HARTUNG, HANS
1904 Leipzig–1989 Antibes

Title: "P1967-93".
Date: 1967.
Technique: Indian ink, charcoal and scratches on card.
Measurement: 50 x 73 cm.
Notation: Verso dated and titled.
Frame: Framed. Not examined out of the frame.


For the work, certificate of authenticity from the Fondation Hans Hartung et Anna-Eva Bergman, Antibes, dated 6th June 2006. It is registered there under the number CT 5453-3 and will be included in the catalogue raisonné currently being compiled.



Provenance:
- - Pietro and Antonella Gallotti Collection (label)

- Cafiso Arte, Milan (label)

- Dorotheum, Vienna, auction 1.6.2022, lot 286

- Private collection Europe


Exhibition:
- Cafiso Arte, Milan 2006


Literature:
- Exhib. cat.: Hans Hartung, Cafiso Arte, Milan 2006, p. 33



- Expressive work by one of the most significant representatives of European Art Informel

- Dynamic composition of gestural brushstrokes and fine scratch lines

- The reduced black-and-white colour scheme accentuates the structure, rhythm and energy of this work, which possesses a powerful visual impact



Hans Hartung ranks among the defining figures of twentieth-century abstract art. Born in Leipzig in 1904, the artist initially studied at the Academy of Graphic Arts and Book Design there, before continuing his education in Dresden and later receiving decisive inspiration in Paris from Fernand Léger and André Lhote. As early as the 1920s, Hartung turned away from representational art and developed a distinctive gestural-abstract visual language. After years of exile, he fought on the French side during the Second World War, where he was severely wounded and lost a leg. Despite this profound rupture, Hartung continued his artistic work with unwavering commitment and became one of the leading figures of European Informel, exerting a lasting influence on postwar art. Characteristic of his work are spontaneous, energetic lines and the tension-filled interplay between surface and mark, oscillating between controlled placement and impulsive gesture.

The work P1967-93 vividly exemplifies Hartung’s mature artistic practice. Powerful, semicircular black forms distributed rhythmically across the pictorial surface condense into broad, sweeping gestures that create dynamic segments. These are traversed by fine, scratching lines that overlay the forms like a nervous web, disrupting and activating the surface. Diagonal trajectories further structure the composition, generating a charged superimposition of planes of movement. The combination of ink, charcoal, and incised marks produces a multilayered surface in which painterly gesture meets graphic precision.

The reduction to black, white, and shades of gray directs attention toward rhythm, energy, and structure. Within Hartung’s oeuvre, the work marks a phase of heightened experimentation, during which he radically condensed his gestural language and intensified it into a compelling visual dynamism.



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#Hans Hartung #Nouvelle École de Paris #Informel #Lyrical Abstraction #Germany #Post-War Art #1960s #Post War.







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