Monthly Archives: June 2026

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Arthur Hoffmann, sculptor and friend of Hermann Radzyk

My mother always told me that my grandfather Hermann Radzyk had many art friends. One of them was Arthur Hoffmann.

In 1929, my grandfather painted his friend Arthur Hoffmann.

The portrait was dated and signed with Hermann Radzig-Radzyk, it has no title though.

 

How do know, this is Arthur Hoffmann?

Why do I know, the portrait shows Arthur Hoffmann? The answer comes in two steps.

First step: Arthur Hoffmann modelled Hermann Radzyk’s daughter Marion, when she was a teenager (our mother).

He signed the bust with his name (with “Artur”, usually he goes by the name “Arthur”); the bust is undated. In 1932, Arthur Hoffmann showed the bust called “Marion” at the Verein Berliner Künstler; I saw the exhibition catalogue in their archive. Hence the bust was sculpted in 1932. Then, Marion, the daughter, was 16 years old.

I remember, my mother told me, she had to sit down long hours for this bust and had to catch up at school after that.

Second step: A Telegraf article is attached to the bust. I made a quick photo with my smartphone.

Later I looked at the article in more detail. It is from May 15th 1955. It talks about Arthur Hoffmann and his antelope. I compared the photo with the portrait… look at the raised left eyebrow and the prominent chin! The photo and the portrait both show Arthur Hoffmann. On the photo of 1955, he was just 26 years older that in 1929, when my grandfather had painted him.

This is how I knew that my grandfather had portrayed Arthur Hoffmann.

 

The antelope will return to the Preussenpark at Berlin – and the antelope DID return

The Telegraf article of 1955 talks about the antelope that will return to the Preussenpark. The antelope was a bronze sculpture made by Arthur Hoffmann that had been destroyed during the Second World War. The mold still existed, and in 1955 Arthur Hoffmann offered to recast the antelope. The younger brother of Hermann Radzyk, Ferdinand Radzig, sent the article to my mother, and he added in handwriting that, before the war, the antelope was so true-to-life amidst the bushes of the Preussenpark.

Well, the antelope DID return to the Preussenpark. I saw it for the first time in 1966, when I visited Berlin with my mother. I have kept on visiting the antelope again and again, whenever I was at Berlin.

Now, end of May 2026, I am again in Berlin, and as always, I greet the antelope of Arthur Hoffmann in the Preussenpark. Later, I learn from the Wilmersdorfer Magazine of May 2026 that the antelope had been set up at the Preussenpark exactly 100 years ago, in May 1926. It disappeared in 1944 (maybe it was melted down), and, as I knew already from the Telegraf article, it had been recast in 1955. The original was donated by the Berliner Strassenbahn GmbH.

 

The chandelier – also a work of Arthur Hoffmann?

I believe that this chandelier is also a product of Arthur Hoffmann, though it has no signature.

My grandfather Hermann Radzyk painted the chandelier standing in the corner of their apartment in Charlottenburg, as his daughter/my mother told me. Hence the chandelier was painted before 1935/1936 (before my grandparents moved from Charlottenburg to Kleinmachnow).

Now, chandelier and painting are reunified and I had the chandelier repaired.

Well, the chandelier is unsigned, but it looks just like the Art  Nouveau dancers of Artur Hoffmann that auction houses still sell today.

 

About Arthur Hoffmann (1874-1960)

Born in 1874 at Potsdam, Arthur Hoffmann was 5 years older than Hermann Radzyk. They studied together at the Königliche Akademische Hochschule für die Bildenden Künste; they met for just one semester in winter 1902/03 (see UdK Archiv). Arthur Hoffmann received the Grosser Staatspreis (Grand State Prize) in 1903 (see invaluable and Wilmersdorf Gazette).

In 1953, my mother visited Arthur Hoffmann, when she was at Berlin for the funeral of her mother Helene Radzyk. Arthur Hoffmann told her that life as an artist was difficult in Berlin now (according to my mother’s diary of 1953).

Arthur Hoffmann died at Berlin in 1960.

The Wilmersdorfer Gazette says that Arthur Hoffmann was one of the major artists shaping the art scene at Berlin in the late imperial era and during the Weimar Republic in the 1920’s. Like other artists from those years he has been largely forgotten now. However, auction houses still sell his elegant sculptures, above all graceful dancers.

 

Dreaming near the antelope…

Now I am sitting on the bench near the antelope commemorating Arthur Hoffmann and dreaming about my grandfather Hermann Radzyk with his house open to artists (certainly supported by his wife Helene). My memories move on to their daughter Marion, my mother: She was a Berliner, and she felt like a Berliner; she took me to her city 60 years ago, then showing this antelope to me and opening my eyes for her city.

 

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