Thomas Ritter

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HOHMANN FINE ART 73-660 El Paseo | Palm Desert, CA 92260 (760) 346-4243 phone (760) 346-4246 fax (877) 977-CHFA (2432) toll free e: email@christianhohmann.com w: www.christianhohmann.com w: www.hohmannfineart.com www.facebook.com/christianhohmannfineart www.pinterest.com/hohmannfineart www.youtube.com/hohmannfineart

IMPRESSUM

© Hohmann Fine Art, Inc. 1st Edition 2013/2014 Layout & Design: Christian Hohmann Text: Kimberly Nichols, Christian Hohmann, Markus Keller Photography: Josh Heinz, Mark Davidson Any reproduction or use of text or image material in part or in full is only allowed with the written consent of Hohmann Fine Art, Inc. Measurements are approximate and may vary. Please contact gallery if you require framed, unframed, paper or plate sizes or exact dimensions of sculptures. Slight variations in color are inherent to the printing process. High resolution images and condition reports are provided upon request.

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FLOWERS I | Oil On Canvas | 52” x 40” | 2008


THOMAS RITTER

HOHMANN FINE ART

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THOMAS RITTER


Thomas Ritter is able to create the abstract spaces from which the figures emerge with extensive application and skill. The interaction between color and space holds the observer enthralled. The rudimentary bipeds in these vague spaces could – precisely due to their incomplete, alienated appearance – also stand for the alienation of people from their environment. All that remains of us is helpless lines which are fundamentally characterized by external influences. This view of the status of the world would satisfy a requirement for the meaning of works of art which Antoni Tàpies summarized as follows, “I think a work of art should sow consternation amongst its observers, prompting them to think about the meaning of life. We all know that people are increasingly finding themselves alienated by the force-fed diet of advertising, publicity and the consumer society administered by the mass media. I think the artist represents a last enclave of freedom and therefore still possesses the power to make people think.” This requirement, which has to be worked through again in every single picture, is also consistently fulfilled in Thomas Ritter’s case. Again and again, the human form emerges from his canvasses, whilst again and again we are brought fact to face with the question of “alienation”. The painter draws his power from this eternal struggle between the materialistic society and the reflecting, reasoning people in the canvasses. Working in series underlines this intention of repeatedly prompting the observer to reflect. The will to express this conflict can even be sensed in works without corporeal outlines because abstract painters again and again emphasize the spiritual effect of shape and color; for example Otto Ritschl (1885-1976) wrote that, “The abstractions which I painted were not referring to objects but rather to areas of the soul or its relationships. I wanted to put across things which can only be approached through art or feeling - not through concepts.” The works of Thomas Ritter provide plenty of room for feelings. They are calm, unspectacular pictures – despite the use of powerful colors from time to time. One reflects upon them quietly. The work as a whole is painting which is not embedded in shrill contexts, which does not use the hybrid formats of works of recent date; instead, it is painting in the classical (“modern”) sense. People are at the focal point (of the work); people who again and again make it possible to reflect on important matters thanks to their values of experience. Markus Keller

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DIPTYCH YELLOW Oil on Canvas | 79” x 126” | 2003

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BIOGRAPHY

Born in 1955 in Hoxter (Germany), Thomas Ritter lives and works near Hanover, Germany and Vastergodland, Sweden. His initial studies at the teacher’s training college in Hanover (1975 -1978) were followed by several years of social education work with foreign children and the state examinations for secondary modern teachers.

During 1984 -1989 he undertook a course of studies in free art under Professor Redeker at the Hanover College. Thomas Ritter has been lecturing on nude and figure drawing at the University of Hanover from 1989 –1997. Thomas Ritter often spends time in the countryside, as the retreat to nature gives him strength and challenges him to ponder. The impressions, colors, shapes and moods let him reflect upon his own feelings and how he expresses them in his paintings. The compositions of Ritter’s paintings have many layers; with fast drying acrylic colors and filler compound, the artist builds a base, a framework on the canvas. Over and over again, by blurring and by painting over, these structures are changed. “I put great value on these preparations, before the actual layering of colors even begins”, the artist explained. “I have to react quickly because acrylic colors dry fast. If I want to change something, I have to act immediately.” These layers and structures create a base that gives the paintings a strong spatial effect. The canvas thus prepared will then be worked step by step with slow drying oil colors. Now the artist can take his time in applying colors. The various layers are clearly visible. The numerous nuances in color, the blurring and painting over, the working of color with a spatula – all are displayed before our eyes without having the effect of looking

“constructed”. For example, an aggressive color like red blends into the painting’s composition without overwhelming it. When one looks closely, the entire spectrum of forms and shapes can be seen and analyzed. Again and again, the abstract works created reveal surprising discoveries. The references to nature can be interred, yet a whole new image has been created. Mondrian described the relationship between nature and abstraction as: “The more abstract nature is depicted, the more perceptible is the connection”. This connection between nature and its transformation into a painting can be clearly felt in the works of Thomas Ritter. However, as if these abstract emotional connections were not sufficient, his paintings often include outlines of figures – sometimes well defined, sometimes blurred. For Ritter, man is at the center of nature. With the inclusion of these human figures, the artist softens the depiction of nature in purely abstract shapes. Thomas Ritter injects his own style without losing the connection to reality. A painter must understand his surroundings; artistic creation is always an immediate reaction and a direct response to one’s surroundings. Ritter doesn’t want to lose the contact to his models in nature and in his surroundings, that’s why man appears again and again as an essential building block. In the works of Thomas Ritter there is a close connection between nature and its artistic transformation. His works are a testimony to his personal challenge, similar to what Max Beckmann demanded in a 1948 letter to a lady painter: “Again and again, each depiction of an impression of nature has to become an expression of your own joy or your own sorrow. That’s why the composition has to include the changes which then create art, the true abstraction.” By Markus Keller Exerpts transalated into English

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RED SPACE Oil on Canvas | 79” x 40” | 2007


UNTITLED (109) Oil on Canvas | 79” x 55” | 2004

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ABOUT THE ARTIST

The unusual features to be found in the works of Thomas Ritter are not directly visible at first glance but; step by step; they reveal themselves on closer study. On the one hand, man in figurative guise. On the other hand we rediscover his environment in the pictures, namely abstract forms with which we surround ourselves in everyday life. The word “forms” is not however meant here in the sense of the shape of objects but rather of spiritual moods and feelings. The artist treads an artistic path between the figurative and the abstract. Thomas Ritter negates, virtually eliminates this so-called contradiction, itself built up in the 20th century and actually originating through the development of the abstract art form.

Abstract spaces, perhaps “inner” landscapes too, play host to a striding or motionless figure that has been left solitary or is part of a group. It is ourselves who the artist has in mind. Here blurred, there more defined, our contours approach us from within the picture. Since reality presents itself in multi-layered form because it is subject to differentiated standpoints, varying experiences of life and a range of opinions, the pictures themselves are multi-layered. They give us the opportunity to concentrate on ourselves. “Schattenhaft” (shadow-like) is the title of a series of three lithographs by the artist and it is in precisely this matter that we dart through the world and are often compelled to close our eyes to reality. These pictures show us reality. We should make use of this chance and take in through insistently probing eyes the moods Thomas Ritter offers in his works.

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It is not easy to accept that reality is supposed to be depicted in these pictures, abstract as they for the most part appear. This lies in the nature of the abstract. After all, we are used to giving names to objects in order to make them tangible to the mental urges towards identification. But let us for a moment imagine how the creative artist works in his studio. He transforms the observed and perceived perhaps a landscape he has seen through his window. He transposes the suggestion of an object, captures it on canvas again and again in new form, mutable and thus multi-layered. He takes the palette, squeezes paint from tubes, mixes colors and nuances himself and lets himself be carried along for the moment, at times distant from all environmental influences, often driven by pure emotion. New worlds thus come in to being on paper, on canvas. A microcosm is slowly created and develops more and more into a macrocosm in the course of the formative process. The result is a world of colors within which a world of forms is to be found. These works are potent concentrates of encountered virtuality. The artist’s brush glides, dabs and wipes over the canvas; sometimes the bare hand too, individual finger, intervene in the nuances of color. Then, just when the picture is believed finished, it is turned upside down or sideways to be further worked upon. There is nothing as exciting as watching the process of growth. Layer for layer towards new life. Perhaps a still life, this being one of the few picture titles, perhaps a landscape, maybe a figure or then again none of these, or a perception, a mood, a supposition; regardless of its final form, the result demands intensive attention.


UNTITLED Oil on Canvas | 63” x 55” | 2007

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Because abstract expressionism has had a formative influence on the artist, the direct expressiveness is readily perceptible, yet one simultaneously senses impressive composure and analysis. The result is compositions, in the literal sense combinations of various elements. Here too, it seems that a contradiction is eliminated in precisely the same way as the relationship between the figurative and the abstract referred to earlier. Eliminating these contradictions enables the creation of pictures of a compositional clarity suggesting calm and pensiveness. The contours of the figures dissolve, then sometimes to disappear entirely into the surrounding space until finally only space remains, thus bringing the abstract into play. The artist thereby gains fresh space for reflections of a further – reaching nature. This is a process which is not only mentally time consuming but also time wise well thought out in the production framework. This slow process of maturation just described demands a great deal of sensitivity on the part of the observer in order to be able to penetrate the thus created works and to gradually uncover the innumerable layers again, one by one. The necessity of this procedure is clarified by the opinion held by Francis Bacon that everyone who sees a picture interprets it in his own way and that a picture should be the recreation of an event not merely the illustration of an object. Bacon was however also convinced that a picture can only then generate excitement or suspense when a confrontational involvement with the objects becomes visible. It is precisely this that Thomas Ritter succeeds in doing; our environment is not illustrated but thematically depicted, i.e. though the artist’s confrontation with the theme does become visible, the interpretation thereof is left to the critical eye. In contract to Bacon’s image of man, which is based on the depiction of existential problems and despair, the works of Thomas Ritter convey a feeling of confidence and positive moods.

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UNTITLED (120) Oil on Canvas | 36” x 63” | 2007

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COMPOSITION BEFORE RED Oil on Canvas | 49” x 49” | 2001


BLUE RED Oil on Canvas | 32” x 48” | 2001

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YELLOW WATER Oil on Canvas | 47” x 59” | 2007


UNTITLED Oil on Cansas | 79” x 59” | 2007

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ERUPTION Oil on Canvas | 32” x 47” | 2001


UNTITLED (177) Oil on Canvas | 79” x 59” | 2005

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UNTITLED (164) Oil on Canvas | 47” x 39” | 2007


WINDOW Oil on Canvas | 55” x 55” | 2007

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DIPTYCH Oil on Canvas | 47” x 79” | 2007

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IMPRESSION Oil on Canvas | 39” x 39” | 2007


FOG Oil on Canvas | 39” x 39” | 2007

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CHASM Oil on Canvas | 39” x 51” | 2003


AMBER AND RED Oil on Canvas | 47” x 59” | 2002

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BODY Oil on Canvas | 39” x 28” | 2007


DOUBLE FIGURE Mixed Media on Paper | 39” x 63” | 2007

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RECLINING NUDE (162) Oil on Canvas | 63” x 47” | 2006

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TWO FIGURES (BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH) Oil on Canvas | 40” x 47” | 2007


DIALOGUE (147) Oil on Canvas | 28” x 39” | 2007

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FIGURES Oil on Canvas | 28” x 35” | 2002


UNTITLED 118 Oil on Canvas | 41” x 53” | 2003

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FIGURE BEFORE BLUE I Oil on Canvas | 32” x 48” | 2008


FIGURE BEFORE BLUE II Oil on Canvas | 32” x 48” | 2008

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TORSO Oil on Canvas | 31” x 47” | 2004


ALPINE GARDEN Oil on Canvas | 47” x 39” | 2007

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ALPINE GARDEN I, II, III Each: Oil on Canvas | 24” x 28” | 2007


ALPINE GARDEN IV Oil on Canvas | 39” x 48” | 2007

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YELLOW FIELD Oil on Canvas | 31” x 47” | 2007


FLOWERS III Oil on Canvas | 32” x 44” | 2008

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FLOWERS Oil on Canvas | 52” x 40” | 2008


FLOWERS BEFORE RED Oil on Canvas | 42” x 28” | 2008

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FLOWERS Oil on Canvas | 47” x 31” | 2007


FLOWERS Oil on Canvas | 47” x 28” | 2008

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BLOOMS Oil on Canvas | 30” x 30” | 2007


BLOOMS Oil on Canvas | 30” x 30” | 2007

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FLOWERS Oil on Canvas | 47” x 31” | 2007


FLOWERS Oil on Canvas | 47” x 31” | 2007

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EVOLVING FROM RED Oil on Canvas | 63” x 55” | 2005


EVOLVING FROM BLUE Oil on Canvas | 63” x 55” | 2005

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CROSS Oil on Canvas | 55” x 47” | 2004


ARK Oil on Canvas | 59” x 51” | 2006

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RED SPACE Oil on Canvas | 53” x 71” | 2001

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FLOATING Oil on Canvas | 53” x 71” | 2001

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DIPTYCH III Oil on Canvas | 79” x 126” | 2005

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THREE OF US Oil on Canvas | 32” x 47” | 2006


EVENING WATER Acrylic on Canvas | 63” x 47” | 2006

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REFLECTIONS ON BLUE WATER Oil on Canvas | 36” x 24” | 2007


REFLECTION ON YELLOW WATER Oil on Canvas | 36” x 24” | 2007

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EXHIBITIONS 68

1978

Kunstkabinett Bogenstahl, Hannover

1988

Biennale Europ辰ischer Kunsthochschulen

1989

Galerie Tantius, L端bbecke Posthof, Nienburg

1990

Galerie Depelmann, Langenhagen Frankfurter Buchmesse, Frankfurt

1991

Galerie Moderne, Bad Zwischenahn Galerie Vogt, Herten

1992

Kunstkreis Hameln Galerie Schwedenkate, Eutin Frankfurter Buchmesse, Frankfurt Art Hamburg, Hamburg

1993

Kunstverein Springe Art Multiple, Duesseldorf

1994

Galerie Tantius, L端bbecke Arche, Hameln Galerie Wiese, Rotenburg/W端mme Art Multiple, Duesseldorf Estampa Madrid Art-Fair Stockholm

1995

Galerie Depelmann, Langenhagen Galerie Schwedenkate, Eutin Galleri Bagarstugan Mariehamn, Aland /Finnland Galleri Aniara, Sollentuna/ Schweden Norrbottens Museum, Lulea/, Schweden Art Multiple, Duesseldorf Art-Fair Stockholm Art Cologne Kunstmarkt Dresden Kunst Wien


1996

Galerie im Alten Gericht, Rietberg Museum Stadt Bad Hersfeld Galerie Moderne, Bad Zwischenahn Theater Nienburg, (mit Susann Karsthof) Art Multiple, Duesseldorf Art Frankfurt LineArt Gent

1997

Galerie Tantius, L端bbecke Galerie Zick , Ulm De Muelenaere & Lefevere, Oostduinkerke, Belgien Galerie I.Glanz , Erftstadt Galerie im Alten Gericht, Rietberg Kunstverein Attendorn, (mit Susann Karsthof) Art Multiple, Duesseldorf Kunstmarkt Dresden Kunst Wien LineArt Gent

1998

Galerie Schwedenkate, Eutin Galerie Peerlings, Krefeld Arche, Hameln Galerie Ruetz,Augsburg Art Multiple, Duesseldorf Kunstmarkt Dresden Kunst Wien, Vienna Kunst Koeln, Cologne LineArt Gent

1999

Galerie Depelmann, Langenhagen Galerie Pieter Post, Brunssum, Niederlande Galerie Dietz, Bonn Galerie Wroblowski, Remscheid Kunstmarkt Dresden Kunst Wien, Vienna Kunst Koeln, Cologne Art Innsbruck Antikmesse Gent LineArt Gent Kunst Rai Amsterdam

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2000

De Muelenaere & Lefevere, Oostduinkerke, Belgien Galerie im Alten Gericht, Rietberg Galerie I.Glanz , Erftstadt Forsberg Galleri, Härja, Schweden (mit Susann Karsthof) Southwark, London Kunstmarkt Dresden Kunst Wien, Vienna Kunst Koeln, Cologne Art Innsbruck St’Art Strassbourg Art Frankfurt LineArt Gent Kunst Rai Amsterdam

2001

Galerie Moderne, Bad Zwischenahn Galerie Peerlings, Krefeld Galerie im Alten Garten, Siegen Galerie Hohmann, Hamburg Galerie Hart, Carmel, USA Schleswig-Holstein-Haus, Schwerin (mit M.Nipp und S.Karsthof) Kunstmarkt Dresden Kunst Wien, Vienna Kunst Koeln, Cologne Art Innsbruck St’Art Strassbourg Art Frankfurt LineArt Gent Kunst Rai Amsterdam

2002

Galerie Depelmann, Langenhagen Galerie Tantius, Lübbecke De Muelenaere & Lefevere, Oostduinkerke, Belgien Galerie Zick , Ulm Art Gallery Terra Promessa ,Ootmarsum(NL) Art s galerie , Amsterdam,NL Kunstmarkt Dresden Kunst Wien, Vienna Kunst Koeln, Cologne Art Innsbruck Art Frankfurt LineArt Gent Kunst Rai Amsterdam


2003

Galerie Schwedenkate, Eutin Galerie Pieter Post, Brunssum, NL Galerie I.Glanz , Erftstadt De Muelenaere&Lefevere,Br체ssel,Belgien Lithografiemuseum Tidaholm, Schweden Galerie D` Eclic, Luxemburg Galerie Laik, Koblenz Kunst Wien, Vienna Art Innsbruck LineArt Gent

2004

Galerie im Alten Garten, Siegen Art Gallery Terra Promessa ,Ootmarsum(NL) Galeri Elenor, Oslo Galerie Bassi, Remagen Art Hamburg, Hamburg Art Innsbruck Antikmesse Gent LineArt Gent

2005

Galerie Post&Garcia, Maastricht, Galerie Moderne, Bad Zwischenahn Galeri Elenor, Oslo Galerie von Knobelsdorff, Hamburg Kunstverein Rinteln LineArt Gent Art Bodensee

2006

Galerie Zick , Ulm Art Gallery Terra Promessa ,Ootmarsum Galerie im Alten Garten, Siegen St채dtische Galerie Petershagen(mit S.Karsthof) Galerie im Alten Gericht, Rietberg LineArt Gent Art Bodensee art KARLSRUHE

2007

Galerie Tantius, L체bbecke Galerie Hart, Palm Desert, USA Galerie in der Zehntscheune, Bad Homburg Stadtwerke-Galerie, Minden LineArt Gent

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2008

Galerie I.Glanz , Erftstadt Art s galerie , Amsterdam),NL Galerie Post + Garcia, Maastricht (NL) Galerie Hohmann, Walsrode Galerie Hans Persoon, Veldhoven (NL) Arche, Hameln LineArt Gent

2009

De Muelenaere & Lefevere, Oostduinkerke, Belgien Kunstraum Benthe Galerie Zick , Ulm Galerie Carby, Aberdeen (Schottland) LineArt Gent

2010

Haus der Bauindustrie, Bremen Galerie Falkenberg, Hannover Kunsthalle Faust, Hannover, ”Obsessionen ” LA Art Fair, Los Angeles LineArt Gent

2011

Galerie Peerlings, Krefeld De Muelenaere & Lefevere, Oostduinkerke, Belgien Art Gallery Terra Promessa ,Ootmarsum(NL Galerie Depelmann, Langenhagen Art Innsbruck ars antique & kunstmesse Düsseldorf art KARLSRUHE LA Art Fair, Los Angeles LineArt Gent Art Twente

2012

Kunstverein Barsinghausen Galerie Hoffmann, Rheda Wiedenbrück art KARLSRUHE LA Art Fair, Los Angeles LineArt Gent

2013

art KARLSRUHE, one artist show LineArt Gent


Christian Hohmann and Thomas Ritter in his studio

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christian hohmann fine art

ARTISTS OF THE GALLERY PAINTING Mohamed Abla Deladier Almeida Michael Azgour Robert Dunahay Zivana Gojanovich Eberhard Hückstädt Thomas Jessen Denis Jully Manzur Kargar Wiebke Kramer Gabriele Lockstaedt Gerd Lieder Heiner Meyer Armin Mueller-Stahl Neil Nagy Heinz Rabbow Thomas Ritter Peter Schettler Doug Smith Karin Voelker Edward Walton Wilcox Rimi Yang PHOTOGRAPHY Karin Székessy

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ESTATES Bob Freimark Clemens Kindling David Schneuer Paul Wunderlich SCULPTURE JD Hansen John Helton Holger Lassen Siegfried Neuenhausen Stefan Reichmann Christopher Schulz Pierre Schumann Heinz Spilker Julian Voss-Andreae FINE PRINTS Marc Chagall Corneille Xenia Hausner Rudolf Hausner Joan Miró Pablo Picasso and many more...

Christian and Kaarina Hohmann


CHRISTIAN HOHMANN FINE ART represents

almost 40 years of lineage in the art world by the Hart/Hohmann family founded in Germany and in 2013 Christian Hohmann celebrated his 20 year anniversary of entering the professional art world. Christian’s parents Werner and Ursula opened their first gallery in 1976 in the cultural tourist destination of Walsrode, which quickly became a success attracting cosmopolitan visitors from all over the world. In 1998, his aunt Eva Hart ventured to the States and opened a gallery in Carmel by the Sea, a premiere address for the California fine art world. She introduced art collectors to the best European contemporary artists, a relatively untapped market in the area, and one in which was found a thriving market. Only two years later the Hart family opened another location in the heart of Chicago. Back in Germany, 19-year old Christian was honing his own career by studying Art History and Economy at the University of Trier. In 1993, just a month before he began his studies, he founded Kunstverlag Christian Hohmann, a company that would publish lithographs, etchings and serigraphs by several artists, among them the acclaimed artist Prof. Rudolf Hausner, an important representative of the Viennese School of Fantastic Realism. Two years later he opened his first gallery in Hamburg at 21. In 1998 he partnered up with Thomas Levy, one of Germany’s premier art dealers and gallery owners, to open a gallery villa in Hamburg-Poeseldorf. The gallery highlighted artists such as Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Francis Bacon, and Xenia Hausner and participated in art expos including Art Frankfurt and the prestigious Hamburg Photo Triennale. Three years later, Hohmann collaborated on a project gallery in Berlin-Mitte. In 2002 Eva Hart decided to open a flagship gallery in Palm Desert, CA. Located on the exclusive El Paseo Drive in the renowned playground for the Forbes 400, the gallery played host to visitors from all over the world looking for paradise weather, perfect golf and tennis and world-class art. Christian joined his aunt as gallery director and went on to facilitate stellar exhibitions from modern classics like Joan Miró, Chagall, and Gabriele Muenter to contemporary artists such as Paul Wunderlich, Eberhard Hückstädt and Karin Voelker. In the summer of 2009, the Harts retired and Christian decided to carry on the family tradition solo with a new 5,000 square foot signature space, also located on El Paseo Drive. Today, Christian Hohmann Fine Art reflects this rich legacy in the art world, which began in Germany in 1976, and now spans across the United States. With a longstanding tradition of presenting both European and national artists of the highest

View into Gallery II: Painting by Bob Freimark, Sculpture by John Helton

caliber to the discerning collector, the gallery’s strong figurative program is accentuated by diverse offerings in 20th century master works by both familiar and emerging names. The gallery features an exquisite selection of original paintings and sculpture by over 100 unique artists while also representing many artists’ estates. From the prestigious location on El Paseo and with a network of artists, collectors, galleries and institutions the gallery has built a strong internet presence that reaches far beyond the borders of the United States. By participating in art fairs across the US and by publishing books and catalogs, the gallery is trying to spread the word about their artists world wide. With a true passion for art, educating the client, and a devotion to its artists, the gallery has garnered a world-class reputation as a sophisticated destination for art.

CHRISTIAN HOHMANN FINE ART 73-660 El Paseo | Palm Desert, CA 92260 (760) 346-4243 | (877) 977-CHFA (toll free) www.christianhohmann.com

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HOHMANN fine art www.hohmannfineart.com

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