Production materials include video recordings, sound recordings, transcripts, notes, documentary scripts, various video and sound edits, and other production elements created in the course of the production of Madeline Amgott's two documentaries, Hans Hofmann: Reflections of former Students (1999), and Hans Hofmann: Artist-Teacher, Teacher-Artist (2002). Video interviews and location footage form the bulk of the series and include unedited video recordings shot for the two productions. Some of the interviews were initially shot for the first video documentary and re-used in the later, longer documentary. Content includes interviews, mainly with artists who were students of Hofmann, but also his nephew, Theo Hofmann, and curators and art historians, including Lowery Sims, Richard Wollheim, and Xavier Javier Costa. Location footage includes Barcelona, Spain; Berkeley, California; Cape Cod and Provincetown, Massachusetts; New York City; and Munich, Germany. New York locations include the New York Studio School, the Metropolitan Museum, and the locations of Hofmann's two mosaic murals. Subjects interviewed on location are not always listed on the videocassette label, but names of subjects are listed in a note in the folder list when known.
Most camera original material appears to be in BetacamSP (31 videocassettes) or Digital Betacam (2 videocassettes) format, with VHS (71 videocassettes) and in some cases sound cassette copies (34 sound cassettes) created for transcription and editing. Some of the video footage is only found in VHS format, presumed to be duplicates of camera original not found in the collection. Also found are production tapes and edits on 14 videocassettes (8 VHS, 5 BetacamSP, 1 DVCPro), in digital format, and 3 sound cassettes (2 standard cassettes and one DAT), including various photographs, artwork stills, stock footage, voiceover recordings, sound edits, rough video edits, master edits, and the Spanish version of Hans Hofmann; Artist-Teacher, Teacher-Artist.
Most interviews have full or partial transcripts, which are arranged with the recorded video. Additional paper records in the series include transcripts compiled into log books, documentary scripts in English and Spanish, and sound recordings and transcripts of a lecture and panel discussion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1999.
Arrangement:
Material is arranged by type, and interviews and location footage are arranged by subject. Several groups of tapes consisting of location footage in addition to interviews are arranged by location. Such groups generally contain multiple interviews as well as location footage shot within a short time span and are grouped by location, with individual names listed in a note.
Additional sound and video recordings collected from other sources are found in series 11.4, Research Materials. Additional interviews regarding Hans Hofmann, with some of the same subjects listed here, are found in series 11.1, Research Material Compiled by Tina Dickey.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Collection Rights:
Max Spoerri interview: Authorization to quote or reproduce for purposes of publication requires written permission from Max Spoerri. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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Collection Citation:
Hans Hofmann papers, circa 1904-2011, bulk 1945-2000. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
