Hans Hinterreiter (1902-1989) was a Swiss painter, belonging
to the Constructivist movement, who spent most of his life in
Ibiza, Spain. Since 1930 he occupied himself with the laws of
form and colour. Parallel to Escher, he discovered laws of
coloured symmetry before crystallographers started working
on them (more about it in [1]). After a period of
experimentation with plane groups of symmetry, he moved to
a more complex level of geometric abstract art by applying
non-linear transformations to the plane-group patterns. His
goal was to achieve a more dynamic rendition of the patterns
used. My poster illustrates four different cases of this process,
starting always with a plane-group pattern and showing both
the application of non-linear transformations and coloured
symmetry.
In his more complex patterns, two of which are shown on the
poster, Hinterreiter created domains of affinely or
perspectively distorted motif which were further combined by
means of domain boundaries or by the operations of twinning,
the latter being frowned upon very much by art specialists
when mentioned as one of the analytical concepts. Another
means of generalization used by Hinterreiter was a careful
mapping of plane-group patterns onto curvilinear nets of
different kinds, mostly combined with a skilful application of
principles of dichroic or polychromatic symmetry.
Unlike Escher, Hinterreiter strove to achieve the aesthetic
ideal of a pure abstract form [2] with its inherent symmetries.
His unique, two-step approach that combines plane group
patterns with the principles of coloured symmetry and nonlinear
transformations, his understanding of crystallographic
and non-crystallographic symmetry and a meticulous
application of these principles even to the most complex
patterns produced a legacy close to the heart and mind of
every true crystallographer.