Hann Trier

Hann Trier (* 1 August 1915 in Kaiserswerth; † 14 June 1999 in Castiglione della Pescaia, Italy) was a German Informel painter, watercolorist, and graphic artist.

Education and early work of Hann Trier

Born on 01 August 915 in Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth, Hann Trier spent his childhood and school years in Cologne. In 1933, he went to France on a school exchange. In 1934, he began studying at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art, which he completed in 1939 with a state examination in Berlin. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the artist was called up for military service in the Wehrmacht in 1939 and worked as a technical draughtsman in Berlin from 1941 to 1944. From 1944 to 1945 he was again called up for military service.

After the end of the war, the artist first went to Thuringia and worked there as a stage designer before moving into a flat at Bornheim Castle near Bonn in 1946. He becomes a member of the Donnerstag-Gesellschaft, which regularly organises readings, concerts, lectures and exhibitions on art and philosophy.

In 1950 Hann Trier was awarded the 7th Blevin Davis Prize and the 2nd Ströher Prize, followed in 1951 by the 4th Prize for Coloured Graphic Art and the Olympic Committee Prize for Graphic Art.

Hann Trier and the post-war period

Between 1952 and 1955, Trier traveled mainly through South America, visiting Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico, and Yucatan. The trip ended in 1955 with a stay in New York City and a tour of the USA.

On his return to Germany, Trier was appointed guest lecturer at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg in 1955. This was followed in 1957 by an appointment as professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Berlin, where he taught until 1980. In 1955, 1959, and 1964 the artist took part in documenta 1, documenta II and documenta III in Kassel.

In the years that followed, the artist received important awards, including the Art Prize of the City of Darmstadt in 1960, the Great Art Prize of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1962, the Art Prize of the City of Berlin in 1966 and finally the Art Prize of the City of Cologne in 1967. During these years, preparatory work began on a ceiling painting in the White Hall of Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin, which the artist completed in 1972. This commission was followed in 1974 by a second ceiling painting in Charlottenburg Palace.

Further ceiling and wall paintings follow in the University of Heidelberg and a free-hanging ceiling painting in the Cologne Town Hall. In 1984 the artist worked on a ceiling painting in the dining room of the residence of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Holy See in Rome and a supraport in the temporary parliament (“Wasserwerk”) in Bonn. Furthermore, in 1985 the artist was chosen to design a large-scale mural for the new Wallraf-Richartz-Museum (Museum Ludwig) in Cologne.

For his life’s work, Hann Trier was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1989 and the Medal of Honour of the University of Heidelberg in 1990. Hann Trier died in Castiglione della Pescaia in Tuscany on 14 June 1999.

For Trier, the rhythm of his works is an essential part of the creative process. For him, it is not only the movement of the image but also the movement of the body that is decisive in the process of creating each work. He operates with two hands and thus traverses the picture surface on the entire plane, resulting in a unique surface movement.

His estate is administered by the Hann Trier Art Foundation, which particularly promotes and cultivates the art historical treatment of his oeuvre.