Wernersville, Taken from the North-Side187925 1/2 x 33 1/2 "
Frame: 32 1/8 x 40 1/8 x 2 "Oil on zinc-plated tinGift of Ralph Esmerian2005.8.140Family walking along path RS, full trees before them. Behind, farmscape with farmer, horse drawn plow, split rail fences with town behind, hills and houses on mountainside in distance. The whole under sunset with blue sky above. Image framed in brown border with oval corners, yellow stripe. frame with decorative moorish motif on liner in gold, resemblin daguerreotype mat and frame.1545363377P1.2001.065Charles C. HofmannPaintingsThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain.Signed in pink paint LLC: Chs. Hofman, Painter CARTOUCHE at bottom in black shaded letters against gold. Gothic letters: Wernersville; Lower case script: taken from the north-side, Sept: 4th 1879.United StatesPennsylvaniaPaintingspaintingCharles Hofmann was the creative elder of a generational group of painters who rendered bright views of the almshouses in Pennsylvania's Berks and Schuylkill Counties while seeking shelter during bouts of alcoholism and destitution. Hofmann introduced a compositional format that was visually related to chromolithography and adopted by his followers Louis Mader (1842–c. 1899) and John Rasmussen (1828–1895). Although the almshouses were far from hospitable, Hofmann nevertheless presented a vision of order and healthy activity in the precise renderings of the Berks County Almshouse and the surrounding properties that he executed between 1865 and 1882. That vision may have been an effort to please the trustees and staff members of the facilities, who often commissioned the paintings and whose names appear in cartouches below.
Hofmann also produced around six landscape views. This is one of three paintings of Wernersville, a small town about eight miles from the Berks County Almshouse. John B. Knorr, a local undertaker and cabinetmaker, commissioned the painting in 1879, the same year he was appointed clerk of the Almshouse. Hofmann captured the Knorr family strolling along the foreground as well as preeminent features of the pristine landscape, including the steeple of Hains Church, their place of worship.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Wernersville, Taken from the North-Side," exhibition label for ALSO ON VIEW: Selections from the Collection. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgP1.2001.06518791879 2005 8 14 paintingCharles Hofmann was the creative elder of a generational group of painters who rendered bright views of the almshouses in Pennsylvania's Berks and Schuylkill Counties while seeking shelter during bouts of alcoholism and destitution. Hofmann introduced a compositional format that was visually related to chromolithography and adopted by his followers Louis Mader (1842–c. 1899) and John Rasmussen (1828–1895). Although the almshouses were far from hospitable, Hofmann nevertheless presented a vision of order and healthy activity in the precise renderings of the Berks County Almshouse and the surrounding properties that he executed between 1865 and 1882. That vision may have been an effort to please the trustees and staff members of the facilities, who often commissioned the paintings and whose names appear in cartouches below.
Hofmann also produced around six landscape views. This is one of three paintings of Wernersville, a small town about eight miles from the Berks County Almshouse. John B. Knorr, a local undertaker and cabinetmaker, commissioned the painting in 1879, the same year he was appointed clerk of the Almshouse. Hofmann captured the Knorr family strolling along the foreground as well as preeminent features of the pristine landscape, including the steeple of Hains Church, their place of worship.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Wernersville, Taken from the North-Side," exhibition label for ALSO ON VIEW: Selections from the Collection. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org