THE NEW AMERICAN PAINTING
425
to the search for the Real in painting," and "Art is to me the glorifica–
tion of the human spirit ...," and "There is in reality no such thing
as modern art." Mr. Hofmann also refers to "cultural documentation"
and the "destination of every culture." I mention these remarks because
their fuzziness, their easy "mysticism," and their gesture toward "culture"
can prepare us for his paintings.
If
I could reproduce here the entire
text of his "Statement" in the catalogue of his show of last November
at the Kootz Gallery, we should also be prepared for some of the
other qualities of his art: large conceptions with no foundations, and an
unspeakable lack of modesty.
But it might be well to set down what I consider Mr. Hofmann's
virtues: his color is very lively, his spontaneity is impressive, and he is
apparently unbothered about the price of paint; he pours on more of
the stuff than even Gorky-but then, he can probably afford more.
These might not seem like virtues sufficient enough to keep a painter
in Mr. Hofmann's commanding position. But there they are. Moreover,
it is really ironic for this painter to be claiming there is no such thing
as modern art when he is such a likely candidate for the office of bring–
ing modernism to its final impasse.
Mr. Hofmann's modernism, in fact, is the most awesome thing
ahout him. He practices two styles within the modernist idiom: one is
a free and manic spectacle; the other a more sober, geometrical, com–
posed style which allows itself a margin of freedom through the use
of color which is surprisingly inappropriate to the design. In the first
style, the design is not the result of "composition" but of abandonment.
It is a style in which "painterliness" no longer has any commerce with
art-that is, it has been carried away to absurdity. Whereas the whole
movement of which Mr. Hofmann has been a part has insisted more
and
more on the two-dimensional nature of easel art, and consequently
has elevated the flat surface area to the first importance, Mr. Hof–
mann's new work seems impatient with this advance and now seems to
want the emphasis shifted to the sheer physical
paint.
Excepting the
more geometrical works, Mr. Hofmann's paintings seem to be impatient
with the necessity for a surface; paint should be free: to do anything,
they seem to say. In Mr. Rosenberg's terms, I suppose Mr. Hofmann is
the most liberated painter of all time.
It won't work.
It
often failed to work for Arshile Gorky (who was
a much better artist in all respects) and it won't for Mr. Hofmann.
Not that this will stop people from paying him the highest compliments.
Mr. Hofmann is currently
a
la mode,
and his influence as well as his
reputation continues to be high.
