Scope and Content of Collection
The Vlastislav Hofman papers and drawings consists of published articles, letters and postcards, awards, curricula vitae,
and material relating to conferences and exhibitions. The photo archive contains biographical photographs and photographs
of set designs for the theater, costume designs for film and theater, realized sets and performances, decorative arts designs
and paintings. The collection also includes original architectural drawings and decorative arts designs.
Series I. The publications in the collection are offprints from several leading Czech journals, and are concentrated primarily
in the 1910s and 1920s when Hofman took an active part in several artistic organizations such as Skupina, Tvrdošíjným, and
Umělecká beseda. In the articles, Hofman discusses issues relating to current trends in the visual arts and in the theater.
Series II. contains letters and postcards received by Hofman from prominent figures in the Czech art and theater communities,
including the artists Vacláv Špála, Pavel Janák, and Bohumil Kubišta; the dramaturge Josef Kodiček; prominent art critic Václav
Štech; and writer Jan Bartoš. Other notable figures represented in this series include Otakar Kubín, Josef Čapek, Stanislav
Neumann, and Miroslav Ponc. Miscellaneous business correspondence in the collection provides accounts of the sale of works,
honoraria for articles, and membership in Skupina vytvarných Umělců.
The printed matter in Series III. contains extensive biographical information on Hofman. A typescript of a lecture by Adolf
Benš, given in Hofman's hometown Jičín two years after Hofman's death, provides details of Hofman's family background and
career. The curricula vitae, written by Hofman and others, together with the many small exhibition catalogs provide a comprehensive
account of Hofman's artistic activities. A few of the exhibition catalogs have been cataloged separately but are housed in
the present collection. The collection holds extensive material dating from Hofman's participation in the 4th Volta Conference,
an international theater conference held in Rome in 1936. Critical reviews of Hofman's work in theater which are housed in
the collection were taken from numerous journals and cover various stages of his career. There are also many reviews of exhibitions
of Hofman's work, held both in Czechoslovakia and in Italy, and articles commemorating Hofman's 50th, 60th, 70th, and 80th
birthdays.
Series IV. Photographs cover much of Hofman's career in the theater. There is also an entire volume of costume designs which
Hofman created from the film
Anna proletářka in 1951.
A small collection of photographs of decorative arts are arranged according to the type of project. The collection contains
photographs of both sketches and realized projects representative of Hofman's early career as part of the Cubo-Expressionist
movement. A number of the works in Series V are also representative of Hofman's Cubo-expressionism. The oversized and double-oversized
works in Series V. comprise original designs in the decorative arts and architecture.
Biographical photographs of Hofman date from various period in his life and are generally arranged chronologically (several
are undated). There are a few early photographs circa 1910 which depict Hofman among his avant-garde friends. Several photographs
document Hofman's wife Zdenka, their two daughters, and two grandchildren. There are a number of photographs of Hofman taken
in the last years of his life and shortly before his death in 1964.
Arrangement
Arranged in five Series:
;
;
;
;
.
Series I: Published articles and typescripts
Series II: Correspondence
Series III: Printed matter and curricula vitae materials
Series IV: Photographs
Series V: Oversized original works, exhibition posters and diplomas
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