Gustav Gräser

Gustav "Gusto" Arthur Gräser (16 February 1879 – 27 October 1958) was a German alternative lifestyle advocate, artist, and poet. He is considered one of the fonders of communal lifestyle in Germany. Together with his brother and fellow artist Karl Gräser, he co-founded one of the earliest social reform settlements, which was located along Monte Verità in Ascona. His penned and painted works included many of that were not published until a revival of interest during the counterculture of the 1960s emerged.

Gräser was born in Brașov (Kronstadt), a city in the Transylvania region of Austria-Hungary that is now part of Romania. At an early age, he was influenced by the philosophy of social reformer Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach. In 1897, Gräser lived in Diefenbach's commune, Himmelhof, located in Ober Sankt Veit, near Vienna, and embraced his ideas of pacifism, a human civilization in harmony with nature, and a vegetarian diet, while studying art. However, Gräser was dissuaded by Diefenbach's despotic leadership, and left the commune in 1898 to form his own following in Munich. In 1900, Gräser completely cut ties with his hometown to wander, and co-founded his own commune near Mount Verita in Ascona with his brother, Karl Gräser. Among the settlement's inhabitants included several artists and authors such as Otto Gross, Leonhard Frank, Erich Muhsam, Franziska Countess zu Reventlow, and Herman Hesse, whom Gräser influenced in his written works. Gräser helped fund the commune by giving lectures in various cities and selling copies of his poetry, but was often faced with ridicule for his appearance.

...
Wikipedia