Daniel Humair

The work

Angoudilemna
1991
112 x 75 cm
Mixed media on cardboard

Daniel Humair’s painting, which he defines as narrative abstraction, is fuelled by a meticulous control of improvisation, as in jazz. As a painter he has developed a personal technique on paper. The work demands a close look that allows one to understand the composition of the forms, the balance and harmony of colour. This should enable one to grasp what is happening in each area of the painting, setting aside any figurative reference.

The artist

(1938, Geneva, Switzerland)

Daniel Humair is primarily a highly successful and long-standing jazz musician, percussionist, and composer. He has recorded and released more than fifty albums as a jazz leader and more than a hundred as a percussionist in groups led by other top-level musicians in the world of jazz. At the same time, he has developed a strong personality as a painter.
It should be added that Humair composed and performed the music accompanying two of Peter Stämpfli’s short films, Firebird (1969) and Ligne Continue (1974).