Harry Leslie Hoffman (1871–1964) was an American Impressionist painter best known for his brightly colored paintings of underwater marine life.

Life

Harry Leslie Morris Hoffman was born in Cressona, Pennsylvania. He attended the

Yale University School of Art The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in graphic design, painti ...

(1893–97), studying with John Ferguson Weir. He was also a champion gymnast during his college years. He then moved to New York, where he continued his training at the Art Students' League with

Frank DuMond Frank Vincent DuMond (August 20, 1865 – February 6, 1951) was one of the most influential teacher-painters in 20th-century America. He was an illustrator and American Impressionist painter of portraits and landscapes, and a prominent teach ...

. He also spent time in Paris studying at the Académie Julian. In the summer of 1902, Hoffman went to

Old Lyme Old Lyme is a coastal town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The main street of the town, Lyme Street, is a historic district with several homes once owned by sea captains. Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is located in Old Lyme and the ...

, Connecticut, to study at the Lyme Summer School of Art. Old Lyme was then a center of

American Impressionism American Impressionism was a style of painting related to European Impressionism and practiced by American artists in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. The style is characterized by loose ...

and known for its

art colony An art colony, also known as an artists' colony, can be defined two ways. Its most liberal description refers to the organic congregation of artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior existence o ...

. Three years later, Hoffman settled in Old Lyme, which remained his home until his death. He later helped to save

Florence Griswold Florence Ann Griswold (December 25, 1850 – December 6, 1937) was a resident of Old Lyme, Connecticut, United States who became the nucleus of the " Old Lyme Art Colony" in the early 20th century. Her home has since been made into the Florenc ...

's house, which was a nucleus of the art colony, so that it could be converted into the

Florence Griswold Museum The Florence Griswold Museum is an Art Museum at 96 Lyme Street in Old Lyme, Connecticut centered on the home of Florence Griswold (1850–1937), which was the center of the Old Lyme Art Colony, a main nexus of American Impressionism. The Museum i ...

. In 1910, he married fellow artist Beatrice Pope; they had one child. Hoffman often left New England in the winters, spending time in Georgia (1914, 1915) and the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

(1916). In the early 1920s, he served as staff artist to the naturalist

William Beebe Charles William Beebe ( ; July 29, 1877 – June 4, 1962) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, marine biologist, entomologist, explorer, and author. He is remembered for the numerous expeditions he conducted for the New York Zoological ...

on expeditions to the Galapagos Islands (1923), British Guiana, and

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. Hoffman died at 92, the longest-lived of the Old Lyme colony of Impressionists.

Art

Early in his career, Hoffman focused on Impressionist landscapes,

plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...

figure studies, street scenes, and still lifes. His style was most strongly influenced by the work of fellow Old Lyme painter Willard Metcalf, though his color palette was brighter and his brushwork looser. After traveling to the Bahamas in 1916, he became interested in marine subjects and developed a special glass-bottomed bucket that allowed him to see potential underwater subjects more clearly. By the mid-1920s, he had developed a reputation for vividly colored underwater studies of fish and other marine life. Hoffman was a member of many art organizations, including the

Salmagundi Club The Salmagundi Club, sometimes referred to as the Salmagundi Art Club, is a fine arts center founded in 1871 in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, New York City. Since 1917, it has been located at 47 Fifth Avenue. , its membership roster ...

and the

New York Watercolor Club The American Watercolor Society, founded in 1866, is a nonprofit membership organization devoted to the advancement of watercolor painting in the United States. Qualifications AWS judges the work of a painter before granting admission to the soc ...

. He was elected to the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

in 1930. He won a gold medal at the

Panama Pacific Exposition Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cost ...

in 1915. His work is held by museums throughout the United States.

References

External links

Harry L. Hoffman in his studio
1920 photograph on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Harry Leslie Morris 1871 births 1964 deaths Yale University alumni American Impressionist painters American marine artists