Werner Hartmann (painter)

Werner Hartmann (born May 28, 1903 in Emmen , † November 13, 1981 in Barmelweid Clinic , Erlinsbach ) was a Swiss painter and graphic artist .

Life

After completing the Hitzkirch teacher training college, Werner Hartmann moved to Paris and studied at the Julian and Ranson Academies with André Lhote and Roger Bissière . He settled in the Montparnasse district in 1923, from 1949 in the Rue Boissonade, and made various trips, including regularly to the island of Porquerolles . In 1931 a longer stay in the French residence in Fez (Morocco) followed. His participation in the “Peintres Français d'aujourd'hui” exhibition in Brussels in 1935 and the solo exhibition in the Galerie de Paris in 1938 with a picture purchase by the French state show his integration in the École de Paris .

He was friends with a number of important Swiss artists and maintained a lively exchange: Ernst Morgenthaler , Serge Brignoni , Alberto Giacometti , Max von Mühlenen , Otto Charles Bänninger , Paul Basilius Barth , Wilhelm Gimmi, Rodolphe-Théophile Bosshard, Louis Conne , Adrien Holy, Robert Wehrlin and other. Friendships with musicians such as Conrad Beck , Marcel Mihalovici , Tibor Harsányi , Bohuslav Martinů , Alexander Tscherepnin and, thanks to his brother-in-law, the cellist André Huvelin, with the musicologist Marc Pincherle , and of course with painters like Francisco Borès and other figurative artists were also important to him , such as François Desnoyer , Raymond Legueult and others. He was probably closest to the “Peintres de la réalité poétique”, which emphasized above all mood and feeling. In 1935 he stayed in La Sarraz with Max Ernst , Laszlo Moholy-Nagy , Walter Gropius and Géa Augsbourg . In 1936 he took part in the Swiss Pavilion at the Venice Biennale . In 1940 he moved to Switzerland, where he taught at the Lucerne School of Applied Arts until 1945 .

After the war he returned to Paris, where he developed a rich artistic activity, but did not lose contact with Switzerland. Married the French musician Geneviève Hoummel in 1951; Son Daniel was born in 1953. In the following years he worked for several Lucerne churches (sgraffiti, wall paintings, glass windows) and in 1962 received the Lucerne City Art and Culture Prize . He spent most of his old age in the south, in Ollioules near Toulon, southern France.

plant

His work, which remains committed to the figurative ideal, includes portraits, landscapes, as well as still lifes and interior scenes. The restrained colors of the early pictures gradually lighten, the brushstroke becomes looser, freer, without, however, abandoning the taut image structure. In some of his pictures southern light and painterly sweep are combined and there are strong compositions of often daring color combinations.

As a citizen of central Switzerland in Paris, who did not let his contact with his homeland be broken off and stayed in his native Emmen again and again, especially during the war, he is one of the few Swiss painters who succeeded in introducing French painting culture in conversations and exhibitions To convey works and exhibitions of painter friends to Switzerland.

Exhibitions (selection)

• 1925 first exhibition: Participation with the “Association des artistes suisses à Paris” in an exhibition at the Siot-Decauville gallery , Paris
• 1928 Solo exhibition Musegg War and Peace Museum, Lucerne
• 1929 Participation in the exhibition "Swiss Painters in Paris", Kunsthalle Basel (catalog)
• 1930 Participation in "Southern France in Painting", Kunstmuseum Winterthur
• 1931 scholarship exhibition in Fez, Morocco
• From 1931 regular participation in various important salons in Paris
• 1934 Solo exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Luzern (previously at the Musée Rath in Geneva and at the Galerie Schulthess, Basel)
• 1935 Participation in the “Peintres Français d'aujourd'hui” exhibition in Brussels as part of the world exhibition
• 1936 Invitation to the Swiss Pavilion at the Venice Biennale
• 1936 Solo exhibition at the Galerie de Paris, Paris (34 works)
• 1936 Participation in the Venice Biennale (Swiss Pavilion)
• 1939 Participation in the Swiss National Exhibition 1939. Drawing, painting, shaping. II. Contemporary Art, Kunsthaus Zürich
• 1939 Participation in “Younger French and Swiss Painters in Paris”, Kunstmuseum Luzern, then Zurich, St. Gallen and Geneva (catalog). The traveling exhibition was organized by Werner Hartmann.
• 1941 Participation in the group exhibition "Section Paris der GSMBA", Kunsthaus Zürich
• 1942 Group exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bern (catalog)
• 1945 Werner Hartmann, together with Edouard Spörri and Herbert Theurillat, Lucerne Art Museum
• 1946 Solo exhibition at the Musée de l'Athénée, Geneva
• 1947 Solo exhibition at Galerie Véandre, Payerne
• 1947 Participation in regional exhibition of the Swiss Art Association, art museums in St. Gallen, Chur and Solothurn
• 1949, 1952 Wolfsberg Art Salon , Zurich
• 1950 Solo exhibition at Marcel Guiot Gallery, Paris
• 1950/53 Galerie Bettie Thommen, Basel
• 1953 "Werner Hartmann", Kunstmuseum Luzern (catalog)
• 1957/60/63/66/69 Wolfsberg Art Salon, Zurich
• 1957 Participation in "Modern Art in Central Switzerland", Kunstmuseum Luzern (catalog)
• 1961 Gallery on the Reuss, Lucerne
• 1961 Neue Galerie, Bern
• 1962 Maihof Gallery, Schwyz
• 1965 «Werner Hartmann», Kunstmuseum Luzern (catalog)
• 1971 Community Gallery Emmen
• 1971 «Les suisses de Paris», group exhibition Aargauer Kunsthaus Aarau (catalog)
• 1974 Participation in the exhibition in the GSMBA section in Paris, Anney - Chambéry - Thonons-les-Bains
• 1979 Kornschütte solo exhibition, Lucerne, under the patronage of the city president, with book launch
• 1981 «1936 - a confrontation», group exhibition Aargauer Kunsthaus Aarau
• 1981 Retrospective "Werner Hartmann - a Swiss painter in Paris" in the Seedamm cultural center in Pfäffikon SZ
• 1984 “Hommage amical à Werner Hartmann” on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the existence of IHA AG, Hergiswil
• 1984 “Hommage à Werner Hartmann”, memorial exhibition in the Emmen community gallery
• 1986 Retrospective on the 5th anniversary of his death in Landis & Gyr, Zug, and publication of a memorial
• 1988 "Werner Hartmann: Petits formats - oil paintings" in the Grüningen gallery in Grüningen
• 1991 Retrospective on the occasion of the 10th year of death in the Steffisburg Art Collection, Villa Schüpbach, and organ concert in the Gerliswil parish church in Emmenbrücke with the world premiere of an organ piece by Pierre Cogen, titular organist of the Ste Clotilde Basilica in Paris, inspired by the murals by Werner Hartmann in the choir of the Gerliswil church from 1952
• 2000 "Werner Hartmann, paintings and drawings", Galerie am Paradeplatz, Zurich
• 2003 Participation in "Paris - Marseille: de la Canebière à Montparnasse", Musée du Montparnasse, Paris; Château Borély, Marseille
• 2003 «Werner Hartmann. Emmen - Paris - Emmen », For the hundredth birthday, Galerie Gersag, Emmen (catalog)
• 2011 Gallery 6052, Hergiswil
• 2014 «Werner Hartmann. Colors and Sounds », Sust Municipal Gallery, Stansstad

Art purchases and prices

• 1938 The French state proves Hartmann's integration into the École de Paris by purchasing a picture
• 1938 Gleyre Foundation Prize
• 1953 Prize at the Menton Biennale
• 1962 Art Prize of the City of Lucerne

literature

• Colors and sounds. Werner Hartmann 1903–1981. With texts by Ilona Genoni Dall, Matthias Truniger, Daniel Hartmann and many previously unpublished testimonials and documents on Werner Hartmann's connections between music and painting and his life in Paris. Sust Municipal Gallery, Stansstad, 2014
• The chapels of the Community of St. Anna Sisters in Lucerne. [Texts:] Sandra Baumeler, Steffan Biffiger, Sr. Heidi Kälin, Father Hansruedi Kleiber SJ, Lucerne 2012 [especially the contributions by Hansruedi Kleiber: Meditations on the Way of the Cross by Werner Hartmann, pp. 18–35 and Steffan Biffiger: The former Marienhaus Chapel, pp. 36–47]
• Steffan Biffiger : Werner Hartmann, in: AKL, Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon , Leipzig (formerly Thieme-Becker), 2010
• Werner Hartmann. Emmen - Paris - Emmen. For the hundredth birthday. Editing: Karl Bühlmann, texts: Steffan Biffiger , Daniel Hartmann as well as memories of the artists Peter Dietschy, Charles Wyrsch and Robert Wyss, Galerie Gersag, Emmen, 2003
• Antoine Baudin: Hélène de Mandrot et la Maison des Artistes de La Sarraz, Editions Payot, Lausanne 1998
• Werner Hartmann 1903–1981. Commemorative publication on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of death and the retrospective organized by the Landis & Gyr Foundation in Zug, 1986, with contributions by Max Huggler, Conrad Beck, Georges Borgeaud, Hans Leopold Davi , Marcel Mihalovici and Roland Petermann
• Jean Bouret, Max Huggler : The painter Werner Hartmann. Harlequin-Verlag Luzern 1979
• Les Suisses de Paris. Aargauer Kunsthaus Aarau, 1971. Texts: Heiny Widmer and Paul Nizon. Aarau, 1971
• Werner Hartmann. Lucerne Art Museum, 1965. Text: Peter F. Althaus. Lucerne, 1965
• Werner Hartmann. Kunstmuseum Luzern, 1953. Foreword: Adolf Reinle. Lucerne, 1953

Web links

• Website Werner Hartmann
• Steffan Biffiger : Hartmann, Werner. In: Sikart