New Hopkins Center at DartmouthAuthor(s): Hans HofmannSource: Art Journal, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Spring, 1963), pp. 180+182Published by: College Art AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/774448 .

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NEW HOPKINS CENTER AT DARTMOUTH

The Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College, named after President-Emeritus Ernest Martin Hopkins, who was in office from 1916 to 1945, was dedicated last November with a 10- day schedule of events. The new structure de- signed by Wallace Harrison of Harrison and Abramovitz provides facilities for the college programs in all the arts, both at creative and performing levels. The John A. Volpe Con- struction Company of Boston was general contractor. Total cost has been estimated at seven and a half million dollars. Warner Bentley is Director of the Center. John R. Scotford, Jr. is Assistant Director. The facili- ties for the visual arts program are:

The Jaffe-Friede Gallery The Intimate Gallery The Barrows Print Room The Barrows Exhibition Rotunda The Student Gallery The Sculpture Court Two exhibition corridors A visiting artist's studio An artist-in-residence studio The Alan MacDonald Painting Studio The Basic Design Studio The Architectural Design Studio The Graphic Arts Studio The Sculpture and Ceramics Studio The Blacksmith Shop The Wood Crafts Shop The General Crafts Shop Art vaults and storage rooms, restoration

studios, exhibit preparation rooms, and gallery offices

Hugh Morrison, well-known architectural historian, is chairman of the Department of Art and Archaeology at Dartmouth. Three members of the departmental faculty are in overall charge of the parts of the building assigned to the visual arts: Churchill P. Lathrop, director of the galleries; Richard E. Wagner, director of studios; Virgil E. Poling, director of student workshops. On Mr. La- throp's staff are Truman E. Brackett, Jr., assist- ant director; Ellen Jones, curator; Barbara Tubley and Marianne Aspesi. On the studio staff are Paul Sample, artist-in-residence; Frie- del Dzubas, visiting artist; Ray Nash, in charge of the graphic arts studio; Edgar H. Hunter, lecturer in architectural design and Winslow Eaves, in charge of the sculpture studio. Also on the studio staff are: Stanley E. LaFountain, instructor in metal shop; Walker Weed, instructor in woodworking and Ralph Rogers, in developing its programs. The Center has invited the assistance of advisory groups in the various fields. The art group is chaired by William B. Jaffe, New York at- torney and art collector. Other members are: Alfred Barr, Herbert Beskind, Richard F. Brown, Frank Caro, Leo Castelli, Russell Cow- les, Mrs. John De Menil, Mrs. Albert Green- field, Joseph H. Hazen, Alex L. Hillman, William Bright Jones, John Rood, James J. Rorimer, Modie J. Spiegel, Daniel L. Wilden- stein.

The craft advisory group is chaired by Mrs. Vanderbilt Webb. Other members are: Wil-

liam J. Barrett, E. M. Benson, Harold J. Brennan, David Campbell, Allen H. Eaton, Rene d'Harnoncourt, Frederick J. Dockstader, Elliott Donnelly, Roger H. Hallowell, Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr., Mrs. Dorothy Liebes, Francis S. Merritt, Judge William H. Timbers, Harry H. Townshend, Jr., Dana P. Vaughan.

Highlights in the visual arts part of the inaugural program were:

A documentary film on the Orozco Murals in the Baker Library at Dartmouth A lecture by Wallace Fowlie, "Picasso's Paris at the Turn of the Century" A lecture on the Visual Arts by Hans Hofmann (see below) A lecture on Craft Arts by Meyric R. Rogers A lecture on Architecture by Pier Luigi Nervi A panel discussion featuring the convo- cation participants.

The following exhibitions were held during the dedication period:

Impressionism: 1865-1885 Paintings by Hans Hofmann Contemporary Sculpture Spanish Renaissance Drawings Crafts Show Creative Engineering: Nervi Stairs from the Museum of Modern Art European Posters.

President John Sloan Dickey presented hon- orary degrees to Hans Hofmann, Pier Luigi Nervi and Paul Sample. Degrees were awarded in other fields of the arts to Arthur Hornblow Jr., Michel Saint-Denis and William H. Schu- man.

HANS HOFMANN ON ART I speak not as a scientist-which I am not-

but as an Artist and, as such, as a painter. As an artist I have developed my own philosophy, which is deeply rooted upon insights gained through my work in the process of creating. I have thereby acquired perceptions that coin- cide surprisingly with some of the great sci- entific discoveries of our epoch.

Also I do not speak as a teacher. As an artist I know that Art cannot be taught. No- body can make a person musical unless the person is born musical. In the same way, no one is able to make a person plastic-sensitive unless the person is plastic-sensitive in the first place. The Artist is always the mystery.

An artist is forced constantly to master his own particular problems, which he is able to resolve only in a prolonged and profound artistic development. Training facilities and conceptional guidance are of course a neces- sity. Our times would indeed be culturally very poor without art education.

As an artist I shall speak here mainly about Visual Art. Which will force me to link some of my philosophical thoughts with the inner problems of the visual arts-because art it- self is always linked with metaphysical con- siderations.

Speaking as an artist, let me consider what an artist is. Every artist-whether painter, sculptor, architect, musician, writer, dancer, and so on-is a creator. He cannot be an imitator. We have invented wonderful ma- chines that imitate and reproduce. But ma-

chines have no intelligence-they cannot do what the heart and mind feel and think.

The mind invented the machine, not the machine the mind.

It is to be understood that, to the artist, what is to be expressed is of no use unless it is formulated aesthetically. This is the differ- ence between Imitation and Creation.

From this I conclude: Art must not imitate physical life Art must have a life of its own-a spirit- ual life A painter must create pictorial life . . .

. . which demands that he must be able to activate the picture-surface with the means at his disposal to create this life. It requires mas- tery of the medium of expression, since every medium has its own particular intrinsic life.

But what is actual creation ? Creation differs fundamentally from Science.

Science is accumulated knowledge always at hand for repeated application. Science engages only the rational faculty of the mind. The scientist is also a creator when his search leads him to new dimensions.

Feeling and knowledge are thus in mutual response.

Art however differs in comparison with science. To begin with, it is based on the intuitive faculty of our subconscious mind. It produces thereby the power of Empathy- that is, the capacity of sensing and feeling.

Our subconscious mind stimulates our con- scious mind into rational awareness. Sensing and feeling would otherwise be merely a senti- mental outlet.

This mutual dependence of our dually ori- ented mind enables us to discover the intrinsic faculties and inner life of everything. The entire material world possesses this latent inner life. Therefore practically everything can serve as a medium of expression, to be turned finally into a means of spiritual expression.

This we consider to be Quality. Only an artist can produce Quality.

How do we define Quality? Quality is the fruit of a sensitive and crea-

tive mind. It is not itself a physical but a spiritual reality, though created by physical means. The imitator-on the contrary-copies only physical reality and, as a consequence, uses the means only for such limited ends. He does not realize that thereby he kills not only the intrinsic life of the medium but also the creative faculty of his mind. This is not a creative approach.

An art student, and the public too, should be made aware early of the difference between Impulse and Effect. To explain this, let us use a simple example from music. The simul- taneous joining in music of two different sounds produces different effects in the crea- tion of a new sound combination, in the interval either of a Second, a Third, a Fourth or a Fifth, up to an octave and so on.

The joining of two such thirds reveals an accord, and so on. In other words, a creative relation transforms the physical means into a medium of spiritual expression. This is ex- actly what happens throughout the develop- ment of. a pictorial work. In the visual arts two physical carriers join in a sensitively de- fined relation, as in music, to produce a new-

ART JOURNAL XXII 3 180

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a plastic-effect that the carriers themselves do not have.

This effect presents itself always as a thought-fragment, in the form of a higher spiritual third.

The superlative in creation is of course not the result of a few isolated relations. It is the Synthesis of all interrelationships-wherein the result of all the relationships finds final

expression. This highest form of relationship and plastic orchestration, with its consequence of relativity, determines the final greatness of the work.

Thus our mind works in a dual way- Rationally through the conscious mind Subconsciously through the capacity for

sensing and feeling, which is the pre- condition for every act of creating

The power of our subconscious mind is un- limited-it never comes to rest-it directs all the vital functions of our body simultaneously, even while we sleep-it makes of the body an immense chemical laboratory to sustain, de- fend and maintain life-and it is also the conductor of our mind in the act of creation.

A work of art calls, from beginning to end, for inspiration, intuition and conscious feel-

ings. It goes through many stages of pictorial development which can never be rationalized in advance-but in every stage of development it is always a work of art. Its entire develop- ment depends wholly upon the sensibility and

temperament of the artist and the greatness of his mind.

But how does the painter approach his subject-matter ?

Is it necessary to study from nature? The answer is a definite "Yes." We must first learn to see. Actually, we see only the appearance of

things. Our vision is two-dimensional oriented, but reality is three-dimensional. We have learned, through the added experience of our other senses, to interpret two-dimensionality into a three-dimensional reality.

A painter who has never become aware of the duality of space is only an imitator of

objects. He is not a composer-but only an arranger of objects. In nature there is actually more to see than objects. Objects are space- creators. There is positive and negative space. Positive space is made up of the objects, nega- tive space is composed of the-seeming voids between the objects. There is no empty space.

Space has volume. Voids have volume, like objects. They have form and are as concrete as objects. The synthesis of positive and nega- tive space produces the totality of space, and in this way brings about conformity with the two-dimensionality of the picture-surface.

But our visual experience is not restricted to the limitations of the eye. We experience totality of space as the result of forces and counter-forces that make a vital, force-impelled dynamic space. In the creative process, these forces and counterforces reveal each other in varied but precisely defined tensions. Which leads me to the conviction that space itself is energy.

Space has volume, and volume is mass. Space is activated mass, in the sense of Ein- stein's formula that says:

Energy equals mass times the square of the speed of light-to which I may add:

a plastic-effect that the carriers themselves do not have.

This effect presents itself always as a thought-fragment, in the form of a higher spiritual third.

The superlative in creation is of course not the result of a few isolated relations. It is the Synthesis of all interrelationships-wherein the result of all the relationships finds final

expression. This highest form of relationship and plastic orchestration, with its consequence of relativity, determines the final greatness of the work.

Thus our mind works in a dual way- Rationally through the conscious mind Subconsciously through the capacity for

sensing and feeling, which is the pre- condition for every act of creating

The power of our subconscious mind is un- limited-it never comes to rest-it directs all the vital functions of our body simultaneously, even while we sleep-it makes of the body an immense chemical laboratory to sustain, de- fend and maintain life-and it is also the conductor of our mind in the act of creation.

A work of art calls, from beginning to end, for inspiration, intuition and conscious feel-

ings. It goes through many stages of pictorial development which can never be rationalized in advance-but in every stage of development it is always a work of art. Its entire develop- ment depends wholly upon the sensibility and

temperament of the artist and the greatness of his mind.

But how does the painter approach his subject-matter ?

Is it necessary to study from nature? The answer is a definite "Yes." We must first learn to see. Actually, we see only the appearance of

things. Our vision is two-dimensional oriented, but reality is three-dimensional. We have learned, through the added experience of our other senses, to interpret two-dimensionality into a three-dimensional reality.

A painter who has never become aware of the duality of space is only an imitator of

objects. He is not a composer-but only an arranger of objects. In nature there is actually more to see than objects. Objects are space- creators. There is positive and negative space. Positive space is made up of the objects, nega- tive space is composed of the-seeming voids between the objects. There is no empty space.

Space has volume. Voids have volume, like objects. They have form and are as concrete as objects. The synthesis of positive and nega- tive space produces the totality of space, and in this way brings about conformity with the two-dimensionality of the picture-surface.

But our visual experience is not restricted to the limitations of the eye. We experience totality of space as the result of forces and counter-forces that make a vital, force-impelled dynamic space. In the creative process, these forces and counterforces reveal each other in varied but precisely defined tensions. Which leads me to the conviction that space itself is energy.

Space has volume, and volume is mass. Space is activated mass, in the sense of Ein- stein's formula that says:

Energy equals mass times the square of the speed of light-to which I may add:

Space is all energy. Without this energy space would be nonexistent. The inherent vital forces of space cannot be visually de- tected. But we are able to sense them in the life that they create. This life, of which we are all a part, influences us and stirs our imagination, to make it the stimulus for the creation of pictorial life.

Pictorial life is based on tensions and the life that they express-on impulse, tempo, and intensity of interpretation, which brought them into existence. Forces and counter-forces produce movement, with rhythm and counter- rhythm as their logical consequence. Thus color functions as a plastic means of first magnitude to produce depth and light emana- tion. They relate to each other in intervals which, in visual experience are also tensions.

In nature light creates color. In a picture color creates light.

In visual creation the predominating factor is the picture-plane with its surface laws. It is the nature of the picture-surface to respond to every plastic impulse automatically in the opposite direction to the initial impulse. This opposing difference in direction is produced by the sensation of Push and Pull. Push is an- swered by Pull, and Pull with Push. Thus two- dimensionality is re-established in every in- stant of the pictorial development.

Push and pull are a visual sensation created by the mind either through the experience of tensions in nature or through the creation of tensions on the picture-surface, which in retroactive expression produce again the sen- sation of push and pull. Thereby a vivid ten- sion-controlled and force-impelled sensation of suggested movement "in and out" of depth in created, without affecting the two-dimen- sionality of the picture-surface destructively.

In other words, push and pull control the surface in a two-dimensional way, and simul- taneously produce in this two-dimensional pro- jection the desired three-dimensional effect of controlled depth.

In the final analysis, we are dealing here with the rhythmical exploration of the pic- ture-surface. Rhythm is a time-and-intensity element in which the lyrical character or the dramatic temperament of the artist finds active expression.

We desire to distinguish here between Plane rhythm Point rhythm Line rhythm Color rhythm between Flat-Surface rhythm

and suggested Depth rhythm (which is the direct consequence of the Flat rhythm)

All of which produces in the end an Over-All rhythm in which the message of the work finds its aesthetic perfection as an entirely independent spiritual reality.

* * *

May I be permitted to introduce a short citation that I wrote for the 1961 exhibition of "American Painting and Sculpture" at the University of Illinois?

Every figurative attempt in the Visual Arts is positively to be condemned when made without consideration of the underlying aesthetic principle of Abstract Art, because

Space is all energy. Without this energy space would be nonexistent. The inherent vital forces of space cannot be visually de- tected. But we are able to sense them in the life that they create. This life, of which we are all a part, influences us and stirs our imagination, to make it the stimulus for the creation of pictorial life.

Pictorial life is based on tensions and the life that they express-on impulse, tempo, and intensity of interpretation, which brought them into existence. Forces and counter-forces produce movement, with rhythm and counter- rhythm as their logical consequence. Thus color functions as a plastic means of first magnitude to produce depth and light emana- tion. They relate to each other in intervals which, in visual experience are also tensions.

In nature light creates color. In a picture color creates light.

In visual creation the predominating factor is the picture-plane with its surface laws. It is the nature of the picture-surface to respond to every plastic impulse automatically in the opposite direction to the initial impulse. This opposing difference in direction is produced by the sensation of Push and Pull. Push is an- swered by Pull, and Pull with Push. Thus two- dimensionality is re-established in every in- stant of the pictorial development.

Push and pull are a visual sensation created by the mind either through the experience of tensions in nature or through the creation of tensions on the picture-surface, which in retroactive expression produce again the sen- sation of push and pull. Thereby a vivid ten- sion-controlled and force-impelled sensation of suggested movement "in and out" of depth in created, without affecting the two-dimen- sionality of the picture-surface destructively.

In other words, push and pull control the surface in a two-dimensional way, and simul- taneously produce in this two-dimensional pro- jection the desired three-dimensional effect of controlled depth.

In the final analysis, we are dealing here with the rhythmical exploration of the pic- ture-surface. Rhythm is a time-and-intensity element in which the lyrical character or the dramatic temperament of the artist finds active expression.

We desire to distinguish here between Plane rhythm Point rhythm Line rhythm Color rhythm between Flat-Surface rhythm

and suggested Depth rhythm (which is the direct consequence of the Flat rhythm)

All of which produces in the end an Over-All rhythm in which the message of the work finds its aesthetic perfection as an entirely independent spiritual reality.

* * *

May I be permitted to introduce a short citation that I wrote for the 1961 exhibition of "American Painting and Sculpture" at the University of Illinois?

Every figurative attempt in the Visual Arts is positively to be condemned when made without consideration of the underlying aesthetic principle of Abstract Art, because

such negligence will necessarily lead to uninspired, imitative and academic formal- ism. Creation deals with nature's physical laws, with the picture's aesthetic surface laws, and with the laws of the operating medium of expression-all of which are dissimilar but in no way repulsive or non-adjustable to each other when handled by a creative mind. In such a case, an anatomical detail func- tions not only as a figurative element but also as an important part within the totality of space and is, in the creative process, further transformed into a point-a line- a plane-or into a color spot-and must function in accordance with the picture's surface laws in the meaning of a profoundly defined aesthetic composition. Only this is real composition. Creative configuration in the visual arts is in no way to be condemned when it is achieved through the qualitative and aesthetic substance of any work in- tended for such ends.

I am often asked how I approach my work. Let me confess: I hold my mind and my

work free from any association foreign to the act of painting. I am thoroughly inspired and agitated by the actions themselves which the development of the painting continuously re- quires. From the beginning, this puts me in a positive mood, which I must persistently fol- low until the picture has found realization through paint. This seems simple, but it is actually the fruit of long research.

HANS HOFMANN

MCAC The annual meeting of the Midwestern Col-

lege Art Conference for 1962 was held at Ohio State University on November 1, 2 and 3. A full program of exhibitions, section meet- ings, panel discussions and guest speakers was presented to some 300 delegates from about seventy member institutions. Headquarters were in the old building of the art depart- ment, but visitors were able to observe the recently completed new wing which has just gone into operation. Another wing is to be added soon.

In addition to a Graduate Student Sym- posium with art historical papers, there were panels on Art Education, Painting and Draw- ing, History of Art Introductory Courses, Sculpture, Ceramics, Professional Design and Print Making.

The guest speakers were: Howard Mumford Jones, "The Support of the Artist in Society"; Lester Longman, "Current Issues in College Art Education"; Harold Rosenberg, "Problems in the Teaching of Art." Following the busi- ness meeting James R. Shipley (University of Illinois), president for 1962, handed over the office to Jerome Hausman. Next year's meet- ing is scheduled at Indiana University for October 31, November 1 and 2. Albert Elsen is program chairman. The nominating com- mittee for 1962 consisted of J. Carson Web- ster (Northwestern), Rev. Anthony J. Lauck (Notre Dame), and Elmer L. Novotny (Kent State U.).

such negligence will necessarily lead to uninspired, imitative and academic formal- ism. Creation deals with nature's physical laws, with the picture's aesthetic surface laws, and with the laws of the operating medium of expression-all of which are dissimilar but in no way repulsive or non-adjustable to each other when handled by a creative mind. In such a case, an anatomical detail func- tions not only as a figurative element but also as an important part within the totality of space and is, in the creative process, further transformed into a point-a line- a plane-or into a color spot-and must function in accordance with the picture's surface laws in the meaning of a profoundly defined aesthetic composition. Only this is real composition. Creative configuration in the visual arts is in no way to be condemned when it is achieved through the qualitative and aesthetic substance of any work in- tended for such ends.

I am often asked how I approach my work. Let me confess: I hold my mind and my

work free from any association foreign to the act of painting. I am thoroughly inspired and agitated by the actions themselves which the development of the painting continuously re- quires. From the beginning, this puts me in a positive mood, which I must persistently fol- low until the picture has found realization through paint. This seems simple, but it is actually the fruit of long research.

HANS HOFMANN

MCAC The annual meeting of the Midwestern Col-

lege Art Conference for 1962 was held at Ohio State University on November 1, 2 and 3. A full program of exhibitions, section meet- ings, panel discussions and guest speakers was presented to some 300 delegates from about seventy member institutions. Headquarters were in the old building of the art depart- ment, but visitors were able to observe the recently completed new wing which has just gone into operation. Another wing is to be added soon.

In addition to a Graduate Student Sym- posium with art historical papers, there were panels on Art Education, Painting and Draw- ing, History of Art Introductory Courses, Sculpture, Ceramics, Professional Design and Print Making.

The guest speakers were: Howard Mumford Jones, "The Support of the Artist in Society"; Lester Longman, "Current Issues in College Art Education"; Harold Rosenberg, "Problems in the Teaching of Art." Following the busi- ness meeting James R. Shipley (University of Illinois), president for 1962, handed over the office to Jerome Hausman. Next year's meet- ing is scheduled at Indiana University for October 31, November 1 and 2. Albert Elsen is program chairman. The nominating com- mittee for 1962 consisted of J. Carson Web- ster (Northwestern), Rev. Anthony J. Lauck (Notre Dame), and Elmer L. Novotny (Kent State U.).

ART JOURNAL XXII 3 182 ART JOURNAL XXII 3 182

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