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Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000
HANS HOFMANN Composition in Blue.
Color screenprint, 1952. 433x360 mm; 17 1/8x14 1/4 inches, full margins. Signed in ink, lower right and numbered 55/120 in pencil, lower left. Published by Esther Gentle, New York. A superb impression of this extremely scarce, early print with strong colors.
According to Williams, Hofmann was pursuaded to make this print by Esther Gentle (who later married Abraham Rattner), his student at the time, who was starting to publish screenprints reproducing well-known artists' paintings (Reba and Dave Williams, American Screenprints, New York, 1987, page 32). Unlike other screenprints by Abstract Expressionist artists, Hofmann's is an original work which does not reproduce a painting.
An unusual feature of Composition in Blue is that the blue background varies; the artist authorized different color mixtures and strengths for the printing of this particular screen (Williams, page 32).
