Hann Trier
Hann Trier, born near Düsseldorf in 1915, is a representative of Art Informel and is known for his paintings, watercolors and prints. Informal art is a collective term for a style of abstract painting that emerged in Europe and the USA after the Second World War. The focus is on the detachment from all formal conditions and the radical departure from traditional pictorial composition - the spontaneous gesture becomes the actual pictorial theme.
In particular, Trier's wall and ceiling paintings, created between 1970 and 1990 in rhythmic movement motifs and spirited color surfaces, including in the White Hall in Berlin's Charlottenburg Palace and in the library of Heidelberg University, are among the most important works in his oeuvre. After studying at the Düsseldorf Art Academy and working as a technical draughtsman in Berlin and stage designer in Nordhausen, Trier co-founded the "Donnerstag-Gesellschaft" artists' group in Alfter near Bonn in 1947. He was also a member of the "Neue Rheinische Secession" from 1948 to 1949 and of the Bonn artists' group in 1949. In 1915, he became a member of the important artists' group "ZEN 49" around the painters Rupprecht Geiger, Willi Baumeister, Fritz Winter and other important positions in German post-war art. Trier took part in documenta 1 (1955), documenta II (1959) and documenta III (1964) in Kassel. After working as a guest lecturer at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg in the mid-1950s, Trier became Professor of Painting (1957-1980) and later Director of the Hochschule für bildende Künste in West Berlin. As one of the most important representatives of the post-war generation of abstract artists, Trier received numerous awards, including the Berlin Art Prize and the Grand Art Prize of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
His style changed in the course of his work, ranging from dark, dynamic lineaments against a light background to net-like and expressive, rhythmic compositions and underlying clear color concepts. In the mid-1950s, Trier worked with both his right and left hand, so that two-handed painting became characteristic of his work. Trier's students included Peter Klasen, Georg Baselitz and Thomas Kaminsky. Trier died in 1999 at his home in Tuscany.
