Hans Hofmann (1880–1966)
Untitled (lecture demonstration drawing)
c.1942
charcoal on paper
635 x 479mm
Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA, gifted by Jerome Burns, 1978
Accession no. 1978.580.2
Reproduced with the kind permission of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/481885
Hofmann's demonstration drawing, with its numbered overlapping planes, links Scales's diagrams and sketches directly to the original source material of his theories.
BC114
Untitled
[Colarossi sketchbook]
Blue covered sketchbook, 19 perforated pages containing:
Cover: blank
Inside front cover: signed “F”, pencil
Page 1: blank
Page 1 overleaf: landing stage, La Pesquière, St Tropez, France, pencil
Page 2: sketches, still life, pencil
Page 2 overleaf: sketch, equations, pencil
Page 3: sketch, pencil
Page 3 overleaf: landscape, pencil
Page 4: diagrams and text, “1. We have to experience in volumes. 2. Translate them on a plane with planes. 3. With the help of lines. If a point moves a line moves a. a. [arrives at] plane, plane moves a. a. body body moves arrives space movements?”, pencil
Page 4 overleaf: isometric diagrams, sketch, “angular isometric / parallel isometric / following the eye line / 12a / drawing relation [illegible]”, pencil
Page 5: unknown smudges
Page 5 overleaf: landscape with house, pencil
Page 6: sketches, still life and landscape, pencil
Page 6 overleaf: landscape with house, pencil
Page 7: sketches, pencil
Page 7 overleaf: landscape with houses and a signpost LR, pencil
Page 8: blank
Page 8 overleaf: houses, sketches, pencil
Page 9: diagrams, pencil
Page 9 overleaf: steps down to La Pesquière, St Tropez, France, pencil
Page 10: diagrams and trees, pencil
Page 10 overleaf: diagrams, pencil
Page 11: titled “Maxims Léopold Survage”, text, pencil
Page 11 overleaf: page 11 text continued, date October 1927, text quoting Albert Gleizes, pencil
Page 12: page 11 overleaf text continued, signed Gleizes, text, “Look for the right movement in hills on left of picture. it is shorter and stronger than 1 in the bay on the right - keep the study held together by rythm [sic]. Poppy oil, use to dry slowly / Linseed oil, use to dry quickly.”, pencil
Page 12 overleaf: blank
Page 13: two small diagrams and text, “Vendredi [Friday] 17 Juin criticizm [sic] in morning / afternoon at Mr Kinzinger's house short lecture subject seen left standing the movement is from right to left. seen from right standing movement is from left to right.”, pencil
Page 13 overleaf: blank
Page 14: diagrams, pencil
Page 14 overleaf: landscape, pencil
Page 15: text, recipe for glue, ends “N663 Wolgemut 1434 jahr [year]”, pencil
Page 15 overleaf: LL unknown mark, pencil
Page 16: diagrams and text [illegible], pencil
Page 16 overleaf: landscape, pencil
Page 17: sketch [reverse of sketch page 17 overleaf], pencil
Page 17 overleaf: sketch, pencil
Page 18: sketch, house, l'Eglise de Notre Dame de l'Assomption, St Tropez, France, with numbered planes and indications of movement through space, open suitcase, pencil
Page 18 overleaf: sketches, diagrams, pencil
Page 19: sketches, diagrams, pencil
Page 19 overleaf: sketches, text LL inverted, “1512”, pencil
Inside back cover: text upper margin inverted, “rue de la Grande chaumière 10 Académie colarossi”, pencil
Back cover: blank
Date
1931 – 1932
Object type
sketchbook
Medium and materials
pencil on paper
Dimensions
214x164mm
Place Made
France
Inscriptions
Inside front cover UR pencil (not in artist's hand) MS Papers 1922
Inside front cover UR pencil (in artist's hand) F reversed
Inside front cover Upper Centre pencil (not in artist's hand) [MS Papers 1893 folder 2]
Inside back cover UR pencil (in artist's hand) rue de la Grande chaumière 10 Académie colarossi
Details
Provenance
Donated to the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand by H. F. V. Scales, 1979
Condition Report
Each page perforated. Pages party torn and fully torn out throughout. Some pages torn out not present. Sketchbook stored with acid-free tissue between each page.
Copyright Licence
Courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Reference no. MS-Papers-1893-2
Current Collection
Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand
Current Location
Wellington, New Zealand
General notes
This sketchbook is part of the contents of a file with the reference number MS-Papers-1893-2, Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.
Page 13, the date “Vendredi 17 juin" [Friday 17 June fell in 1932] Scales was in Christchurch, New Zealand, by June 1932 as reported by Art in New Zealand, June 1932 (‘Art Notes’, vol. IV, no. 16, pg 291). She also exhibited at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts Autumn Exhibition, Wellington, which opened 2 June 1932. It is possible the artist intended to write Mercredi [Wednesday] which fell on 17 June in 1931. The lecture at Mr Kinzinger’s house on that day would most likely have taken place in St Tropez, France, where Scales was at that time.
Pages 1 overleaf and 9 overleaf, drawings of the La Pesquière landing stage in St Tropez, relate to St Maxime [BC018]. Page 18, a preparatory drawing showing the church L’Eglise Notre-Dame de l’Assomption in the old town of St Tropez, France, relates to Mediterranean Village [BC019], Untitled [Basilica and Lighthouse, St Tropez] [BC020], Basilica and Lighthouse, St Tropez, Southern France [BC021].
Used as illustration
‘Flora Scales: The Woman and Her Work’ by Barbi de Lange, Art New Zealand, issue 37, 1985, pg 49 (black and white)
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