AFA Winter 2019

Winter 86 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com Hans Hofmann (1880–1966), Magnum Opus, 1962. Oil on canvas, 84⅛ x 78⅛ inches. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives; Gift of the artist (1963.7). With permission of the Renate, Hans & Maria Hofmann Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Hofmann argued that the picture plane should be activated by color and shape. His famous phrase “push and pull” refers to his method of using contrasting and sometimes overlapping planes of color and texture to create a sense of depth. This concept is boldly exemplified in Magnum Opus . While an intense yellow rectangle sharply advances from its surrounding sea of red, a smaller blue rectangle to the left coolly recedes into depth, creating a visual sensation of simultaneous expansion and contraction. Hofmann harnessed the contrasting forces of precisely edged color planes integrated into gestural backgrounds as a means to dynamically animate the painting’s surface with rhythm and movement. Push and pull are expanding and contracting forces… Push answers with pull and pull with push. —Hans Hofmann