Hans Moller (painter)
Hans Moller was a German-born American artist who worked mostly in an abstract format and is primarily considered to have been a colorist.
Early life
Moller was born on March 5, 1905, in Wuppertal, Germany.Early life and education
From 1919 until 1927, Moller was an instructor at the Kunstgewerbeschule Wuppertal-Barmen, an arts and crafts learning institution in the town in which he resided and worked as a bricklayer. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin.Career
In 1936, he emigrated to the United States from Germany to protect his Jewish wife, Helen Rosenblum who he married in 1933, from the Nazis. Once settled in the U.S. he went to work for the advertising firm Lord and Thomas as a graphic designer. His works from Lord and Thomas were exhibited at MOMA as part of a group exhibition in 1949.The first solo exhibition of his paintings was held in 1942 at the Bonestell Gallery in New York City. Over the following two decades, he had some twenty five solo exhibitions at various galleries. Moller created paintings in a multiplicity of styles, including expressionism, abstractionism, surrealism, cubism, pointillism, and fauvism. He was later represented for a stretch ending in 1995 by the Midtown-Payson Gallery in New York City. In 1995, the Dusseldorf gallerist Torsten Bröhan put together an exhibition of Moller's work; it was the first solo exhibition of Moller's work in Germany.
Moller was known foremost as a colorist, once saying, "I only want to wake up every day and decide what colors to paint my sky."
Ad Reinhardt included Moller in his 1946 work "How to Look at Modern Art in America".
Personal life
Moller and his wife Helen were long time residents of Allentown, Pennsylvania.Death
Moller died on October 19, 2000, in Allentown, Pennsylvania.His wife predeceased him in 1997.