Veluti in Speculum 1962

Curator: What catches your eye about this canvas? To me, it practically hums with postwar optimism. Editor: It feels…like trying to remember a beautiful dream through a haze. Curator: That’s an interesting read. This piece, titled "Veluti in Speculum", which is Latin for "as if in a mirror," was completed by Hans Hofmann in 1962. He worked with acrylic paint, laying down rectangles in shades that create dissonance. It hangs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art here in New York. I like the suggestion of “mirror” – though not necessarily for its reflective qualities. Perhaps, in this context, more for the way mirrors can distort. Editor: Mirror as metaphor feels very right. I’m especially drawn to the buttery impasto of the yellow sections. The layers, I imagine, feel almost cake-like. You can practically smell the solvents rising from it. Curator: Absolutely. The visible layering points to the artist's engagement with material processes. What is important is Hofmann's application of the paint. This active construction and deconstruction—layer upon layer—suggests that art-making can be less about representing some concrete, material referent and more about capturing a felt, energetic presence. Editor: Yes, there’s definitely a palpable energy in the construction! Almost chaotic, a delightful discord…but anchored. And that dark umber rectangle is critical. The dark grounds everything; offers a foil to those optimistic yellows, greens, pinks. It provides gravity. Curator: You’ve identified a critical element. It is easy to perceive Hofmann's emphasis on gesture and immediacy, the artist's own labor, his process. But what does the abstraction afford? This work moves from the physical to the metaphysical... What feelings did Hofmann try to invoke, I wonder, through this painting’s structure? Editor: Something deeply human… imperfect, hopeful, a little fractured, and bathed in intense, beautiful light. Thank you, Hofmann! Curator: The discussion of art's potential in relation to everyday experience seems key here – especially given the way Hofmann manipulated color, scale, and application within a conventional medium.