Walter Stöhrer belongs to the generation that expanded
abstract post-war art to include a new figuration. He developed an expressive form of colour painting into which symbols and text fragments were also incorporated.

In the 20-part series Trottoir-Kinder/Pavement Children Stöhrer played through many variations of a figurative alphabet. These symbolic, apparently hermaphrodite creatures are reminiscent of figurative abbreviations like those children scribble on
pavements and walls. This affinity to street graffiti is expressly generated through the title. As graphic constellations of lines, the figurative pictorial signs are set in, below and beside the powerful, highly contrasting and glowing, colourful gestures of pure painting. The white of the paper background is left
untouched in many places, making the sheets appear bright and light. The figures, many of them seemingly childlike – all head and feet – populate and energise the pictorial space. Here, the painter is dedicated to the concept of an authentic, direct, childlike expressive will: a creative desire and vitality as yet
untrammelled by culture, education and social rules.