Seated Nude
Artist
Hans Hofmann
(American (born Germany), 1880 - 1966)
CultureAmerican
Dateca. 1935-40
MediumBrush | India ink | Paper
DimensionsOverall: 11 x 8 1/2 in. (27.9 x 21.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of Jean Outland Chrysler
Object number71.2374
Not on view
DescriptionBrush and India ink on paper drawing, mounted on another sheet of paper.Label TextHans Hofmann American (1880-1966) Seated Nude, ca. 1935-40 Brush and India ink on paper Gift of Jean Outland Chrysler 71.2374 Born and trained in Germany, Hans Hofmann came to the United States in 1932 and by the late 1950s had begun a series of paintings-lyric abstractions featuring rectangles of vibrant color (see illustration on gallery label)-that confirmed his role as a leading Abstract Expressionist. Through his teaching studios in Manhattan and Provincetown, Massachusetts, he transmitted the classic European modernist style to two generations of young American painters, among them Jackson Pollock. In time, Hofmann would be recognized as the most influential art teacher of his era. During his early years in America- from 1932 to 1944 -Hofmann avoided color in his work and focused on studies in black ink. Most of these early drawings depict the nude, which evolved from flat, angular renderings of the human body inspired by the Cubism of Picasso (the Chrysler's robust Seated Nude is a splendid case in point) to progressively more abstract forms. The drawings were essentially private studies not meant for sale. But they were sometimes given as gifts to friends, among them Walter and Jean Chrysler, who arrived in Provincetown in the mid-1950s and came to know Hofmann well. Given by Hofmann to Jean Chrysler, Seated Nude exemplifies Hofmann's spirited pen and brush work and bold use of light and dark to model form. Edited By: DS Edited Date: 08/2005 Approved By: MHM Approval Date: 10/13/2005Exhibition History"Master Drawings from the Chrysler Museum," Small Changing Gallery, The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, February 26 - April 23, 1989. "Special Exhibition," Prints and Drawings Gallery, The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, Fall 1989. "Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. Published ReferencesDaniel M. Mendelowitz, David L. Faber & Duane A. Wakeham, _A Guide To Drawing_, 7th Edition (Belmont, CA.: Wadsworth Publishing, 2007), 30. ISBN: 0-495-00694-7 Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 96, fig. 115. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1
