AFA Winter 2019

Winter 82 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com Hans Hofmann (1880–1966), Phantasia, 1944. Oil on panel, 31 x 43 inches. Collection of Leslie Gales and Keith Ray, Toronto. With permission of the Renate, Hans & Maria Hofmann Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. In Phantasia , Hofmann explores line in tandem with shape, as in the black linear brushwork and circuitous blue-green hooked shape anchored in the center of the painting through their interaction. Black and red streaks balance the bottom right and top left of the otherwise seemingly chaotic composition. This energetic interplay of lines and forms evokes a sense of movement, of shapes expanding and contracting in space. As Hofmann continued to refine his techniques, line all but disappeared from his work in exuberant favor of broad, colorful shapes, eventually leading to resolute abstraction. Hans Hofmann (1880–1966), The Wind , 1942. Oil, automotive lacquer, gouache, and India ink on board, 43⅞ x 27¾ inches. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives; Gift of the artist (1965.16). With permission of the Renate, Hans & Maria Hofmann Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. While teaching and painting in Provincetown and New York for more than two decades, Hofmann actively refined his painting practice by experimenting with different techniques in order to create pictorial sensations of movement and spatial depth. He adhered to a set of core principles as the foundation for dynamic artistic expression: line, shape, color, and “push and pull.” In the early 1940s Hofmann tested different paint applications, including dripping paint directly onto his surfaces. Turning the compositions as he worked, he created dizzying realms of swirling lines and colors.