Irene Hoffmann

Irene Hoffmann, née Wallbrecht, was born in Hanover on 14 December 1903. In 1928 she became a student at the Bauhaus in Dessau. She studied in the advertising department and began attending classes taught by Walter Peterhans in 1932. In addition to photographs, graphic designs and experimental photograms, she also created collages during this period. She met the architecture student Hubert Hoffmann at the Bauhaus. The couple married in 1929. One of Irene Hoffmann’s works was presented at the Bauhaus’s travelling exhibition the following year. In 1933 she completed her studies at the Bauhaus with a diploma from the advertising workshop. She then ran a studio for advertising and portrait photography in Berlin together with fellow Bauhaus graduate Hannes Schmitt. She also did freelance work for the graphic and design studio of former Bauhaus master László Moholy-Nagy until 1934. Between 1934 and 1936, she created additional projects in the field of advertising-related graphic design together with Hubert Hoffmann. Irene Hoffmann emigrated to the US in 1936, but her husband remained in Germany. They were divorced in 1938. Irene Hoffmann died in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on 16 February 1982.