Ludwig von Hofmann
Ludwig von Hofmann (* August 17, 1861 in Darmstadt; † August 23, 1945 in Pillnitz near Dresden) was an important German painter, graphic artist and designer. His works, which were created over six decades, combine elements of Symbolism and Art Nouveau and also show influences from other contemporary art movements, from Historicism to New Objectivity. Hofmann was a pioneer of the “New Weimar” movement.
He was the son of the Prussian statesman Karl Hofmann, who was Minister President of the Grand Duchy of Hesse from 1872 to 1876 and was elevated to hereditary nobility in 1882 as Minister of Trade in the Bismarck cabinet. His uncles were the painters Rudolf and Heinrich Ferdinand Hofmann.
Hofmann began his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden in 1883 and continued his training with Ferdinand Keller at the Karlsruhe Art Academy. In 1889 he studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, influenced by French artists such as Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Paul-Albert Besnard.
From 1890, Hofmann worked as a freelance artist in Berlin and was a member of the “Group of Eleven”, which also included Max Klinger and Max Liebermann. From 1894 to 1900, he spent a lot of time in Rome and his villa near Fiesole, which shaped his artistic vision of a modern Arcadia. From 1895, Hofmann provided numerous illustrations for the Art Nouveau magazine “Pan”. He received a small gold medal at the International Art Exhibition in Berlin in 1896 and became a member of the “Berliner Secession” in 1898. In 1899 he married his cousin Eleonore Kekulé von Stradonitz.
In 1903, Hofmann was appointed professor at the Grand Ducal School of Art in Weimar, where he was part of the artistic avant-garde in the circle of Harry Graf Kessler and Henry van de Velde and became an important representative of the “New Weimar” movement. His students included Hans Arp and Ivo Hauptmann. He had a close friendship with Gerhart Hauptmann, with whom he traveled to Greece in 1907. He collaborated with van de Velde on several building projects.
In 1916, Hofmann became Professor of Monumental Painting at the Academy of Art in Dresden. His important works from this period include the design of the reading room of the German Library in Leipzig (1919). He also illustrated literary works, including Leopold Ziegler’s translation of the Odyssey and Gerhart Hauptmann’s Hirtenlied.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Hofmann withdrew somewhat from the public eye. In 1937, some of his works were ostracized as “degenerate art”, but others continued to be exhibited. In 1941, he was awarded the Goethe Medal for Art and Science. Hofmann died in Pillnitz in 1945 and was buried in the Maria am Wasser churchyard in Dresden-Hosterwitz.
Ludwig von Hofmann was a member of the Deutscher Künstlerbund. His admirers and collectors included Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary, the patron August Freiherr von der Heydt, the publisher Rudolf Mosse and the art historians Heinrich Wölfflin and Wilhelm von Bode. In 1898, Rainer Maria Rilke dedicated the poem cycle “Die Bilder entlang” to Hofmann, inspired by Hofmann’s drawings. Thomas Mann also appreciated Hofmann’s work and drew inspiration from it for his novel “The Magic Mountain”. Hofmann’s painting “The Source” hung in Mann’s study until his death. Hugo von Hofmannsthal wrote a foreword for Hofmann’s graphic portfolio “Tänze” (1905).