Hans Hartung 20th century French artist who predetermined the development of European Tachism
Hans Hartung is a 20th century French artist known for his exquisite calligraphic painting. The work of Hans Hartung is notable for its duality, possessing the features of art, and a kind of alternative. The master’s paintings, executed in the manner of tachism, reflect the deep processes of the human psyche and evoke associations with the elements of nature.
Hans Hartung moved away from reality, expressing his inner state with the help of abstract spots and lines. He believed that abstraction is “a completely new means of expression, another human language, more direct.”
Biography
As a teenager, he was fond of photography. Later he studied in Dresden. In the summer he traveled on a bicycle across Europe, where he visited museums and exhibitions, copied the works of Rembrandt (Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn), Germanic and Austrian Expressionists. He came to non-figurative art in 1922.
In 1925, the painter graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy and Art History at the University of Leipzig, then attended classes at the Munich Academy of Arts. Since 1926, Hartung traveled extensively around the world. Having visited Paris, he adopted the innovative techniques of the representatives of Cubism and Fauvism. And in 1935 the artist finally settled in the capital of France. By 1938, the master managed to develop his own unique style in creating an emotional effect. The center of his compositions was a bunch of lines, around which further work was built and various variations of the main tone were demonstrated.
During World War II, the artist served in the Foreign Legion, took part in the hostilities in North Africa. After demobilization in 1943, he fled from occupied France to Spain. However, arrest could not be avoided, and Hans Hartung spent seven months in a French concentration camp. Then he again joined the ranks of the Foreign Legion. In 1944, the painter was seriously wounded and lost his right leg. Upon his return to Paris in 1946, he received French citizenship and was awarded government awards.
After the war, Hans Hartung received official recognition.
Large retrospective exhibitions of his works were unfolded in museums in Europe and the United States. The artist has received many prestigious awards, was a member of the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts.
The abstract artist systematically worked with black. Fast strokes in pictures begin to seem either deformed hieroglyphic writing, or pulsating on the oscilloscope screen. The works show an attempt to transfer from the world of real objects to the world of interaction of lines and color, where the true secret knowledge is located.
Hartung was in constant creative search for new methods of artistic expression. He invented gratting a method in which a drawing was scratched on a wet paint surface. Hans Hartung died on December 7, 1989. In the memory of his descendants, he remained as one of the most famous artists of the European Informer.
The most famous paintings by Hans Hartung
Hans Hartung’s paintings do not need special argumentation, they completely free the viewer’s imagination. Therefore, the author used only the year of creation and the “serial number” of the work as the title of his works.
- “T 1947-14” (1947) the geometry of a changeable internal state.
- “T 1948-3” (1948) broad, closed-off, shapeless black lines on a clear blue fill. In a sense, this is a reflection of the gloom of being against the background of the height and infinity of the sky.
- “T 1963-R50” (1963) crossing of vertical and horizontal lines with varying pressure, as a symbolic image of experiences of different strength and opposite in shades: cold blue and warm yellow.
- “T1989-L4” (1989) the motive of the space, streaked with spray flying from the invisible wind.
