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Spring Auction

HANS ERNI* (Lucerne 1909 - 2015 Lucerne)
Without title, 1972
color lithography/paper, 64,5 x 49,8 cm
signed Erni, dated 72, dated in the plate 14 12 72
verso workshop label Wolfensberger, numbered 1325/5000

ESTIMATE °€ 60 - 100
STARTING PRICE °€ 60

Hans Erni was a Swiss artist. Erni's father Gotthard Erni was a machinist on a steamship and an amateur painter, his mother Maria was originally a farmer. After an apprenticeship as a surveying technician and a second apprenticeship as an architectural draftsman, he began studying art in Lucerne in 1927. In 1928, he travelled to Paris for the first time, where he won the annual competition of the Académie Julian. Because he was a foreigner, the prize was not paid to him. Ten years later he was a member of the jury for this competition. From 1930 to 1933, he stayed alternately in Lucerne and Paris. At that time he became acquainted with contemporary French painting by Picasso and Braque. He organized an exhibition with Picasso on behalf of the Lucerne Art Museum. Erni's first marriage was to the artist Gertrud Bohnert. In 1949 he married the secretary Doris Kessler. Erni was also an active and committed athlete (land hockey, ski jumping and cross-country skiing), painted many pictures on this topic and designed the medals for the rowing world championships twice and once for the ice hockey and handball world championships. The United States Sports Academy named him Sports Artist of the Year in 1989. His favorite motifs included the dove of peace and the nude (“Man is born naked and dies naked”). He also painted a self-portrait every year, which he gave to his wife. In 1937, Erni was a co-founder of the artists' association Allianz. From 1961 to 1993, Erni was a corresponding member of the GDR Academy of Arts, Fine Arts Section. He became known to a wider public in 1939 with works such as the mural for the Swiss National Exhibition. From 1940 to 1945 he completed his active service as a camouflage painter. In 1950 he created his first ceramics. Between 1950 and 1952, solo exhibitions were held in several important cities in America. His planned participation in the São Paulo Biennale in 1951 was forbidden by Federal Councilor Philipp Etter. After living in Mauritania and Guinea for a year, he painted many African subjects. In 1960, together with Alfred Pauletto, Celestino Piatti, Hugo Wetli and Kurt Wirth, he put together an exhibition on the subject of graphic artists as painters. In 1964 he was a participant in documenta III in Kassel in the graphics department. Erni designed three series of stamps for the Principality of Liechtenstein: “250 Years of the Principality of Liechtenstein” (1969), “Sapporo 1972 (Winter Olympic Games)” (1971) and a year later “Munich Summer Olympic Games 1972”. He also designed numerous series of stamps for the UN and Switzerland, including portraits of Max Bill, Albert Einstein, Alberto Giacometti, Hermann Hesse, Arthur Honegger, Paul Klee, Le Corbusier, Thomas Mann and Rainer Maria Rilke. His 50 centime European brand “Air and Water” (1986) won several international awards and was named the best brand of the year. Erni remained controversial as an artist in professional circles for a long time. The gradual rehabilitation began in 1966 with an exhibition in Schaffhausen. In 1967 he was awarded the Art and Culture Prize of the City of Lucerne. However, Swiss art museums continued to boycott him and his works. For the Hans Erni Museum, which opened in the Lucerne Museum of Transport in 1979, he painted a 30-meter-long mural Panta rhei (“everything flows”). In 2004 the city of Lucerne awarded him honorary citizenship. In 2005 he was presented with the Medal of Honor for his life's work in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. From the 1980s onwards, Erni lived temporarily in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. In 2009, Erni was awarded the Swiss Lifetime Award 2008 in recognition of his life's work. In 1938, Erni was involved, together with Victor Surbek, in the design of the Swiss National Bank's fourth series of banknotes. The series was printed but never circulated, allegedly because a Lucerne parliamentarian objected that “of all people, a communist like Erni” had received this order. The independent Erni had a reputation as a communist particularly because of his friendship with Konrad Farner, from whom he distanced himself after the Hungarian uprising in 1956. In the course of the fichen affair, Erni received his 36-page fiche in 1991. Erni repeatedly campaigned for political goals with his art: nationally for voting campaigns (e.g. for the introduction of the AHV or women's suffrage), internationally especially for nature conservation and against nuclear weapons. He painted pictures to commemorate the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the tsunami of December 26, 2004. Erni worked in the studio every day until he was one hundred and six years old.

PLEASE NOTE:
The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights. In the case of normal taxation (marked °), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax of 13%, for photographs 20%, is added to the sum of the highest bid and the buyer's premium.
The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.

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