Hans Burkhardt (1904-1994)

Swiss-born, Hans Burkhardt moved to Los Angeles in 1939 where he came into contact with Surrealists Man Ray, Knud Merrild and Eugene Berman. His arrival on the West Coast was announced with an important exhibit at the Stendahl Gallery. Burkhardt continued working in Los Angeles for almost sixty years. His art went through mercurial shifts in style and subject – ranging from his early, lyrical nudes to his vertical, haunting and vividly colored abstraction pieces.