Hans Hofmann

Hans Hofmann was an innovate teacher and artist who influenced the development of modern art in the United States.

Hans Hofmann was born in Weißenburg, Bavaria on March 21, 1880, the second of five siblings. His family moved to Munich in 1886, where his father took a government job. At age sixteen, Hoffman began working for the government as an assistant to the director of Public Works. He was gifted in math and science, and patented several devices, including a a portable freezer unit for military use.

In 1898, Hofmann moved to his own apartment and began to study art with German artist Moritz Heymann.

Around 1900, Hofmann met his future wife, Maria “Miz” Wolfegg (1885–1963). He painted  self-portraits and portraits of Miz. The couple moved to Paris, thanks to the financial assistance of Phillip Freudenberg, owner of one of Berlin’s most high-end department stores.

In Pairs, Hoffman met Picasso, Matisse, Gertrude Stein and other artists who were experimenting with new, creative ideas. His work was shown in several galleries.

In 1914, during a study trip to Corsica, Germany declared war on Russia and the couple was unable to return to Paris. They returned to Munich, and were forced to abandon everything they had left behind in Paris, including Hofmann’s paintings.

Hofmann was able to avoid military service during World War 1 and opened the School for Fine Art in Munich.

Hofmann and Miz married in 1924. In 1930, he was invited to teach a summer class at Berkeley. After teaching in California for several summers, Hofmann was invited to teach in New York at the Art Students League. He remained in New York and, in 1934, opened the Hans Hoffman School of Fine Arts. In 1941, Hofmann became a U.S. citizen.

Attention to his work increased, and he was given his first solo show at Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery in New York, which was a success. Hofmann was eventually able to focus more on his own painting than teaching. His influence on American painters like Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner, Frank Stella and Louise Nevelson had a great impact on modern art in America.

In 1963, the Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective of Hofmann’s works that traveled to venues throughout the United States, South America, and Europe.

Miz Hoffman died in 1963. The couple had been together for more than sixty years. In 1965, Hoffman married Renate Schmitz, who remained with him until his death from a heart attack in New York City on February 17, 1966, just one month before his 86th birthday.

Hofmann’s works are in the permanent collections of major museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate Modern, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, the National Gallery of Art, and Art Institute of Chicago.