I have always enjoyed the intense color combinations and contrasts of form in Hofmann’s paintings. He is known for paintings where shapes and colors push and pull, often with sharp rectangles combined with expressionist brush strokes. He is a painter’s painter. Classic Hofmanns stand strong on their own, as painting objects with forms and colors that give life to the two-dimensional picture plane.
The current exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum is a small selection of paintings from various points in the artist’s career. Hofmann taught at Berkeley in the early 1930s, donated a collection of his paintings, and made a significant contribution to fund the construction of the Berkeley Art Museum. This exhibition is like a tour of early modern art. I saw not only Hofmann, but Matisse, Kandinsky, and Miro. Hofmann bridged a number of artistic movements, as well as bridging Europe with America. He was from southern Germany, and carries some of the traditions of Kandinsky and Der Blaue Reiter. He also spent time in Paris where he was exposed to the many artists coming of age, then came to Berkeley and New York.
The Wind (1942) consists of a blue background with smears and swirls of black and white paint. A few specks of blue and other colors on the surface add interesting variety. I like this painting a lot. The painterly swirls represent energy. The title suggests that the energy is the invisible wind, but I see it as the energy of the artist, as a physical representation of the thought and energy of the artist’s mind. Hofmann believed that painting is the world of the artist, something that is evident in this painting. I can’t help but think of Jackson Pollock here. Pollack’s paintings are incredibly sterile and contrived. Where Pollock might evenly space out the drips, Hofmann lets them be irregular, creating dynamic shapes and a more lively energy.
The color in Effervescence (1944) is absolutely beautiful. Here Hofmann combines everything I love about Miro, Rothko, and expressionist painting. The background could be seen as a Rothko, fields of color that lead to a more spiritual world. The middle contains the forms, a la Miro, of white, black and red, infused with extra energy, gesture, and color.
Above Deep Waters (1959) is abstract painting at its best. The dark greenish blue water on the bottom third of the painting spouts upward into the air and into the sun. The paint is deep water and the molecules of matter are given concrete form. Rectangles of color, which would become one of Hofmann’s trademarks, are loose here and help the large forms transition from one to the other.
Kandinsky’s style can be seen in Song of the Philomel (1963). The narrowness and verticality of the composition seem different than Kandinsky, and there is a grounding force in the dark colors that makes this painting seem like less of a fairy tale than some of Kandinsky’s paintings.
Hans Hoffman did not settle on a particular style until very late in his life, and that is evidenced in this exhibition. Hofmann is a great painter, and yet he doesn’t get the same attention as Kandinsky or Miro, because he did not stick with a consistent style and because he did not expand his artistic philosophy into the social or political realm (which is often mostly a branding or stylistic element, anyway). I appreciate the fact that he made paintings in various styles that are even better than some of the more well-known examples of the movements. This approach shows that he enjoyed learning new styles and that he did not have a huge ego. Most artists have egos that are too big, however, a consistent style and strong confidence levels are required to be successful in the art world. Hofmann is remembered not only for his mature style, but also his teaching contributions and his gifts to the Berkeley Art Museum.
On view through June 2006.