“No. 34-1962” (“No. 34-1962”)

Details

This work is registered in the archive of the Fondation Hartung-Bergman, Antibes and will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of works by Anna-Eva Bergman. Provenance: Private collection, Southern Germany, acquired directly from the artist, by descent to the present owner.

Description

• Especially charming composition using materials typical of Anna-Eva Bergman’s work such as gold and silver leaf
• Anna-Eva Bergman, who was long overshadowed by her husband, the painter Hans Hartung, celebrates the beauty of northern landscapes in her abstract works and was among the most important representatives of Scandinavian and international post-war art
• The Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, dedicated an extensive retrospective to the artist early this year
• In the early 1950s, the Norwegian artist Anna-Eva Bergman began to explore the abstract in her art. Her source of inspiration was nature: stones, mountains, water or the Norwegian light. Although her paintings appear non-representational, they always maintain a relationship to reality. Bergman’s technique of fixing sheets of silver, gold or copper to the canvas with a kind of tempera and varnish is inextricably linked to her artistic subject matter. The shimmering earth materials catch the light and thus become a visual reference. Using abstract natural forms, she created pictures that offer space for contemplation and meditation. During her lifetime, Bergman’s artistic work was mostly overshadowed by that of her fellow artist and husband, the German painter Hans Hartung. She married him a second time in 1957 and they lived together in Paris. There they were involved in the Parisian art scene with Sonia Delaunay-Terk, Alexander Calder, Pierre Soulages and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva. The increasing recognition that Bergman’s work has received can be seen in several exhibitions in Europe and the United States. In 1959, Bergman participated in documenta II in Kassel. In the 1970s, Bergman and Hartung bought a property in Antibes, France, and set up their studio there. Today, works by the artist couple are exhibited there in the Fondation Hartung-Bergman.