Vlastimil Hofman, SPRING - SKOWRONEK, 1915

58,8 x 70,2cm - oil, cardboard signed l.g.: Wlastimil Hofmann | 1915



The work comes from the early, most creative period of the artist's activity. It clearly shows the influence of Jacek Malczewski, whose student he was. Hofman followed the master's trend of symbolic painting. The painting is dated 1915. At the time, Europe was enveloped in the fumes of the Great War and Malczewski exhorted his fellow artists to paint in such a way that Poland would be resurrected. This period of Hofman's work was brilliantly characterized by the Czech poet Jiří Karásek in the September 1918 issue of the magazine Maski. (...) one can say with certainty that there is no Polish painter more "Polish" than V. Hofman, a painter who would more outstandingly depict the Polish psyche and reach into Polish mysticism, into that which flows from Polish poetry, and has its main source in the works of Slowacki, so adored by Hofman and so close to him in spirit. The All-World War drove Hofman to the Czech Republic - his homeland after his father - for a period of two years. He settled in Prague, having left his studio in Cracow, and created between us in an improvised atelier in a beautiful villa high up on the Hrebenki River, drowning in bouquets of roses.... But the Czech environment no longer had any influence on him. His works from this transitional era are also Polish and also far from what appeals to the viewer from the paintings of Czech contemporary artists. Hofman remained a recluse in Prague as well, and returned to Poland with a clear sense that only in Poland was there a suitable place for his work. What connects Hofman to Polish art is that strong mystical current, which Pawlikowski, in his book on Slovak mysticism, characterizes as a war between the element of matter and the element of spirit. (J. Karasek, Vlastimil Hofman, "Maski" 1918, no. 27, [in:] W. Juszczak, Painting of Polish Modernism, Gdańsk 2004, p. 513)



This beautiful painting, with a child gazing at a woman against the backdrop of a vast landscape, evokes reflections on the transience and fragility of life, but at the same time brings hope of rebirth - like a warm spring following a harsh winter. The small bird, gently embraced in a child's hand, according to Slavic beliefs is a symbol of dead souls. In Christianity, it stands for immortality, humility and mercy. Due to the fact that its singing can be heard every year during the spring season, it is also considered one of the harbingers of spring. Following the path set by Malczewski and inspired by the words of the bard Słowacki, Hofman makes his painting a weapon in the fight for an independent Poland.



The God of our fathers is still over us today!

So He will not let any defeat fall;

After all, as long as He was with our fathers,

They were victors!



So we will not fall into any wolf's den,

We will not kneel before the mighty in power;

Knowing that even the tombs themselves will give us away

Will surrender to God.



With larks we rose to work,

And go to sleep at the evening dawn;

But in the tombs we still soldiers

And God's hufus.

J. Slowacki, Song of the Bar Confederates



In the scene thus outlined, the lark becomes a hope-bringing messenger of spring - rebirth. A woman with her hands folded on her chest, like the Madonna - Polonia, assumes a position in which she gives her whole self into the hands of a child, at whom she looks tenderly. The child is a symbol of the generation that is to come and see Poland liberated. He looks with confidence into the calm face of the gently smiling woman. The singing of a lark cuddled in a small hand heralds the coming happiness.



Spring - a lark, is an example of a work in which, as Karasek wrote: one sees all of Hofman's winning artistry: a harmony of peace, joy, faith and strength.



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 from 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.