I collected these facts after reading various pages at the Hans Hofmann site. The photos in the photo collage are also from there. (I hope that making the photo collage does not infringe on copyrights. Does anyone know about this?)
There is also a You Tube video here for those of you who would like more information, although I doubt that the video would be of interest to little ones.
(click to enlarge)
- Hans Hofmann was an abstract painter who lived from 1880 to 1966.
- He painted in a unique style that mixed elements from Fauvism, Cubism, and Abstract Expressionism.
- Hofmann created landscapes in his paintings. His landscapes aren’t ones with trees and land, but ones of space, form, and color.
- Believe it or not, Hofmann’s paintings are mostly derived from his passion for nature. He looked for geometric forms to represent nature.
- Hofmann was friends with Picasso and Matisse and many other artists.
- He was also a teacher.
- He studied in Munich, Germany where he discovered Impressionism.
- He spent ten years in Paris, France. This is where he met Picasso and Matisse. Here he learned about Cubism and Fauvism.
Teaching Notes
Now go out and do some art!
An important part of teaching art to children is to awaken their creativity by giving them a chance to view art and discuss art before going to do art. You learn to write by reading and having stories read to you. Similarly, you learn to do art by seeing art and discussing it.
In teacher talk, this is called creating context.
In teacher talk, this is called creating context.
- Think bold, bright colors. This is a good time to teach bold, bright, vivid as opposites to weak, pale, dull. The photo collage has examples of both.
- Have your child choose one painting. Ask him what it reminds him of. Ask him what he likes about it. Discuss the colors in it. Is there any one part of the painting that pops out at you?
- Look at the paintings with your child and ask her which paintings are similar and which ones are different. Discuss how they are different. There are some that lean more toward Impressionism and others that lean more toward Cubism (think Picasso).
- Discuss shapes evident in the paintings.
Now go out and do some art!
Thank you so much for doing this! I am great at teaching Spanish but teaching Art not so much! Thank you for the tips. Next month's Open Ended Art will be SO much easier now!
ReplyDeleteYou have wonderful tips - I will definitely use them once we do Hoffman :)
ReplyDeleteThis is perfect, I'm still hoping to find a book, but not holding out too much hope.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post. I am printing it out and using it with my kids!
ReplyDeleteI really, really appreciate this and all of your help! Wish you were close by and I'd let you teach my kids art--let me rephrase that--I'd ask (beg) you to teach my kids art:-).