Ruby Gold
1959
55 3/8 x 40 1/2 in. (140.7 x 102.9 cm)
Hans Hofmann
United States
(Weissenburg, Bavaria, Germany, 1880 - 1966, New York, NY)
Object Type:
Painting
Medium and Support:
Oil on canvas
Credit Line:
Marion Stratton Gould Fund
Accession Number:
1960.37
Location: Currently on view
According to painter Hans Hofmann, “there are bigger things to be seen in nature than the object.” Ruby Gold demonstrates this idea through the dramatic interplay of color, form, and expression.
Hofmann was one of the most influential teachers of Abstract Expressionism, the painting style for which he is known. While other painters, such as Jackson Pollock, pioneered the style, Hofmann taught it to generations of students and helped to cement its role as a dominant form of painting in the U.S. from the 1950s onward. He created his signature works, like Ruby Gold, in the last eight years of his life, when, at age 78, he stopped teaching and devoted himself exclusively to painting.
[Summer 2015]