Hans Erni Died One Month After His 106th Birthday
Hans Erni working in his studio, May 2002. Photograph by Mignon Naegeli
Early this morning around two o’clock my Female woke up after a bad dream. Unable to fall asleep again, she downloaded the Neue Luzerner Zeitung. On the front page she read, “Hans Erni died Saturday afternoon at the Hirslanden Klinik Lucerne,” formerly known as St. Anna Hospital, the very place my Female (then called “little Heideli”) spent the very first days of her life.
According to the paper the tireless artist was admitted to the clinic on Thursday because of heart trouble.
Saturday he had a light lunch amidst his family, until he took his usual afternoon nap — never to wake up again. Having been the oldest citizen of Lucerne and probably the town’s most prolific artist, we all hope he finally gets the international museum world’s recognition he deserves — would have deserved a long time ago.
There where those who understood the great man’s visions and works.
Hans Erni’s final incredible work to be noted worldwide, was his recent commission to adorn a Pilatus PC-12 NG airplane for the December 16, 2014 celebration of the 75th anniversary of Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, the World’s most successful single-engine turboprop plane manufacturer.
See also Basquiat’s earlier Tribute to Hans Erni at age 105
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