Hans Hofmann German-American, 1880-1966

Hans Hofmann studied at the Académie Colarossi and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, where he was most significantly a student of Maurice Denis and Fernand Léger. This education would lead to Hofmann's eventual practice of abstract expressionism which would underline his very successful career. His richly coloured paintings are expressive in composition—explorations of the tensions between light, form, and space. In Hofmann's work, one senses the rhythmic energy and spatial complexity, an element drawn both from nature and the urban landscape.

Hofmann's technique includes broad, gestural strokes, layering of vivid hues, and a highly innovative use of push-pull dynamics, the concept and pedagogic strategy which he both designed and taught. His paintings frequently combine geometric shapes with organic forms, integrating into the work both the harmony felt in movement and the illusion of floating therein, comparable to that painted by Henri Matisse. Such compositions show Hofmann's deep understanding of colour theory and the capacity to evoke emotion through abstraction.

In 1933, Hofmann returned to America and established the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts in New York City and later in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He has been the subject of solo exhibitions at such esteemed venues as the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1963), the Art Institute of Chicago (1957), and the Whitney Museum of American Art (1951). His work has been exhibited in shows at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Tate Modern, London; the Venice Biennale; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art among others.

Hans Hofmann lived and worked in New York City and Provincetown until his death in 1966.