Blue Sun

Hildegarde Haas

Abstract Expressionist Hildegaard Haas’s time as a woodcut artist was short-lived due to difficulties she experienced in carving the blocks, spanning only about seven years. As such, her prints have become a very precise account of a style and technique she would never quite replicate in other mediums throughout her long career. Additionally, Haas experienced “synesthesia,” a condition in which a person “sees” color and sound, and she would apply this experience to her visual art.

“Blue Sun” is an example of such a composition, displaying the unfettered technique of an artist devoted to experiencing the fullness of the physical medium - and the unique way in which she channeled her inspiration - within the theory of abstract expressionism: adventurous, exploratory lines and unusual colors that step outside of the expected, creating a bright landscape of imagination.