Otto Hofmann (28 April 1907 in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

– 23 July 1996 in Pompeiana) was a German

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

Life

From 1928 to 1930 Hofmann studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau, where he learned from Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. In 1930, the Bauhaus set up its own exhibition for his works and in the same year he was invited by the Jenaer Kunstverein for the Young Artists from the Bauhaus Dessau exhibition. When the National Socialists took power, his work was banned as degenerate and he fled to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and Paris as a member of the

KPD The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...

. In 1934 he worked for Paul Klee in

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

. In 1935 he returned to Germany, married Hanna Stirnemann and lived in seclusion in Hainichen near Dornburg, where the couple worked closely with the

ceramist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whil ...

Otto Lindig Otto Lindig (4 January 1895, in Pößneck – 4 July 1966, in Wiesbaden) was a German master potter who was a student and later a workshop manager at the famous Bauhaus art school in Weimar, Germany. Background Lindig was born in Pößneck, Ger ...

. In 1939 Hofmann was drafted into military service and sent to the Eastern Front. In 1945 he was taken prisoner by the Soviets. After his release he moved to Rudolstadt in Thuringia in 1946, where he resumed his artistic activity. Since his work was not appreciated in the

GDR East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

either,Artikel über Otto Hofmann
auf rczeitung.com. he moved to West Berlin in 1950, where he received the

Berlin Art Prize The ''Berliner Kunstpreis'' (Berlin Art Prize), officially Großer Berliner Kunstpreis, is a prize for the arts by the City of Berlin. It was first awarded in 1948 in several fields of art. Since 1971, it has been awarded by the Academy of Arts ( ...

in 1953 and then lived as an artist in Paris from 1953 to 1965. Between 1966 and 1975 Hofmann taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. From 1976 he lived and worked in Pompeiana until his death. The exhibition The Poetics of the Bauhaus in the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa divides his life's work into four phases: ''Das Bauhaus und die Jahre der Zensur'', ''Russland'', ''Das geteilte Deutschland und die europäischen Aufenthalte'' sowie ''Pompeiana''. The art historian Helmut Börsch-Supan said about Hofmann's work: ''Für mich sind seine Bilder und die Ausstrahlung seiner Persönlichkeit untrennbar miteinander verbunden. Er malte so wie er war als ein unkorruptierbarer'' ''Charakter, der lieber Zurücksetzung in Kauf nahm, als sich anzupassen''. (Translation:) For me, his paintings and the charisma of his personality are inextricably linked. He painted as he was as an incorruptible character who would rather put up with than conform. Occasionally works by Otto Hofmann can be found in auctions.artnet.com

References

External links

*

*

*
Bauhaus. The art of Otto Hofmann. The Nine hundred ever seen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofmann, Otto (Artist) 1907 births 1996 deaths Bauhaus alumni 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters Artists from Essen German emigrants to Italy People from the Rhine Province