Hans Hofmann

Hans Hofmann (1880-1966), a great German art teacher, ran away from home at the age of 16 to study art in Munich. An Impressionist, he was so valued by a patron that he was sent to Paris at the patron's expense for ten years, during which time he worked with Matisse and Picasso. Returning to Germany in 1915, he was exempted war service because of lung ailments, and set up his own art school, where he taught until 1930. A two-year appointment to the University of California led to his permanent migration to the USA from 1932. He taught hundreds of students, and is regarded as a founder from 1939 of the Abstract Expressionists of the New York School, along with Jackson Pollock and Arshile Gorky.