Beautiful Simplicity

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary can speak” – Hans Hofmann. One does not need information to form an opinion about art. Some can’t appreciate a certain style or artist, while others see art as worthless completely. Singled out as the least credible art form, a simplistic style, and lacking classical training or “real talent,” abstract art remains my favorite despite those criticisms. Personally, I feel abstract art uses free forms and fewer constraints allowing more opportunites to see the painting’s meaning. Possibly less intimidating, more familiar emotionally, and considerably like cloud watching, abstract art allocates emotional freedom. Everyone can see something different without a right or wrong (or sometimes unexplainable) answer. The Ackland Art Museum near UNC hosts German-American artist Hans Hofmann’s work “Undulating Expanse.” Best described as an eclectic artist, Hofmann mixes fauvism, cubism, and abstract expression wonderfully, noticeable and described here.

Elements of abstract expressionism pop out of Undulating Expanse. The painting is dominated by a large red circle with a thick, multicolored wavy line running through it. Red is commonly known to represent life and vitality, and I think that because it is in a circular shape, this orb is meant to represent the earth. A circle is the worldwide accepted basic shape of the earth; even a small child will attempt some sort of circular form if asked to draw earth. This earth is full of life and the different areas of color almost correspond with the location of some of the earth’s continents. Because of the sun and earth’s rotations it is always day for some part of the earth, so there are always lively activities going on. Life never really stops on earth. This seems to communicate an almost existentialist view of life. The world will go on regardless of what we humans accomplish in our individual lives. It makes sense that Hofmann would proscribe to this type of thinking as he was moved and inspired by nature. Many who see the wonder of the natural world come to believe it to be much more important than the aspects of everyday life. I think that the large wave going through the painting is also meant to represent life flowing through earth. When I look at this painting, I’m reminded of the Beatles’ song Within You, Without You, “When you've seen beyond yourself then you may find, peace of mind, is waiting there And the time will come when you see we're all one, and life flows on within you and without you”. The wavy line can also represent waves, like it visually imitates and the triangular shapes at the bottom can remind viewers of mountains. Yet again we are presented with more nature elements. If you look at the “mountains” to represent the mountainous regions of the world, the waves to represent the marine areas and the flat, pink portions to represent all the deserts, plains and piedmont parts of the world, this painting further encompasses the entire earth. The blue and green circles represent earth and either sky or water, further “regions” of the world. I think that Hofmann wanted to create a picture that covered all of the important physical features of the earth without being confined to their literal locations and forms. It is bright and colorful, displaying his love of the earth and all its natural beauty. It also equalizes the different types of areas. There is no value placed on beaches or mountains pinning them against each other. Instead Hofmann is communicating that they are equally important and beautiful. There is something wonderful to be found in every part of the world.

Hofmann was not only a great artist, but a great teacher of art. “Being an artists and being a teacher are two contradicting things. When I paint, I improvise… I deny theory and method and rely on only on empathy and feeling… In teaching it’s just the opposite, I must account for every line, shape and color. One is forced to explain the inexplicable.” There is no doubt that Hoffman paints this way. You can see that his art is free flowing without limitations or constraining thoughts. While Hoffman was an amazing painter throughout the career, for most of his life he was better known as a teacher than a painter. Hofmann was dedicated to finding his own method of painting, as well as teaching other budding artists to find their own paths. There have been numerous reports of how he would explain methods, but never force his students to do things his way. I think that this desire to find his own “voice” through his work was what motivated Hofmann to paint. While many artists use their art to express a political or religious idea, it seems that Hofmann was more in it for art’s sake. He used his paintings and sketches to reveal who he was and how he saw the world. It is through his collective body of work that one can best see his theories of color, form and light. I think he also used his work to express his love for nature. It was through nature that Hofmann developed most of his theories, and painting nature was the best way to show that. In many ways I think that Hofmann was really a teacher first, and he used his art to show the world what he had figured out about it. What he had spent most of his time figuring out was the way to look at nature. Nature was what inspired him most and the only message he might have been interested in sending was to enjoy it and celebrate its beauty, regardless of what kind of beauty it possessed.

Throughout his career, Hofmann was known to utilize many bright, moving and energetic colors. This is clearly seen in Expanse, it is dominated by reds, pinks and oranges; warm colors expressing vibrant emotions. Hofmann believed that it was color that created light in paintings, although he recognized that light was what caused colors in nature. He also believed that in works of art, objects create positive and negative space instead of being placed in space. Hofmann was in the minority when it came to this idea, most artists using space to control objects. Not only did Hofmann use color, forms and space in his own manner, he preferred to focus on the tension between those elements. Nature in its abstract form was the most common subject of a Hofmann painting. He was happiest when he was surrounded by nature, especially when he encountered a new type of landscape, as he did when he first came to California to teach at UC Berkeley in 1930. Hofmann was well qualified to teach in America, having already started his own school in his name in Germany during World War I. He did not stay on the west coast however, moving to New York to teach there as well. For the next couple of decades, Hofmann spent his time teaching in New York for most of the year as well as a summer term at a school in Massachusetts. This was the time when he gained most of his renown, earning the respect of his students and recruiting many new ones. This was also when a significant change occurred in the style of his works. Before 1955 Hofmann’s works were very diverse in form, but after that time, most of them were focused around squares of different colors. Many of his post 1955 paintings are monotonously similar; if you don’t look too closely you’ll probably end up mistaking one for another.


However they stay true to his explorations of space, color, light and form. Hofmann was never concerned with painting historic or narrative subjects. It was more important to him to capture the essence of nature and its elements in his shapes and colors. He relies on his audiences to take what they will from his presentation of archetypal colors and shapes. Hofmann is a true example of how an artist can express deep human emotions without ever painting a human likeness. He does not need to show a person enjoying nature in his works, but rather his positive view of it does enough to convince viewers that it is something to be celebrated.