Leo Hofman · Venlo 1922 — Montpellier 1986
Most of his work is still in the dark.
Painter, draughtsman and glass artist Leo Hofman made hundreds of works in the Netherlands and France. Most have vanished into homes, estates and churches. Move the light to find one — then help us find the rest.
- Born
- 27 March 1922, Venlo
- Trained
- Rijksakademie, Amsterdam
- Worked
- Venlo · Roermond · Amsterdam · France
- Disciplines
- Painting · Drawing · Glass · Mosaic
(01) The search
More than four hundred works. We have found 8.
Between 1948 and 1983 more than four hundred of Hofman’s works were registered with the BKR, the Dutch state scheme that supported artists by acquiring their work. Each frame on this wall stands for one of them. The filled frames are works we have documented; the empty ones are still out there — in a hallway, a portfolio, an office or a chapel.
- Registered
- 160+
- Documented
- 8
- Leads
- 0
The Four Evangelists
Little Son with Pigeons
?
Negev Desert, Israel
?
Still Life with Stove and Cat
Landscape 5
The Horses of the Apocalypse
Hover a filled frame to look closer; select it to open the work. Source for the BKR figure: Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed.
(02) From the catalogue
Works we have found
Landscape 5
Undated · Paint on canvas
The Horses of the Apocalypse
1949 · Ink on paper
Little Son with Pigeons
1953 · Charcoal on paper
The Four Evangelists
1958 · Painted stained glass (gebrandschilderd glas-in-lood)
?
Image wanted
Negev Desert, Israel
Undated (probably after 1961) · Etching
?
Photograph pending
Still Life with Stove and Cat
1947 · Oil on canvas
?
Image wanted
Church windows in northern France
From 1950 · Stained glass
?
Image wanted
The Holy Family
1954 · Stained glass
?
Could this be yours?
If you own a work by Leo Hofman, this space is waiting for it.
Share a workUntitled, unknown
(03) The artist
Four places, one life.
Leopold Mathieu Johannes Josephus Hofman grew up in Limburg, trained at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam under the expressionist Heinrich Campendonk, and worked between Amsterdam and France for the rest of his life.
Painter and draughtsman, but also glass painter and mosaicist: he fired his own windows with a collective on Amsterdam’s Wittenburg island, glazed war-damaged churches in northern France, and moved from abstraction towards a darker expressionism. His subjects ranged from the Apocalypse to cats, landscapes and street scenes.
- 01 Venlo 1922 Born on 27 March 1922 in the city on the Maas.
- 02 Roermond 1943 · 1983 The cathedral city of church art and glass workshops — where he worked when young, and where the Gemeentemuseum gave him a solo exhibition in 1983.
- 03 Amsterdam 1943–1983 Rijksakademie (c. 1944–48), a glass collective on Wittenburg, exhibitions at Fodor and Nouvelles Images, and more than 400 works for the BKR.
- 04 France 1950–1986 From 1950 also works in northern France, glazing war-damaged churches. Dies in Montpellier on 21 January 1986.
(04) For owners & collectors
Do you own a Leo Hofman?
Perhaps it came from a grandparent, a parish, a sale in France. Whatever its story, it belongs in the record of his life’s work.
-
1
Photograph it
The front, the back, the signature and any labels or inscriptions. A phone camera in daylight is perfect.
-
2
Tell us what you know
Size, medium, and how it came to you. Five minutes is enough; “I don’t know” is a fine answer.
-
3
We research it
Our researchers compare it with the archive and reply personally — usually within a few weeks.
- ✓ Free and without obligation — we never buy, sell or appraise.
- ✓ Confidential — your name and location are never published without consent.
- ✓ You remain the owner. We only ask to document the work.
(05) Exhibitions
In preparation
A first retrospective in decades
We are preparing an exhibition that brings Hofman’s rediscovered works together again. Owners willing to lend a work are invited to let us know when they share it.
Previously: Leo Hofman, Gemeentemuseum Roermond, Roermond, 1983.
(06) Journal
Research notes and rediscoveries will appear here.