Provincetown's unique history of teaching and learning has been seminal in the formal development of modernism in the 20th century. In this class we will study and emulate the teachings of two of Provincetown’s most important artists: Hans Hofmann and Charles W. Hawthorne. From 1900 through the 1920s 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 artists, we will see how painting became liberated from observation, into the formalized abstractions of late modernism. The course will offer a progression of exercises that emphasize and illustrate each artist’s 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. The Provincetown Art Association 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.