Background
He was born in Karlsruhe on 11 October 1878, shortly before his father, a military musician, died and left him in the care of two great aunts.
He was born in Karlsruhe on 11 October 1878, shortly before his father, a military musician, died and left him in the care of two great aunts.
During Hofer's stay at Rome his paintings were given titles like Girls on the Seaside and Girls at the Window.
His trips to India in 1909 and 1911 inspired him to accept a free, agitated use of color.
In 1946, Hofer was appointed director of the Hochschule für Bildende Künste (High School of Pictorial Arts) in Berlin.
The figures in Hofer's paintings are plastically seen; the color recedes. Demons, the embodiment of his bitterness and despair, more and more filled his paintings. His works include paintings, drawings, and graphics; he also wrote books and numerous articles
Masks, skeletons, and terrible phantoms, a prophecy of air-raided towns, of the terrors to come, predominated in his work at that time. These paintings give the impression of flatness; their gloomy conception is broken by a few striking color accents.
