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)
$715,000
Baal
By Hans Hofmann
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Baal (M-1128)" is an abstract Post War oil on canvas painting by Hans Hofmann in 1947. The artwork is 59 3/8 x 47 1/4 inches and with the frame is 68 x 56 x 3 1/8 inches, weighing l...
Canvas, Oil
$200,000
The Indian
By Hans Hofmann
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"The Indian" is an abrtsact Post War mixed media on paper work by Han Hofmann in 1944. The artwork is 22 x 15 inches and, with the frame, is 29 1/4 x 22 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches, weighing ...
Paper, Mixed Media
Landscape No. 108
By Hans Hofmann
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Landscape No. 108" is an abstract Post War oil on panel painting by Hans Hofmann in 1941. The artwork is 23 1/4 x 29 1/4 inches and with the frame is 31 1/8 x 37 1/8 x 2 5/8 inches,...
Oil, Panel
$380,000
The Zoo
By Hans Hofmann
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"The Zoo" is an abstract Post War oil on panel painting by Hans Hofmann in 1944. The artwork is 21 3/8 x 24 1/2 inches and, with the frame, is 22 1/4 x 25 1/2 x 2 inches. "The Zoo...
Oil, Panel
$3,600Sale Price|20% Off
H 40 in W 33 in D 0.75 in
Heavily Textured Abstract Expressionist Composition in Oil on Canvas
By Harald Dry Schmidt
Located in Soquel, CA
Heavily Textured Abstract Expressionist Composition in Oil on Canvas Bold, textured, abstract composition by California artist Harald "Harry" Dry Schmidt (American, 1933-1979). Brig...
Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars
Yellow Tail I
By Sherron Francis
Located in Austin, TX
Waterline Fine Art, Austin, TX is pleased to present the following work: Acrylic and mixed media on canvas. Signed, titled, and dated verso. 40 x 76.5 in. 41.75 x 78.25 in. (framed) Custom framed in a solid, unfinished maple floater. Provenance Watson/de Nagy & Company, Houston Private Collection, New York Sherron Francis was born in 1940, in Downers Grove, IL outside of Chicago. She originally enrolled at the University of Oklahoma, but later transferred to the Kansas City Art Institute to focus more on art. Initially, Francis' practice was focused on figurative art, with visiting professor and renowned modern realist Philip Pearlstein remarking on Francis’ draftsman acumen. In the early 1960s, art dealers and gallerists from New York would visit the Institute to entice promising artists by offering scholarships and financial aid. Because such financial arrangements were only made for men, Francis had to persuade the school's leadership to allow for women to also be eligible for merit-based aid. Her advocacy was successful, and she ultimately graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1963. She would then proceed to obtain her MFA from the University of Indiana, before assuming a teaching position at Eastern Michigan University. In 1968, with only $300 on hand, Francis moved to 16 Waverly Place in SoHo, New York. The neighborhood was a hotbed for young AbEx artists of the day, and she quickly befriended the likes of Peter Reginato, Walter Darby Bannard, Michael Steiner, Peter Young, Peter Bradley...
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
$1,680Sale Price|20% Off
H 30 in W 40 in D 0.25 in
Abstract Expressionist Original Gouache on paper Collage style of de Kooning
Located in Soquel, CA
Abstract Expressionist Original Gouache on paper and Collage Abstract Gouache and Paper Collage by Harold Winer (American, 1913-2006). Image 30"H x 40"W Slat with white paint .25" ...
Gouache, Illustration Board, Laid Paper
$1,480Sale Price|20% Off
H 48 in W 32 in D 1 in
Mid Century Abstract Expressionist Painting, Oil on Masonite, 1960s
By Leslie Luverne Anderson
Located in Soquel, CA
Colorful abstract expressionist piece by Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009) that lends itself to either vertical or horizontal orientat...
Masonite, Oil
$1,260Sale Price|30% Off
H 48 in W 32 in D 1 in
1970s Pink & Yellow Abstract Oil Painting on Masonite, Unsigned
By Les Anderson
Located in Soquel, CA
Bold abstract painting with pink, yellow, black, brown and white forms by Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009). From the es...
Masonite, Oil
$1,312Sale Price|30% Off
H 48 in W 32 in D 1 in
"Stillborn Dreams" - Mid Century Abstract Expressionist Composition in Oil
By Les Anderson
Located in Soquel, CA
"Stillborn Dreams" - Mid Century Abstract Expressionist Composition in Oil Colorful mid century abstract expressionist painting by Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009...
Masonite, Oil
$1,350Sale Price|40% Off
H 33 in W 41.5 in D 1.25 in
Abstract Expressionist Composition with Stairs in Gouache and Ink on Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
Abstract Expressionist Composition with Stairs in Gouache and Ink on Paper Bold abstract composition by Pacific Northwest artist Karen Guzak (American, b. 1939). A large, dark blue ...
Ink, Gouache, Handmade Paper
$3,900
H 36.23 in W 27.56 in D 1.58 in
1963 Mid-Century Abstract Modern Painting Signed By Ferdinand Spindel. Textured
Located in Frederiksberg C, DK
This abstract painting by German artist Ferdinand Spindel exemplifies post-war European abstraction, where texture is as important as colour and comp...
Oil, Wood Panel, Mixed Media
$2,000Sale Price|20% Off
H 32 in W 48 in D 1 in
Mid Century "Lightnings Infinite / Art of Living" - Horizontal Abstract #2
By Leslie Luverne Anderson
Located in Soquel, CA
Striking mid century abstract expressionist painting by Leslie Luverne Anderson (American, 1928-2009). Oil on masonite painting titled "Lightnings Infinte Art of Living...
Masonite, Oil
$1,740Sale Price|20% Off
H 32 in W 48 in D 1 in
Vintage Abstract Expressionist -- "Their Feet Are Those Of Lions In The Hills"
By Leslie Luverne Anderson
Located in Soquel, CA
Dynamic abstract expressionist painting by Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009). Oil on masonite. Titiled on verso "Their Feet are Those ...
Masonite, Oil
Untitled (#222)
Located in Austin, TX
Waterline Fine Art, Austin, TX is pleased to present the following work: Oil on canvas. Signed and dated verso. 49.5 x 34.5 in. 51 x 36.25 in. (framed) Custom framed in a maple fl...
Canvas, Oil
$1,260Sale Price|30% Off
H 40 in W 30 in D 0.13 in
Mid-Century Abstract Expressionist Composition with Blue, Purple, and Pink
By Les Anderson
Located in Soquel, CA
Mid-Century Abstract Expressionist Composition with Blue, Purple, and Pink Colorful mid-century abstract expressionist painting by Les (Leslie Luverne) Anderson (American, 1928-2009...
Masonite, Oil
Abyss
By Hans Hofmann
Located in Greenville, DE
ATTRIBUTED to Hans Hofmann. Initialed "HH" lower right. Oil on Masonite, Ca 1959. Forty - Seventh Street Gallery, 25 W. 47th St. New York label on reverse.
Masonite, Oil
Yellow Vase
By Hans Hofmann
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Hans Hofmann. "Yellow Vase" is still-life abstract painting, oil on panel executed in the primary colors by Post-War Abstract Expressionist H...
Oil, Panel
Sold
H 32 in W 26 in
Original Oil on Paper Titled Upward Abstract Signed Hans Hofmann 1946
By Hans Hofmann
Located in Keego Harbor, MI
For your consideration is an original, framed, oil on paper painting, entitled "Upward," signed by Hans Hofmann, 1946. This piece done in typical Hofman abstract expressionist urban ...
Oil
The Chair
By Hans Hofmann
Located in Palm Desert, CA
An abstract painting by Hans Hofmann. "The Chair" is an oil on panel, abstract painting executed in bright yellows, lime green, blues, violets and oranges b...
Oil, Panel