Born in Landau in 1928, Michael Croissant spent his early childhood in Berlin, then moved to Vienna in 1934 to return to Landau in 1938 where he began an apprenticeship as a stonemason in 1942. In the following year he went to the Schule des deutschen Handwerks in Kaiserslautern where he stayed for three years. The next three years were spent in Munich at a private art school before Croissant enrolled in Toni Stadler's class at the Munich Akademie. He was awarded numerous prizes and grants after finishing his studies, including a grant from the 'Kulturpreis der deutschen Industrie' in 1955, the 'Pfalzpreis' in 1960, the 'Darmstädter Kunstpreis' in 1963 and two years later the 'Förderpreis der Stadt München' and the 'Hans-Purrmann-Preis'. Croissant worked as an independent artist in Munich until 1966. Then he was appointed professor at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, a post he held for 22 years. The sculptor has been a member of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, the ‚Darmstädter Sezession', the ‚Deutscher Künstlerbund' and the ‚Neue Gruppe' in Munich since 1972. He has been living and working in Munich since 1991. Croissant's style is determined by a geometrical-abstract language. His figures are wrapped-up, almost armoured, like mummies, thus maintaining a distance beyond our reach. Michael Croissant died at the age of 74 in Munich.