Ludwig von Hofmann (1861 – 1945) was an important German symbolist painter but his work is not widely known today. Hofmann studied at the Academie Julien, Paris. There he was strongly impressed by the art of contemporary French painters, such as Puvis de Chavannes, Albert Besnard and Maurice Denis. Hofmann was a founding member of both ‘The Eleven’ and the ‘Berlin Secession’. Although it is claimed that ‘Berlin Secession’ was the first open revolt against academic traditions and paved the way for the creation of modern German art movements, Hofmann’s art was grounded in tradition that had a harmonic relation to nature. The mood of his art is the opposite of modern movements such as Cubism that expressed an estrangement from nature. Rather than withdrawing from the physical world, Hofmann’s art was a vision of what the world could be.
Like so many great German artists of his time, Hofmann’s paintings and original prints did not find favor with the Nazi party. Many of his works were destroyed at the purge of ‘Degenerate Art’ at Erfurt in 1937.
I find Hofmann’s work inspirational because the composition of portraits before a landscape remind me of some of my own paintings. Althought Hofmann’s was influenced by Puvis de Chavannes, his vibrant use of color in some of his works is quite different.