HANS HARTUNG. POLYPTYCS

The book celebrates Hans Hartung (Leipzig, 1904 – Antibes, 1989), one of the leading figures of 20 th century European abstractionism.

The volume presents 40 works on paper and 16 large paintings, created between 1961 and 1988. The volume is the starting point for the rediscovery of the works by Hartung as a homogeneous group: the ‘polyptychs’, articulated in distinct elements that follow a fixed sequence. Hartung began creating the series of polyptychs in the early Sixties, when the artist began to paint directly on canvas without first conceiving his works on paper, experimented with new techniques, expanding the formats, and continued until the last period, when the artist was forced to use a wheelchair and had to airbrush his paintings. The book also aims to retrace Hartung’s close ties with Italy, that date to the first half of the century. The book was published on the occasion of the exhibition at the National Gallery of Umbria in Perugia (24 September 2017 – 7 January 2018).