Vlastimil Hofman, PORTRET OF A BOY, ca. 1910

41,6 x 41,5cm - oil, canvas

Signed p.d.: VH [tied monogram] Signed p.g. (in ink): Vlastimil H



Provenance:

We know from the owner's account that the painting was given to his grandfather, Adolf Arendt, by Jacek Malczewski, with whom he had been friends since his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow. Jacek Malczewski probably received this canvas from Wlastimil Hofman himself, who was his student.



Adolf Arendt was born on July 25, 1862, in the German colony of Gelsendorf, in the Stryj district of Eastern Galicia, as the son of Adolf and Catherine, née Berges. From 1883 to 1886 he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow in the drawing department. During his studies, he became friends with many renowned artists of the era, including Jacek Malczewski (this acquaintance continued in later years). Adolf Arendt's extensive collection included many paintings by the befriended painters.

In the school year 1892/93 he was employed, as a full-time teacher, at the C.K. Higher Real Gymnasium named after Franz Josef in Drohobych. He was Bruno Schulz's first drawing teacher. This story was immortalized in the pages of The Cinnamon Shops, where Schulz described the drawing lessons taught by Professor Arendt. Adolf Arendt died in Tarnow on July 3, 1932.



♣ In addition to other costs, a fee will be added to the auctioned price based on the right of the artist and his heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Law of February 4, 1994 - on Copyright and Related Rights (droit de suite).

Wlastimil Hofman / Vlastimil Hofmann (Prague 1881 - Szklarska Poreba 1970) studied at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow - initially under Florian Cynk, later also under Jan Stanislawski, Leon Wyczółkowski and Jacek Malczewski. In 1899-1902 he still studied with Jean Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. During World War I he stayed in Prague and Paris; from 1920 he lived permanently in Cracow. He exhibited a lot; he belonged to many creative associations - he was a co-founder of the "Group of Five" (1905) and the "Group of Zero" (1908), a member of the Association of Czech Artists "Manes", and from 1911 a member of the Polish Artists' Society "Sztuka". During World War II, through the USSR and Turkey, he made his way to Jerusalem, from where he returned to Krakow in 1946. Since 1947 he lived permanently in Szklarska Poreba. Hofman painted primarily fantastic-symbolic compositions with folk motifs, as well as genre scenes, portraits and landscapes. His paintings, despite close analogies and connections with the art of Malczewski, are always distinguished by their individual character, style and mood.