Hannes Gruber

Hannes Gruber (1928–2016) made the Alpine landscape a field for experimentation with colour. Born in Adliswil, near Zurich, and raised on the shores of Lake Zurich, he studied at the school of applied arts under Ernst and Max Gubler while also training as a graphic designer at Orell Füssli. In 1948, he settled in Grevasalvas, in the Upper Engadine, to work as an independent painter.

The bond he formed with the Engadine and the Bregaglia Valley subsequently accompanied an oeuvre divided between views of places, chromatic research and projects for public space.

Gruber moved between Zurich and the valleys of Graubünden, supplemented by working stays in Italy and elsewhere. His landscapes do not seek merely to capture the outline of the mountains. According to the Graubünden cultural portal, his painting evolved from an expressive approach towards abstraction: in the studio, forms move away from their natural model and colour gains an autonomy of its own.

The light of Bregaglia, whose variations he observed, remained an essential experience, even when the motif became less recognisable. His knowledge as a graphic designer also informed a constructed approach to line, surface and large formats.

“Blue Heart” (“Blue Heart”), presented in the resources of the Hannes-Gruber-Kunstkabinett, gives an idea of this shift. A heart and a cross appear at the centre of an abstract structure; several blues envelop these signs and suggest both water and a space for meditation. The painting leaves open the relationships between landscape, symbol and colour.

Alongside easel painting, Gruber also created décors and wall interventions, notably for a school in Samedan. The foundation bearing his name now preserves and presents his work in Promontogno, in the Bregaglia Valley.