolutionary and paved the way for Cubism. He did watercolors, often as studies for his oils, and his paintings from Tunisia are especially beautiful. He portrayed the everyday (women shopping for hats, people sitting in cafes) in beautifully colored and composed paintings of light. If you don't know Macke's work, this is a fine introduction.