Karl Hofer
Birnen (under reserve)
Artist
Karl Hofer
Additional Description
Öl auf Malpappe. Ca. 22,5 x 26 cm. Monogrammiert unten rechts.
Period
(1878 Karlsruhe - Berlin 1955)
Technique
Paintings
Provenance
Kunstsalon Abels, Köln, mit lose beiliegendem Etikett; Privatsammlung, Europa.
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Description
Karl Hofer's artistic signature is unmistakable. Be it the large-format depictions of people, his landscapes or still lifes – they can be recognised as works by Hofer at first glance. His painting is characterised by a completely unique and perfectly balanced formal language with highly simplified forms and clearly contoured areas of colour. Throughout his life, he remained a vehement advocate of figurative art.
From the 1920s onwards, Hofer increasingly focussed on the motif of still life, especially the depiction of fruit. He was influenced by the works of his great role model Paul Cézanne, whose works he had seen during his time in Paris from 1908 to 1913. In the small-format painting "Pears", Hofer masterfully combines the principles of closed composition, simplified forms and a harmoniously balanced choice of colours that he had studied in Cézanne's work. He paints two yellow pears against an undefined blue background without any additional elements. They appear ripe and freshly picked, one even still has small leaves on the stem. The second fruit has already been cut open and is only halfway there, the juicy flesh shining brightly next to the warm yellow of the outer skin and the deep blue background. In addition to these dominant primary colours of yellow and blue and the small green leaves, Hofer only uses a further muted red-brown hue around the fruit. The location of the scene remains open;
only the two pears, which almost completely occupy the pictorial space, are in focus. But even here, in this motif so reduced to New Objectivity, the classic vanitas idea of the still life can be found again, the reminder of the transience of life. The second half of the sliced pear has already been eaten, and the first brown spots are visible on the skin of the second pear.
Verso painted in colour over the entire surface and with small label remnants. Firmly mounted in wooden mouldings and glued with four small pieces of wood on the verso.
With an expertise by the Karl Hofer Committee, Cologne, dated 18.10.2021 (copy).
The work is included in the catalogue raisonné of paintings of the Karl Hofer Committee and is listed in the Karl Hofer Archive under the number "N26".
From the 1920s onwards, Hofer increasingly focussed on the motif of still life, especially the depiction of fruit. He was influenced by the works of his great role model Paul Cézanne, whose works he had seen during his time in Paris from 1908 to 1913. In the small-format painting "Pears", Hofer masterfully combines the principles of closed composition, simplified forms and a harmoniously balanced choice of colours that he had studied in Cézanne's work. He paints two yellow pears against an undefined blue background without any additional elements. They appear ripe and freshly picked, one even still has small leaves on the stem. The second fruit has already been cut open and is only halfway there, the juicy flesh shining brightly next to the warm yellow of the outer skin and the deep blue background. In addition to these dominant primary colours of yellow and blue and the small green leaves, Hofer only uses a further muted red-brown hue around the fruit. The location of the scene remains open;
only the two pears, which almost completely occupy the pictorial space, are in focus. But even here, in this motif so reduced to New Objectivity, the classic vanitas idea of the still life can be found again, the reminder of the transience of life. The second half of the sliced pear has already been eaten, and the first brown spots are visible on the skin of the second pear.
Verso painted in colour over the entire surface and with small label remnants. Firmly mounted in wooden mouldings and glued with four small pieces of wood on the verso.
With an expertise by the Karl Hofer Committee, Cologne, dated 18.10.2021 (copy).
The work is included in the catalogue raisonné of paintings of the Karl Hofer Committee and is listed in the Karl Hofer Archive under the number "N26".