Zeit-Zeichen

Werner Hofmann lived in his paintings. He filled sketchbook after sketchbook, more than 420 over the decades, from 1956 until his death in 2005. The carefully numbered books contain the templates for many of his woodcuts and watercolors. Everyday life fascinated the great Lucerne illustrator, the things that come into our field of vision daily, that catch our eye and usually disappear from our minds just as quickly: bathers at the Lido Lucerne, playing children, humanity in general: sitting, standing, lying down, alone, in pairs, in groups, contemplative or active, the hurried host, the ladies in service, established women who were once called serving girls, mushrooms that were just in the forest and meadows, now already on the plate, which the serving girls could bring over nicely, the apron, the bag, the shoe...

The legacy of Werner Hofmann is presented in this book with a selection of 200 of his best, most original, and most expressive sketches. It is published on the occasion of the artist's 80th birthday – in collaboration with the Central and University Library of Lucerne, which houses the sketch collection, Brigitte Hofmann, the widow of Werner Hofmann, and Ueli Habegger, the former cultural officer of the city of Lucerne as editor. Texts by Ueli Habegger and Heinz Stalder, one of the artist's closest companions, pay tribute to the work and personality of Werner Hofmann.