The Pink Panther and The Inspector #2 (July 1971) references poster for the 15th July 1923 Bauhaus exhibition at the Weimar gallery (1923) by Joost Schmidt?

leading from  

The Pink Panther comic book trail
and
Poster for the Bauhaus Austellung Weimar 1923 by Joost Schmidt

a) Cover from  The Pink Panther and The Inspector #2 (July 1971)

 b) poster for the 15th July 1923 Bauhaus exhibition at the Weimar gallery (1923) by Joost Schmidt

c) What we can first notice is how both of the compositions slant from the upper left to the lower right.

With that the Bauhaus poster has a stylised face divided into two and I think that the upper part of the face on the right became the Inspector's head with the dividing line become his coat's collar

d) The right side of the image then becomes the Pink Panther's upper body. Perhaps the three quarters black circle with the upper quarter the colour of the background becomes the point for the panther's ears or eye while the lower part of the grey L shape interlocked becomes the head and muzzle of the creature.

e) Meanwhile the red bar beneath become the Panther's arms, with a red square becoming the hands and the year 1923 becomes the fingers of its hands.

f) The Ausstellung word with its large A become the tail with the upward curving end,