composing advertising materials, cinema posters for example. In 1947, the family moved to 14 Fischer von Erlach Straße. This was part of a complex of barracks originally built as a military hospital but now partly occupied by artists and their families. The Müllers shared their barracks with the following artists and their families: Meinolf Splett (born 1911), Fritz Stehwien (born 1914), Clemens Kindling (1916–1992), Mrs Braun (on the recommendation of the architect Hanns Hopp (1890–1971)), Kurt Völker (brother of Karl Völker). The following artists lived in the neighbouring barracks: Richard Horn, Karl-Erich Müller (1917–1998), Herbert Lange and Helmut Schröder. Like his friends Helmut Schröder, Fritz Freitag (1915–1977) and Karl-Erich Müller, Otto Müller was a member of a Halle-based group of artists under the aegis of Fritz Baust (1912–1982), known as Die Fähre (The Ferryboat - 1947–1949). Müller contributed to the exhibitions organised by die Fähre with landscapes, drawings of animals and nudes. It was not until 1950 however that Müller devoted himself to the workshop themes intensively propagated at this time by other Fähre artists such as Karl-Erich Müller, Herbert Lange and Willi Sitte (born 1921). In March 1948, he took part in an exhibition at the Henning Gallery in Halle, together with Charles Crodel, Kurt Bunge and Karl Rödel (1907–1982). His contributions to the exhibition caused Richard Horn to describe Otto Müller as “the most interesting of the four artists in the exhibition” in the introduction to the exhibition catalogue. With three graphic works from 1947, Müller was one of just two artists from Halle (together with Willi Sitte) to be represented at the Gesamtdeutsche Graphik-Ausstellung (German Graphic Exhibition) organised by the German Cultural Council in Munich and held in the State Gallery and the Lenbach Gallery. One of the most prominent members of the jury was Charles Crodel, who had been a lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich since 1952. In 1954, Müller moved with his family to the first new accommodation built in Halle since the end of the war, in Stalinallee 57b. This was later renamed as 179 and – since 1990 – as Merseburger Straße 127. From 1951 to about 1964, Müller worked in workshops in agriculture, mining and industry for various customers or as part of work placements organised by the Artists Association of the Democratic Republic of Germany. In 1951 and 1953, he produced graphic works for the Machine and