Tuesday, August 1st, 2006 at 2 pm
Both Hans Hofmann and Discussion with the Filmmaker Sam Feinstein at MMA will be screened.
The 30 minute documentary titled Hans Hofmann was created as a collaboration between Hofmann and artist/director/producer Sam Feinstein during the summers of 1950-51 in Provincetown . Together they wrote the narration while the filming, editing and final production was completed as a solo venture by Feinstein. The filming itself took place in Hofmann’s classes as well as in his private studio and outdoors on the cape and in New York City . Feinstein’s prior experience as an art educator, filmmaker and Hofmann student inspired the project. The focus of the film is on the philosophy and principles of art as conveyed by Hofmann in his classes and writings, and as made evident in the process of his own painting. A ten minute sequence in the film shows Hofmann painting “The Window,” a work now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In 1965, Hofmann wrote to Feinstein:
I hope you can complet (sic.) the realization of the great film about my scholarly and artistic activity that did so much engage your time and creative energy.
I am totally in simpathy (sic.) with the entire film.Most sincerely,
Hans Hofmann
The second film to be shown, Discussion with the Filmmaker Sam Feinstein at MMA, was produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on October 8, 1999. Following their screening of his film, Feinstein spoke before a standing-room-only crowd to answer questions and to explain his work with Hofmann in creating the film. Photographs taken in Hofmann’s studio are shown to reveal the inspiration for the composition of “The Window.” Feinstein expands this discussion with an analysis of several Hofmann paintings, and concludes with a final tribute he had written to Hofmann.