Vlastimil Hofman, A MAN WITH A FAUN.

26,3 x 35,0 cm - oil, plywood signed p.d.: Wlastimil Hofman

On the reverse:

- on the upper right a dedication in the artist's hand (in pencil): for my soul it is a hundred times nicer | to bathe in a native little lake | than to ride on a foreign lake | [tied monogram] WH; below dimensions: 26 x 35.

- at the bottom left stamp: PRZYDIUM | RADY NARODOWEJ m. ŁODZI | Department of Culture Conservator of Monuments | Lodz, 104 Piotrkowska St. | tel. 280-40, ext. 226;

under the seal the inscription: (...) III - 3/132/65 p. 1 | R. Bylin

Wlastimil Hofman / Vlastimil Hofmann (Prague 1881 - Szklarska Poreba 1970) studied at the School of Fine Arts in Cracow - initially under Florian Cynk, later also under Jan Stanislawski, Leon Wyczółkowski and Jacek Malczewski. In 1899-1902 he still studied with Jean Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. During World War I he stayed in Prague and Paris; from 1920 he lived permanently in Cracow. He exhibited a lot; he belonged to many creative associations - he was a co-founder of the "Group of Five" (1905) and the "Group of Zero" (1908), a member of the Association of Czech Artists "Manes", and since 1911 a member of the Polish Artists' Society "Sztuka". During World War II, through the USSR and Turkey, he made his way to Jerusalem, from where he returned to Krakow in 1946. Since 1947 he lived permanently in Szklarska Poreba. Hofman painted primarily fantastic-symbolic compositions with folk motifs, as well as genre scenes, portraits and landscapes. His paintings, despite close analogies and connections with the art of Malczewski, are always distinguished by their individual character, style and mood.