Ludwig von Hofmann was a German painter, graphic artist and designer who worked in a combination of art nouveau and symbolist styles. While many of von Hofmann’s pictures focus on the naked male form, on the basis of which some have suggested that he was at least bisexual if not actively gay, he also painted and drew a large number of naked women. Naked men and women often appear together in Adam and Eve pictures, a theme which was so common in German art at this time that most artists were using the subject as the merest excuse to represent the unclothed figure.

Ludwig von Hofmann grew up in Darmstadt, where his father was the Prussian statesman Karl von Hofmann, who served as minister-president of the Grand Duchy of Hesse from 1872 to 1876 and was briefly trade minister in the cabinet of Otto von Bismarck. Ludwig began his studies in 1883 at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, then studied with Ferdinand Keller at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe. In 1889 he attended the Académie Julian in Paris, where he came under the influence of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Paul-Albert Besnard.

After 1890 he worked as a freelance painter in Berlin. From 1894 to 1900 he travelled extensively and spent a great deal of his time at his villa in the Italian resort of Fiesole. His appreciation of antiquity and attraction to the idea of Arcadia permeates much of his work. After 1895, he was a regular contributor of illustrations for the art nouveau magazines Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration and Pan. In 1896 he became a member of the Berlin Secession and the Deutscher Künstlerbund, and in 1899 he married his cousin, Eleonore Kekulé von Stradonitz.

In 1903 he was appointed a professor at the Weimar Saxon Grand Ducal Art School, where he became a member of the avant-garde literary and artistic group centred around Harry Graf Kessler. Jean Arp and Ivo Hauptmann were among his students. In 1916 he became professor at the Academy in Dresden, where he remained until 1931.

His output slackened in the 1930s and, in 1937 some of his works were labelled ‘degenerate art’ by the Nazi party. He retired to Pillnitz, near Dresden, where he remained until his death. After the war the work remaining in his studio was almost confiscated by the Russians, but his widow managed to save them.

We are very grateful to our Russian friend Yuri for introducing us to the work of this artist, and for supplying most of the images.