rus
  • . Vladimir Hofmann . Vladimir Hofmann
  • . . Vladimir Hofmann
  • . . Vladimir Hofmann
  • . . Vladimir Hofmann
  • . . Vladimir Hofmann
12 Mar - 31 Mar 2019

Ways and not only

Most of the exposition will consists of Vladimir Hoffman's collages. For the first time, a series of works created by the author using photographs related to his life will be shown; it’s like a journal of memories involving different periods, conveying emotions and sentiments of those times.
Vladimir will also present his new sculptural series and some sculptural works of his brother Andrei, who left this world in 2016. 
 
The art of both brothers is anthropocentric. However, in different ways. 
Andrei depicts a person in globality, comparing him - quite tiny, using the character as a symbol - with the greatness of the surrounding world, in endless "Walks" and "Waitings", using felicitous forms of nature. 
Vladimir, on the other hand, touches upon the global theme of man’s self-knowledge, journey in his head, the endless search: “Walks within himself”, “The train of life”. 
That is why art critics called them "Two hemispheres of one planet." 
 
During the exhibition, the presentation of the book by Andrei and Vladimir will be held.
 
Hoffman "Sculpture in time and space". This is an autobiography of sculptors, published in 2018 by the publishing house "Planet of Music" in three languages (Russian, English, French). It perfectly conveys the creative way of the brothers, that unique atmosphere of the Russian intelligentsia, in which they were immersed since birth. 
 
The twin brothers, Vladimir and Andrei Hoffman, were born in Paris in a Russian family. Their father, Rostislav Modestovich Hoffman, was a musicologist, the author of forty books. In childhood, the boys lived with their parents in the house of their grandfather, the famous Pushkinist, Modest Lyudvigovich Hoffmann. At home, the twins spoke only Russian up to the age of six, until they went to a French school. 
They began to learn sculpting at an early age, attending the lessons of the sculptor Osip Tzadkin at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, and Yuri Pavlovich Annenkov, a brilliant representative of the Russian avant-garde. Then they studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, where they graduated in 1969. 
In 1964, the first trip of the brothers to Russia took place, where they met their “Russian family” (part of the family emigrated after the revolution, in 1922, and some remained in their homeland). They met grandmother Olga Nikolaevna Punina, uncle Andrei Lvovich Punin, as well as cousins. The sculptures of the Hoffmann brothers were first exhibited in 1968 at the Salon des artistes français, and later regularly exhibited in various salons and galleries in France, Belgium and Switzerland. Both brothers were awarded the gold medal of the city of Paris. The first exhibition of Vladimir in Russia took place in 2002 in St. Petersburg at the Museum of Nonconformist Artists; it was a joint exhibition with Vladimir Afanasyevich Ovchinnikov. Since then, exhibitions of works by Andrei and Vladimir have been held in St. Petersburg: in the Anna Akhmatova Museum (2009), the Konstantinovsky Palace (2010), the Molbert Gallery (2014, 2016), the Academy of Arts (2016). .), and in Moscow: in the Burganov Museum (2010) and the House of The Russian Abroad of A. Solzhenitsyn (2018). 
 
Vladimir Hofmann

Vladimir Hofmann

Vladimir Hoffman and the Molbert Gallery are connected by many years of friendship and joint creative projects. The first joint exhibition of the Hoffman brothers “Roads, in time and space” was held in 2014, in 2016 two personal exhibitions of Vladimir and Andrey were held separately. In June 2017, Vladimir Hoffman, together with the Molbert Gallery, took part in the tenth anniversary international festival "Imperial Gardens of Russia" - AVANGARDENS (St. Petersburg. Mikhailovsky Garden). His sculpture "Walks within himself" was recognized as one of the best and was awarded the "Laureate" prize. At the end of the Festival, it took part in the Pushkinfest project, which were held in the garden of the estate of Derzhavin.