Photo By Gail

One of the most accomplished abstract painters and influential teachers of the 20th century, Hans Hofmann  (1880-1966)  shaped three generations of artists, both in Europe and the United States. These students included Joan Mitchell, Larry Rivers, Allan Kaprow, and Marisol. As a painter, Hofmann  is best remembered for his exhilarating large scale compositions that explore dynamic color and spatial relationships, topics about which he wrote widely-read essays.

This work, Veluti in Speculum (1962) is from Hofmann’s  so-called Renate series, a group of paintings he made as a tribute to his wife. Executed at the height of his career, they demonstrate the full power and broad a range of Hofmann’s distinctive style, one of the leading examples of painterly abstraction.

Photographed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.