Fermented Soil

Hans Hofmann built up the surface of Fermented Soil with layer upon layer of dense paint, up to nearly an inch thick in some places. The title evokes an image of fertile land rich with ideas and activity. Painted the year before he died, this work is a testament to Hofmann’s lifelong commitment to visual experimentation. German-born, Hofmann settled in New York in the late 1930s and became a highly influential teacher of painting. Students who flocked to his classes were surprised that the renowned modernist set up traditional still lifes and required students to draw from models. He wanted them to understand that modernist concepts – how volume and void interact and the movement of color in space (a concept he called “push and pull”) – reflect the way forms function in the natural world. Among the artists who worked with him were Helen Frankenthaler and Olga Albizu, whose work is also on view in this gallery.