Hans Hartung

HANS HARTUNG (Leipzig, Germany, 1904 – Antibes, France, 1989).
“Farandole” (Suite B, Plate V), 1970.
Lithograph in black and orange-ochre on Guarro paper, H.C. copy.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Printed by Atelier Polígrafa and published by Ediciones Polígrafa, Barcelona.
Measurements: 49.5 x 74.5 cm (printed area); 59.5 x 87 cm (paper).

Against a warm, ochre background, Hartung unfolds a complex web of black masses, vertical sweeps, and incisive lines. The forms seem to emerge from an immediate execution, though their articulation reflects a precise balance between density and openness: the large lateral blocks frame a central area crisscrossed by diagonal strokes, while the unprinted areas allow the composition to breathe.

The print is part of *Farandole*, a lithographic series published by Polígrafa in Barcelona. It fully embodies the gestural language of Hartung, a key figure in European lyrical abstraction. The artist transforms the speed of movement into an image through sweeping brushstrokes, scrapes, and linear marks that evoke plant shoots, electrical discharges, or natural forces, without ever taking the form of a figurative representation.

Hans Hartung was one of the leading figures of postwar gestural abstraction. He participated in the documenta exhibitions in Kassel and won the Grand Prize for Painting at the Venice Biennale in 1960. His work is held in institutions such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Tate in London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The identification of the print, the paper, and Polígrafa’s intervention are documented in records of this very plate.