Skip to main content

In the event of a government shutdown, the National Portrait Gallery will remain OPEN through at least Saturday, October 7, by using prior year funds. Visit si.edu for updates. 

Malvina Hoffman

Malvina Hoffman
Artist
Clara Sipprell, 31 Oct 1885 - 27 Dec 1975
Sitter
Malvina Cornell Hoffman, 15 Jun 1885 - 10 Jul 1966
Date
c. 1928
Type
Photograph
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image/Sheet: 25.3 × 20.3 cm (9 15/16 × 8")
Mount: 28.1 × 21.5 cm (11 1/16 × 8 7/16")
Mat: 55.9 × 40.6 cm (22 × 16")
Topic
Interior
Artist's Effects
Costume\Jewelry\Watch
Artwork\Sculpture\Statue
Costume\Dress Accessory\Neckwear\Tie\Necktie
Artist's Effects\Sculpting tool
Malvina Cornell Hoffman: Female
Malvina Cornell Hoffman: Visual Arts\Artist\Sculptor
Malvina Cornell Hoffman: Literature\Writer
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.81.12
Exhibition Label
Born New York City
Having decided to shift from painting to sculpture, Malvina Hoffman moved to Paris in 1910, and is now known for her numerous public commissions between the First and Second World Wars. In the French capital, she studied with renowned sculptor Auguste Rodin for several years. She then returned to Europe in the 1920s to study with the sculptor Ivan Meštrovic. A version of Hoffman’s sculpture of Meštrovic appears in the background of this photograph by Clara Sipprell.
Hoffman’s best-known project came in the early 1930s, when the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago commissioned her to sculpt the series The Races of Mankind. On view at the Field between 1933 and 1969, the life-size bronzes and were seen by millions. Their making and display are now considered a case study in the troubling ways the disciplines of anthropology and museology reinforced nowdiscredited conceptions of racial hierarchy and difference.
Nacida en la Ciudad de Nueva York
Tras abandonar la pintura por la escultura, Malvina Hoffman se mudó a París en 1910 y hoy se le conoce por sus numerosas obras de arte público entre las dos guerras mundiales. En la capital francesa estudió varios años con el famoso escultor Auguste Rodin. En la década de 1920 regresó a Europa para estudiar con el escultor Ivan Meštrovic. Al fondo de esta fotografía de Clara Sipprell aparece una versión de la escultura de Meštrovic realizada por Hoffman.
El proyecto más conocido de Hoffman vino a principios de la década de 1930, cuando el Museo Field de Historia Natural de Chicago le encargó la serie escultórica Las razas de la humanidad. Expuestos en el Museo Field entre 1933 y 1969, los bronces de tamaño natural fueron vistos por millones de personas. Su creación y exposición se consideran ahora un ejemplo de cómo la antropología y la museología reforzaron conceptos de diferencias y jerarquías raciales hoy desacreditados.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Back to Top