Meadowlark Gallery: The Artist Biographies

Malvina Cornell Hoffman (1887-1966)
Malvina Cornell Hoffman (Mrs. Samuel B. Grimson) was born in New York City in 1887 and died there in 1966. She was an international sculptor, writer, and painter. She was educated at the Brearley School in New York City. Malvina studied painting with John Alexander in New York City and sculpture with Herbert Adams and Gutzon Borglum in New York City, then with Auguste Rodin in Paris. She won a first prize for her "Russian Dancers" in Paris as early as 1911. She was selected Woman of Achievement in 1935, one of twelve women contributing most toward human betterment, and Woman of the Year in 1957. She was the author of "Heads and Tales," a 1936 autobiography, and "Sculpture Inside and Out" in 1939. "Heads and Tales" concentrates on the 101 life size bronze figures and heads for the Hall of Man at the Field Museum in Chicago. Hoffman saved the American Indian for last, traveling to the West, starting with New Mexico and providing forty pages of art and ethnology.
View high resolution images of works by Malvina Cornell Hoffman when available.