Wlastimil Hofman

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Wlastimil Hofman
Madonna, 1909

Wlastimil Hofman (27 April 1881 – 6 March 1970) was a Polish painter, one of the more popular painters of the interwar and postwar years.

Life

Hofman was born Vlastimil Hofmann in

Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, where he studied under, i.a., Jacek Malczewski
.

In 1899 he went to study painting at the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1902 he had his first showings in an exhibition by the "Sztuka" society. Further exhibitions followed in Munich, Amsterdam, Rome, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Warsaw. In 1904 he painted the first of his village (or peasant) "Madonnas".[1] In 1905 he started the cycle of pictures called "Confession" which brought him international recognition. In 1907 he was the first Polish painter to be made a member of the Gallery of the Vienna Secession. When his professor, Jacek Malczewski, was appointed the Rector of the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts in 1912, Hofman obtained a teaching post there. With the outbreak of World War I, in 1914–1920 he lived in Prague and then in Paris, marrying his beloved Ada in 1919.[2] Back in Kraków in 1921, he and his wife lived in a villa on Spadzista Street, later renamed Hofman Street in his honour. Sometime around 1922, influenced by his friendship with Jacek Malczewski, he changed the spelling of his name from Czech to a Polonised 'Wlastimil'. Malczewski died in 1929. Hofman's work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics.[3]

In September 1939 Hofman fled from the

Czechoslovak Legion and with them travelled through Ternopil, Istanbul, Haifa and Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem and Palestine
, which is where he spent the remainder of the war. In 1942, he published a book of poetry called Through Darkness to Freedom.

Hofman returned to Kraków in June 1946. In May 1947 at the suggestion of his friend Jan Sztaudynger the Hofmans moved to Szklarska Poręba in the Sudety mountains. In July they received a house there, which they called 'Wlastimilówka'. In the period 1953–1963 he produced religious paintings for the local church, including "Four Evangelists", "The Way of the Rosary", "The Way of the Cross", "The Adoration of the Child". He also produced many portraits of local people, sports figures - especially footballers from his favourite Wisła Kraków team - and also self-portraits.[5] In 1961, he was awarded the Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. Wlastimil Hofman died on 6 March 1970 and he and his wife are buried in the parochial cemetery in Szklarska Poręba, next to the Corpus Christi Church, run by the Franciscan Fathers and decorated with pictures and banners painted by Wlastimil Hofman with the painting entitled “Jesus Christ with the Holy Eucharist” in the main altar.

Hofman's house; 23 Matejki Street in Szklarska Poręba

References

  1. ISBN 9780520211902
    – via Google Books.
  2. ^ "Wlastimil Hofman, artykuł 457". March 4, 2016. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  3. ^ "Włastimil Hofmann". Olympedia. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  4. ^ "Vlastimil Hofman - Historia Wisły". historiawisly.pl.
  5. ^ "Wlastimil Hofman - obrazy, pamiątki, dokumenty - Historia Wisły". historiawisly.pl.
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