ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES 

Art Sections Aboriginal Art Central Desert Women Walala Tjapaltjarri Fake "Aboriginal" Art Norman Lindsay Morning Glory 1970s Australia 1983 Himalayas Art Biographies Charles Alston Beato Angelico Jean (Hans) Arp Hendrik Avercamp Leon Bakst Edward M. Bannister Jean Frederic Bazille Romare Bearden Cecilia Beaux Max Beckmann George Bellows Frank Weston Benson Thomas Hart Benton Abraham van Beyeren Albert Bierstadt George Caleb Bingham William Blake Umberto Boccioni Giotto di Bondone Pierre Bonnard Allesandro Botticelli Francois Boucher Eugene-Louis Boudin Adolphe William Bouguereau Will H. Bradley Georges Braque Victor Brauner Alfred Thompson Bricher Agnolo Bronzino Adriaen Brouwer Pieter Brueghel the Elder Bernard Buffet Michelangelo Buonarotti Alexander Calder Canaletto Caravaggio Antoine Caron William L. Carqueville Mary Cassatt Paul Cezanne Marc Chagall Thomas Chambers JBS Chardin William Merritt Chase Jules Cheret Judy Chicago Giorgio de Chirico Jean Clouet Anna Cochran Thomas Cole John Constable Lovis Corinth Paul Cornoyer Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot Gustave Courbet Lucas Cranach (the Elder) Allan Crite Currier and Ives Aelbert Cuyp Salvador Dali Honore Daumier Jacques-Louis David Stuart Davis Edgar Degas Eugene Delacroix Paul Delaroche Paul Delvaux Charles Demuth Andre Derain Thomas Doughty Marcel Duchamp Raoul Dufy Albrecht Durer Sir Anthony van Dyck Thomas Eakins Louis Eilshemius El Greco James Ensor Max Ernst Philip Evergood Henri Fantin-Latour Lyonel Feininger Tsuguharu Foujita Jean-Honore Fragonard Helen Frankenthaler Caspar David Friedrich Frederick Carl Frieseke Othon Friesz John Henry Fuseli Thomas Gainsborough Henry Gasser Paul Gauguin Orazio Gentileschi Theodore Gericault Domenico Ghirlandaio Alberto Giacometti Giorgio Giorgione William Glackens Vincent van Gogh Arshile Gorky Adolph Gottlieb Fernand Gottlob Francisco Jose de Goya Juan Gris Matthias Grunewald Constantin Guys Frans Hals H.W. Hansen William Michael Harnett Marsden Hartley Childe Hassam George Hayes Martin Johnson Heade Edward Lamson Henry Edward Hicks Nicholas Hilliard Meindert Hobbema Hans Hofmann William Hogarth Sakai Hoitsu Hans Holbein Geoffrey Holder Winslow Homer Pieter de Hooch Edward Hopper Emperor Hui-tsung William Holman Hunt Jan van Huysum Robert Indiana Ingres George Inness Pierre Ino Alexej von Jawlensky Jasper Johns Frank Tenney Johnson William H. Johnson Frida Kahlo Wassily Kandinsky Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Moise Kisling Torii Kiyonaga Paul Klee Gustav Klimt Oskar Kokoschka Koryusai Koryusai Walt Kuhn Yasuo Kuniyoshi Kawanabe Kyosai Fitz Hugh Lane Marie Laurencin Jacob Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence Hughie Lee-Smith Fernand Leger William Robinson Leigh Judith Leyster Li Tang Roy Lichtenstein Max Liebermann Richard Lindner Fra Fillipo Lippi Claude Lorrain Morris Louis Bernardino Luini Auguste Macke Nicolaes Maes Rene Magritte Aristide Maillol Edouard Manet Franz Marc Marino Marini Albert Marquet Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin Masaccio Henri Matisse Jean-Francois Millet Joan Miro Amedeo Modigliani Piet Mondrian Claude Monet Henry Moore Martha Moore Gustave Moreau Berthe Morisot Ira Moskowitz Robert Motherwell Archibald John Jr Motley Alphonse Marie Mucha Edvard Munch georgia O'Keeffe Pablo Picasso Camille Pissarro Jackson Pollock Nicolas Poussin Robert Rauschenberg Pierre-Joseph Redoute Frederic Remington Pierre-Auguste Renoir Sir Joshua Reynolds Rembrant van Rijin Dante Gabriel Rossetti Georges Rouault Peter Paul Rubens Raphael (Raffaelo) Sanzio Georges Seurat Alfred Sisley Theophile Alexandre Steinlen Rufino Tamayo Yves Tanguy Giovanni Domenica Tiepolo Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto Henri Toulouse-Lautrec Joseph Mallord William Turner Paolo Ucello Diego Velazquez Johannes Jan Vermeer Leonardo da Vinci Maurice de Vlaminck Edouard Vuillard Jean-Antoine Watteau James A M Whistler Walter Williams Grant Wood Hale Woodruff Richard C Woodville Andrew Wyeth Newell Convers Wyeth Taikan Yokoyama





  Hans  Hofmann 


Birth Year : 1880
Death Year : 1966
Country : Germany

Hans Hofmann, one of the great art teachers of our time, was born in Weissenberg, Germany. He ran away from home when he was sixteen, and in 1898 began to study art in Munich. By 1901, his Impressionist paintings had so impressed a wealthy Berliner that he sent Hofmann to Paris for ten years, paying all his expenses. Hofmann's friends, in Paris, included Matisse, Picasso, and Delaunay; all leaders of the most advanced artistic circle of the period before World War I. Once in Germany, on vacation, in 1914, Hofmann was exempted from military service because of an earlier lung ailment, and in 1915 he opened his own school in Munich. He taught there until 1930 when he was invited to teach two summer sessions at the University of California, and was thus able to escape Hitler and the Nazi strictures upon modern art. Hofmann emigrated from Germany in 1932 and two years later, at the age of fifty-four, he opened a school in New York and then a summer school in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He continued to teach until 1958 when he decided to devote all his time to painting.

Hofmann provided the link between European art of the early twentieth century and the art of post-war America. He arrived steeped in great traditions ranging from the humanism of the Renaissance to the enthusiasms of Matisse and Picasso. His painting was fauvist in color and expressionistic in manner. In 1939, he became one of the first Abstract Expressionists of the New York School and is considered, with Arshile Gorky and Jackson Pollock, a co-founder of the movement. He is the teacher's teacher for today's artists and his influence will no doubt continue on for many years to come.

Hofmann believed that what an artist felt about his work was more important than the manner in which he painted and as a result his students' work ranged in style from pure realism to complete abstraction. He taught that "creative expression is ... the spiritual translation of inner concepts into form." He thought of paintings as the use of color to create form by oppositions of contrasting colors, of positive planes in negative space, of contraction opposed to expansion, the static to the dynamic. He characterized the tension in any composition as "push and pull," a simple enough summation of the more technical terminology. A forceful, positive, warm personality, Hofmann's long and difficult career encompassed two worlds and two civilizations. He taught artists, art critics, and art historians, and will be long remembered for both his teachings and his works.


 
Hans Hofmann
Song of the Nightingale



Hans Hofmann
Smaragd, Red and Germinating Yellow



Hans Hofmann
Golden Wall, The



View all Hans Hofmann

Books about Hans Hofmann





Powered by Barewalls Interactive Art Inc., Sharon MA