Hans Hartung
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Hans Hartung (21 September 1904 – 8 December 1989) was a German-French painter, known for his gestural abstract style.
[edit] Life
Hartung was born in Leipzig, Germany into an artistic family. He studied painters like Corinth and Nolde and also learned the basis of cubism and French painting. Studying both in Leipzig and Dresden, he reproduced the paintings of the masters, he then entered the Fine Arts of Dresden and Munich. To prevent succumbing to provincialism, he decided in 1926 that he would leave his native country. Consequently, after a bicycle trip through Italy, he moved to Paris.
He lived with Anna-Eva Bergmann and established himself in the French towns of Leucate, Baléares and Minorca successively. He spent much time fishing. His first exhibition was held in 1931 in Dresden. His last bonds with Germany were broken when his father died in 1932. He was rejected from Nazi Germany on account of being a 'degenerate'. The reasons behind this being that his painting style was associated with cubism- an art movement seen as against Nazi Germany's ideals. In 1935 he attempted to sell paintings while visiting Berlin but the police decided this was wrong and chased him. He was able to flee the country through his friend; Christian Zervos.
After returning to Paris as a refugee his wife left him, causing him to fall into depression. His friends tried to help him with his financial difficulties, but his paintings were becoming more abstract - far from the style of the time. For the time being he could only afford a little shop where he can work and better his technique. During World War II, in December 1939, he became a member of the French Foreign Legion. He was closely follwed by the Gestapo and was put away for seven months by the French police, after they learnt he was a painter, in a red cell in order to wear off his vision. After being released he rejoined the Legion to fight in North Africa, losing a leg in a battle near Belfort. He earned French citizenship in 1945, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre.
From 1947 onwards he became a more important French painter. He exhibited that year for the first time in Paris.
His freewheeling abstract paintings set influential precedents for many younger American painters of the sixties, making him an important forerunner of American Lyrical Abstraction of the 1960's and 1970's.
He died in Antibes, France where he had his shop.
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This article is a rough translation of an article in French. It may have been generated by a computer or by a translator with limited proficiency in English or the original language. Feel free to enhance the translation. For reference, the original article may appear under "French" in the "other languages" list. |
[edit] References
- La mort de Hans Hartung Le peintre, pionnier puis classique de l'" abstraction ", est mort, vendredi 8 décembre, à l'âge de quatre-vingt-cinq ans, Le Monde. Lundi 11 décembre 1989, p. 1. accessed on October 8, 2006.
