Paul Hannaux - Mid 20th Century Woodcut Exhibition Poster

Description

A striking exhibition poster for the artist Paul Hannaux. Unsigned. Well presented behind glass in a black frame. On paper.

Condition

Creasing throughout. Wear and losses to the edges. The artwork is in good condition for its age.

Size

52 x 59cm (20.5" x 23.2")
Framed Size: 71 x 76cm (28.0" x 29.9")

Collection Information

This collection of studies by Paul Hannaux is a celebration of gesture, movement, and expression. Alive with energy, each work reveals the artist's confident hand through visible brushstrokes and instinctive mark-making that capture the immediacy of the moment.

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Artist Biography

Paul Alexandre Hannaux was a French painter, illustrator and decorator born on 15 September 1897 at 3 rue des Beaux-Arts in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. He was the son of the sculptor Emmanuel Hannaux (1855–1934), and although he spent most of his life in Paris he retained strong ties to Lorraine, particularly Metz. He served in the First World War from 1915 to 1919 and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. Hannaux entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1920, joining the studio of Ernest Laurent. His academic career followed a classical trajectory: he won the Prix de Rome in 1924 and in 1929 became the first City of Paris scholarship holder at the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid. Despite this conventional training, he admired expressionist painters, especially Oskar Kokoschka, and his mature work reflects a tension between classical measure and a more personal, expressive sensibility. He joined the Association La Fresque in 1933. A prolific traveller, Hannaux painted extensively abroad, producing landscapes and scenes of North Africa, Venice, Provence, Brazil, Spain, Austria, Normandy and Paris, as well as work made during trips to sub-Saharan Africa, including Cameroon. Alongside his paintings — chiefly landscapes, cityscapes, still lifes and portraits — he worked as a book illustrator, notably producing original woodcuts for André Lichtenberger's novel 'La Main de sang' (1939) and copper engravings for Baudelaire's 'Le Spleen de Paris' (1950). Hannaux died on 23 October 1954, aged 57. His works are held in public collections including museums in Paris, Metz, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Cologne and Salzburg, as well as Wolverhampton Art Gallery in the UK.