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until 14.01.2023 | #3690ARTatBerlin | Galerie Max Hetzler shows from 11. November 2022 (Openning: 11.11) the exibition by the artist Hans Hartung.
We are pleased to draw your attention to Hans Hartung, an exhibition of works by the German-French artist spanning seven decades, at Galerie Max Hetzler, Potsdamer Strasse 77-87, in Berlin.
As an artistic innovator, Hans Hartung (1904-1989) became known for his contribution to European post-war painting. Already active as an abstract artist before the Second World War, he developed a dynamic-gestural style after 1945 and became one of the most important representatives of European Informel. His work is characterised by spontaneous, emblematic compositions that explore the interplay of colour field and line.
This exhibition offers the opportunity to rediscover the extraordinary life of an artist who travelled Europe before settling in Paris in 1936 to fight against the Nazis during the Second World War. After being severely wounded in combat in 1944, Hartung found himself devastated by the aftermath of this traumatic conflict. In the 1950s, however, he became a central figure of abstraction on the international stage, winning the Grand Prix at the Venice Biennale in 1960 – for an exhibition of his work in the French Pavilion.
In this comprehensive show on Hans Hartung in Germany, the first since the exhibition Hans Hartung: Spontaneous Calculus, dedicated to him at the Museum der bildenden Künste in his native city of Leipzig in 2007, works from all periods, in all techniques and with all of Hans Hartung’s experiments are on display: from the figurative watercolours and informal inks of the 1920s to the explosive spray paintings of the 1980s and his last painting (T1989-N10), created a week after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The exhibition, which includes some fifty works and a selection of memorabilia from his archive, offers the opportunity to see the extraordinary diversity of his work, which is characterised by an artful blend of passion and masterful gesture. This is evident in the spectacular, atmospheric works of the 1960s, the vast pictorial lines of the 1970s
years and in the energy of the huge brushstrokes of the 1980s. In his works on paper, Hartung arrived at a non-representational style in the 1920s with a graphic play of black lines on a light background, often reminiscent of Chinese ink drawings. The viewer also becomes acquainted with some of Hartung’s lesser-known techniques and media, especially his acrylic paintings on baryta board, which are sometimes reminiscent of Pop Art due to their glossy, smooth and contrasting appearance. The works are numerically and sequentially titled and provide an insight into the issues the artist was dealing with in each case. An exceptional work within the exhibition is T1945-1, a two-sided painting that has only been shown once since its creation. It consists of both a painting from 1938 and his first work from 1945, which he painted the day after losing his leg as a result of a serious wound.
This exhibition is a collaboration between Galerie Max Hetzler, the Hartung-Bergman Foundation, Perrotin and the Sprengel Museum Hannover.
Hans Hartung (1904-1989) was born in Leipzig in 1904 and died in Antibes, France in 1989. The artist’s work has been shown in solo exhibitions at international institutions including the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville, Paris (2019); Kustmuseum Bonn (2018); Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen (2016); Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo (2014); Roma Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Palazzo Polo, Rome (2013); Musée des Beaux-Arts de Vannes (2011); Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva (2011); Bibliothèque National de France, Paris (2010); Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence (2008); Kunsthalle zu Kiel (2008); Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig (2007); National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2005, travelled to the National Museum, Nanjing); Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (2004); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2004); Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Belfort (2003, also travelled to the Musée du Château des Ducs de Wurtemberg, Montbéliard); Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Turin (2000); Tate Britain, London (1996); Musée Unterlinden, Colman (1989); Musée Picasso, Antibes (1987); Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf (1981, also travelled to the Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst, Munich); Georges Pompidou, Paris (1977); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1975); Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne (1974, also travelled to the Nationalgalerie Berlin and the Städische Galerie I’m Lenbachhaus, Munich); and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1969, also travelled to the Musée du Québec and the Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal), among others. v.m.
Hans Hartung’s works are in the collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Courtauld Gallery, London; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., among others. Kunstmuseum Basel; Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville, Paris; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reine Sofía, Madrid; Museum Folkwang, Essen; Tate, London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
Openning: Friday, 11. November 2022 – 18:00 until 20:00
Exibition dates: Friday, 11. November – Saturday, 14. January 2023
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Image caption: Hans Hartung, T1975-K47, 1975 Photo: Claire Dorn
Exibition Hans Hartung – Galerie Max Hetzler | Contemporary Art – Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin – Exibitions Berlin Galerien – ART at Berlin
