Saturday, November 9, 2024

Hans Hofmann's Mixed Messages, a 1990 article by Wolf Kahn (1927-2020)

I posted this a few years ago on the occasion of Wolf Kahn's passing at 92 years of age. This article he wrote about Hans Hofmann for the October, 1990 Art in America really taught me something important. This article had a strong impact on me when I read it in Sam Francis's studio in Palo Alto, CA just weeks after leaving NYC in the fall of 1990. I had studied at the Parsons graduate painting program founded by Paul Resika, the second generation of the Hofmann School Wolf writes about. Two years later I studied with Wolf in New Mexico at the Santa Fe Institute of Fine Arts. Hope you enjoy the article. (If you click on the photos you'll get a high res image that is readable.) Wolf made wonderful contributions to the art world and to art history. He'll be sorely missed for his unique and inspired color. The great photos in this article are courtesy of one of Hofmann's other students, Albert Kresch.