HARTUNG, HANS

* 21.9.1904 Leipzig, † 7.12.1989 Antibes

Hans Hartung was born in Leipzig in 1904. He was one of the most important exponents of the École de Paris, a pioneer of Abstract Expressionism, and he occupied an important place in modern European culture. Hans Hartung was already interested in abstract art during his school years in Dresden. In Leipzig he began studying philosophy and art history at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1924. In 1925 he made the acquaintance of Wassily Kandinsky, whereupon he decided to study at the University of Fine Arts in Dresden. From 1928 Hartung studied under the painter and restorer Max Doerner, who at the time was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1929 he married the Norwegian artist Anna-Eva Bergman in France. However, they separated a short time later because Hartung's mother-in-law was vehemently opposed to the relationship. Shortly afterwards he moved to Paris. At this time, he was already creating spontaneous, sign-like linear compositions, in which he allowed himself to be guided by the inspiration of chance and he explored the tension in the relationship between areas of colour and line. Hans Hartung married Roberta González, the daughter of the Spanish sculptor Julio González in Paris in 1939. At the outbreak of war, he joined the French Foreign Legion. He gave up painting throughout his military service. In 1944, after he had already been discharged, he re-joined the French troops in North Africa. In 1944 in Alsace, as a legionnaire, he was so badly injured that his right leg had to be amputated.

After the war, Hartung returned to France and received French citizenship. He was admitted to the French Legion of Honour and awarded the Order of the Croix de Guerre. He then returned to concentrating fully on painting. During these years, he created paintings with floating fields of colour overlaid with calligraphic bundles of lines. In 1947 he had his first solo exhibition in Paris. In 1955-64 he participated in the documenta in Kassel. He met his first wife Anna-Eva Bergman once again and they married for a second time in 1957. In the 1950s, he created more monochrome colour surfaces in which he incised juxtaposed lines into the paint, creating a sculptural depth

Hartung was a highly acclaimed artist who already during his lifetime was acknowledged by international institutions. In 1972 he settled in Antibes, where he died in 1989, one of the most important exponents of European Informel.