Hello xerxes1,
I have got this information from web sites mainly in Polish, which I
am able to read. You can find a Polish-English online translator at
http://www.poltran.com/, however it is not very effective.
Wlastimil Hofman was one of the chief painters in Poland during the
interwar and postwar periods.
Wlastimil Hofman was born on April 27 1881 in Karlin, near Prague.
His first name was originally in the Czech form Vlastimil Hofmann.
His father, Ferdynand, a merchant, was Czech, while his mother,
Teofila, was Polish..
In 1889 Vlastimil moved to Krakow (Cracow) in Poland, where he studied
at St Barbara’s School and then at the Jan III Sobieski high school.
.
In 1896 he became a student at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts, where
one of his teachers was the famous painter Jacek Malczewski.
In 1899 he went to study painting at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in
Paris.
In 1902 he had his first showings in an exhibition by the "Sztuka"
society. Further exhibitions followed in Munich, Amsterdam, Rome,
Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Warsaw.
In 1904 he painted the first of his village (or peasant) "Madonnas".
In 1905 he started the cycle of pictures called “Confession”.
In 1907 he was the first Polish painter to be made a member of the
Gallery of the Secession in Vienna.
In the period 1914-1920 he lived in Prague and Paris.
Back in Krakow in 1921 he had a house and studio built in Spadzista
Street.
Sometime around 1922, due to the influence of Jacek Malczewski, he
changed his name Wlastimil Hofman.
Malczewski died in 1929.
In September, 1939 Hofman fled from the Nazi invasion and during the
Second World War was in the Soviet Union, Turkey and Palestine. [Nb,
it’s not stated clearly, but this is a route that was followed by the
Free Polish Army].
In 1942, he published a book of poetry “ - "Przez ciernie do Wolnoœci"
(Through Darkness to Freedom).
He returned to Karkow in June 1946.
In May 1947, together with Adelina (Ady) [his wife?], he moved to
Szklarska Poręba in the mountainous south of Poland.
In the period 1953-1963 he produced religious paintings for the local
church, including “Four Evangelists” “The Way of the Rosary”, “The Way
of the Cross”, “The Adoration of the Child”. He also produced many
portraits of local people and also self-portraits.
In 1961, he was awarded the Cross of the Order of the Polish
Renaissance.
Wlastimil Hofman died on March 6,1970.
Wlastimil Hofman developed his painting style in the period of “Young
Poland” (Młoda Polska - this is normally taken as the period from
1891, when new political, cultural and artistic ideas were arising,
until 1918, when Poland recovered its independence). He became famous
with his series of “Madonnas”, which showed ordinary village women, as
well as his series “Confession” which shows old people in front of
roadside chapels, and his lyrical portrayals of children. It was
typical of his style to paint people in traditional costumes and to
show local scenery. He was also known for his portraits, which can
still be found in Szklarska Poręba and the surrounding region. Some of
his paintings include fantastic, mythical or symbolic elements, such
as angels, fauns, strange landscapes. His poems, written in Palestine,
were of a patriotic-religious nature.
His house in Szklarska Poręba was in a forest. The newspaper “Echo
Krakowa” in an article in 1947 describes it as a place visited by many
artists, writers and academics.
In 1967, the Fine Arts Society of Wroclaw organised an exhibition of
Hofman’s most important paintings.
The introduction to the catalogue, by Elżbieta Drzewińska, says:
“During all his great activity, the artist remained a recluse. Living
from 1946 in Szklarska Poręba in a wooden house high in the mountains,
he achieved even greater isolation, which appeared to suit best both
his art and his personality. Taking no notice of new styles and
fashions, this 80-year-old artist continues to paint according to his
own specific vision, faithful above all to his own ideals.”
Hofman was a painter of the Symbolist movement. This originated with
a group of French poets in the late 19th century, including Mallarme,
Verlaine, Rimbaud. Francis Viele-Griffin and Stuart Merrill were
American poets of this school. These poets revolted against rigid
conventions of technique and theme that ruled traditional (Parnassian)
French poetry. Symbolism in painting took its inspiration from these
poets, but was also a reaction against both Realism and Impressionism.
Symbolist painters used fantasy and imagination, often turning to
religious, mystical and even occult subject matter.
“Symbolist painters sought not to represent appearances but to express
"the Idea", and the imaginary therefore plays an important part in
their work. "Dream" was their credo; they execrated, with a fanatical
hatred, impressionism, realism, naturalism, and the scientistic.”
(http://www.artmagick.com/Gallery/Symbolism.aspx)
The period of Młoda Polska was characterised by a desire to recreate a
Polish romanticism, as well as to promote the ideals of individualism
and subjectivity. This period was also characterised by feelings of
uncertainty and threat, due to the combined influenced of rapid
industrial development, scientific discoveries and the growth of
international tension. The main aim of the symbolists was to respond
to all these pressures by exploring the deeper, spiritual and
metaphysical aspects of human existence.
A description of the style of Jacel Malczewski, who had enormous
influence on Hofman gives a further idea of the influences on both
painters: “During the Young Poland period, Malczewski created his own
unique symbolic vocabulary in which corporeal and robust figures of
chimeras, fauns, angels, and water sprites appear both in allegorical
portraits, innumerable costume-clad self-portraits, landscapes, genre
and religious scenes and, finally, in compositions which do not
correspond to any thematic conventions. The art of Malczewski is
dominated distinctly by two motifs, recurring and assorted painterly
embodiments: the vocation of art and the artist, and death, under the
antique form of Thanatos. The Malczewski oeuvre is the most vivid
example of an intermingling of folk motifs and an anti-classical,
Dionysian vision of antiquity, typical for Polish modernism; the
artist achieved a peculiar polonisation of ancient mythology, not only
by placing chimeras and fauns in a Polish landscape but also within an
historical-national context.”
This is a bibliography of articles and books about Hofman, but they
are all in Polish.
Czajkowski B., Portret z pamięci, Wrocław 1971.
Hofman W., Poprzez ciernie do Wolnoœci, Jerozolima 1942.
Kułakowska K., "Wlastimilówka". Wlastimil Hofman i jego krąg. W:
Wspaniały krajobraz. Atryœci i kolonie artystyczne w Karkonoszach w XX
wieku, (pod red. K. BŸdziach), Berlin i Jelenia Góra 1999, ss.
305-311.
Perzyński M., Wszyscy kochają Hofmana, ale..., Niedziela 24/1998.
Szańca J., Koœciół p.w. Niepokalanego Serca Najœwiętszej Maryi Panny,
Niedziela 7/1998.
Szańca J., Wlastimil Hofman (1881-1970) - artysta malarz i poeta,
Niedziela 50/1997.
Szańca J., Wlastimil Hofman. Artysta, malarz i poeta, Szklarska Poręba
1996.
Wlastimil Hofman, Malarz wewnętrznego blasku, Szklarska Poręba 1999.
Wlastimil Hofman. Malarstwo ze zbiorów OO. Franciszkanów (katalog z
wystawy w Legnicy), Muzeum Miedzi w Legnicy 1999.
Z Jerozolimy do Szklarskiej Poręby (wywiad L. Œnietyckiej-Olszewskiej
z A. Czernickim), Pod Szrenicą 5/1999.
Sources:
A page all about Hofman http://www.hofmanwlastimil.prv.pl/ (many of
the other hits in a Google search on “Wlastimil Hofman” point to this
page).
A page which mentions his affinity with the school of symbolism
http://www.szklarskaporeba.pl/informac/5.htm
Article on Młoda Polska
http://www.republika.pl/buda2k/nauka/polski/mloda/mloda00.html
Page (in English) about Symbolist painters:
http://www.artmagick.com/Gallery/Symbolism.aspx
Picture of his house (near the bottom)
http://www.btkarpacz.com.pl/htm/uk/atrakcje.htm
Article on Jacek Maczewski (in English)
http://artyzm.com/m/malczewski/e_malczewski.htm
Paintings by Hofman (you will need to scroll through to find his name
on some of these pages)
Madonna: http://artyzm.com/h/hofman/hofman.htm
Girl with Faun: http://www.polonia-art.pl/pl/aukcje/0310199908.htm
Nude: http://www.polonia-art.pl/pl/aukcje/1112199926.htm
Girl with rooster: http://www.sztuka.com.pl/historia/aukcj10.htm
Girl with old man: http://www.sztuka.com.pl/historia/aukcj13.htm
Self portrait: http://www.zgora.pl/muzeum/galeria/dzial3/szw11.htm
Another self portrait http://www.desa.art.pl/aukcje/aukcja35/
“Hopes” http://www.artinfo.pl/sda/2001_03_30_aukcja/oferta_kat_01.htm
(click on the writing under the picture to see a larger photo)
“Youth and Age” http://www.sztuka.com.pl/historia/aukcja16.htm
Boy with angel: http://www.ryneksztuki.lodz.pl/images/85aukcja/32-Hofman.jpg
Old man: http://www.ryneksztuki.lodz.pl/images/zdjecia/Hofman-starzec.jpg
“Symbolic scene”: http://www.polonia-art.pl/pl/aukcje/1112199916.htm
“The artist abroad and in his native land”:
http://www.tigris.cz/karasek/ukazka2.htm
Recent prices for Hofman’s paintings at auction:
http://www.artistsearch.com/artists/HOFMAN_WLASTIMIL.htm
Search strategy on Google 1. “Wlastimil Hofman”, 2. “Jacek
Malczewski”, 3. +“Młoda Polska” +symbolizam, 4. +painters +symbolism |
