HANS HARTUNG

The celebrated French-German painter Hans Heinrich Ernst Hartung was in many ways a prophet eons ahead of his time. Captivated by the capriciousness of light and space, he was one of the first painters who from the outset approached art exclusively in abstract terms, experimenting with abstraction at the tender age of 17. He began creating gestural paintings some 20 years before Jackson Pollock, although it was not until the 1950s that his works finally received recognition. Nigh on monochromatic and characterized by rhythmic brushstrokes, his postwar creations eradicated figurative elements while embodying calligraphic qualities. Unlike earlier abstractionists who attempted to control the painting process, he opted for complete freedom and spontaneity, applying paint with such items as spray guns, garden rakes, and even olive branches. Renowned for his dynamic and innovative approach to abstraction, he sought to translate the inexpressible onto canvas, inspiring generations of lyrical abstractionists across the Atlantic.