rhapsodies – Gershwin / Rachmaninov
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Category: Hans Hofman
August 14, 2019
Hans Hofmann
September 2, 2017
on “Song to the Moon” – Antonin Dvořák
“Rising Moon“ (1964)
__________
the moon was out last night, grand
upon the starlit evening, either
waxing or waning, I’m not sure, but
not full, a gibbous moon, above the
buildings that scrape, in my big city
neighbourhood, in the very Cubist
manner, the night sky, see above
I’d been listening to Renée Fleming
singing Dvořák‘s “Song to the Moon“
in my head since I’d seen her do it,
on television, in a summer evening
concert at Schönbrunn, Vienna, some
few days ago, she, it, had been utterly,
sublimely, enchanting, I’m a Cancer, a
moon child, I speak to the moon
to the moon, I said, moon in the dark
heavens, who steal into every home
and hearth at night, find my beloved
and tell him what is in my heart, rapt
as I was in the spell of my special
planet, my personal orb, and the
enveloping Dvořákian magic, though
there’s been no beloved lately, just
trailings of the latest one who broke,
of course, my heart, which gives more
pathos, however, incidentally, to my
singing, I’ve giddily gathered
at home, I found Renée Fleming doing
the piece on the Internet, entirely as
splendidly, earlier, at London’s Royal
Albert Hall, September, 2010
R ! chard
September 1, 2014
art in evolution – from Monet to Wolf Kahn
Brain writes
“I would never have guessed that Wolf Kahn was a student of Hoffman. Yet you can see the influence in the colour choice and lack of detail. It somehow reminds me of impressionism. The child of Hoffman and Monet. Especially the painting “Subtle Pink, 2000″. It reminds me of Monet’s painting series “Poplars”.
For the record, I prefer Kahn over Hoffman.”
“Subtle Pink“ (2000)
______
“Poplars at Giverny” (1887)
________
I would also compare his “Orange Cloud Over the Adriatic Sea“
“Orange Cloud Over the Adriatic Sea“ (1996)
______
to Monet‘s “Impression, Sunrise“
“Impression, Sunrise“ (1873)
__________
what do you think
Richard
psst: art, like novels, has its templates
August 31, 2014
Études, opus 10 and 25 – Frédéric Chopin
“Chopin Performing in the Guest Hall- of Anton Radziville in Berlin In 1829” (1887)
__________
no sooner does one inveigh against an
attitude than that attitude turns around
and slaps you in the face, my, however
brief, enrolments at art school, musical
conservatories, and creative writing
classes, were not, I think, without some
merit, some would even say much merit,
despite my short disparagement of them
in my last blog, there are tools for every
art, schools have the machinery to
channel inspiration
Hans Hofman must’ve believed he was
painting a “Poème d’amour“ when he
painted it, why otherwise would he
have painted it, despite myriad
objections, and general
incomprehension, could he have
known that no one would get it, did
he care, who called it art
did Chopin know when he wrote his
first set of “Études”, opus 10, a
theoretical set if there ever was one,
a set of fiendishly challenging
technical exercises, that they would
define the Romantic Period, an era
given over to the very heart, he was
23, having fun
what is art, art is what works, art is a
consensus, sometimes you’ll get it,
sometimes you won’t, sometimes I
get it, sometimes I don’t, art is in the
eye of the beholder, just like beauty
and love
Chopin, the theoretician, produces a
resounding argument for the technical
side of composition, the cerebral, this
is perhaps why they are my favourites
of his compositions
but he hasn’t left out the very centre
of music, how it connects, how it can
carry you along, even to enchantment,
he hasn’t left out the enchantment,
these to me are poems of love
he calls them études, opus 10 and 25
who’d ‘a’ thunk it
enjoy
Richard
August 30, 2014
a reply to BookInhabiter, a.k.a. Brain (2)
“Orange Cloud Over rhe Adriatic Sea” (1996)
_______
a reader writes, about “Poème d’amour“,
Hans Hofman
“This is a bizarre painting. It bewilders me. I can’t make sense of it. But maybe that’s the point.”
below is my answer
Richard
______
with the invention of the camera, Brain,
representational art became irrelevant,
unable to present the accuracy a
photograph would it had to discover
for itself an alternate purpose, which
is to say, reinvent itself
the medium became the message,
as Marshall McLuhan would’ve
put it, art began to study itself, it
reached for its sinews, arteries,
its colours, textures, its planar,
dimensional, limitations, limits
its form, in other words, was
becoming its substance
Abstract Expressionism was the
nadir of this movement, after the
less ethereal, more visceral,
German Expressionism, and up
to Andy Warhol, who brought us
back down to earth again with
pictures of Campbell Soup cans,
Marilyn
more matter, less theory
note the residual attachment to flat
colour fields nevertheless
that said, what part of Hofman‘s
“Love Poem“ is indeed a love poem,
search me, I think it’s just pretentious,
failed Miro
but do read the sidebar on the upper
left at the site for less partisan perhaps
insights, just click “Show details” there
I don’t either much like Schönberg,
who did the same kind of thing to
music, eviscerated it, I want to see
the body, not the entrails, these
should be studied at art school,
the conservatory, creative writing
classes
but that is of course just what I think
Schönberg and Abstract Expressionists,
however, have left their indelible marks
on art history, commendable marks for
their theoretical underpinnings, rigours
see for instance the marvellous Wolf
Kahn above for the evolution of these
ideas, you get it in less than a minute,
and delight in it
that is what real art does
thanks for asking
Richard
psst: Wolf Kahn was a student of
Hans Hofman, incidentally, he
just put everyday references
back into the picture, I call it
heart, something organic
August 25, 2014
“Poème d’amour” – Hans Hofman
“Poème d’amour“ (1962)
______
this “Love Poem“, “Poème d’amour“,
challenges our preconceptions
is this painting a poem, what does it
say about love
you tell me
Richard
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