A pioneer of objective precision

Monumental photorealism was his trademark: The Swiss artist Franz Gertsch (1930-2022) achieved world fame with his oversized woodcuts and paintings, some of which are up to six meters high. With perfect craftsmanship – he worked on average 12 to 18 months on one work – and image details that seem like personal observations, as well as an occasional mixture of abstraction and figuration, Gertsch achieved a new approach to hyperrealism that differed from other positions. Gertsch often used unprimed cotton as a support, which he painted with acrylics and, in his later years, with egg tempera. Between 1986 and 1994, inspired by a trip to Japan, he devoted himself exclusively to woodcuts. Gertsch developed a new technique for woodcuts: with countless »points of light« instead of lines carved into the wood, his motifs took on a three-dimensionality that was new for the medium. The work on the woodcuts also influenced his painting: after 1995 he mainly produced views of nature. A representative selection of Gertsch's artworks from over 60 years of creative work can be seen in the exhibition Franz Gertsch. Blow up. A Retrospective at the Deichtorhallten in Hamburg. The retrospective runs from December 13, 2024 to May 4, 2025.

Gertsch, who had turned to romantic painting and pop art collages at the beginning of his career, devoted himself to hyperrealism from 1969 onwards. His work Huaa...! shown above heralded this turning point. In the 1980s, he produced large-format hyperrealistic woodcuts that exerted a unique pull. Today, Gertsch is considered one of the most famous Swiss painters. He took part in the Venice Biennale three times, most recently in 2003, and won the prestigious Kaiserring, the art prize of the city of Goslar, in 1997. Gertsch has repeatedly depicted the Swiss painter Luciano Castelli (*1951) in his works.

The exhibition was created in collaboration with the Franz Gertsch Museum in Burgdorf and the Danish Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humblebæk, where it was on display from June to November 2024. It was Gertsch's first retrospective in Scandinavia. The Hamburg version of the show was expanded to include 20 works by the artist from various creative phases.