Provincetown's history of teaching and learning has been seminal in the formal development of modernism in the 20th century. In this class we will study the teachings of two of Provincetown’s most important artists: Hans Hofmann and Charles W. Hawthorne. Hawthorne taught a reflexive, expressive response to the visual field- emphasizing observational color above drawing as the most potent and descriptive aspect of painting. Hofmann's concerns were for how colors advance or recede spatially on the picture plane, dependent on their properties.

As we study the approaches of both of these artists, we will see how painting eventually became liberated from observation into the formalized abstractions of late modernism. The Provincetown Art Associations and Museum's collection is unique in holding works that document this development, and their study will be an important component of the course work.

The course will offer a progression of exercises that emphasize and illustrate these concerns, and will serve students at any level. The activity of painting will be emphasized above completion or production. As a result, we will make many paintings over the course of the workshop.

Doug Ritter Materials List:

Oil or Acrylic (oil is preferred) Suggested colors:
White, cadmium yellow, yellow ochre, Venetian red or equivalent, cadmium red, alizarin crimson, cerulean blue, cobalt blue, dioxazine violet, ultramarine blue deep, permanent green, viridian green, lamp black.

Rags or paper towels
Container of thinner with lid- Gamsol or Sansodor for thinners & Galkyd or Liquin for mediums
Brushes (large, small, rounds, filberts, and flats)
Palette Knife
Something to paint on: stretched canvas, canvas board, gessoed plywood,
or primed watercolor paper.