Malvina Hoffman ( 1885-1966 )
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Bill Working - 1923 Bronze on separate wood base 10 ½ x 9 ⅜ x 7 ⅝ inches
Signed (at top rear of self base): Malvina Hoffman Marked (at rear self base): Roman Bronze Works NY from a lifetime cast, edition of 9 Click image for detailed view |
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Recorded:
Conner, Janis and Joel Rosenkranz. American Sculpture, 1850-1950. pp. 22, 23; illus.
Two examples from this edition are in public collections.
Malvina Hoffman was born in New York City, the daughter of a well-known concert pianist, Richard Hoffman. She showed an interest in art from an early age, and began working with sketching and oil paint while attending the Brearley School. While working on an oil painting portrait of her father, she concluded that two-dimensional art was not the right path for her, and she began sculpting. A marble bust of her father was completed in 1909; the work was accepted into the annual exhibit at the National Academy of Design, garnering the artist considerable attention.
After studying at New York’s Art Students League, she set off with her mother for Paris, hoping to study with August Rodin, an artist who had made a strong impression on her. It was not until her fifth visit to Rodin’s studio that he agreed to take her on. While on this trip to Europe and subsequent others, Hoffman became friendly with many of the leading artists and intellectuals of the time, including Gertrude Stein, Henri Matisse and the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova (the sculptor was entranced by the ballet and created several highly esteemed works featuring the dancer (who remained a lifelong friend) in performance.
Taking Rodin’s advice, Hoffman returned to New York in 1911, and immersed herself in a dissection anatomy class at the Cornell College of Physicians. She opened her own studio in 1912, and continued with frequent trips to Europe.
The subject of Bill Working is Hoffman’s New York studio assistant, Bill Prohaska. Prohaska, a former art student, had an estimable reputation in the New York art world (he worked for Childe Hassam and August Saint-Gaudens, among others). He could pick the artists with whom he wanted to work, and Hoffman was both excited and flattered that he chose to work for her.
The sculpture is typical of Hoffman’s best work—she captures her subject in an act of motion, and the rhythmic flow of Bill’s lanky arms and torso contribute to a kinetic feeling. In these aspects, Bill relates closely to Hoffman’s portraits of Pavlova. The work is also very detailed: note the intricate sculpting of Bill’s wild, balding hair and his gaunt face, his cigarette, the wash pail and rag beside him and the subject’s perfectly rendered clothing and work shoes. Of Bill and this work she stated: “As he dignified any work that he undertook by his pride in good workmanship, I tried to express this dignity of labor in this bronze."
