Spontaneous Calculation
Dr. Hans-Werner Schmidt on
the major Hans Hartung show in Leipzig
Hans
Hartung, untitled, 1955,
©Stiftung
Hans Hartung and Anna-Eva Bergman, Antibes
With
his gestural abstractions reminiscent of Oriental calligraphy, Hans
Hartung rose in the nineteen-forties to become one of the most
important proponents of Informal
Painting. Now, the Museum of
Fine Arts in Leipzig celebrates Hans Hartung with a comprehensive
retrospective sponsored by Deutsche Bank. At the same time, the show also
celebrates the return of a lost son: Spontaneous
Calculation " is the first show of the 1904-born artist in his
native city, where he began studying art in 1924. He already began making
abstract paintings early on, remarkable works that can easily be compared
with Kandinsky's.
Hartung remained true to his early-developed style throughout his entire
artistic career. Along with his paintings, he created an extensive, highly
individual body of graphic work that he frequently based his paintings on.
Hans
Hartung,
Self Portrait, 1981,
©Stiftung
Hans Hartung and Anna-Eva Bergman, Antibes
Fascinated
by French art, Hartung traveled to Paris for the first time in 1926, where
he continued his art studies. In the second half of the 1930s, he
resettled in the French capital and lived amidst the artistic avant-garde
of his time. During the Second World War, he joined the Foreign
Legion to fight on the French side against Germany. Hartung was so
severely wounded in battle that his right leg had to be amputated. The
artist applied for French citizenship in 1945.
After the Second
World War, Hartung was considered one of the most important painters of
Informel, a movement that stood for a new subjectivity and freedom in
artistic expression in West Germany and France following an era of
politically determined art doctrines. Over time, the artist came to
symbolize German-French reconciliation.
Hans
Hartung, T 1983-E42, 1983,
©Stiftung
Hans Hartung and Anna-Eva Bergman, Antibes
For
Spontaneous Calculation, many works were made available from the Fondation
Hans Hartung et Anna-Eva Bergmann. The foundation, called to life five
years after the artist's death, is based in Antibes, where Hans Hartung
lived with his wife, the painter Anna-Eva
Bergman, from 1972. With a large selection of paintings, drawings,
graphic works, and for the first time Hartung's barely known photographic
works, the retrospective traces the multi-faceted work and life journey of
the artist, who has been largely forgotten in his native city. Brigitte
Werneburg spoke with Dr. Hans-Werner Schmidt, the museum's director, about
the abstract artist's first exhibition in East Germany.
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Hans-Werner Schmidt,
Director
of the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig
Brigitte
Werneburg: Hans Hartung's artistic rise
occurred in the '50s. As an opponent of National Socialism who fought
against the regime - not as a leftist, but as an abstract artist - he was
the ideal modern artist for West Germany. Conversely, this disqualified
him for the GDR. Was Hartung ever shown there?
Dr.
Hans-Werner Schmidt: As far as I know, only once, in 1983, after
Hartung bequeathed 61 graphic works to the prints collection of the Staatliche
Kunstsammlungen in Dresden. Even today, many people among the educated
classes in Leipzig haven't heard of him.
And so the question as
to whether Leipzig has a Hartung Collection is irrelevant?
Yes.
What's interesting, however, is that Hartung, who never returned to
Leipzig again after leaving in 1933, retained contact to the museum, where
he sent his catalogues with fond dedications inside. Since January 2005,
however, our museum has a large drawing of his. When the building was
reopened, the Association of German Galleries celebrated its 50th
anniversary here in Leipzig. When they asked me about an appropriate
present, I told them I'd like a Hartung.
Hans
Hartung, T 1950-7, 1950,
©Stiftung
Hans Hartung and Anna-Eva Bergman, Antibes
Your
institution has no acquisitions budget. Does the exhibition budget fare
better?
Thanks to the Deutsche
Bank Foundation in Frankfurt, there is a budget for Hartung. In 2002,
while we were still in the building phase, I held an event to introduce
our program for the years following the reopening. Because I assumed that
the house would be ready in 2004, I had planned a Hartung exhibition for
September, for his hundredth birthday. We had to abandon this plan. But
there was a staff member from Deutsche Bank there that approached me and
said that Deutsche Bank might be interested in sponsoring this exhibition.
Three
years later, the lost son returns to his hometown. How will it receive him?
It's
very important to me to show him in Leipzig, because I know about the
difficulties an art of this kind can have here, where figurative painting
has a strong tradition, where it's equated with social responsibility.
Whereas non-objective art allegedly draws back from this responsibility.
But Hartung demonstrated political responsibility in leaving Germany. The
regime did not view him as an enemy per se; he was neither a Jew nor a
leftist. He was concerned about art's freedom, which embodies the freedom
of the individual.
Hans
Hartung, T 1963-H44, 1963,
©Stiftung
Hans Hartung and Anna-Eva Bergman, Antibes
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