Malvina Hoffman

Happy Birthday Malvina Hoffman!! Born in 1887, her father was concert pianist, and music teacher, Richard Hoffman. As a result, Malvina was exposed to the arts at an early age. She did not attempt sculpture until her father’s health failed and she created a marble bust likeness of him in commemoration. After producing a couple more sculptures, she persuaded Rodin to take her on as a pupil. Hoffman became known for her talent at bronze sculpting, a feat that requires great expertise as well as strength for the foundry work. She mastered this and went on to create her masterpiece, The Hall of Man, a representation of mankind in 104 heads, busts and full sized figures. She and her husband traveled the world in search of models from the various regions and cultures. Controversy arose, however, after the work was exhibited nearly 30 years, as to the purpose of such a showing of “idealized racial types” and the exhibit was dismantled, some put into storage. The image below is Hoffman’s Kalahari Bushman Mother and Child.