Enrico Baj was born on October 31, 1924, in Milan, and had a decisive role in shaping the avant-garde of the 1950s. He founded the artistic movement "Movimento Nucleare" in 1951 and, together with Asger Jorn, announced "Le Mouvement International pour une Bauhaus Imaginiste" in 1953. These artistic movements set themselves against the rationalization and goemetrization of art. In his visual works, including paintings, drawings, collages, objects, and sculptures, Baj developed his own grotesque figure world, using it against bourgeois conventions and societal and political misunderstandings. Baj also showed a strong orientation toward literature, illustrating several books, co-authoring various books on artists, and was himself active as a writer.