Samuel S. Hoffman (September 8, 1895 – August 2, 1948) was a twentieth-century American artist, most noted for his black & white monotypes.

A native of Philadelphia, Hoffman studied at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1914-1920)[1] with Philip Hale, Emil Carlsen, Daniel Garber, Charles Grafly, and Henry McCarter, and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Hoffman moved to New York, where he became a member of the Woodstock Artists Association and taught art at the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, Locals 22 and 91, in New York City.[2]

By profession painter, etcher, and teacher, his work was exhibited at Pepsi-Cola, 1945;[3] National Academy of Design, 1940; solo shows: Macbeth (Feb. & Nov. 1930, Feb. 1932),[4][5][6] Grand Central (1935),[7] Milch Galleries, NY; Casson Gallery, Boston; O'Brien Gallery, Chicago; Tilden & Thurber Gallery, Providence; Milwaukee Art Institute; Detroit Institute of Arts; Grand Rapids Art Gallery; Westchester Center, White Plains, NY.[8] As a WPA artist, Hoffman was commissioned to create a series of monotypes set in Westchester for the county's offices and libraries, which he completed in 1934.[9]

Hoffman's monotypes can be found in the permanent collections of Addison Gallery of American Art[10] at Phillips Academy, Andover, MA; Springville Museum of Art,[11] Springville City, UT; the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art[12] at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Smithsonian American Art Museum,[13] Washington, D.C.; and National Gallery of Art[14] Washington, D.C.; as well as in the currently touring Sigmund R. Balka Collection[15] of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, New York, NY. Two oil paintings are in the Nazario Renzoni & Vilma Valencia collection in Florence, Italy.[16][17]

Hoffman was born on the 8th of September in 1895 in Philadelphia. He was married in Philadelphia in 1920 to Molly Gaylburd, known also as Marie "Molly" Gilbert, and they had one son, Henry G. Hoffman, born in Philadelphia in 1927. In New York, Hoffman lived in Lake Mohegan, Westchester (1935); Peekskill, Westchester (1940); and New York City.[18][19][20] He died after a long illness on the 2nd of August in 1948 in Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City, at the age of 52.[21]

References edit

  1. ^ Monotypes in black and white by Seth Hoffman; Feb. 4-18, 1930; Macbeth Gallery Exhibition Catalog, p 2.
  2. ^ Ruby Lane: Original Lithograph/Monoprint "Across the River" 1929 by NY/PA Artist Seth Hoffman
  3. ^ ArtPrice.com Artist Biography
  4. ^ Monotypes in black and white by Seth Hoffman; Nov. 4-25, 1930; Macbeth Gallery Exhibition Catalogs, Library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
  5. ^ Monotypes in black and white by Seth Hoffman; Feb. 4-18, 1930; Macbeth Gallery Exhibition Catalogs, Library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
  6. ^ Smithsonian Archives of American Art: Macbeth Gallery Box 125, Folder 2: Scrapbook 11, 1930 September-1932 December; p. 125-128; Monotypes in Black and White by Seth Hoffman; Feb. 15 - Mar. 1, 1932; show catalog and newspaper clippings
  7. ^ The New York Sun, March 8, 1935, "STEPHEN ETNIER IN A NEW VEIN -- Contest Work on View at the Milch Galleries -- VICTOR DE PAUW'S PAINTINGS -- Drawings and Prints in Three Current Displays"
  8. ^ The Eye of the Collector: The Jewish Vision of Sigmund R Balka edited by Jean Bloch Rosensaft; Hebrew Union College, New York: Jewish Institute of Religion, 2006, p. 103
  9. ^ *Yonkers Herald Statesman, August 13, 1934, White Plains, NY: "County Leads U.S. in Works of Art Project": paragraph regarding Hoffman's completed monotypes of Westchester scenes for the county offices and libraries
  10. ^ Addison Gallery Collection: The Last Whistle, 1929
  11. ^ Springville Museum of Art, Life Class, 1929
  12. ^ Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Winter Dance, 1937
  13. ^ Smithsonian American Art Museum, Autumn Lake Mohegan, N. Y., 1938
  14. ^ National Gallery of Art, Coalyards Peekskill, 1938
  15. ^ The Sigmund R. Balka Collection, East Side, New York, 1942 (The Eye of the Collector: The Jewish Vision of Sigmund R Balka edited by Jean Bloch Rosensaft; Hebrew Union College, New York: Jewish Institute of Religion, 2006, Figure 9, p. 19)
  16. ^ The Hudson at Peekskill, 1946, 74x100 cm unframed, Oil on canvas, Nazario Renzoni & Vilma Valencia collection, Florence, Italy
  17. ^ Rooftops - Peekskill, 1944, 90x106 cm unframed, Oil on canvas, Nazario Renzoni & Vilma Valencia collection, Florence,Italy
  18. ^ Ancestry.com Seth Hoffman (1895-1948)
  19. ^ Ancestry.com Seth Hoffman 1940 Census
  20. ^ "Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Marriage Indexes, 1885-1951," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JJB7-TXV : accessed 12 May 2013), Samuel Hoffman and Gaylburd, 1920.
  21. ^ The New York Times, Obituary: Seth Hoffman, August 3, 1948, p. 25

Other sources edit