Publications by Malvina Hoffman
Hoffman, Malvina. “A Sculptor Goes Head-Hunting.” Asia 33, no. 7 (July-Aug 1933): 422-429, 430-433, 450-452.
Hoffman describes her experiences in creating the sculptures for the Hall of Man exhibit. It contains descriptions of her travels across the globe, her selection of models, and various insights into their cultures.
Hoffman, Malvina. 1962. Heads and Tales. New York: Bonanza Books.
Also published with the title, A Sculptor’s Odyssey by Scribner’s in the same year. Details the story of Hoffman’s journey around the world in order to collect material for the Hall of Man bronze sculptures commissioned for the Field Museum. Map of the artist’s journey on the lining-papers of the book.
Hoffman, Malvina. Sculpture Inside and Out. New York: Bonanza Books, 1939.
After studying in Paris with Auguste Rodin, Hoffman wrote this book about foundry techniques. She established her own studio in Paris and was a known master founder who hosted countless famous artists of her time. This title is well-indexed and extensive in its explanations on the history and techniques of sculpture.
Hoffman, Malvina. Yesterday Is Tomorrow, A Personal History. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1965.
Contains a list of sculpted works (1906-1963). An autobiography of Hoffman’s life with a chapter entitled Out of the Blue: The Hurricane Years, which is about her time working for The Field Museum.
Books about Malvina Hoffman
A selected bibliography based on the collections of The Field Museum of Natural History Library:
Race experts : sculpture, anthropology, and the American public in Malvina Hoffman's Races of mankind by Call Number: NB237.H55 K44ISBN: 9781496201850Publication Date: 2018"In 'Race Experts' Linda Kim examines the complicated and ambivalent role played by sculptor Malvina Hoffman in the 'Races of Mankind' series created for the Chicago Field Museum in 1930. Although Hoffman had training in fine arts and was a protégé of Auguste Rodin and Ivan Meštrović, she had no background in anthropology or museum exhibits. She was nonetheless commissioned by the Field Museum to make a series of life-size sculptures for the museum's new racial exhibition, which became the largest exhibit on race ever installed in a museum and one of the largest sculptural commissions ever undertaken by a single artist. Hoffman's 'Races of Mankind' exhibit was realized as a series of 104 bronzes of racial types from around the world, a unique visual mediation between anthropological expertise and everyday ideas about race in interwar America. Kim explores how the artist brought scientific understandings of race and the everyday racial attitudes of museum visitors together in powerful and productive friction.
Races of Mankind by ISBN: 9780252036248Publication Date: 2011-10-07In 1930, Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History commissioned sculptor Malvina Hoffman to produce three-dimensional models of racial types for an anthropology display called the Races of Mankind. In this exceptional study, Marianne Kinkel measures the colossal impact of the ninety-one bronze and stone sculptures on perceptions of race in twentieth-century visual culture, tracing their exhibition from their 1933 debut and nearly four decades at the Field Museum to numerous reuses, repackagings, reproductions, and publications that reached across the world.
Perfect Companionship by ISBN: 9780813923352Publication Date: 2005-06-16Perfect Companionship collects some 250 letters to and from Glasgow, many published here for the first time. The correspondents include Glasgow's family members, as well as prominent Richmonders. Also included are letters to and from authors such as Radclyffe Hall, Margaret Mitchell, and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and artists Malvina Hoffman and Clare Leighton.
From Clay to Bronze by ISBN: 9780823006380Publication Date: 1999-11-01Going beyond theory straight to hands-on practice, this studio workbook is devoted to the creation of a large, realistic bronze figure, from initial studies through the complex processes of enlarging, modelling, molding, casting and finishing.
Notable American Women by ISBN: 0674627334Publication Date: 1986-01-01The life stories of American women--442 of them--who have in some way affected contemporary American life are explored in this lauded companion to Notable American Women, 1607-1950. The basics--the crucial dates, ancestry, parents, education, marital status, and children--provide invaluable material for both the researcher and the general reader. Beyond these essentials, a brief essay focuses on each woman's life and personality, and evaluates her career from a historical framework. Sixteen new pages of photographs specially selected for the paperback edition have been included.
- Alexandre, Arsene. Malvina Hoffman. Paris: J.E. Pouterman, 1930. Text is in French. Contains a Chronological list of the principal works of Malvina Hoffman (1910-1929) and plates of some of the listed works.
- Field, Henry, Wilfrid D. Hambly, and Malvina Hoffman. 1946. The Races of Mankind. New York: C.S. Hammond.
- Conner, Janis C., Joel Rosenkranz and David Finn. Rediscoveries in American Sculpture: Studio Works, 1893-1939. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989. A chapter of this book is devoted to the work of Hoffman. The sculptors showcased in this book were once widely known for larger sculptures commissioned for world's fairs and expositions. Contains photographs of the sculptures, some in color.
- Gridley, Marion E. America’s Indian Statues. Chicago: Towertown Press, 1966. Contains photos of several Hoffman statues (p. 100).
- Heller, Nancy G. Women Artists: an Illustrated History. New York: Abbeville Press, 1987. Brief biography and FMNH photos. (p. 108-111)
- Hill, Mary Brawley. The Woman Sculptor: Malvina Hoffman and Her Contemporaries. New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1984.
- Kim, Linda. Race Experts: Sculpture, Anthropology, and the American Public in Malvina Hoffman's Races of Mankind. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2018.
- Kovinick, Phil. An Encyclopedia of Women Artist’s of the American West. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1988. Brief biography and bibliography (p. 145).
- Kovinick, Phil. The Woman Artist in the American West 1860-1960. Fullerton, Ca.: Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1976. Brief biography (p. 31).
- Tufts, Eleanor. American Women Artists 1830-1930. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1987. Brief biography and color photos of three sculptures (p. 122-125).
Essays and Articles
"Malvina Hoffman, Sculptor, Arrives: Returns From Paris to Finish Primitive Studies for Chicago Museum." New York Times, Dec. 12, 1933. p. 28.
"Museum Tours." Chicago Daily Tribune, Feb. 6, 1937. p. 2.
"New Exhibitions include Paint, Bronze and Ink." New York Times, Dec. 13, 1936. p. X1.
"On the Local Horizons." New York Times, Jun. 21, 1936. p. X7.
"Permanent Exposition for Millions; People Flock into Field Museum." Chicago Daily Tribune, Aug. 22, 1937. p. H4.
"Sculptor to Tour World for Science." New York Times, Sep. 12, 1931. p. 5.
"Shows Bronze Group; Field Museum in Chicago Gets Malvina Hoffman Work. Special to The New York Times." New York Times, Jan. 10, 1933. p. 25.
"Unity of Man." The Chicago Defender, Jan. 10, 1933. p. 25.
"Woman Honor Their Leaders in Many Fields." Chicago Daily Tribune, Mar. 19, 1936. p. 21.
"Woman Sculptor Explored Far Lands for 'Heads of Man': Malvina Hoffman's Bronzes Will Be Exhibited Soon in New York City; She Covered All Types From Pygmies to East Indians." The Washington Post, Jan. 21, 1934. p. J9.
"Woman to Make 200 Busts for Field Museum." Chicago Daily Tribune, May 23, 1930. p. 10.
Birkhead, May. "Hoffman Exhibits 'Native Types' in Paris; Honored by Invitation to Show Ethnographical Sculpture in Trocadero." Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 19, 1933. p. E3.
Birkhead, May. "Work of Malvina Hoffman Is Praised by Paris; Her Statuette of Cambodian Dance, Familiar to French, Arouses Interest." Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 26, 1933. p. E3.
Birkhead, May. "Hoffman Sculptures Exhibited in Paris; Many Americans Attend Exhibit of Replicas of Pieces Made for Chicago Museum. Special Correspondence, The New York Times." New York Times, Nov. 26, 1933. p. N4.
Broadd, Harry A. "Malvina Hoffman's 'Races of Man.'" Arts & Activities. March 1982. p. 24-27.
Butcher, Fanny. "Books; Her Life Told by Sculptress in New Book Malvina Hoffman Author of 'Heads and Tales'." Chicago Daily Tribune, Oct. 3, 1936. p. 17.
Cass, Judith. "Garden Club of America Opens Convention in Chicago Today; Visit to Art Institute Loan Exhibition, Tea and Buffet Supper Constitute Social Program. Delegates to Attend Art Exhibition and Tea." Chicago Daily Tribune, Jun. 5, 1933. p. 17-18.
Cass, Judith. "League of Women Voters Sponsors Talk." Chicago Daily Tribune, Jan. 11, 1933. p. 13-14.
Conrad, David C. and Tillotson, Karen J. "The Races of Man." Chicago Reader, April 16, 1993, v. 22:28. p. 8-9, 30.
de Young, Ruth. "Stitches Map of Hoffman Travels; Makes Needle Work Map of Sculptor's Trip Tells Journey to Gather 'Races of Men'." Chicago Daily Tribune, Sep. 28, 1934. p. 17.
Decoteau, Pamela Hibbs. "Malvina Hoffman and the Races of Man." Woman's Art Journal 10. Fall/Winter '89-'90. p. 7-12.
Duncan, Michael. "Freeing the figure." Art in America 84. April 1996. p. 44-45.
Gordon, E. Adina. "Figures in marble: an American tradition." Sculpture Review 51: 1. April 1994. p. 8-15.
Hubbard, Guy. "Clip & Save Art Print: Classroom Use." Arts and Activities 115: 3. April 1994. p. 68-69.
Hoffman, Malvina. "Just Browsing; Sculpting the Races of Man." Chicago Tribune, Sep. 26, 1965. p. 20.
Jewell, Edward Alden. "Malvina Hoffman Shows Casts Here; Bronze Reductions of Works in Her 'Races of Mankind' to Be on View Today." New York Times, Jan. 30, 1934. p. 17.
Keith, Sir Arthur. "Races of the World: A Gallery in Bronze." New York Times, May 21, 1933. p. SM10-SM11.
Kemp, Martin. "Science in Culture. Type and archetype, Hoffman and Herring in the Field Museum, Chicago." Nature 405: 6784. May 18, 2000. p. 278.
Krogman, Wilton M. "Henry Field on Track of Man." Chicago Daily Tribune, Oct. 25, 1953. p. H4.
Millier, Arthur. "The Woman who did a He-Man's Job." Los Angeles Times, April 16, 1939. p. I4.
Mose, Ruth. "Anthropology Sculpted in Bronze; Student of Rodin Writes of Her Adventures in Many Lands, Racial Types Modeled by Sculptress on World Trip." The Washington Post, Oct. 4, 1936. p. B8.
Nochlin, Linda. "Malvina Hoffman: a Life in Sculpture." Arts Magazine, Nov. 1984. p. 106-110.
Norton, Ruth Edwards. "Recording Racial Types in Bronze." Hobbies 17: 5. June 1937. p. 82-97.
Provines, June. "Front Views and Profiles." Chicago Daily Tribune, May 24, 1934. p. 17.
Rosen, Jeff. "Of Monsters and Fossils: the Making of Racial Difference in Malvina Hoffman's 'Hall of the Races of Mankind.'" History and Anthropology 12: 2. 2001. p. 101-158.