Hans Hofmann, Goliath, 1960. Oil on canvas
In a exhibition with startling juxtapositions, the Peabody Essex Museum opens an important retrospective, “Hans Hofmann: The Nature of Abstraction,” including many major works by the 20th century abstract expressionist.
Hofmann (1880–1966), German-born but a longtime resident of the United States, influenced so many artists during the last century that it reads like an artworld gossip column. Frankenthaler, Blaine, Krasner, Mitchell, Feinberg—a long list of painters Hofmann taught in his studios.
And even before he left the growing turmoil in Europe, coming to America in 1930, Hofmann knew and worked with another set of artistic dynamos—Braque, Picasso, Rouault, Matisse, the Delaunays. Through his teaching and painting, Hofmann intersected with nearly all the most influential artistic figures of the first-half of the century.
But this exhibition—almost four dozen large works, most originating from the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, where Hofmann bequeathed most of his paintings—focuses on Hofmann, not on his boldface connections. The exhibition shows work that was created in Germany and France, before he came to America, but also subsequently on the west coast, where he taught, and well as from his studios in Greenwich Village and also in Provincetown, where he lived and painted for decades.
At first the exhibition layout feels incomplete, almost haphazard. No works by Hofmann are visible upon first entering the rooms. But as viewers snake their way through the galleries—it’s like a winding pathway, with not that much visibility up ahead—the importance of seeing these works discretely, one at a time, becomes apparent.
They deserve individual attention. Viewers need the time to soak up these abstracts, and not be overwhelmed with multiple viewings of Hofmann’s bright palette and depth-of-field experimentations.
Landscapes and still lifes—all veering toward the eventual complete abstractions—ease visitors into the work. Hofmann painted in oils, gouache and watercolors, creating different textures from his media, all in his own recognizable style.
Hans Hofmann, The Vanquished, 1959. Oil on canvas
Other artists’ signatures are visible—automatic paintings that we recognize as Pollock or Krasner, touches of Hofmann’s European colleagues like Matisse, Braque or Miró—but Hofmann painted like nobody else. Especially in the late work, voluminously on display here, which engages the viewer most completely.
Hofmann closed his teaching studios in the late 1950s, and the resulting decade of intense work before his death resulted in multiple densely worked, strongly conceived abstracts. Taken as a group, these large, late works are painted with utmost artistic confidence, using color, shape and movement intentionally, and to great effect.
“The Vanquished,” “The Lark,” and “Orange Mood” could be studied for hours. Expansive canvases like “The Castle,” “Ora Pro Nobis,” and “Goliath”—each with recognizable geometric shapes that move out and away from the underlying abstraction, creating an alluring depth-of-field—show an artist with bold confidence in his vision, and methods.
This final period of Hofmann’s life—there are more than a dozen works from that period—offers a glorious epiphany of 20th century abstraction. The great abstract expressionists did some of these things; Hofmann did it all.
Hans Hofmann: The Nature of Abstraction” runs through Jan. 5, 2020 at the Peabody Essex Museum. Exhibition is free with museum admission. Visit pem.org or call 978-745-9500.