52 ORIGINAL LIGHTPRINTS

Hans Hofmann (1880-1966) led two distinctive lives, had two distinctive careers and two distinctive periods of fame: the first in Germany through 1932, and the second in America thereafter.

While almost everyone is familiar with the Hofmann years in the United States, it was actually during the first half of his life when legions of followers were most inspired by the artist's teachings and creative innovations. Yet comparatively little is known about Hofmann's highly important German period, primarily due to the lack of any artistic material available to scholars and institutions.

We are therefore fortunate to bring forth this major body of significant and innovative work from the German period. It encompasses an historic set of 52 original Handgez Lichtdruke (hand drawn lightprints). It is the largest body of lightprints known, and incorporates every possible Hofmann subject of the period.

Referring to these images in her Whitney Museum catalog of Hofmann's 1990 retrospective, Cynthia Goodman states "Hofmann, who rarely ventured into the realm of printmaking, translated a group of portrait heads, including Student with Spectacles (Hofmann no. 13 XX e herewith enclosed) into a series of prints using a process called Lichtdrucke." Ms. Goodman goes on to refer to a number of images from "the Mediterranean resort of St. Tropez, where his classes were held during the summers of 1928 and 1929" (Lichtdruke landscapes: Hofmann nos. 2 XI g, 5 XIII a, 4 XVII a, 2 XII c, 4 XIV c, 4 XVIII c, 4 V11 a, 4XVb, 71Xc, 4XVIc herewith enclosed).

In 1981, a small group of 10 Lightprints was exhibited at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson. The exhibition catalog referred to their prints as Photograms, utilizing a "lightprint technique."

To quote: "Hofmann would place a drawing directly on light sensitive paper, shine a light beam through the drawing which penetrated the thin onion skin paper, and produced the image on the photo-sensitive paper."

It is interesting to note that the Whitney dates these images from 1926 to 1929, while the Mississippi catalog dates the Photograms from 1932. We must therefore surmise that Hofmann created the drawings for these lightprints in 1926-29, and produced the lightprints themselves from those drawings in 1932, the same year he settled in America.

The Mississippi catalog also notes that "during this period, Hofmann did not usually sign or date his works." However, each of these lightprints is individually signed by the artist in ink. We therefore know he considered each of these lightprints to be significant and finished works of art unto themselves.

Along with the artist's signature, each of these lightprints is also hand referenced by the artist with his inventory number. As an example, one of these lightprints is annotated 5 X111 a. This indicates that the drawing is from sketchbook 5, it is drawing number XIII (13) in that sketchbook, and that this is lightprint a (1) of that image.

As for the number produced, Hofmann's annotations only indicate the particular print in question - not the total size of the edition(s). In other words, we know that a print lettered "a" is number 1. Had it been "a/f," we would also have known it to be print number I of 6.

While no one can be certain about the actual size of the Hofmann lightprint editions, we do know that the highest letter annotation of any image in this or the Mississippi collection is "k", indicating that no more than 11 were ever created of any particular lightprint image.

Having also compared some of our lightprints with others of the same image, we know that Hofmann experimented with every individual lightprint, and that each lightprint in an edition is different. Each varies in intensity. Many are printed on different papers. Some may have "plate tone" while others of the same image do not. Each lightprint also bears a different tonality and strength (darkness of image). So in essence, each lightprint is unique in character, and each must therefore be considered a monoprint.

The overall condition of this collection is excellent. All 52 lightprints were enclosed in a portfolio case and stored in an artist's print cabinet. As they have never been exposed, each lightprint is in perfect condition.

The reigning expert on the artist, James Yohe (formerly of the André Emmerich Gallery which represented the Hans Hofmann Estate for many years), expressed great interest upon viewing these lightprints. Mr. Yohe has verified that both the artist and the estate consider them to be original prints in every respect.

This entire collection can be traced back to the artist himself. It was acquired, most likely as a gift, by John Haley directly from Hans Hofmann. Mr. Haley was a student of the artist and became a lifelong friend. These 52 lightprints were purchased directly from the Haley estate by a New York collector from whom we acquired this historic collection.