Hans Hofmann
Untitled
1962

About the Item

"Untitled" is an oil on canvas painting made by Hans Hofmann in 1962. The artwork size is 25 x 30 1/4 inches. The framed size is 33 1/4 x 38 1/4 x 2 inches. The painting is signed lower right, "Hofmann 62". Hans Hofmann was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstract Expressionism. Hofmann's painting is characterized by its rigorous concern with pictorial structure and unity, spatial illusionism, and use of bold color for expressive means. Hofmann is also regarded as one of the most influential art teachers of the 20th century. "Untitled" features vibrant washes of color and bold, expressive brush stroke with thick impasto. Hofmann retired from teaching in 1958 and began painting full time which lead to efflorescence late in his career. Just a year after this work was created, The Museum of Modern Art gave a full-scale retrospective for Hofmann in 1963, organized by William Seitz, with a catalogue that included excerpts from Hofmann's writings. The exhibit traveled in the next two years to five other venues in the U.S., museums in Buenos Aires and Caracas, and finally to five venues in the Netherlands, Italy and Germany. Similar works are held in the collections of museums such as The Guggenheim, MoMA, Tate London, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in D.C. Provenance: Estate of the Artist Andre Emmerich Gallery, Inc., Zurich Private Collection, acquired from the above, July 1984 Sale: Sotheby's New York, Tuesday, September 29, 2015, lot 21 Private Collection, California, acquired from the above sale Literature: Edmonton Art Gallery, Hans Hofmann 1880-1966: An Introduction to His Paintings, Edmonton, Canada, 1982, no. 21 (illustrated p. 31) Suzi Villiger, ed., Hans Hofmann : Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Surrey, England, 2014, no. P1355 (illustrated p. 327) Exhibition: Edmonton, Canada, Edmonton Art Gallery, Canada, Hans Hofmann, 1880–1966: An Introduction to His Paintings, July 9 – 5 September 1982, no. 21

Creator:
Hans Hofmann (1880-1966, German)
Creation Year:
1962
Dimensions:
Height: 25 in (63.5 cm)Width: 30.25 in (76.84 cm)
Medium:
Canvas,Oil
Movement & Style:
Abstract
Period:
Mid-20th Century
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Palm Desert, CA
Reference Number:
Seller: 459521stDibs: LU9314366552
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Hans Hofmann

The only artist of the New York school to participate directly in European modernism, Hans Hofmann became known as the major exponent of Abstract Expressionism.

Hans Hofmann paintings are known for their manic, exuberant energy. Among 20th-century masters, he was the first to consolidate and codify the lessons of modernism into a teaching system. Hofmann was also a widely influential art instructor with schools in New York City and Provincetown, Massachusetts. He was described by New York Times critic Clement Greenberg as "the most important teacher of our time" (Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art). Approximately six-thousand students studied modernist art with him, among the well-known names are Helen Frankenthaler, Jane Freilicher, Wolf Kahn, Larry Rivers and Nell Blaine.

Hofmann was born in Weissenberg, Germany, showed a precocious interest in music and science, and had early training in mechanics while working for the Director of Public Works of Bavaria between 1896 and 1898. On that job, he invented the electromagnetic comptometer, the precursor of the adding machine.

Hofmann began to study art in 1898 in Munich where he was introduced to Impressionism. From 1904 to 1914, he studied in Paris and was exposed to many of the avant-garde artists and movements of that time including Fauvism, Cubism, and Surrealism. He was much taken with the exploration of pure color for its own sake, especially as investigated by Picasso, Braque, Matisse, and Delaunay. In Munich at the outbreak of World War I, he founded an art school and was highly successful until 1932 when he emigrated to America, having spent the summers in 1930 and 1931 teaching at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1932, he began teaching at the Arts Students League in New York and the following year opened his own schools in New York and Provincetown, Massachusetts.

During the 1930s and 1940s, American Scene painting was prevalent, but Hofmann resisted that style, staying with the modernism to which he had been exposed in Europe. Hence he was later credited as a courageous pioneer in America of European modern art. He closed both of his schools in 1958 so he could devote himself full time to his own painting. He died in New York City in 1966.

Hofmann said he always based his paintings on the subject of nature, and he used vivid colors such as bright blues, greens oranges and yellows and applied them with palette knives in long slashing strokes. He viewed the surface of the canvas as alive, responsive, and active, often with opposing forces which he created with his theory of "push and pull," and which is closely tied to theories of Paul Cezanne. He also experimented with dripping paint onto the canvas, a method Jackson Pollock learned and later made famous.

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(Biography provided by Fine Art San Diego)