Timothy Taylor Gallery presents an exhibition of ambitious late paintings by the celebrated abstract expressionist Hans Hartung. This will be the first exhibition of Hartung’s work in London since 1996. Open 10 March – 9 April 2011.
Hans Hartung, T1980-K5, 1980. Acrylic on canvas, 185 x 300 cm. Courtesy, Foundation Bergman Hartung, France; Timothy Taylor Gallery, London
In his last ten, highly productive years (1980 – 1989), Hans Hartung both expanded upon and revisited many of the themes and techniques that he had used throughout his career. Using spray paint and rollers, garden rakes and olive branches as brushes, Hartung, despite advanced age and infirmity, produced extraordinarily dynamic and powerful paintings in his home and studio complex in Antibes. Whether large paintings only lightly touched by a fine mist of paint, or dramatic dark and heavily impastoed works, these ultra-modern canvasses express ideas of infinity and the sublime on the one hand, and existential inner torment on the other.
Drawing on works from across the decade, this exhibition will feature several paintings executed after 1986, when Hartung was told he was terminally ill. Hartung dedicated his remaining three years to a furious output of work, noted for its large scale and dramatic explosions of colour and form.
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