Karl Hofer

In 1929 he co-founded the Badische Secession in Karlsruhe. During this period his works moved closer towards Expressionism and New Objectivity, while remaining unique and not permitting any clear attribution to a specific movement. In the early 1930s the artist briefly experimented with an abstract style, but then returned to his characteristic classical and harmonious depiction of individuals. In 1934, under the Nazis, Hofer lost his job, and in 1937 many of his works were confiscated and declared “degenerate”. After the Second World War he was appointed director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin-Charlottenburg. In 1955 Hofer and the art critic Will Grohmann entered into a vehement public dispute on abstract art which had come to dominate the post-war period and which Hofer rejected.