Hans Hedberg

Hans Hedberg (born May 25, 1917 in Örnsköldsvik , Västernorrlands län , Sweden ; † March 27, 2007 in Cannes , France ) was a well-known Swedish ceramic artist . His works, which are often oversized fruits, can be seen in museums around the world.

biography

Hans Hedberg was born as the son of Theodor Hedberg and his wife Ingeborg (née Belfrage) in Köpmanholmen , a small port near Örnsköldsvik , around 500 kilometers north of Stockholm , in the Swedish administrative district (Län) Västernorrland. The small place was at the end of the 19th century by settlements in the area of ​​a wood u. Paper mill was built, which was built there by Hans Hedberg's grandfather, Gustav (Hedberg). The family business, including the fact that Hans Hedberg's mother, Ingeborg, had brought a rich inheritance into her marriage to Theodor Hedberg (she descended from Breton whalers who had settled in Sweden), left Hans Hedberg in an upper-class environment, largely carefree, growing up. Hans Hedberg went to school in Stockholm and was interested in art during his school days - supported and encouraged by his mother. Immediately after graduating from school in 1938, he turned completely to art and artistic creation.

In World War II Sweden remained largely neutral and Hedberg spent his military service at a Sami Company, which is near the border with Norway was stationed. After the end of the war, he oriented himself “southwards”, taking up art studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen , then at the Académie Colarossi in Paris . In 1947 he took a trip to Capri and although the main focus of his artistic work until then was drawing and painting, he was immediately fascinated by the ceramic art of the islanders, which could look back on a long tradition.

On Capri he acquired the manual skills for this new medium - and his later ceramic works of art. During his stay he also got to know Alberto Moravia and the American art patron and collector Peggy Guggenheim , who were also on Capri at the time. Two years of study at the Istituto Statale d'Arte per la Ceramica in Faenza , with its famous workshops for faience ( majolica ), followed. During this time he met the sculptors and painters Marino Marini and Lucio Fontana .

Despite this artistically very fertile time in Italy, it was the south of France that attracted him even more. Hedberg had already got to know the south of France in his youth on various trips and Provence was to become his future second home. In 1949 he built a studio with kilns for his ceramic work in Biot , a small town near Antibes known for its ceramics , where Picasso also worked with the local pottery workshops.

Hedberg's fame grew rapidly and after an exhibition at La Boutique d'Art in Nice (1954), he became the most famous artist in the region. Picasso , Léger , Chagall learned the faience techniques he used from Hedberg. During this time, Hans Hedberg met his first wife - Mouchka. He lived with her in Cagnes-sur-Mer , the “ Montmartre of the French Riviera ” , and worked in his studio in Biot. The couple stayed together until Mouchka's death in 1972.

In the course of his work, Hedberg received numerous awards and prizes and his works of art can be viewed in many museums and private collections. But he was and is a really celebrated artist in his home country Sweden. He returned every summer and in 1998 a museum for his works was opened in his hometown Örnsköldsvik .

On March 27, 2007, Hans Hedberg died at the age of 89 in a clinic in Cannes of kidney disease. He left behind his second wife, Charlotte, and his son Hans-Erik.

literature

• Anne-Marie Ericcson: Hedberg, Hans . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 70, de Gruyter, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-023175-5 , p. 526 f.

Web links

• Obituary in the Guardian
• Obituary in The Independent
• Site of the Hans Hedberg Museum in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, with pictures of the artist, list of his works and illustrations