English Summary

Inger Hanmann

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Artist painter, and enamel pioneer Inger Hanmann : 

32 press-cutting books/scrapbooks size A2  of 100 pp.
From the middle of 1940's (1947 debut) until her death 2007
Her last big public decoration: for the Royal Danish Embassy in Berlin, Germany for which she made a 17-meter high sculpture in enamel at the age of 80 years.
Public decorations sculptures and 2-dimensional works in enamel.Some examples::Scroll down to "Kraks Blaa Book" (Danish : Who`s Who) describing the  most important Danish men and women to see more examples of exhibitions,decorations etc: eg: a 53 meters long  decoration for Hotel Opalen Gothenburg Sweden (1964) , a hospital in Congo,The Danish bank in Copenhagen ,Cph Airport  a 100 m2 decoration red/black,Public swimming pools and many more abroad and in Denmark.

Other examples are her Corpus works: silver bowls, sculptures in enamel designed for the Royal Jeweller - A.Michelsen a/s  -by appointment to the Danish Queen
showed in a shop in Bredgade, Center of  Copenhagen Denmark
eg.silver bowls designed by her and decorated with enamel of her designs  and done hand
 The Queen herself and different Prime Ministers, when going abroad, gave those silver bowls as presents to important persons outside Denmark.

Later she worked for Georg Jensen company and the Royal Porcelain Factory.
Shown in most of the world eg Scandinavia Today, Design exhibition New York,N.Y..
Simultaneously she had many  (scroll down to see) one-women-shows -oil paintings- in Denmark and abroad.(France,Paris,Limoges;Germany,Japan;USA,England,London

tirsdag den 22. februar 2011

Inger Hanmann

INGER HANMANN (1918 – 2007)

Pioneer in enamel – decorations (from and in denmark) for the Danish state ,public private overall in denmark and abroad see “kraks blå bog” until 2006

Pioneer in oil-painting

The Challenge of Color (NORTH, 1996)

 English Summary

 In 1996 a number of people published their attempt to portray  the Danish artist Inger Hanmann. However, the result was not an objective and conclusive study, but rather a series of overlapping personal sketches, partly due to the fact that at the time of writing the artist continued to surprise them by seeking out challenges in new materials and methods.

Bent Petersen, editor of NORTH magazine, writes in his introduction: “I first met Inger Hanmann in the mid eighties, at Den Frie where she was exhibiting her latest work. She offered me a drink and as we got to talking, I was immediately taken in by her at once distinguished lack of intrusion and friendly, obliging manner. “

Among the other contributors is a grandson, photographer Jens Christian Grøndal, who shares a fond childhood memory of his grandmother buying him an outrageously yellow nylon shirt, because she was fascinated by its color. His mother was furious and forbade him ever to wear this garish garment because of its lower class connotations. Later the yellow shirt taught him that Inger Hanmann saw the colour  in purely abstract terms, free of any social implications, and he recognized this in her use of colour in her abstract compositions where usually one color would dominate the canvas.

In her essay Lone S.Erhardsen discusses Inger Hanmann’s development as an artist. She started out as a figurative painter, “but the large forms and the dynamics of massive color were on her mind from the outset” (…) “there are no narratives in her art or visions of the imagination, rather perceptions and moods. Abstraction is made up of the painting’s basic elements: color, line, and surface.”

In his brief characterization, the art critic Pierre Lübecker points out that in Rostrup Bøyesen’s art school Inger Hanmann was taught that “painting is the language of the eye. That a picture must be seen and speak to the mind through its inner clarity and beauty”.

From oil and canvas, Inger Hanmann moved on to enamel. She introduces enamel in her own essay, thus revealing her thorough knowledge of its history and chemistry.  She learned to apply the techniques of this ancient art form and her work was displayed in the form of sculpture and large façade reliefs, with the interplay of bare metal and enamel coating.

In his essay Fragments of a Biography Bent Petersen outlines Inger Hanmann’s life and work from her birth in Stege, Møn in 1918 as the daughter of a veterinarian, her youth in Copenhagen and her debut as a painter at the Artists’ Efterårs Udstilling in 1947. In the mid sixties, she made several large decorative pieces in enamel including a 1.5 X 53 meter fries for a hotel in Gothenburg, a fountain in Haslev, and a large enamel relief for Chrome and Goldschmidt’s department in Copenhagen. Her most eminent piece is a 2.10 meter tall and 1.28-meter wide fountain made of copper. The copper was coated with transparent golden enamel and is the largest enamel sculpture in the world.

Inger Hanmann also worked with the jeweler and gemologist Eigil Jensen in the royal jeweler A. Michelsen’s workshop. Here her artistic approach was expressed in the small format of enameled silver bowls. Here Inger Hanmann also joined a long line of famous painters, sculptors and architects when she created the firm’s trademark Christmas spoon for 1964.

Finn Jørn Jacobsen, art director and editor of the book, writes of his meeting with Inger Hanmann at a private dinner party in Frederiksberg. He describes her as charming and attentive, incredibly knowledgeable: “And great fun. Her characteristic laughter would fill the room and she enjoyed the food and the wine and smoked at least 20 cigarettes. She is a very sociable person; she loves other people’s company and always contributes to a good atmosphere.” 

The Challenge of Colour features numerous fine illustrations of Inger Hanmann’s work by the commercial photographer Thomas Grøndahl.

Inger Hanmann’s exhibitions include (among others)

Musée d’Art, Paris (1958),Limoges, France, Coburg (Germany)

Danish Arts and Crafts Exhibitions in Paris (1963), Vienna (1965), New York (1968), Moscow, Stuttgart, and Tokyo (1969).

Biennale International d’Art de I’Emaille Limoges (1971),A.Michelsen :A/S Royal jeweller by appointment to the Queen, Georg Jensen (1987 and 1992), Royal Academy of Art, London (1990), Nicolaj (1994), Den Frie (1996).

 Inger Hanmann is represented at: (selection)

Statens Kunstfond (Danish Arts Foundation) , Kobberstiksamlingen, Danish  National Gallery ,Åbenrå Museum (…) Abroad: Germany,France,USA,England,Sweden  (...)

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