Ludwig von Hofmann

Ludwig von Hofmann ( born August 17, 1861 in Darmstadt, † August 23 1945 in Pillnitz near Dresden ) was a German painter, printmaker and designer. His resulting in over 60 years creative period works combine elements of symbolism with the Art Nouveau, but also of other artistic movements of his time from historicism to the new objectivity affected. He was a pioneer of the movement new Weimar.

Life and work

Hofmann was a son of the Prussian statesman Karl Hofmann, who was from 1872 to 1876 Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and was raised as Trade Minister in the Cabinet Bismarck in 1882 in the hereditary nobility.

Ludwig Hofmann studied from 1883 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden and later moved to Ferdinand Keller at the Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe. In 1889 he studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, and was under the influence of French artists such as Puvis de Chavannes and Paul -Albert Besnard.

In 1890 Hofmann was working as a freelance artist in Berlin. He was there for the "Group of Eleven " (with Max Klinger, Max Liebermann and others). In the period from 1894 to 1900 Hofmann was traveling a lot and spent most of his time in Rome and his villa in Fiesole. His life should alter the course work, the reception of antiquity and his idea of ​​a Arcadia. From 1895, contributed numerous illustrations Hofmann most influential German magazine of Art Nouveau " Pan" with, from 1898 he was a member of the "Berliner Secession". In 1899 he married Eleanor of Kekulé Stradonitz.

In 1903 he was appointed professor at the Grand Ducal Art School in Weimar, where he within Harry Graf Kessler and Henry van de Velde with many representatives of the artistic and literary avant-garde wrong and a pioneer of Kessler's movement "New Weimar " was. His pupils included in Weimar Hans Arp and Ivo Hauptmann. With his father Gerhart Hauptmann he formed a friendship, which was reflected in an extensive correspondence and a common trip to Greece in 1907. With van de Velde Hofmann worked in several construction projects.

1916 Hofmann moved to the art academy in Dresden, where he was in 1916 as a successor Hermann Prells for the subject of monumental painting until 1931 professor. In this time the design of the reading room of the German Library falls in Leipzig ( 1919). With Marcus Behmer, he created illustrations for major works of poetry, such as the Odyssey translation Leopold Ziegler or the Shepherd's Song by Gerhart Hauptmann.

In the 1920s and 1930s, he has attracted Hofmann. 1937 some works in Erfurt were outlawed as " degenerate art ", but others were still issued in Germany. Hofmann died in 1945 in Pillnitz. His grave is in the churchyard Maria am Wasser in Dresden Hosterwitz.

Reception

At Hofmann's admirers and collectors of his works included the Austria -Hungarian Empress Elisabeth, the banker and major patron August Freiherr von der Heydt, the publisher Rudolf Mosse and the art historian Heinrich Wölfflin and Wilhelm von Bode. Rainer Maria Rilke dedicated Hofmann 1898 (of Hofmann drawings inspired ) poem cycle " The pictures along " (see Publications ); Hofmann had previously provided Rilke's poem cycle "Songs of the girls " with illustrations. Thomas Mann also admired Hofmann and processed impressions of Hofmann's work in his novel " The Magic Mountain". Until his death in 1914 bought The source image hung in his study. Hugo von Hofmannsthal wrote to Hofmann's Image Portfolio " dances " 1905 Preface.

In art criticism already in the 1920s and 1930s - and certainly the post-war period from 1945 - Hofmann, like many Art Nouveau artists barely noticed, his work became more and more into oblivion. Since the 1990s, an increased discussion of his work by the art-historical and science through exhibitions is recorded. The high point of this renaissance is the big Hofmann exhibition " Arcadian utopia in modernity " in his hometown of Darmstadt, 2005, the extensive catalog in numerous essays various aspects of Hofmann's work illuminated.

He belonged at the time to the preferential selection of contemporary artists who proposed the " Komite for collecting and assessing Stollwerck images " the Cologne Chocolate producer Ludwig Stollwerck to commission for drafts.

Collections

Hofmann's artistic estate was rescued by his widow in 1945 before the seizure by the Russian occupying power and of her 1968 bequeathed to her great-nephew, Dr. Arnulf Carrière, whom she named testamentary legatee. A small part of the estate came into the custody of the State Art Collections Weimar. The estate of Ludwig von Hofmann is now in Potsdam ( Brandenburg), where the Ludwig von Hofmann Society has its headquarters. Was the Zurich Ludwig Hofmann archive of Swiss architect Peter Hussy for important private Hofmann Collection Through numerous acquisitions. A transfer of Huessy collection to Weimar was planned, but failed due to lack of financial resources of the Weimar Classics Foundation. With the demise of Peter Huessy came all the aforementioned efforts to a halt. The collection is gradually dissolved. To the estate there was a multi-year litigation, had to be where the ownership of the estate clarified. A judgment of the District Court of Dresden from 2005 stated that the " Foundation Weimar Classic and Art Collections" no rights and copyrights on the works of " artistic estate Ludwig von Hofmann's " entitled [AZ. 5 O 5238 / 04].

Publications

(Selection)

• Dances, Island, Leipzig 1905
• Drawings, ed. by Edwin Redslob, Kiepenheuer, Weimar 1918
• The images along, Ludwig von Hofmann and Rainer Maria Rilke, ed. Ephraim Rosenstein, Berlin 1998