Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5

Richard Peter Hoffman
"Pigeon Holes Abstract"

1950

About the Item

Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed and dated 1950 lower right. Richard Peter Hoffman (1911-1977) Richard Peter Hoffman was a precisionist painter, photographer and designer. Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1911, Hoffman was born into an eighth generation Pennsylvania German family .He was the only child of successful local merchants, his father owned a grocery store and his mother a millinery shop. Hoffman studied at Mercersburg Academy, the New York School of Fine and Applied Art and the Parsons School of Design. Hoffman began his career painting traditional impressionist landscapes in watercolor similar to those of the group surrounding Walter Baum at the Baum School. Inspired by the work of the Modernist and Precisionist painters, his style began to change dramatically. Never abandoning his Pennsylvania German cultural roots, most of his precisionist landscapes incorporate Pennsylvania German folk art motifs. His work is both unique and appealing. A lively palette and representational themes combine hard and soft edges showing the obvious influence of fellow Pennsylvania Modernist, Charles Sheeler. His mediums combine casein, watercolor, India ink, and crayon giving his paintings a unique surface. Hoffman was not prolific, producing only 189 paintings between 1946 and 1965. As each work was carefully composed and tediously perfected, like many artists, Hoffman would become attached to his masterpiece and would not want to part with it. This is largely the reason why Richard Peter Hoffman is not as well known among precisionist collectors today. It was not until the end of his life that his paintings were dispersed and so far, few have surfaced. An avid photographer, Hoffman stopped painting in 1965 to concentrate on his photography. He also had an interest in the theater and designed sets for local productions. He exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Watercolor Society, The American Watercolor Society, The National Society of Painters in Casein, the Audubon Artists, The Woodmere Art Gallery (1950 award,1952 prize, 1962 award) The Knickerbocker Artists (1955 award) the Philadelphia Commercial Museum 1965 award. Sources: New Hope for American Art by James M. Alterman - Hellerick & Swank. Richard Peter Hoffman, 1990. -Woodmere. Exhibition by Richard Peter Hoffman, 1963. -Walter Baum . Saxton,1996
  • Creator:
    Richard Peter Hoffman (1911 - 1997, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1950
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 30 in (76.2 cm)Width: 37 in (93.98 cm)Depth: 3 in (7.62 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Lambertville, NJ
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: JOLNJ1110201621stDibs: LU3742056943
More From This SellerView All
  • "Geometric Design"
    By Rolph Scarlett
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork. Signed lower left. Rolph Scarlett (1889 - 1984) A major exponent of non-objective painting, Rolph Scarlett's career and art...
    Category

    20th Century Abstract Geometric Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Gouache

  • "Evolution"
    By Ramstonev (Ramsey/Stone/Evans co-operative)
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Ramstonev Co-operative Project (1937 - 1939) In the late 1930s, Charles Ramsey became close friends with Charles Evans and ...
    Category

    20th Century Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Gouache, Paper

  • "Flowers and Fruit"
    By Mercedes Matter
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Mercedes Matter (1913 - 2001) Best known as a painter of abstract still life and founder of the New York Studio School, M...
    Category

    20th Century Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • "Manhattan Night Life"
    By Vaclav Vytlacil
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984) He was born to Czechoslovakian parents in 1892 in New York City. Living in Chicago as a youth, he took classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, returning to New York when he was 20. From 1913 to 1916, he enjoyed a scholarship from the Art Students League, and worked with John C. Johansen (a portraitist whose expressive style resembled that of John Singer Sargent), and Anders Zorn. He accepted a teaching position at the Minneapolis School of Art in 1916, remaining there until 1921. This enabled him to travel to Europe to study Cézanne’s paintings and works of the Old Masters. He traveled to Paris, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and Munich seeking the works of Titian, Cranach, Rembrandt, Veronese, and Holbein, which gave him new perspective. Vytlacil studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich, settling there in 1921. Fellow students were Ernest Thurn and Worth Ryder, who introduced him to famous abstractionist Hans Hofmann. He worked with Hofmann from about 1922 to 1926, as a student and teaching assistant. During the summer of 1928, after returning to the United States, Vytlacil gave lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, on modern European art. Soon thereafter, he became a member of the Art Students League faculty. After one year, he returned to Europe and successfully persuaded Hofmann to teach at the League as well. He spent about six years in Europe, studying the works of Matisse, Picasso, and Dufy. In 1935, he returned to New York and became a co-founder of the American Abstract Artists group in 1936. He later had teaching posts at Queens College in New York; the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California; Black Mountain College in North Carolina; and the Art Students League. His paintings exhibit a clear inclination toward modernism. His still lives and interiors from the 1920s indicate an understanding of the art of Cézanne. In the 1930s, his works displayed two very different kinds of art at the same time. His cityscapes and landscapes combine Cubist-inspired spatial concerns with an expressionistic approach to line and color. Vytlacil also used old wood, metal, cork, and string in constructions, influenced by his friend and former student, Rupert Turnbull. He eventually ceased creating constructions as he considered them too limiting. The spatial challenges of painting were still his preference. During the 1940s and 1950s, his works indicated a sense of spontaneity not felt in his earlier work. He married Elizabeth Foster in Florence, Italy, in 1927 and they lived and worked in Positano, Italy for extended periods of time. Later on, they divided their time between homes in Sparkill, New York and Chilmark, Massachusetts, where Vyt, as he was affectionately called, taught at the Martha's Vineyard Art...
    Category

    1930s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • "Lower Manhattan"
    By Vaclav Vytlacil
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Signed & dated 1940 lower left. Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984) He was born to Czechoslovakian parents in 1892 in New York City. Living in Chicago as a youth, he took classes at the S...
    Category

    1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Board

  • "Sea and Sky, Deer Isle"
    By Mercedes Matter
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Best known as a painter of abstract still life and founder of the New York Studio School, Mercedes Matter was also a disting...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil, Board

You May Also Like
  • Abstract Composition -Original Tempera and Watercolor by Giorgio Lo Fermo - 2021
    By Giorgio Lo Fermo
    Located in Roma, IT
    Abstract Composition is an original drawing in Tempera and Watercolor on paper realized by Giorgio Lo Fermo in 2021. Good Conditions. The Artwork is Depicted through strong strokes...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Tempera, Watercolor

  • Abstract Composition -Original Tempera and Watercolor by Giorgio Lo Fermo - 2020
    By Giorgio Lo Fermo
    Located in Roma, IT
    Abstract Composition is an original drawing in Tempera and Watercolor on paper realized by Giorgio Lo Fermo in 2020. Good Conditions. The Artwork is Depicted through strong strokes...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Tempera, Watercolor

  • Abstract Composition -Original Tempera and Watercolor by Giorgio Lo Fermo - 2020
    By Giorgio Lo Fermo
    Located in Roma, IT
    Abstract Composition is an original drawing in Tempera and Watercolor on paper realized by Giorgio Lo Fermo in 2020. Good Conditions. The Artwork is Depicted through strong strokes...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Tempera, Watercolor

  • Nerve Center
    By Kory Twaddle
    Located in Kansas City, MO
    Artist : Kory Twaddle Title : Nerve Center Materials : Acrylic, gouache, postage stamps, and mixed media on paper Date : 2018 Dimensions : 24 x 36 x 0.3 inches Kory Twaddle is a Ka...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Geometric Mixed Media

    Materials

    Pencil, Graphite, Color Pencil, Paint, Newsprint, Cardboard, Watercolor,...

  • Colored Composition - Tempera and Watercolor by Giorgio Lo Fermo - 2020
    By Giorgio Lo Fermo
    Located in Roma, IT
    Colored Composition is an original artwork realized by Giorgio Lo Fermo (b. 1947) in 2020. Tempera and Watercolor on Paper. Hand-signed and dated by the artist on the lower right ...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Paper, Tempera, Watercolor

  • Mixed Colors Composition - Mixed Media by Giorgio Lo Fermo - 2020
    By Giorgio Lo Fermo
    Located in Roma, IT
    Mixed Colors Composition is an original artwork realized by Giorgio Lo Fermo (b. 1947) in 2020. Mixed media in tempera and watercolor on paper Hand- signed and dated by the artist ...
    Category

    2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Tempera, Watercolor

Recently Viewed

View All