From Prague to Auckland: the photographs of Frank Hofmann (1916-89) 
(Music, Gus Fisher Gallery, Architecture and Planning, Fine Arts)
26 August 2011 to 29 October 2011
Venue: The Gus Fisher Gallery, The Kenneth Myers Centre, 74 Shortland St
Cost: Free
Contact info: 09 923 6646
Website: www.gusfishergallery.auckland.ac.nz
Frank Hofmann arrived in New Zealand in 1940 as a refugee from Nazism. He quickly established himself as a professional photographer, first in Christchurch, then in Auckland from 1941. In Auckland he initially worked for Clifton Firth, the most prominent photographer, and from 1948-75 for Christopher Bede Studios, the country’s largest commercial portrait business. This was Hofmann's day job. He also pursued art photography intensely, exploring the aesthetic and poetic potentialities of the medium in various genres: portraiture, experimental and abstract, architectural, and landscape. Besides being an outstanding photographer, Hofmann is particularly important historically for introducing inter-war European modernist ideas and practices into New Zealand.
He was a semi-professional musician and, from the early 1940s, a member of the Auckland String Players, which evolved into the Auckland Symphonia. With his wife, the writer Helen Shaw (Hella Hofmann), he was a central figure in a lively, multi-disciplinary cultural scene; closely involved with the visual arts, modernist architecture and literature. He photographed most of the leading figures of this milieu – conductors Georg Tintner and Juan Matteucci, musicians Lili Kraus and Valmai Moffat, painters Eric Lee Johnson and Louise Henderson, architects Vernon Brown and Ivan Juriss, and writers Frank Sargeson and A.R.D. Fairburn. Once asked for his biography, Hofmann replied that a photographer's biography was his work.
Exhibition curated by Leonard Bell, Art History
Opening preview, Friday 26 August, 5.30pm
PUBLIC EVENTS
Saturday 27 August, 1pm
An exhibition tour with curator Len Bell in conversation with the artist’s son, Stephen Hofmann.
Saturday 3 September, 1pm
Writer Riemke Ensing recalls her friends Frank Hofmann and his wife Helen Shaw, and reads a selection of her related poems.
Saturday 17 September, 1pm
Critic and writer William Dart talks to senior members and alumni of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra about the APO’s formative years as the Auckland String Players with Frank Hofmann.
Saturday 24 September, 1pm (Architecture Week)
In response to Frank Hofmann’s images of houses by Vernon Brown and The Group, John Walsh, NZIA Communications Manager, talks about approaching architecture through photography.
Saturday 1 October, 1pm (Architecture Week)
As part of Architecture week, Hugh Byrd and colleagues from the School of Architecture and Planning will give a talk on the ‘Myths and the Maths behind a Low Carbon Auckland’ and a presentation will be on display in the gallery foyer all afternoon.
Saturday 15 October, 1pm
In response to Frank Hofmann’s multi-disciplinary lifestyle, Gus Fisher Gallery Curator Andrew Clifford gives a talk on relationships between art and music.
Thursday 20 October, 7pm
Photographer Yvonne Todd responds to aspects of Frank Hofmann’s portraiture and commercial work. The gallery is open until 9pm for Art Week. www.artweek.co.nz
Saturday 22 October, 1pm
Anna Parlane explores the association between Frank Hofmann and architect Vernon Brown.
Saturday 29 October, 1pm
Exhibition curator Len Bell discusses the implications of émigré artists working in New Zealand.
All exhibitions and events are free and take place at the Gus Fisher Gallery unless otherwise noted.
