The fisherman with the net

ARTIST: Elisabeth HAHN
TECHNIQUE: Oil on canvas
PERIOD: 20th century
DIMENSIONS without frame: 92 x 73 cm
DIMENSIONS with frame: 95 x 76 cm oak frame.
COPY: Original work signed lower right
Oil on canvas – Unique work, signed
In this dense and subtly structured composition, Elisabeth Hahn captures an everyday scene imbued with silence and concentration: a seated fisherman, absorbed in mending his net. The gesture is humble, but the painting magnifies it.
The work, executed in oil on canvas, displays a chromatic range dominated by deep blues, light turquoises, and washed grays, evoking marine light, water reflections, and the salty world of the coast. The net, treated with gestural and overlapping touches, becomes an almost abstract motif, punctuated by copper and sienna accents.
The treatment of the material is lively, almost tactile, revealing the weave of the canvas and the roughness of the gesture. The fisherman's face, half-hidden beneath a cap, is set in a posture of silent contemplation, reinforcing the impression of an interior scene despite the obvious evocation of the marine world.
This work pays homage to the ancestral gestures of manual labor, to the profound bond between man and the sea, and is part of the tradition of modern figurative painting, somewhere between poetic realism and structured abstraction.
Elisabeth Hahn was born in Dortmund, Germany, where she began her art studies. In 1953, she moved to Paris. She continued her studies at the Beaux-Arts in the studios of Jean Souverbie and Edmond Heuzé between 1954 and 1959. Since 1962, she has exhibited regularly at the Salons de l'Art Libre, the Salon de l'Union des Artistes, and in major Parisian galleries: Galerie Raymond-Creuze, Galerie Cimaise de Paris, and Galerie Everarts. She also exhibited regularly in Germany at Königswinter-Oberpleis.
In her figurative paintings, she always seeks to place color and line at the service of the subject, eliminating all details that might detract from the overall expression. Elisabeth Hahn's painting fully deserves to be rediscovered.

That's all we can find on Elisabeth Hahn's life. It's not much considering that she was active throughout the second half of the 20th century, and perhaps even longer. That's the gist of it: she received serious training at the École des Beaux-Arts with great professors, at a time when France was a shining star in the art world. She also exhibited in major galleries, some of which brought their artists to the Musée d'Art Moderne and to major collections.
For the rest, it's her works that speak for themselves, first and foremost, color! The harmony of her palette is omnipresent, and while it changes or evolves over the years, the balance is always there. Her compositions are always very precise; Elisabeth Hahn masters the space in her paintings. And while she doesn't focus on details, her drawing is confident, sometimes vigorous; some of her paintings have an expressionist edge, perhaps due to her origins. She explores all themes of painting: portraits, nudes, scenes from life, still lifes, and landscapes. She is an observer of the world around her, she knows how to transcribe gestures and emotions, and shares them with us on her canvases. We can recognize her workers, whether they are fishermen or laborers. There is no exaggeration or caricature, no allegory; her characters are familiar to us; she conveys their essence.
*This work is sold as is; its pre-owned nature implies the buyer's acceptance of the possibility that it may contain signs of use, wear, fragility, age, or restoration due to the passage of time.

Ref: NP342SZD8A