Hasso Gehrmann was a tireless creator, constantly drawing, painting, formulating and constructing images of people in both real and abstract situations and states. His “drawing boards” and compositions are imbued with symbols and codes representing faces, plants, rocks, human and celestial bodies.

These ciphers would gradually evolve into more figurative forms, with the boundaries between dream and reality becoming increasingly blurred. At the same time, Gehrmann designed very real spaces for everyday human use – interiors in which day-to-day functionality and mobility were key. A bathroom might transform into a bedroom; a kitchen could double as a dining area. The human being was central to Gehrmann’s theoretical work as well, particularly his concept of “subjective geometry”, which he developed in 1975. His theory holds that each individual subject stands at his or her own “centre of being”.

Hasso Gehrmann’s art, design and philosophy form a unified whole. In this exhibition, however, they can also be experienced as separate elements.
 

VITA

1924

Born in Weissenfels, Germany

1946–48

Studied Philosophy (Karl Jaspers) and Art History (Gustav F. Hartlaub, August Griesebach) at Heidelberg University; co-founder of the Heidelberg Film Club and the North Baden Association of Visual Artists

1949

Marriage to Signe, shared studio apartment in Heidelberg; worked there as a freelance artist until 1954, statistical and cartographic draftsman for USAREUR; co-founder of the jazz club Cave 54 and the Heidelberg Circle.

1953

Trip to Italy with stays in Rome, Sicily, and Forio d’Ischia, where he formed friendships with Werner Gilles and Eduard Bargheer; stay in Paris, admitted to the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles

1954

1st prize for Art in Public Buildings in the City of Heidelberg

1954–56

Werkbundschule Darmstadt (Will Sohl), Free Academy Mannheim (Carl Trummer)

1955

Birth of son Lucas

1957–60

Form designer for AEG factory management in Frankfurt am Main; summer stays in Oldenburg; travels to Amsterdam and the North Sea

1961–81

Chief designer at Elektra Bregenz, Brown, Boveri & Cie. and Blomberg; juror and curator for the International Bodensee Club; travels through Dalmatia, Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia, and Egypt, among other places

1962

Austrian State Prize for Good Form; Honorary Award of the Austrian State Prize for Design

1968

State Prize for Design; awards at the Triennale Milano and the international Biennale of Design in Ljubljana; State Government of Vorarlberg Award

1982–96

Managing Director of Gehrmann Design GmbH, Bregenz

2008

Died in Bregenz, Austria

 

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE

Curators: Lucas Gehrmann, Ute Pfanner
Graphic design: Andreas Müller
Exhibition management: Judith Kern, Johannes Nussbaumer
Education and outreach station: Claudia Schwarz, Cornelia Flatz
English translation: scriptophil. die textagentur

Zakopane, Poland, winter 1944/45: an enthusiast leafs through Hasso Gehrmann’s sketchbook and introduces him to his hidden stash of “degenerate art”. This first encounter with Expressionist works opened the 20-year-old artist’s eyes to the possibilities of artistic freedom. Soon after, Gehrmann adopted an expressive realist style in his depictions of post-war scenes, capturing both the light and dark sides of the renewal that contributed to the “economic miracle”.

Hasso Gehrmann gradually replaced figurative elements with abstract codes and ciphers. These came together on so-called “drawing boards” to form compositions in which the pictorial language unfolded freely, unbound by narrative meaning. Gehrmann’s abstract formulations gained him entry to the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in Paris, founded in 1946 to promote international trends in non-representational art. Occasionally, the real objects hidden behind Gehrmann’s symbols move into view. The artist’s work is best described as “biomorphic abstraction”, a term that refers to artful, organic-seeming, imagery-based forms found in nature.

Hasso Gehrmann believed that art should extend beyond the canvas into all aspects of the home – and be affordable to all. In 1957, he swapped his easel for a drafting table to design mass-produced household appliances.

As an industrial designer, he developed a flexible living concept for Elektra Bregenz, including the freestanding “first fully automatic kitchen”. In 1972 he wrote: “Apartment – a fantastic arrangement of useful and useless effects, objects, colours and forms within the hollow space of a cell.”

Hasso Gehrmann’s art fuses philosophy, science, and design into a distinctive approach that challenges the rigid confines of space and time.
His theory of “subjective geometry” developed a logic that places the human being at the centre, both as observer and participant. At the heart of his art is his vision of a “meta-art” that merges objective reasoning with subjective perception. The flying figures in his paintings seem to steer away from this vision of expanded consciousness – often as part of a balancing act.

As a counter-model to functionalist industrial design, Hasso Gehrmann transformed his office in Bregenz into a “metaphysical” space. Illusionistic wall paintings mingled with antiques, his space-time module and silver jewellery displayed in a table showcase. Gehrmann learned goldsmithing from his wife Signe and used it to make small sculptures. From her he also learned to create faces, which became a key motif in his painting. In line with his theory of multi-perspectivity, these faces are often quite literally “multifaceted” – and ultimately abstracted. This is also the case in his Ypsilon paintings, which are based on an expanded spatial perspective.