7188 - Hoffmann, Wolf

Hoffmann, Wolf Fruit Basket Oil on canvas. 1952. 60 x 100 cm. Monogrammed “WH” in black with a brush in the lower right corner and dated “52”; on the reverse side of the stretcher, a paper adhesive label from the German Artists’ Association (Deutscher Künstlerbund) dated 1950, on which it is labeled and titled in brown ink, and dated and titled on the stretcher by another hand in black felt-tip pen. In finely nuanced colors, the view from the summer terrace unfolds into a hilly landscape. Like a patchwork quilt, Hoffmann combines landscape, figure, and still life in a highly simplified, Cubist-influenced formal language to create a dynamic composition of geometric color fields. The centrally placed fruit basket on the partially bright red table provides the decisive focal point in the foreground, while the archaically stylized figure in the middle ground underscores the quiet, almost ethereal atmosphere. Hoffmann was a central figure in Berlin’s postwar art scene, where, beginning in 1950, he headed the etching workshop at the Academy of Fine Arts and, starting in 1951, taught a class in free graphic arts. He was also part of the circle associated with the renowned Galerie Bremer, where an exhibition of his graphic works was held in 1950. Provenance: Private collection, Berlin - Please request condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.