Profession: dada activist

Ball knew Huelsenbeck from a Berlin poet’s café. He spent time with Wedekind, and put on some of his plays. He met Hennings, who married him, in Munich, where he also studied with Reinhardt. Kandinsky designed a Blaue Reiter almanac together with him. He met Arp, Janco and Tzara when they moved to Zürich, and got them (with Hennings) involved in his Cabaret Voltaire. In later life he formed a close friendship with his neighbour Hesse (and wrote Hesse’s biography). Huelsenbeck visited the ascetic and penniless Ball frequently in his last few weeks, and helped bury him.