Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum | Bush-Reisinger Museum | Arthur M. Sackler Museum

Object Number

BR57.32

People

Hann Trier, German (Kaiserswerth, near Düsseldorf, Germany 1915 - 1999)

Title

Variation of Forms I/II, from "6 Color Woodcuts"

Other Titles

Series/Book Title: Holzschnittvarianten (Woodcut Variations)
Original Language Title: Variation der Formen I/II, aus "6 Farbholzschnitte"

Classification

Prints

Work Type

print

Date

1950

Culture

German

Medium

Color woodcut on Japanese paper

Technique

Woodcut

Dimensions

image: 40 x 52.3 cm (15 3/4 x 20 9/16 in.)
irregular: 44.5 x 60.5 cm (17 1/2 x 23 13/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• Signed: monogrammed in graphite at l.r.: hT
• inscription: l.r., graphite, handwritten, in artist's hand: I/II 14/20

Standard Reference Number

Gerlach-Laxner G 6

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Association Fund

Accession Year

1957

Object Number

BR57.32

Division

Modern and Contemporary Art

Contact

am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu

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Label Text: Inventur—Art in Germany, 1943–55 , written 2018
In 1950, while searching for firewood, Trier came upon strangely shaped pieces of wood in the attic of his home. Keeping the outer shape of the wooden blocks (which he later discovered were cases for tennis rackets), he carved into them, then printed them in different colors on thin Japanese paper. He tested numerous combinations of the forms by holding the prints up to the light, describing
the result as a “concert of different colored plates.” Although Trier never explicitly specified the nature of his carvings, many of them resemble a crouching human. Six woodcuts were selected the following year for publication in the portfolio 6 Color Woodcuts by the
gallery Der Spiegel in Cologne.

Lynette Roth and Ilka Voermann, Inventur—Art in Germany, 1943–55, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2018), pp. 301-303, cat. no. 39.2, ill. (color)

Inventur—Art in Germany, 1943–55, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/09/2018 - 06/03/2018

• BR57.32-37

  Hann Trier

  6 Color Woodcuts

  Prints

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu