Signed and dated lower right: H. Hofmann / 49

The Renate, Hans and Maria Hofmann Trust, New York; Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina; Private collection acquired from above.

Hans Hofmann (American, 1880-1966) Untitled, 1948 Crayon and ink on paper 14 x 10-7/8 inches (35.6 x 27.6 cm) (sheet) Signed and dated lower right: H. Hofmann / 49 PROVENANCE: The Renate, Hans and Maria Hofmann Trust, New York; Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina; Private collection acquired from above. "The point of a new maturity for Hofmann's art coincides with the moment that Gorky, Pollock, de Kooning, and others were moving into a new type of painterly abstraction that defined the emergence of abstract expressionism. We may also note that Hofmann's use of black marks the start of an extensive run of black and white undertaken by artists such as Robert Motherwell, Kline, Pollock, de Kooning, and then by Stella, in the fifties. Hofmann may have been a late bloomer, but he was way ahead in other respects, making his relation to abstract expressionism all the more puzzling. At this time...we see Hofmann adding to the common use of a hybrid figure, part human, part beast, relating to the personages favored by the Surrealists and adapted by many of the painters of the emerging younger generation. We can fairly say that Hofmann took from abstract expressionism, just as he added to it." -William C. Agee, in Hans Hoffmann: Art Like Life is Real, Ameringer McEnery Yohe Gallery, exhibition catalog, New York, 2012 HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

Framed under glass. Hinged along the top edge verso. Faint 1/4 inch repair along the lower edge at center. Small pinholes in the extreme corners. Minor undulation to the sheet. Framed Dimensions 22.25 X 19.25 Inches