Frank Stella on Hans Hofmann 

I saw Hans Hofma's work at the met ,in a small retrospective.It was very beautiful and it played tricks on your eyes. I was looking for a video explaining the" push and pull". Anybody else find Frank Stella incredibly charming? What a delight to hear him speak. I have books of both their work somewhere in my house. Time to dig them up. What a lovely video. Thank you.

Mr. Stella's been one of my all-time favorites since I discovered his work around 1978. Loved this interview! Now I want to research Hans Hofmann's work more. Thank you!

Frank Stella is so smart. He’s probably forgotten more then I will learn about parenting in my lifetime. For a deeper dive: look for his talks from the 1950’s and 60’s.

What rapture! The colours, the freedom, the versatility, the honesty, the sheer joy.... I love the references back to Matisse, to Fauvism, to Cassatt. I love how Stella draws on all of this, the connectedness. It's hard to understand how Hofmann can have slipped down in the public consciousness. He is a truly great artist, transcendent. I really took a lot from this little clip. Thank you.

I could listen to Stella talk about art all day

Frank Stella Master Class?????? i'd be there.

When I was in art school in early 70s, in art history . . . . . . I cannot remember Hans Hofmann being discussed at all. And in the textbook, don't remember which one. It wasn't Janson, anyway, I think there was one color plate of Hofmann. Basically I didn't connect with him for decades. It was de Kooning who blew my mind. My very first art history class got me into modern art big time. When the professor showed the slides of de Kooning women paintings, I still remember saying in my mind, "I gotta do THAT!" But now, I see just how amazing Hofmann was, and I say, I gotta do some of that, too! haha

Linda, I, too, found the interview and the artwork very interesting. Thanks for sharing

I like his art.

Brilliant

I see the beginnings of Rauschenberg in the composition of some of these works.

Art is merely someone expressing themselves through certain means. There is no bad, good, right, wrong or a masterpiece. It’s all relative and subjective. What one person likes or loves another will dislike. Let’s just express and that’s that.

Awesome art

super art

When painting was about painting

Im a representational artist who loves Hofmann. He is an example of a brilliant abstractionist. BUT that being said, as Stella says at the end its hard to find anything that hits because this kind of painting should not ever have come at the expense of academies and learning the technical side. WHat happens is guys like Hofmann and to an extent Stella; really kept students and older generations away from learning skill. Now we have generations of older painters who i've noticed just dont have the ability to abstract from nature because they dont even know how to paint nature in the first place. Abstraction is the result of years of observation. Now days you see a huge resurgence in young people who seem to look at their parents artwork and laugh and think im going to go back to the basics. So I really love abstraction but I also really hate what it did to art in this country. Lastly I will say to all the "abstract" artists who read this, if you have no idea how to draw proficiently and paint reality, shame on you for skipping this step and if you think real artists cant tell a hack or a liar right away we can. I can look at an abstract artist and tell right away if they are just bullshitting their way through hoping no one notices they have no real skill.

Interesting remarks, but you shouldn't talk about how surprising a painting made in the late 1950's would be in the 1940's, because it would have been impossible to make it in the 1940's. Also, we should remember that Hofmann didn't teach painting at his school. He taught drawing only. (Though he did let the kids paint in Provincetown in the summer.) His best paintings by far he made in 1958 and 1959 only AFTER he closed his school. I'm not sure Stella realizes this.

Abstract painting is out. (speaking solely on present trends)

What's wrong with it? Well just about everything My favorite part