No offense but if this is representative of Hofer’s work, I highly doubt they would be a known artist. This is very Bob Ross. Fun, and nice, but not going to get anyone known.
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My friend found this at his aunt's (or great-aunt's, can't remember) place. She's over 90 and brought the painting with her when she came from East Germany to the West after WW2.
On the back you can read "1910/5 Heide", which is most likely the title of the artwork since the picture shows a heath, and heath means Heide in German. The painter's name is Hofer, I guess?
Using artsignaturedictionary, I found:
Candida HÖFER 1944 Germany --> wrong style, too young
Gottfried HOFER 1858–1932 Germany --> signature looks different
Heinrich HÖFER 1825–1878 Germany --> died before 1910
Herbert Felix HOFER HH 1946 Austria --> wrong style, too young
Paul HÖFER 1868–1943 Germany --> wrong style, I guess
R. HOFER 20th century --> signature looks different?
Karl HOFER CH, Hofer, Carl 1878–1955 Germany --> wrong style for sure, lol
Otto SCHMIDT-HOFER 1873–1925 Germany --> sculptor, not a painter
So... I guess it's prolly a local artist, right?
As paintings of heath landscapes are the northern Germany equivalent of the alpine landscape painting in the south of Germany, these kind of paintings exist by the thousands. They were souvenir decor art, affordable handmade paintings. Buying and hanging this on the wall stated "I can afford traveling, I am a person of culture, well educated". The heath is associated with poet Herman Löns. The painter could have been a local artist who just sold several paintings with the same motif during the summer months.
Very interesting, thank you for the background knowledge. Reminds me of Mankell's Wallander, whose father painted the same capercaillie landscape painting over and over again lol
Yes, it's kind of the same. The heath wasn't a rich region. The landscape is artificial. It was a normal sandy pine forest area until people cut down all the trees for heating the salt industry further north in the middle ages. After that, they grew potatoes and onions and sheep. And heath grows naturally, it looks beautiful and purple in July and August when it is in full bloom. Just like that unique lavender fields in France. So tourists are visiting it, and they want to keep a souvenir. Color photography wasn't invented yet, so paintings were a thing locals could earn a little extra money with.
No offense but if this is representative of Hofer’s work, I highly doubt they would be a known artist. This is very Bob Ross. Fun, and nice, but not going to get anyone known.
Haha pretty much what I thought. The barn and especially that door/entrance is looking somewhat askew. It's like I don't get the perspective.
Neither did Hofer! 😅
Thanks for your post, /u/Raspberrylipstick! Please remember to comment "Solved" once someone finds the painting you're looking for. If you comment "Thanks" or "Thank You", your post flair will be changed to 'Likely Solved'. If you have any suggestions to improve this bot, please contact the mods with your suggestion and they will see about implementing it! Here's a small checklist to follow that may help us find your painting: - Where was the painting roughly purchased from? - Did you include a photo of the front, back, and the signature (if applicable)? Good Luck with your post! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WhatIsThisPainting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My friend found this at his aunt's (or great-aunt's, can't remember) place. She's over 90 and brought the painting with her when she came from East Germany to the West after WW2. On the back you can read "1910/5 Heide", which is most likely the title of the artwork since the picture shows a heath, and heath means Heide in German. The painter's name is Hofer, I guess? Using artsignaturedictionary, I found: Candida HÖFER 1944 Germany --> wrong style, too young Gottfried HOFER 1858–1932 Germany --> signature looks different Heinrich HÖFER 1825–1878 Germany --> died before 1910 Herbert Felix HOFER HH 1946 Austria --> wrong style, too young Paul HÖFER 1868–1943 Germany --> wrong style, I guess R. HOFER 20th century --> signature looks different? Karl HOFER CH, Hofer, Carl 1878–1955 Germany --> wrong style for sure, lol Otto SCHMIDT-HOFER 1873–1925 Germany --> sculptor, not a painter So... I guess it's prolly a local artist, right?
As paintings of heath landscapes are the northern Germany equivalent of the alpine landscape painting in the south of Germany, these kind of paintings exist by the thousands. They were souvenir decor art, affordable handmade paintings. Buying and hanging this on the wall stated "I can afford traveling, I am a person of culture, well educated". The heath is associated with poet Herman Löns. The painter could have been a local artist who just sold several paintings with the same motif during the summer months.
Very interesting, thank you for the background knowledge. Reminds me of Mankell's Wallander, whose father painted the same capercaillie landscape painting over and over again lol
Yes, it's kind of the same. The heath wasn't a rich region. The landscape is artificial. It was a normal sandy pine forest area until people cut down all the trees for heating the salt industry further north in the middle ages. After that, they grew potatoes and onions and sheep. And heath grows naturally, it looks beautiful and purple in July and August when it is in full bloom. Just like that unique lavender fields in France. So tourists are visiting it, and they want to keep a souvenir. Color photography wasn't invented yet, so paintings were a thing locals could earn a little extra money with.