The following biographical materials are taken from the
Askart.com website.
“Biography from Williams American Art Galleries:
Irwin D. Hoffman, painter, etcher,
sculptor and lithographer was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1901. He was one of four sons belonging to a set of
Russian immigrants. Irwin stood out at
an early age as being gifted artistically and at the age of fifteen he was
enrolled as a special student and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School.
Upon graduation Hoffman became a
full-time student on full scholarship, and it was then, at the age of nineteen
that he had his first solo show at Grace Horne Galleries in Boston. That exhibition was a huge success and the
young artist was referred to as “a prodigy in portraiture” by the press. In 1924 Hoffman received the most prestigious
award given by the Boston Museum School, the Paige Traveling Scholarship. The scholarship allowed him to travel abroad,
studying and painting all across Europe. I t was then that he not only came
face to face with the traditions that he had learned in school, but perhaps
more importantly, became aware of the modern trends that were sweeping the
European art scene at the time.
After completing his studies
overseas (he also visited Russia in 1929), Hoffman set up a studio in New York
City, which he maintained until his death. The city was his base from which to work, but
his love for new experiences caused him to often tag along with his brothers. Hoffman’s brothers owned a mining company and
prospected in the southwest, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The artist in Hoffman was heavily influenced
by the people of the small villages that he visited while with his brothers’
mining company.
Hoffman’s
work is in many significant collections including the: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Missouri, Fred Jones Jr.
Museum of Art, Oklahoma, Yale University Art Gallery, Connecticut, Washington
County Museum of the Fine Arts, Maryland, St. Joseph College Art Gallery,
Connecticut, Kansas City Art Institute, Colorado School of Mines, Golden (mine
mural), Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Library of Congress, Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, Butler Institute of American Art, Ohio, Georgia Museum of Art,
Museum of Art &Archaeology, Univ. of Missouri-Columbia, Print Club of
Albany, NY
EDUCATION:
Boston Museum of Fine Arts School
with Philip Hale Abroad in Europe
MEMBERSHIPS:
Society of American Graphic Artists
Society of Independent Artists
Associated American Artists
Society of American Etchers
Print Club of Albany
AWARDS:
Pennell purchase prize, Library of
Congress, 1938-1940
John Taylor Arms Award, 1938
Paige Traveling Scholarship, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts School, 1924
Society of American Graphic Artists,
1924, 1928
Mrs. Henry Noys Prize for Etching
EXHIBITIONS:
Grace Horne Galleries, Boston, 1927
(solo)
New School of Social Research, New York City,
1932 (solo)
ACA Gallery, New York City, 1933
Empire Galleries, New York City,
1934 (solo)
Ehrich-Newhouse Galleries, New York
City, 1935 (solo)
Associated American Artists, “Miners
and Reapers,” New York City, 1939 (solo), 1940 (solo), 1945 (solo), 1952
Golden Gate International
Exposition, 1939 (mining murals)
Society of American Etchers,
National Arts Club, New York City, 1940
Barzansky Galleries, New York City,
1941
Boston Public Library, 1981 (solo)
Salons of America, 1934
The Old Print Shop, New York
Whitney Museum of American Art,
1934, 1938, 1939, 1941
Brooklyn Museum
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine
Arts, 1940-1941
Los Angeles Museum of Art
Valentine Museum
Honolulu Academy of Art
Dayton Art Institute
Philadelphia Society of Etchers
Society of American Graphic Artists,
1924 (prize), 1928 (prize)
National Academy of Design, 1938,
1947
Ferargil Gallery, 1929
Milch Gallery, 1930
Art Institute of Chicago, 1942"
In addition, Askart.com lists one
other relatively recent (2001) retrospective Hoffman exhibition after his death
in 1989: "Irwin
Hoffman: In His Time," Alfred J. Walker Fine Art, Boston, 2001. Finally,
Askart.com lists 11 additional museums holding Hoffman's works, including the
Butler Art Institute, Youngstown, OH, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven,
CT, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO and the Washington County
Museum of Fine Arts,
Hagerstown, MD.
Hoffman's
paintings have rarely appeared at auction, per Askart.com. Hoffman's artistic activities and biography
are impressive and the following Askart.com records detailing sales of two
Hoffman oil portrait studies—which are smaller (20 in. x 16 in.) than the
present lot (22 in. x 19 in.) and far less aesthetically appealing than this lovely
and somewhat intriguing Impressionist study of an African-American woman in a
green polka dot blouse—support the conclusion that presale estimates of
$1,500-$2,000 are reasonable and justifiable. One of these two paintings involved the
highest auction price ever paid for a Hoffman painting, $1,662 on 8/26/1993.
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Title: Child with Baby |
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Title: Portrait of Alden Lasses |
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