Hans Burkhardt, 89, a Swiss-born abstract expressionist painter who was raised in an orphanage and became a leader in American modern art, died Friday in Los Angeles. Working in oil and pastels, he was best known for his paintings of military atrocities from the Spanish Civil War through the Persian Gulf War. He considered his 1968 painting "My Lai" perhaps his greatest work. When he was honored with the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters' Jimmy Ernst Award in 1992, he told the Los Angeles Times that he should not just be known for his protest works. "I don't just do protest paintings," he said. "When things are happy, I do happy paintings."

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