Collection: Hartung Hans

(Leipzig 1904 - Antibes 1989)

Hans Hartung was a prominent figure in Lyrical Abstraction and European Informal Art, honored in 1956 with the Guggenheim International Prize, in 1960 with the Grand Prize for Painting at the Venice Biennale, and in 1967 with the Grand Prize for Graphics at the Ljubljana Biennale.
His extensive original graphic production should not be considered complementary to painting, but rather an autonomous and avant-garde experimental core. Hartung revolutionized engraving and lithography by introducing unconventional tools, such as metal brushes, knives, and sprayers, to attack the matrix with a quick and dynamic mark. His works are built on the continuous balancing act between the spontaneity and gestural quality of the mark on one side and the preparatory rigor, documented by numerous sketches, on the other.
This innovative research on the contrast between light and pure gesture earned him an uncommon international recognition while he was still alive: in 1977, the Centre George Pompidou dedicated a large retrospective to his graphic work, followed in 1981 by another joint initiative of the Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, the Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst in Munich, and the Henie-Onstad Foundation in Oslo. In 1985, another retrospective was organized at the Grand Palais in Paris, a long-standing temple of consecration for artists who are now solidly recognized globally.