Peter Hartmann

Peter Hartmann (born 19 June 1921, Hamburg, Germany; died 14 November 2007, Geneva, Switzerland) was a Swiss sculptor known for his bronze sculptures installed in public spaces in Geneva.

Hartmann was born in Hamburg in 1921, the son of a Swiss immigrant father and a German-Danish mother. He spent his youth in Cairo, Egypt where his father was posted for work.

Hartmann attended primary school at the International English and International German schools in Cairo. After completing his primary educational studies, he was then sent to Germany to complete his higher education. In 1939 Hartmann obtained his baccalaureat award and had decided to become an artist. Bowing to pressure from his father, he agreed instead to study architecture in Berlin. Hartmann's architecture studies were pre-empted by the outbreak of World War II in Europe, so, finding himself in Geneva at the end of the war, he studied sculpture with Henri Paquet.

In 1946, Hartmann returned to Cairo where he set up his first studio in his parents' garage. He subsequently moved around Europe, spending time sculpting and studying in Florence, Positano and Paris. He finally settled in Geneva in 1950, where he did the bulk of his work.

Hartmann worked in Geneva from 1950 until the end of his career in the late 1990s.

In 1957 he received his first commission for a large work - the Virgin for L'Église du Christ-Roi in Petit Lancy.

In 1959 he had his first solo exhibition, which was followed by many solo and collective shows in Geneva, and throughout the French part of Switzerland.

In 1968 he received his most important commission which was the statue of Charles Pictet de Rochemont, now installed on the Promenade de la Treille in Geneva.

Hartmann supplemented his sculpting income as a restorer at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire.

Hartmann continued his activities as a sculptor until the end of the 1990s when he was stricken by Parkinson's disease, which gradually prevented to him from fully working with his hands.

Hartmann died in Geneva on November 14, 2007.

Dietesheim Gallery

Hartmann's works were showcased in a 1979 exhibition at the Dietesheim gallery, Neuchâtel. A reviewer of the exhibition said

Peter Hartmann, has a prestigious manner in imposing upon his works, his sense of beauty and his impassioned style. His works denotes a nobility of expression whereby this traditional approach from where a sensuality and simplicity bore, makes Peter Hartmann a significant sculptor. There is no audacity in the sculptures, but only the perception of the rhythm and a subtle suggestion of the movement that brings his characters resulting from mythology to reality. A research of the essence is what was achieved. - Journal du Jura

Individual exhibitions

• Gallery Motte, Geneva, 1964
• Gallery Vanier, Geneva, 1968
• Gallery Vanier, Geneva, 1975
• Gallery Vanier, Geneva, 1975
• Gallery Steingasser, Carouge, 1976
• Gallery André Buchs, Geneva, 1979
• Gallery Dietesheim, Neuchâtel, 1981
• Gallery des Platanes, Carouge, 1987
• Gallery Cluny, Geneva, 1991
• Gallery La Collection, Vesenaz, 1994
• Gallery du Simplon, Vevey, 1998
• Retrospective of the Works of Peter Hartmann, Gallery Castellino Fine Arts, Geneva, 2008

Collective exhibitions

• Gallery George Moos, 1952
• Oeuvre Geneve (Exhibition of the Works of Geneva), 1961
• Sculpteurs de Geneve, Parc des Eaux Vives, Geneva, 1962
• Sculpteurs de Geneve, Parc des Eaux Vives, Geneva, 1963
• Sculpteurs Genevois, Club Migros, Geneva, 1965
• Sculpteurs de Geneve, Parc des Eaux Vives, Geneva, 1966
• Sculpture en Plein Air, Montreux, 1969
• Sculpture en Plein Air, Montreux, 1970
• Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, 1984
• Sculptures of Grand Lancy, Geneva, 1985
• Jardin Botanique, Geneva

Permanent installations

Many of Hartmann's works are permanently installed in various public spaces around Geneva. The most significant of these are shown below.

Hartmann has been the topic of a documentary film titled Peter Hartmann by French film directors Patrick Constantin and Florent Saccon.