Hans Erni (February 21, 1909 – March 21, 2015) was a Swiss graphic designer, painter, illustrator, engraver and sculptor. Born in

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label= Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital o ...

, the third of eight siblings, to a cabin cruiser engineer, he studied art at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

and later in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, and admired artists such as

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

and

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he play ...

. He is known for having illustrated

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

s, his lithographs for the Swiss

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

, his participation on the

Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

as well as his activism. His 1939 works and first major public success was a mural titled Switzerland: "Vacation Land of the People" was commissioned and displayed for the national exhibition in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Z ...

. The Hans Erni Museum, situated in the grounds of the Swiss Museum of Transport in

, contains a large collection of artwork, he also designed ceramics and theatre costumes and sets. He did the art for Swiss bank notes, in the 1940s but, after the notes were already printed they were never published, because a member of the State Council of Lucerne criticized that Erni was deemed as a

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

. However, Erni was never a member of any political party. In 2004, he was awarded the

honorary citizenship Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

of the city of

. On 10 January 2009 he received the SwissAward for lifetime accomplishment. In his career, he realized about 300

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text ...

s and several

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanis ...

s — including for the 1980 Salon international de l'automobile,

, IOC,

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

and

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

. He illustrated about 200 books and created 90 postage stamps and 25

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

Rapperswil - Duftrosengarten Zierbrunnen Hans Erni

Career

Erni was commissioned by the Lucerne Museum Fine Arts to organize an exhibit about

. The Spanish artist remained grateful for that opportunity to show his art in Switzerland. In 1936 Erni started to work with

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 1 ...

. From 1940 to 1945 he was a soldier in the Swiss army and was engaged as a

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

painter because of his experience with large-size murals. In 1948, he was a competitor in the 1948 Summer Olympics' painting competitions. Between 1950 and 1952 he participated to exhibitions in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

. However, his participation in the

Biennale Biennale (), Italian for "biennial" or "every other year", is any event that happens every two years. It is most commonly used within the art world to describe large-scale international contemporary art exhibitions. As such the term was popular ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

was not authorized by

Federal Councillor The Federal Council (german: Bundesrat; french: Conseil fédéral; it, Consiglio federale; rm, Cussegl federal) is the executive body of the federal government of the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective head of state and governm ...

Philipp Etter Philipp Etter (21 December 1891, in Menzingen – 23 December 1977) was a Swiss politician. He was the son of Joseph Anton, cooper master, and the Jakobea Stocker. During his office time he held the Department of Home Affairs and was President o ...

. After a stay in

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

and

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

he painted African topics. In 1960 he organized with Alfred Pauletto,

Celestino Piatti Celestino Piatti (January 5, 1922 - December 17, 2007) was a Swiss graphic artist, painter and book designer. He was a popular illustrator of children's books and achieved international success as a designer for Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (DTV). ...

, Hugo Wetli and Kurt Wirth an exhibition in Olten about

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscip ...

and painting. He participated to the 1964

Documenta ''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultural ...

exhibition in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

, in the

department. On 15 September 1979 the

Swiss Museum of Transport The Swiss Museum of Transport or Verkehrshaus der Schweiz (literally "Transportation House of Switzerland") in Lucerne opened in July 1959 and exhibits all forms of transport including trains, automobiles, ships and aircraft as well as communicati ...

opened a large personal collection of Erni's works. He realized a 30 meter long mural for the Museum. Erni was very interested in sport and received the

United States Sports Academy The United States Sports Academy is a private university focused on sports and located in Daphne, Alabama. It offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs as well as certificate programs. Founded in 1972, the academy has provided its ...

award of sport artist of the year in 1989. In 1993 his works were exhibited at the Pence Gallery in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. He celebrated his

100th birthday A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100 years. Because life expectancies worldwide are below 100 years, the term is invariably associated with longevity. In 2012, the United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living cente ...

in 2009. His sister, Maria Strebi-Erni (January 14, 1907 – January 29, 2014), died at the age of 107. Erni died on March 21, 2015, aged 106. His first wife, Gertrud Bohnert, had died in a horse-riding accident. They had one daughter, artist Simone Fornara Erni. With his second wife, Doris, he had a son and two daughters. Apart from the Swiss Museum of Transport, his work is held in several other museums worldwide, including the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

, the American Sport Art Museum and Archives, the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds ...

, the

Rose Art Museum The Rose Art Museum, founded in 1961, is a part of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, US. Named after benefactors Edward and Bertha Rose, it offers temporary exhibitions, and it displays and houses works of art from the permanent col ...

, the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

, the

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

, the

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

, the

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Art ...

, the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Cro ...

, the

Ackland Art Museum The Ackland Art Museum is a museum and academic unit of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was founded through the bequest of William Hayes Ackland (1855–1940) to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is located a ...

, the

Harvard Art Museums The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

, the

Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur ...

, and the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

Resources

*Ramuz, C.F. Histoire du soldat, illustrée de lithographies originales par Hans Erni. Lausanne: André et Pierre Gonin,

960 Year 960 ( CMLX) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Summer – Siege of Chandax: A Byzantine fleet with an expeditionary force (co ...

326 copies signed by author and artist. 73 black-and-white

lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

within the text and 2 on the wrappers. 100 pages + 2 leaves. A livre d'artiste printed on

Arches paper Arches paper is a brand of air-dried paper that is used by printers and watercolorists. It has a warm white colour and is produced in hot-pressed, cold-pressed, and rough varieties. Arches paper is made in the village of Arches in the Vosges, Fra ...

and housed in a vellum and board folder and matching slipcase.

Bibliography

* Konrad Farner, ''Hans Erni, Weg und Zielsetzung des Künstlers. Arbeiten aus den Jahren 1931 bis 1942''. Amstutz, Herdeg & Co. 1943,

1943 * Konrad Farner, ''Hans Erni. Ein Maler unserer Zeit''. Mundus (Erbe und Gegenwart 48),

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (B ...

1945 * Josef Rast, ''Grafiker als Maler, Hans Erni, Alfred Pauletto,

, Hugo Wetli, Kurt Wirth''. Kunstverein Olten, Olten, 1962 * Claude Roy, ''Hans Erni'', La Guilde du Livre, num. H. C.,

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

, 1964 * ''Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre lithographie et grave de Hans Erni'', Caillier,

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

, 1969 * Jot Singh, ''Hans Erni'', Éditions de la Tribune, Geneva, 1979 * Walter Ruegg, ''Hans Erni'', peintures'', Éditions Erpf,

Berne Bern () or Berne; in other Swiss languages, gsw, Bärn ; frp, Bèrna ; it, Berna ; rm, Berna is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city" (in german: Bundesstadt, link=no, french: ville fédérale ...

, 1980 * John Matheson, ''Hans Erni. Das zeichnerische Werk und öffentliche Arbeiten'', Ex Libris, Zurich, 1983 * Fondation Pierre Gianadda, ''Erni, vie et mythologie'',

Martigny Martigny (; german: Martinach, ; la, Octodurum) is the capital city of the district of Martigny, canton of Valais, Switzerland. It lies at an elevation of , and its population is approximately 15000 inhabitants (''Martignerains'' or "Octoduriens ...

, 1989 * ''Hans Erni. Werkverzeichnis der Lithographien'', ABC, Zurich 1993, * Jean-Charles Giroud, ''Hans Erni. Die Plakate 1929–1992'', Benteli, Berne, 1993 * Enrico Ghidelli, ''Kunst im Kleinen. Die philatelistischen und numismatischen Werke von Hans Erni'', Multipress, Reinach, 1995, * Jean-Charles Giroud, ''Hans Erni. Catalogue raisonné des livres illustrés'', Geneva, 1996 * John Matheson (Hrsg.), ''Hans Erni gestaltend – Hans Erni à l'œuvre – Hans Erni at work''. ABC, Zurich, 1996, * Karl Bühlmann, ''Geächtet – geachtet. Die Geschichte des Hans Erni-Museums im Verkehrshaus der Schweiz in Luzern. Eine Dokumentation'', Hans Erni-Stiftung,

, 1997 * Andres Furger, ''Ateliergespräche mit Hans Erni'', NZZ, Zurich, 1998, * Karl Bühlmann, Marco Obrist, ''Hans Erni. Dialog. Arbeiten im öffentlichen Raum'', Benteli, Berne, 2002, * Karl Bühlmann, ''Zeitzeuge Hans Erni. Dokumente einer Biografie von 1909 bis 2009'', NZZ, Zurich, 2009,

References

External links

*
Hans Erni Museum within the Swiss Museum of Transport
pages related to Hans Erni's philatelic and numismatic work (provided by the author of the catalog raisonné) {{DEFAULTSORT:Erni, Hans 1909 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Swiss painters Swiss male painters 21st-century Swiss painters 21st-century Swiss male artists Swiss graphic designers Swiss illustrators Swiss engravers Swiss stamp designers Currency designers Swiss centenarians Swiss designers 20th-century Swiss sculptors Académie Julian alumni Olympic competitors in art competitions Men centenarians 20th-century Swiss male artists 20th-century engravers