Hans von Matt

Hans von Matt (7 May 1899 - 8 November 1985) was a Swiss painter and sculptor. He was at the heart of an artists' network, known to some contemporaries as much for their fun-loving lifestyle as for serious artistic endeavour. He emerged as a writer on the arts and a "culture politician". He was born and lived in Central Switzerland.

Life Hans Caspar von Matt was born in Stans, the administrative capital of the Nidwalden, a small rural German-speaking canton on the south side of Lake Lucerne.

After successful completion of his schooling, in 1918 Hans von Matt enrolled in the class of Joseph von Moos at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts on the far side of the lake. Von Matt was becoming an assiduous networker, and during his time in Geneva he made contact with Kurt Seligmann and Alberto Giacometti. She was a prominent participant in the central Switzerland arts scene of the time, and sat as the model for several of Hans von Matt's better known paintings of women.

Around 1939 Hans von Matt set out on a parallel career as a writer on themes such as folklore and local history. He also published a number of monographs on well known personalities from Central Switzerland. These included the artists Melchior Wyrsch and Heinrich Danioth, along with the sculptor Josef Maria Christen. Another was the Lucerne-based conservator and arts patron Paul Hilber. and the photographer Leonard von Matt.