Earl Hofmann (March 11, 1928 – September 29, 1992), painter, sculptor, educator. Hofmann was one of Baltimore's

realist artists Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: * Classical Realism * Literary realism, a mo ...

, he was a significant part of the Baltimore art scene of the mid-20th century. Hofmann studied with and assisted

Jacques Maroger Jacques Maroger (; 1884–1962) was a painter and the technical director of the Louvre Museum's laboratory in Paris. He devoted his life to understanding the oil-based media of the Old Masters. He emigrated to the United States in 1939 and becam ...

at the

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of t ...

Early life

Earl Francis Hofmann was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

on March 11, 1928. He started painting at 12 and continued to develop his interest in art throughout his teenage years. Hofmann graduated Forest Park High School. After serving in the Marines he attended

where he studied and assisted Jacques Maroger until Maroger's death.

Art career

In 1961, he and a group of Baltimore painters founded the Maroger Group and the Six Realists. Earl Hofmann was a respected teacher at Boys Latin School, the

Baltimore County Public Schools Baltimore County Public Schools is the school district in charge of all public schools in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is the 25th largest school system in the US as of 2013. The school system is managed by the Board of Education, ...

, Charles County Community College,

St. Mary's College of Maryland St. Mary's College of Maryland (SMCM) is a public liberal arts college in St. Mary's City, Maryland.Maryland State Archives, Online Manual, "St. Mary's College Of Maryland: Origin & Functions" http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/25univ/stmarys ...

, and private classes. Hofmann painted and exhibited portraits, street scenes, still life, liturgical images, fantasy scenes, and murals, for individuals, commercial enterprises, churches, courthouses, and schools. The painting, "Jean Betty" is in the St. Mary's County Governmental Center.

Major works

A mural featuring Historic Saint Mary's City in a timeline from the early 17th century to the late 20th century is part of a Smithsonian collection in the St. Mary's City Visitor Center. Murals and paintings by Earl Hofmann are on display in many places in Baltimore such as, Mercy Medical Center, St. Ignatius Church, St. Joseph Monastery, and the Basilica of Assumption.

Education career

Hofmann taught for many years at the

. Then he moved to Southern Maryland and from 1970s to the early 1990s, he taught at the

Public Honors College in

Saint Mary's City, Maryland St. Mary's City (also known as Historic St. Mary's City) is a former colonial town that was Maryland's first European settlement and capital. It is now a large, state-run historic area, which includes a reconstruction of the original colonial set ...

and continued painting, drawing and sculpting.

Awards

Earl Hofmann won many art awards and became part of the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

art scene at a young age. He won an award and representation at the

Grand Central Art Galleries The Grand Central Art Galleries were the exhibition and administrative space of the nonprofit Painters and Sculptors Gallery Association, an artists' cooperative established in 1922 by Walter Leighton Clark together with John Singer Sargent, Ed ...

in 1951 in a juried competition which was judged by

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realism, American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolor painting, watercolorist and printmaker in e ...

. Hofmann informally studied with and assisted Reginald Marsh during the early 1950s. He was a frequent exhibitor at the

Peale Museum The Peale, located in Baltimore, Maryland, is Baltimore's Community Museum. Its mission is to evolve the role of museums in society by providing local creators and storytellers with the space and support the need to realize a complete and accessi ...

in Baltimore, the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Desi ...

Biennial, the Venice Biennial, the Guggenheim Traveling Exhibition, the Butler Institute of American Art, and the International Institute of Arts and Letters.

Personal life

Earl Hofmann married Jean Nordstrom in 1949, and had four children in

. They lived in

Bolton Hill Bolton Hill is a neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland, with 20 blocks of mostly preserved buildings from the late 19th century. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, preserved as a Baltimore City Historic District, and included ...

, a neighborhood that included the

and many other artist residents. The family moved to St. Mary's County, in Southern Maryland when Hofmann was appointed artist-in-residence at

in 1971. Earl and Jean Hofmann lived in a house and studio they built in

Hollywood, Maryland Hollywood is an unincorporated community located within St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. It was named in 1867, when a storeowner at Thompson's General Store near the Uniontown section of Hollywood required a name for the post office in ...

, not far from

Leonardtown, Maryland Leonardtown is a town in and the county seat of St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,563 at the 2020 census. Leonardtown is perhaps most famous for the national oyster-shucking championship that is held annually at th ...

. In 1992, the Hofmann family started a company called Pontifex Inc., which prepared and sold Earl Hofmann's formula of the Maroger Italian Medium. Hofmann died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

on September 29, 1992, at St. Mary's Hospital in Leonardtown, St. Mary's County, Maryland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofmann, Earl 1928 births 1992 deaths Maryland Institute College of Art alumni Artists from Baltimore St. Mary's College of Maryland faculty Deaths from lung cancer