Lot  049 Ravenel Spring Auction 2020

Ravenel Spring Auction 2020

T1970-H40

Hans HARTUNG (French, 1904 - 1989)

1970

Acrylic on canvas

102 x 130 cm

Estimate

TWD 4,800,000-7,000,000

HKD 1,234,000-1,799,000

USD 159,300-232,300

CNY 1,132,000-1,651,000

Sold Price

TWD 5,760,000

HKD 1,511,811

USD 194,858

CNY 1,364,929


Signature

PROVENANCE:
Fondation Hartung Bergman, Antibes, France
De Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong
Christie's, Paris, December 5, 2018, Lot 241
Private collection, Asia


EXHIBITED:
L'exposition du peintre Hans Hartung, Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung, Taiwan, April 1997
Hans Hartung: Le Champ des Oliviers, Salle d'Exposition du Quai Antoine 1er, Monte Carlo, 1999
Hans Hartung: Spontanes Kalkül, Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig, November 2007 – February 2008
Hans Hartung, Le Geste et la Méthode, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence, 2008
Hans Hartung, Abstraction: a Human Language, De Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong, November 25, 2017-January 20, 2018


ILLUSTRATED:
Hans Hartung: 1971-1974, Arts et Métiers Graphiques et Galerie de France, Paris, 1974
J.R. Delahaut, Le Peintre Hans Hartung, Terre d’Europe, Paris, 1974
K. Vanbelleghem, Hans Hartung: Opere dal 1947 al 1989, Galleria Tega, Milan, 1995
G. Huang, R. Fleck, C. Cheng-Hsiung, L’Exposition du Pentre Hans Hartung, Taiwan Museum of Art, Taichung, 1997
M. Fresia, Hartung: Le Champ des Oliviers, Fondation Hartung-Bergman, Antibes, 1999
H.W. Schmidt, D. Luckow, J. Nicolaisen, Hans Hartung: Spontanes Kalkul, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2007
M. Enrici, D. Abadie, J. Clair, D. Vallier, Hans Hartung, Le Geste et la Methode, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence, 2008
Hans Hartung, Abstraction: a Human Language, De Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong, 2017, color illustrated, pp. 58-61



+ OVERVIEW

Hans Hartung (1904-1989), a renowned German artist who lived in France, was known for his abstract and expressionist style. In 1924, Hartung enrolled in Germany's Leipzig University to study philosophy and history before continuing his education at the Fine Arts Academy of Dresden. During this period, the modern French and Spanish works at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden exerted a profound and lasting impact on Hartung's life as an artist. Later on, the changes in Germany's political climate prompted him to move to Paris, France. When in Paris, Hartung came across the works of Paul Cézanne, which proved to be an inspiration for his subsequent creations. Hartung then studied painting techniques under Max Dörner, a famous artist and art theorist.

Jack Lang, former French Minister of Culture, once described Hartung as "an important artist who constructed the visual language of our generation." Suffice to say, Hartung's artistic career has made a continuing impact on Europe, and even the entire world.

The course of Hartung’s life was filled with hardship and obstacles. In 1932, he attempted to return to Germany. However, the "Cubist inclinations" of his paintings were incompatible with the ideologies of Nazi Germany, so he was denied entry into the country. Sometime later, Hartung was arrested for selling his paintings in Berlin. Eventually, he escaped Nazi Germany with the help of a friend. Back in France, Hartung's abstract works were not well-received. He then joined the French Foreign Legion, and became a target of the Gestapo's secret tailing, which resulted in Hartung being arrested and imprisoned for 7 months. When the French police learned he was a painter, they locked him in a red cell in an attempt to damage his vision. After his release, Hartung was sent to fight in North Africa and lost a leg in a battle.

His tumultuous life finally began to take a turn for the better after the end of World War II, when he was finally recognized as a great artist. In 1947, the artist held his first solo exhibition in Paris. By the late 1950s, Hartung was in the public spotlight for his gestural paintings, and his artistic achievements were given due recognition. His rhythmic brushstrokes and scratches made him a household name. In 1960, he was presented the International Grand Prix for painting at the Venice Biennale. Hartung became known as one of the most important artists from the School of Paris, and his works had a huge influence on the abstract expressionism and lyrical expressionism painting style that developed subsequently in the United States.

Hartung was also an iconic artist in the Tachisme movement. The paintings he produced in the 1950s after the war exhibited a calligraphic orientation. The artist's repertoire, produced over the course of his life, can be roughly divided into several stages. The paintings from the early stages of his career, produced in the 1930s, were rather conservative, while those painted in the 1940s and 1950s after World War II gradually displayed a more radical inclination. In the 1960s, his color choices became bolder, while his brushstrokes and lines became more delicate yet unfaltering. These lines, packed densely on the canvas, remind one of a strong gust; when set against a dark gradient background, they remind one of wheat in a field or a cluster of algae, telling the story of a resilient lifeforce. After the 1970s, Hartung's paintings gradually took a more cryptic and abstruse turn. The iconic lines became more complex, and black and other darker colors were used more frequently.

Hans Hartung's T1970-H40 was created in 1970. This painting could be said to be the most experimental one created in the late 1960s, and a breakthrough from his many other "fine lines" paintings. This medium-size acrylic abstract painting does away with the artist's usual use of calligraphic blank spaces and instead features bold and energetic colors that saturate the entire composition. The black and yellow used in the painting create a strong contrast. The stroke ofblack paint in the center of the picture is wide and bold, yet concise and sharp, dividing the picture into two.

Giulio Carlo Argan, a well-known Italian art historian, said of Hartung's paintings, "What Hartung was concerned with was actually the origin of symbols rather than the original meaning behind symbols. On the contrary, he sought to be a specialist in the creation and production of symbols." In other words, the state of these symbols is more on the level of material objects and creative processes. "The space between symbols and their background, as defined by Hartung, is a decisive and complete space of movement. Hartung's symbols are symbols of will and action." That is to say, Hartung expresses his own will and actions through the creation of symbols on his canvas. His course sets material precedence for the artworks of later generations.

In terms of painting techniques and the use of media, Hartung was also ahead of his times. In addition to the use of spray paint techniques, which were rather uncommon in those days, in this painting, Hartung also employed a variety of techniques, materials, and tools in the 1960s and 1970s, such as tree branches, acrylic paint, the back of paintbrushes, and the scratching of hard materials, which greatly enriched the possibilities of painting as a medium. Not only did Hartung give his take on the "gestural" aspect of gestural painting, but the diversity of his chosen media also exerted a powerful influence on both artists of his generation and those that came later, including Zao Wou-Ki and the artists of the American abstract expressionism movement that took place across the Atlantic Ocean. By exploring and demonstrating his superb abstract painting techniques, Hartung inspired accomplished artists such as Julie Mehretu and Rudolf Stingel, who later became pioneers of their fields in their own rights.

This painting is markedly different from Hartung's other paintings of the same period, which foreground delicate and flowing lines. The bold and sharp brushstrokes and color blocks are reminiscent of paintings by Henri Matisse. These characteristics point to Hartung's intentional change in his usual approach for this painting, playing up brush movement that is precise, brisk, practiced, and sure.

Hartung's works have been showcased and collected by many internationally renowned art institutions. Since Hartung held his first solo exhibition in Galerie Lydia Conti, Paris, in 1947, he had gone on to hold multiple exhibitions in Europe and the United States, including being part of the Kassel Documenta in Germany (1955), and in venues such as a Galerie de France in 1956, Galerie Craven (1956), Guggenheim Museum (1953-1954), Paris Musée National d'Art Moderne (1969), The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City (1975), Paris Museum of Modern Art (1980), National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (1997), and The Museum der bildenden Künste in Leipzig, Germany, among others.


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Ravenel Spring Auction 2020

Sunday, July 19, 2020, 1:00pm