Lesson Plan Two: Introduction to Modern Art: Practice and Principals
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Lesson Plan Two:
Introduction to Modern Art: Practice and Principals

Grades: 10 – 12

Subject: Art, English, Humanities, Art History, Writing

Introduction

 This curriculum resource is a series of lesson plans divided into three parts:

  1. An Introduction to Abstract Expressionism

    Students will learn about several Abstract Expressionists and identify the ways in which they use color, line and form to express themselves.

  2. Compare and Contrast Other Artists With Hans Hofmann

    Students will learn about two artists who were featured in the documentary: Red Grooms and Frank Stella.

    They also will learn about Stuart Davis whose color theory may be contrasted with Hofmann’s.

  3. The Artist and the Political Climate of the Times

    Students will learn about ways in which politics and censorship shaped the life of Hans Hofmann.
Each lesson in the series is component of the larger curriculum resource. However, each may be used as an individual, finite lesson. The suggested time requirement for each of the three parts vary; educators are encouraged to adjust the time recommendation to fit their individual situations, as well as the needs, interests and abilities of their students. The student art journal is a key component in the lesson plans and the extensions. Students are encouraged to keep these journals as sites for experimenting with the style of a specific artist, color exploration, research notes, personal reflections, preliminary sketches, and rough drafts of writing. Students will later mine these art journals to create artwork based on a color theory or style of an artist referred to in the lessons and/or develop a research piece on a color theory or a specific artist.

Students should have these journals in class, and they should be encouraged to write and sketch in them both in and out of school. The keeping of journals encourages students to reflect upon their own process of creating artwork. At the culmination of an individual lesson or of this series of lessons, it is suggested that students mount an exhibition that includes finished artwork and written pieces, as well as excerpts from art journals, to demonstrate the importance of exploration and experimentation in the artistic process.

National Standards for Lessons I and II:

 Visual Arts: Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques and Processes
  • Students apply media, techniques, and processes with sufficient skill, confidence and sensitivity.

  • Students conceive and create works that demonstrate an understanding of how the communication of their ideas relates to the media, techniques, and processes they use.
Visual Arts: Using Knowledge of Structures and Functions
  • Students evaluate the effectiveness of artworks in terms of organizational structures and functions.


  • Students create artworks that use organizational principles and functions to solve specific visual arts problems.


Visual Arts: Reflecting Upon and Assessing the Characteristics and Merits Of Their Work and the Work of Others
  • Students identify intentions of those creating artworks, explore the implications of various purposes, and justify their analyses of purposes in particular work.


  • Students reflect analytically on various interpretations.


Language Arts: Communication Skills
  • Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.


National Standards for Lesson III:

 Social Sciences Era 8: a Half Century of Crisis and Achievement, 1900-1945
  • Students will understand reform, revolution, and social change in the world economy of the early century.


I. An Introduction to Abstract Expressionism

 Students will learn about several Abstract Expressionists and identify the ways in which they use color, line and form to express themselves.

Objectives:

 Students will be able to understand the concepts of Abstract Expressionism, identify Abstract Expressionist paintings, and create an Abstract Expressionist work of art.

Time Required:

 The lesson may be spread over 2 to 3 50-minute class sessions

Preparation: One week before the lesson:

Visit http://www.pbs.org/hanshofmann/photo_gallery_001.html and become familiar with the galleries of Hans Hofmann’s artwork.

Visit www.artcyclopedia.com and www.artnet.com and locate and print out works done by the following Abstract Expressionists: Arshile Gorky, Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko.

Bring in books, posters, postcards with reproductions of Abstract Expressionist art

Preparation: The day of the lesson:
  • Prepare a display of the books and reproductions relating to Abstract Expressionist art

  • Assemble the following materials: sketching paper, tracing paper, pencils, multi-color construction paper.

  • Set up a plant or still life arrangement for students to sketch.
Procedure:

 Note: Use the following to inform the conversations you have with your students:

Abstract Expressionism covers a wide range of non-objective painting in the United States in the latter half of the 20th century. It became the first American art movement with international impact. Some preferred the term “Painterly Abstraction”, and indeed Abstract Expressionism was characterized by the lavish and loose manner in which paint was applied to canvas.

Some Abstract Expressionists (Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock) were Action Painters, emphasizing the gesture in their process. Others (Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko) were Color-Field Painters, using large planes of color to create atmospheric space with a sense of spirituality. Hans Hofmann taught the fundamentals of Abstract Expressionism as he saw them, using non-representational forms, expressive use of color, interplay of form and color to create a sense of space, and belief in nature as jumping-off point for abstraction.
  1. Instruct students to sketch the plant and/or still life.

  2. Discuss with students how they created a sense of reality for each object in the sketch.

  3. Direct students to cover the sketches with tracing paper, select certain elements and trace over their general shapes, disregarding detail. Suggest that they repeat and overlap these elements. The resulting drawings should have the quality of design rather than realistic still lifes.


  4. Compare the two drawings. Explain that the second drawing, while based on a realistic rendering, is an abstraction: it has become a non-objective work. Set drawings aside.


  5. Working in small groups, students receive construction paper in a variety of colors, and several line drawings.


  6. Ask students to use their art journals to record their responses to both color and line. They should try to define a mood or memory that each color and line drawing expresses.


  7. Ask each group to report its responses.

  8. Direct students to complete their abstract drawings. They should consider the following questions:

    • What mood or memory will be expressed?

    • What colors would best express that mood or memory?

    • How can the lines in the drawing be altered to express a mood or memory?
Assessment suggestions:

 Students write assessments of final work in their art journals.
  • What artistic decisions were made regarding color, line and form?

  • How can the work be evaluated in terms of the ways in which color was used?

  • How can the work be evaluated in terms of the ways in which line was used?

  • Was mood or memory successfully expressed? Why or why not?
Students examine reproductions of artwork and give reasons for the label Abstract Expressionist.

Extensions:

 It is strongly recommended that for the extensions below students continue to use their art journals as sites for reflections, inquiry, preliminary sketches, ideas for new art work, research notes, etc.

For a deeper understanding of the work of Hans Hofmann and, more generally, the creative process, listed below are several aspects of Hofmann’s process linked with suggested classroom applications.

The Importance of Drawing from Nature (time required: ongoing)

As evident in the PBS Special Hans Hofmann: Artist/Teacher, Teacher/Artist, drawing played a large part in Hofmann’s work as an artist as well as a teacher. He always insisted that nature should be the basis for all art. Students view the segment of the PBS program where artist Myrna Harrison and film director Irvin Kershner discuss Hofmann’s interest in drawing from nature:

HARRISON: In the classroom you either worked from the nude or in the afternoon you worked from the still life he had set up. You were always working from some sort of visual, nature stimulus.

KERSHNER: Nature is the key. And he set up these still lifes. Some colored celluloid, an apple, an old white fish, a chicken—I mean odd things. If there was nothing around, he would take a big piece of paper, crumple it up, throw it in front of the window. And study it. Say, look how the light bends. Look at the form. What creates a three-dimensional form. And this would be enough inspiration to begin a whole painting.

Direct students to observe a still life for 5 minutes, walking around it. Then ask them to move away from the still life and sit down with their art journals. Without looking at the still lifes, have them draw their interpretations.

Discussion and Creation of Public Art (time required: 1-3 lessons)

The mosaic design planned by Hans Hofmann for the New York School of Printing (now High School of Graphic Arts Communication) is featured on the PBS program. It was commissioned in the 1950’s. Hofmann had to design an artwork that would fit a space that was 64 feet long and 11 feet high. Pictures of the artwork and its location at the school may be found at:

www.explorenyc.com/Hell’s%20Kitchen/school.html

Many of the artists who were students of Hofmann’s worked on the WPA murals before they came to study with Hofmann. Other artists such as Milton Avery, Stuart Davis, Mark Rothko, Willem deKooning and Jackson Pollock were just a few of the thousands of artists on the WPA Project who have achieved worldwide recognition. Go to www.newsday.com/extras/lihistory/tmachine/hs746a.htm to see examples and learn more about the WPA murals.

Cue up tape to segment with Michele Cohen of Public Art for Public Schools discussing Hofmann’s mosaic:

MICHELE COHEN: This is really what I would consider one of the Board of Ed’s hidden treasures. To have an original mosaic mural by Hans Hofmann, commissioned in 1958 when the artist was 77 years old. This mural very much represents art in the late 1950s and is a very fitting counterpart, you know, to a building that is also using an architectural vocabulary that is very current. And he kind of divides it into two areas. He has the smaller more delicate imagery that really evokes Thoreau and the biomorphic forms of the surrealists on this side and much broader planes on this side. He did not put on his public artist hat to create this mural. He really wanted to do something in a permanent medium for it to be recognizable as a Hans Hofmann.

Discussion questions for students: What is the difference between public art and art in a museum? What kinds of things does an artist have to consider when creating a piece of public art (logistical things as well as aesthetic issues)? What does Michele Cohen mean when she says that Hofmann “did not put on his public artist hat” to create this mural? How do the often social or politically charged, narrative murals of the WPA differ from Hans Hofmann’s mural?

Based on this discussion, commission the students in your class to plan and execute a design for a specific site in the school. All plans and research should be kept in the art journals.

II. Compare and Contrast Other Artists With Hans Hofmann

 Students will learn about two artists who were featured in the documentary: Red Grooms and Frank Stella. They also will learn about Stuart Davis, whose color theory may be contrasted with Hofmann’s.

Red Grooms: A Narrative Artist Incorporates Abstract Expressionism

 Objectives:

 Students will be able to: understand the work of Red Grooms as it relates Hans Hofmann, whom he studied with briefly; understand Groom’s work in terms of his reaction to Abstract Expressionism, use art journals to reflect on their process and plan artwork create three-dimensional cardboard collages that are narratives of daily life.

Time Required:

This lesson may be spread over 5 to 10 50-minute class sessions; it may end with the creation of models as an end in itself, or models may be viewed as prototypes for larger pieces.

Preparation: One or two weeks before the lesson:

 Explore www.pbs.org/hanshofmann/legacy_001.html for information on the students of Hofmann

and www.artcyclopedia.com for links to museums that have works by Red Grooms.

Direct students to spend some time each day sketching and/or photographing scenes that represent impressions of people and places in their neighborhoods. All work should be kept in art journals.

Preparation: The day of the lesson:

 Assemble the following materials: tempera paint, brushes, cardboard, poster board, glue, masking tape

Procedure:

 Note: Use the following to inform the conversation you have with your students:

 Red Grooms was born in 1937 in Nashville, Tennessee. He became interested in art as a child in elementary school. After high school, he attended several art schools. Intrigued by Abstract Expressionism, at the age of 20 he attended Hans Hofmann’s Provincetown art school. Grooms soon felt the pull to create narrative art that reflected different character types in their respective settings. Although Grooms’ work is representational, the painterly quality of the Abstract Expressionists is evident in his work.

Have students view the segment of Hans Hofmann: Artist/Teacher, Teacher/Artist that refers to Hofmann’s summer school in Provincetown. Note that at the age of 20, Red Grooms attended this school.

Show images of Red Grooms and Mimi Gross’ City of Chicago (1967) and Ruckus Manhattan 1975 – 76.

Ask students:

  • Knowing that Red Grooms was a student of Hans Hofmann, what surprises you about his work?


  • What connections can you make between Hofmann’s and Grooms’ work (application of paint in a liberal, energetic manner; use of vibrant colors; expressive quality of work)?


As a class, discuss Red Grooms’ style, emphasizing his incorporation of flat figures in a three-dimensional space, his sense of playfulness and wittiness of his pieces (identify how Grooms creates this), popular subject matter as theme, texturally rich and painterly interpretation of everyday life, and expressionistic use of paint.

Direct students in small groups to share the sketches and photographs in their journals, and to discuss which image each will use to grow into artwork in the style of Red Grooms.

In art journals, students sketch their ideas for transforming their two-dimensional images into three-dimensional cardboard collages.

Students create small three dimensional models of their glimpses into everyday life.

Before creating larger pieces, direct students to write in art journals, reflecting on their work. What do they want to communicate? Does any part need to be altered to adapt to the entire piece? What colors will be used? How will paint be applied?

Students construct larger pieces.

Assessment Suggestions:

Assessment may take the form of one-on-one discussion with teacher, self-evaluation; peer evaluation, a display of students’ final projects accompanied by the sketch and art journal entries that led up to the final work (This display would also serve as an extension of the lesson.)

B. Frank Stella: Two Interpretations of Abstract Art

 Objectives:

 Students will be able to: understand the work of Frank Stella as it relates to that of Hans Hofmann; understand Stella’s work in terms of Abstract Expressionism; use art journals to reflect on their process and to plan artwork; create art based on Stella’s earlier architectural, flat, minimalist canvases or on his; later three-dimensional assemblages.

Time Required:

This lesson may be spread over 4 to 5 50-minute class sessions

Preparation: One or two weeks before the lesson:

 Explore: www.pbs.org/hofmann/frank_stella_001.html for Frank Stella’s biography and Interview Excerpts.

Go to: www.artcyclopedia.com for links to museums that have works by Frank Stella.

Print out images of both Stella’s linear, hard-edge two-dimensional work and his later three-dimensional constructions.

Direct students to spend some time each day sketching both linear and rounded Abstract compositions.

Preparation: The day of the lesson:

 Log on to www.pbs.org/hanshofmann/texturexploration_001.html and play with the interactive feature “Texturexploration,” allowing viewers to magnify sections of a Hofmann painting for a detailed view of Hofmann’s thick, painterly application of oils. You can later contrast this with Stella’s early hard-edge, flat, smooth application of ordinary house paint on canvas.

Assemble the following materials:

For two-dimensional work: tempera paint, brushes, watercolor paper, templates for creating hard-edge forms.

For three-dimensional work: base: cardboard, adhesive, collage material (mesh, thin wire, construction paper,etc.).

Procedure:

 Note: Use the following information to inform the conversation you have with your students:

 Although Frank Stella never took a class with Hans Hofmann (he moved to New York the same year that Hofmann retired from teaching to concentrate on painting), he cites Hofmann as a major influence, and even wrote an article naming Hofmann an “Artist of the Century.”

Stella’s work falls into two distinct categories. In the late 1950’s and ‘60’s Stella’s goal was to reinterpret decorative painting in terms of abstraction. In the process, he redefined both terms. Stella reduced his compositions to pure shapes, lines, and colors and pushed these compositions beyond the traditional frame. The paintings are large, engulfing the viewer.

In the 1970’s his art took a sharp turn. This radical change itself is instructive for students. In his desire to make abstraction more “alive”, his work literally pops out from the walls in chunks of swirling, multi-colored forms. These constructions are richly layered and textured, made out of aluminum, metal tubing and wire mesh. They are infused with a vitality not seen in Stella’s earlier works.

By the mid 1980’s and ‘90’s, the work grew so large and looming as to challenge its category of “painting.” Many of the huge works are not unlike stage sets in their monumental presence.

Show images of Frank Stella’s work.

Ask students:

Knowing that Frank Stella was influenced by Hans Hofmann, what surprises you about his work?

What connections can you make between Hofmann’s and Stella’s work? Both are abstract, but how do they differ? Keep in mind that Hofmann emphasized working from nature, while Stella introduced minimalism as a way to reduce art to a concept. Which of Hofmann’s concepts do you think Stella incorporated? How are the two styles different? (Hofmann worked two-dimensionally, yet there is a greater similarity between the two artists when a comparison is made between Stella’s three-dimensional work and Hofmann’s paintings, application of paint in a rich, energetic manner, use of vibrant colors, and expressive quality of work)

Direct students in small groups to share the abstract sketches in their journals. Which do they feel are the most successful and why? Can they visualize the more rounded compositions as three-dimensional pieces?

In their art journals, students sketch their ideas for transforming sketches into either two-dimensional paintings or three-dimensional cardboard collages. Encourage students, if they wish, to adapt Stella’s technique to their original sketches.

Direct students to write in art journals, reflecting on their work. What do they want to communicate?

Will that message be better expressed as a two or a three-dimensional piece? How will paint be applied?

Students create either two-dimensional or three-dimensional works.

Assessment Suggestions:

Assessment may take the form of: one-on-one discussion with teacher, self evaluation, peer evaluation, a display of students’ final projects accompanied by the sketch and art journal entries that led up to the final work. This display would also serve as an extension of the lesson.

C. Stuart Davis and His Conversations with America

 Objectives:

 Students will be able to understand the color theory of Stuart Davis and apply it to their own work, compare Davis’ color theory to Hofmann’s “push-pull”, and use their art journals as sites to reflect upon the artistic process and plan their work.

Time Required: This lesson may be spread over 4-5 50-minute class sessions

 Preparation:

 Explore the following websites for information about Stuart Davis and images of his artwork: Select a variety of jazz instrumentals to play in class.

One week before the lesson, ask students to begin collecting photographs from magazines and newspapers reflecting their ideas of the “American Scene”; establish a place where class can store the images.

Have art materials available: construction paper (cut into fourths or sixths), gluesticks, scissors, crayons, color pencils, tempera paints, brushes.

Procedure:

 Note: Use the following to inform the conversation you have with your students. Lead them to discover elements in his work, rather than be told what they are:

Stuart Davis’ paintings are dialogues between the artist and the contemporary American Scene. He admired, among many other things in the United States, the urban environment, jazz, and modern technology. He conveyed the dynamic energy of contemporary life through abstract shapes and vivid colors. Davis believed that three-dimensional space could be shown on a two-dimensional surface by the way in which color forms were placed in relationship to each other; colors recede and advance depending on their position. Much of Davis’ work does not have a single focal point, giving the surface an all-over design.

  1. Students break into small groups. Distribute “American Scene” images collected by students and direct students to come up with words or short phrases that describe their images.

  2. With a jazz recording playing, ask an individual or a group of students to display the image and read their lists aloud. Encourage improvisation.

  3. Introduce students to the work of Stuart Davis with works such as Report from Rockport (in the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Hot Still-Scape for Six Colors – 7th Avenue Style (in the Boston Museum of Fine Art).

  4. Ask students to discuss in their smaller groups the similarities and differences between Davis and Hofmann. Encourage the use of words such as color, tone, line, form, space, abstraction, pattern.

    (Remind students of Hofmann’s interest in creating a sense of depth in his work; how is this accomplished by Davis?)

  5. Bring class together to share observations. Note that the artist’s work has a cohesive, planned quality that often was achieved through the reworking of numerous sketches.

  6. Direct students to select 5 different colored pieces of construction paper and experiment with placement of colors. What happens when one color is placed next to another; which recedes and which advances? All observations should be noted in students’ art journals.

  7. Explain the steps students will take to create an abstract work incorporating Stuart Davis’ process:

    • using pencil, sketch a simple design in your art journals (it should have the effect of a coloring book image with no shading)

    • using a copier, make 3 reproductions of the work

    • with color pencils or crayons, experiment with different color arrangements to get the desired effect of receding and advancing forms (Davis often used a limited palette of 5colors; 2 primary, 1 secondary, black and white.

    • copy the design to a larger paper and use tempera paints to complete

  8. Students write in art journals, reflecting on the process and the outcome. Work is shared with peers.

  9. Students repeat this process, now directed to create a design that reflects elements of the American Scene that they each identified at the start of the project.

  10. Students write in art journals reflecting on the process and the outcome. Work is shared with peers.
Assessment Suggestions:

 Assessment may take the form of: one-on-one discussion with teacher, self evaluation, peer evaluation, a display of students’ final projects accompanied by the sketches and art journal entries that led up to the final work. The list of words and phrases describing the American scene also should be included.

Extensions:

 The museum exhibition is entitled Hofmann/Davis: Masters of Color. The location of the museum is your school. Using reproductions of the work of Stuart Davis and Hans Hofmann, student work based on the study of their color theories, and student research, create a museum installation complete with wall text, brochures and guided tours.

III. The Artist and the Political Climate of the Times

 Students will learn about ways in which politics and censorship shaped the life and work of Hans Hofmann.

Objectives:

 Students will be able to understand the effect of World War I and World War II politics on the lives of Hans Hofmann and his contemporaries, as well as understand the role that censorship can play in the arts.

Time Required:

 2 50-minute class sessions

Activity One

 Preparation:

View the PBS Special Hans Hofmann: Artist/Teacher; Teacher/Artist, noting references to the effect of the political climate upon the artists in Europe during World Wars I and II.

Make copies of the following quotes:

“The First World War took me out of my dreams as a painter and ended for me a happy time in Paris…I was a painter and never it came to my mind to teach, but I had to teach.” - a quotation by Hans Hofmann taken from Hans Hofmann: Artist/Teacher, Teacher/Artist

“If I had never been rescued by America, I would have lost my chance as a painter.” - Hans Hofmann as quoted by Lucinda Barnes, Senior Curator for Collections, University of California, Berkeley Art Museum

“Anybody who paints and sees a sky green and pastures blue ought to be sterilized.”
- Adolf Hitler

Procedure:
  1. Students read these quotations within the context of the timeline and biography on the PBS website:

    www.pbs.org/hanshofmann/timeline_001.html
    and
    www.pbs.org/hanshofmann/biography_001.html

  2. In small groups students discuss the meaning of these two quotations and how they illustrate the ways in which artists such as Hans Hofmann were affected by the politics of both World War I and World War II. (The Nazi labeling of “Degenerate Art” may come up in these discussions. It will be addressed in the next activity.)

  3. As a class, view selected segments of the video relating to this issue. Follow with a class discussion.

  4. It should be made clear that Hofmann was affected by World War I and II: In 1914, as a German national, he had to leave Paris where he was studying art and mingling with artists such as Matisse and Picasso. As the quotation indicates, in addition to being a painter, Hofmann became an art teacher. Hofmann came to the United States to teach in 1930 and 1931 and decided not to return to Germany knowing that modern artists were under increasing attack by the Nazi regime.

Activity Two

Preparation:

 Visit website http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/arts/artdegen.htm for information of the 1937 Nazi exhibition Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art). View the Gallery of Selected Works on this PBS site at www.pbs.org/hanshofmann/selected_works_001.html. From local library obtain a list of censored books of the 20th century.

Procedure:

 Share list of censored books with class. Discuss rationale for censorship of certain books.

Describe a recent censorship of the arts:

Early in 2003, the tapestry version of Picasso’s Guernica at the United Nations was draped with a cloth, covering up its anti-war sentiment. This was done just before Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the General Assembly asking them for support of an Iraqi war.

Discussion of censorship should focus on who does the censoring and why. Is there ever an acceptable reason to censor the arts, entertainment?
(Think “V Chip” : http://www.fcc.gov/vchip)

  1. Explain that the 1937 Nazi display Entartete Kunst was a form of censorship. Give students a list of the artists whom the Nazis deemed “degenerate”. Direct students working in small groups, to find works by these artists: Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc.

  2. Students may look in general art history texts and visit an art image website such as www.artcyclopedia.com . There is a comprehensive selection of artwork found on http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/arts/artdegen.htm. Each group discusses why the work of these artists was labeled degenerate.

  3. Students visit the Gallery of Selected Works in the Hofmann PBS website: www.pbs.org/hanshofmann/selected_works_001.html, and consider why Hofmann’s work would have fallen into the same category of the above artists.

  4. As a culmination, class gathers together to share information. Afterwards, ask students to consider the relationship between these two facts: In the 1930’s these artists were all labeled degenerate by the Nazis. Today, their work is easily accessible in major art museums and on websites.
Assessment Suggestion:

 Students write on the ways in which censorship affected Hofmann. They may chose to do this in an essay, in the form of an interview, or as an editorial.

Extensions:

 Direct students to learn about other controversies involving the visual arts:

A discussion of the Sensation show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art may be found at:

www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec99/art_10-8.html

For information on the controversy surrounding Diego Rivera’s Rockefeller Center mural in ‘30’s visit http://fsweb.wm.edu/amst370/2001/sp4/rockefellerandhistory.html. Plan a visit to an art museum near your school to view the work of modern artists whose work was seen in Activity Two.

Commission the students in your class to plan and execute a design for a specific site in the school. All plans and research should be kept in the art journals.

Resources

 For a comprehensive bibliography on Hans Hofmann: www.hanshofmann.org/biblio.html

Additional Bibliography

 Books

 Bang, Molly. Picture This: Perception and Composition (Little, Brown and Company) 1991

Barnes, Lucinda. Hans Hofmann: The University of California Berkeley Art Museum Collection (Berkeley: University of California Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives), 2002

Cohen, Michele. “Art to Educate: A History of Public Art in the New York City Public Schools, 1890-1976” (PhD. Diss., CUNY, 2002) See for an excellent comprehensive report on the Hans Hofmann mural for the Printing School of New York, p. 231-244.

Greenberg, Clement. Hans Hofmann (Paris: The Pocket Museum), 1961

Haskell, Barbara. Ruckus Rodeo (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., Publishers) 1988.
Haskell as a curator of the Whitney Museum of American Art. In her introduction, she writes a comprehensive piece on the artist Red Grooms.

Kandinsky, Wassily. Trans. By M.T,H. Sadler. Concerning the Spiritual in Art (New York: Dover Publications, Inc.), 1977

Pohl, Frances K. Framing America: A Social History of American Art (New York: Thames & Hudson), 2002

Sims, Lowery Stokes. Hans Hofmann in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art), 1999

Articles

 Stella Beyond the Frame; Into Another Dimension; Making Waves. Scholastic ART, (Vol. 24, No. 4) February 1994.

About the Author

 Karen Rosner is a Visual Arts and Literacy Specialist for the New York City Department of Education. She conducts professional development workshops city-wide, encouraging teachers to integrate the arts into all areas of the curriculum. She serves on educational advisory boards for several museums in New York City. Karen has a Masters Degree in Art History and is in a doctoral program in Art History at the Graduate Center of CUNY.