Franz Gertsch (1930-2022) is one of the most important Swiss artists of the present day and his works in the second half of the 20th century shaped a new concept of realism, which is primarily linked to his working method. He is considered a pioneer of hyperrealism, but also a master of the contemporary woodcut.
From December 13, 2024 to May 4, 2025, the retrospective exhibition at the Deichtorhallen Hamburg will present an overview of the artist's work from more than 60 years of artistic creation: oversized paintings up to 6 meters in size from the 1970s, iconic portraits of women from the 1980s, epic landscapes and nature photographs from the last two decades as well as monumental woodcuts. Franz Gertsch's paintings and woodcuts continue to impress today with their monumental scale and photographic precision.
In his works, Franz Gertsch works in an unmistakable way and with perfect craftsmanship with close-up and distant effects, abstraction and representationalism, and approaches reality in a very special way, which nevertheless always retains something mysterious. Gertsch's pictures dominate the room with their exuberant scale and allow the viewer to literally sink into his photorealistic depictions.
The retrospective exhibition was realized by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark, in close collaboration with the artist, who died in December 2022, and his family, and with the great support of the Franz Gertsch Museum in Burgdorf. For the Hamburg station, it will be expanded to include over 20 works from various creative phases.
December 13, 2024 to May 4, 2025
www.deichtorhallen.de

Franz Gertsch. Huaa...!, 1969, Dispersion on unprimed half-linen, 170 x 261 cm, Estate of Franz Gertsch © Franz Gertsch AG