Hans Erni

Hans Erni (1909–2015) was a Swiss painter, printmaker and graphic artist, born and deceased in Lucerne. After an apprenticeship as an architectural draughtsman, he studied at the School of Applied Arts in Lucerne, at the Académie Julian in Paris, and then in Berlin. In the early 1930s, he divided his time between Paris and Lucerne and joined the Abstraction-Création group.

In 1937, he was one of the founders of the Swiss group Allianz, which brought together artists committed to modern art.

In 1935, at a time when his abstract work reached an initial peak, Erni painted *Panta Rhei II. Geteilter Strom*. Held by the Kunstmuseum Luzern, this oil on canvas arranges lines and areas of colour into floating configurations; the repetition of the lines suggests a current and gives form to the idea of a world in transformation.

The work exemplifies a constructed abstraction associated, in Erni’s practice, with titles and philosophical references.

His career was not limited to easel painting. In 1939, he produced a large mural devoted to Switzerland for the Swiss National Exhibition in Zurich, which brought him to the attention of a broad public. He also worked as an illustrator, printmaker and poster designer, and created stamps, ceramics and monumental projects.

Over the decades, his visual language brought together abstraction, figuration and subjects related to society, science and the human condition.

The collections of the Centre Pompidou list, among others, *Spirale* (1936/1973) and *Portrait de l’oiseau qui n’existe pas* (1982); the MoMA holds several prints and posters. In Lucerne, the museum that bears his name presents his work through a dialogue between art, history and mobility. The diversity of these media makes it possible to approach Erni as an artist whose formal experimentation unfolded as much in public space as in museums.

The works by Hans Erni presented by Swiss Art Gallery extend this artistic journey and take their place naturally within this corpus.