Throughout his extraordinarily long and rich career, Hans Hofmann was consistently productive and left behind a truly astounding and varied body of work of the highest quality. During most of those years, from the outbreak of World War I to 1958, Hofmann operated a famous and much sought after professional teaching studio, first in Europe and then in New York and Provincetown. In his American years especially, he was generally regarded as the most influential art teacher of his day. His approach to painting spanned the gap between the School of Paris and Abstract Expressionism, and both his analytical methods and unsurpassed personal creativity made a lasting impression on two generations of American artists at the pivotal moment when a new kind of subjective, non-representational art was emerging as the dominant mid-century movement.

Introduction by Sam Hunter

Five Essays by Hans Hofmann

  1.  Plastic Creation

  2.  The Search for the Real in Visual Arts

  3.  The Resurrection of the Plastic Arts

  4.  The Color Problem in Pure Painting--Its Creative Origin

  5.  Sculpture

Plates

A Decisive Moment: Hofmann's Mosaic Murals by Tina Dickey

The Artist of the Century by Frank Stella

Illustrated Chronology

Selected Exhibitions

Selected Public Collections

Selected Bibliography

Index