29 - Hans Purrmann

Hans Purrmann Tessiner Landschaft 1948 Oil on canvas. 74.2 x 92.2 cm. Framed. Signed 'H. Purrmann' in dark red lower left. - Very fine, colour-fresh condition, slight abrasion to the centre. Lenz/Billeter 1948/07 The painting is registered in the Hans Purrmann Archive under no. 62. Provenance Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft, inv. no. 4/55 (with adhesive label verso); on loan to the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum, Aachen, inv. no. GK 0616 Exhibitions Hanover 1955 (Haus des Kunstvereins), Deutscher Künstlerbund (label verso); Hasselt 1960 (Provinciaal Begijnhof), Duits expressionisme, not listed in the catalogue; Cologne 1961 (Wallraf-Richartz-Museum), Ars viva '61, cat. no. 61 (label verso); Witten 1989 (Märkisches Museum), Aufbruch 51. Versuch einer Rekonstruktion, no cat. no. (label verso) Literature Edmund Hausen, Der Maler Hans Purrmann, Berlin 1950, p. 89 with illus.; Jahresring: Jahrbuch für moderne Kunst 1956/1957, p. 304b In 1948 Hans Purrmann moved into a flat in the palace-like Casa Camuzzi, situated above Lake Laguno in the village of Montagnola. He painted – quite obviously from this flat – variations on the view across the terrace into the countryside and out towards Lake Lugano (in addition to our picture, see e.g. “Blick auf den Luganer See” [1949, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen Munich] and “Tessiner Landschaft im Schnee” [1948, private ownership]). While these other examples were done in vertical formats, our painting is in a landscape (horizontal) format. It is a dense image featuring very intense colours. This method of creating a variety of chromatic and pictorial compositions and atmospheres on the basis of one motif is typical of Purrmann’s oeuvre. The creation of variations is an expression of the painter’s artistic engagement with the possibilities available to him. Wilhelm Weber summarises the situation like this: “After moving to Ticino near the end of World War II, Purrmann intensified his efforts to transform his painting into an extract of nature, the southern vegetation and atmosphere. He created variations […] on motifs by Lake Lugano and Lake Muzzano, painting them at different times of year, interweaving lush shades of green together with rusty reds and blues. The modulation of green ranges from the shimmer of a leaf green penetrated by the sun to the metallic gleam of blue-green passages. The outward light seeps into plants and earth, water and sky, metamorphoses into inner light” (in: Purrmann zum 100. Geburtstag, Mainz 1980, p. 42).