Weissenburgh 1880 – New York 1966.

While the artistic roots of Hofmann are in Europe, his career and development are inextricably bound to American Abstract Expressionism, a current that he both preceded and greatly influenced. He is often described as the crucial bridge between post WW1 European art and American Abstract Expressionism.

In the 1930s and 40s, Hoffman’s role in American art grew more and more prominent, particularly in the transmissions of the modernist theories and new forms of expression. His teachings at his art schools in New York City and Provincetown, Massachusetts, significantly impacted a generation of American artists, including Lee Krasner, H. Frankenthaler and Larry Rivers, and developing a close and mutually inspiring relationship with Jackson Pollock. His theories, particularly his concept of “push and pull,” revolutionized how artists thought about pictorial space and color.

Created during his formative early years in the United States, “Girl in Blue”, serves as a crucial bridge between Hofmann’s European artistic roots and his subsequent, profound contributions as an influential teacher and theorist of modern art.