Hanns Pellar “Rainbow over Venice” ca. 1910

The Viennese painter Hanns Pellar (Vienna 1886 – 1971 Vienna) was also called “painter of elegance” by his contemporaries. Pellar attended the Vienna Academy from 1905 to 1906 and attended Franz von Stuck’s painting school until 1908. With his detailed and typically Viennese works, Hanns Pellar soon attracted the attention of several famous art patrons and was appointed to the artists’ colony in Darmstadt by the Grand Duke of Hesse in 1911. There he specialized mainly in portrait painting and thus became known to an elite circle of collectors. His imaginative and brilliant depictions of ladies of the high society in elegant dresses were particularly appreciated. Also known are his humorous and partly erotic scenes taken from society. In his pictures Hanns Pellar skilfully combines the mysticism of Franz von Stuck with the ornamentation and colourfulness of the Vienna Secessionists. Pellar liked to use bright, light colours with gold and colourful ornaments as well as plaques, entirely in the style of the great Gustav Klimt. These techniques lend Hanns Pellar’s works a strong distinctiveness that makes him stand out from his contemporaries.