183 - Fritz Harnest, Pink & Coral Red, steeply rising on warm yellow, large oil painting, c. 1970

Fritz Harnest, Pink & Coral Red, steeply rising on warm yellow, large oil painting, c. 1970 Fritz Harnest, 1905 Munich - 1999 Traunstein, German painter and graphic artist. He was a leading figure in abstract art following the Second World War and took part in documenta 2 (1959); shown here: a steeply sloping, pink and coral-red wave-like structure set against a warm yellow background with white border areas, oil on canvas, 190 x 120 cm, sticker on the reverse from the Fritz Harnest Archive dated 30 May 1995, work no. 143 (No postage; art transport service recommended!)About the artist: From 1921 to 1929, Fritz Harnest studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Carl Johann Becker-Gundahl, Ludwig von Herterich and Karl Caspar. He engaged intensively with colour, particularly from 1929 onwards whilst studying under Karl Caspar. He held his first solo exhibition in Berlin in 1934. From then on, he lived alternately in Hamburg, Berlin and Munich. Fritz Harnest turned his attention to printmaking, particularly woodcuts, and to abstraction at an early stage. In 1952, he produced the ‘Bible Woodcuts’. During this period, his works were exhibited in Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, throughout Germany and in Ohio. In 1959, he struck up a friendship with Rupprecht Geiger. In 1959, he took part in documenta 2 in Kassel; in the same year, through the mediation of Werner Gilles, he became a member of the Neue Gruppe München.