Hans Hofmann: Color + Form

We went up to Salem to see the the big Hans Hofmann retrospective at the gorgeous Peabody Essex Museum last weekend. It wasn't that crowded, both because it was nearing the end of its run and also because Hofmann is little known outside of people who love art, especially abstract art. Call it a blockbuster for art geeks. The next day I was reading the year-end art wrap up in the Boston Globe and was struck by the absence of this spectacular show from the writer Murray Whyte's top ten list. The reason for this absence was clearly stated in Whyte's essay, which argued that the only shows truly worth seeing in 2020 were focused on politics, especially race, social justice, and climate change. The conclusion of the piece suggested that even nonpolitical art is political since it upholds the unjust status quo. That doesn't leave much room for the appreciation of the interplay of color and form and texture, and the emotion and mystery conjured in that interplay. It's hard for me to believe that all people who fit into one of the oppressed categories wants every moment of their lives to be politicized and for beauty and soulfulness to be off limits for appreciation on their own terms. A life that is only political and nothing else sounds pretty dismal to me, but to each his own. (Wait, that should be gender neutral, to each their own!) At any rate here are some details I took showing Hofmann's facility with strong color and the way he creates tension in a painting by placing elements in dynamic, something unsettling, relationship. Also included: a cool quote from Hofmann answering that eternal question of how to know when a painting, especially an abstract one, is finished. May your 2020 be filled with powerful form and color and mystery and beauty!

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