Hans Hartung

HANS HARTUNG (Germany, 1904 - France, 1989)
"S.T.", 1971.
Etching engraving, embossed, copy H.C.
Signed and justified in pencil.
Measurements: 52 x 80 cm (print); 75,5 x 105 cm (paper).

Hans Hartung's gestural abstraction exemplifies the aesthetic and conceptual concerns of informal art. They are compositions that, however, do not respond to an automatic impulse but evolved from an interest in rational and mathematical approaches to artistic creation. Although he also explored spontaneity by using quick-drying paints and novel methods of application, such as rakes and olive branches.

Hans Hartung studied at the Academies of Dresden and Munich, and in 1926 he left his country to settle in Paris. He made his individual debut in Dresden in 1931, but soon after he was rejected by Nazi Germany because he was considered a "degenerate" artist. From 1947 onwards his fame in the French art scene grew. That same year he exhibited for the first time in Paris, and in 1960 he received the Grand International Prize at the Venice Biennale. He is currently represented at the MoMA in New York, the Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, the Tate Gallery in London and the Haifa Museum in Israel, among many other centers, institutions and collections around the world.