Malvina Hoffman:

Malvina Hoffman (1885–1966) was a prominent American sculptor and author, often referred to as "America’s Rodin". She is best known for her large-scale bronze series, The Races of Mankind, commissioned by Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History in 1930. 

This project was one of the largest single commissions ever awarded to a sculptor, involving over 100 life-size figures, busts, and heads intended to document the world's diverse ethnic groups.

Hoffman travelled the globe for several years to find authentic models for The Races of Mankind (1930–1933) series. While initially praised for its artistic merit and popular at the Field Museum for decades, the exhibition was later criticized for its reliance on outdated racial typologies and was deinstalled in 1969. In 2016, the museum opened a reimagined exhibition focusing on the individuality of the subjects. 

Charles Despiau

Charles Despiau (1874–1946) was a leading French sculptor and illustrator, renowned for his refined portrait busts. Often compared to Aristide Maillol, his work is marked by a quiet Neoclassical restraint and a remarkable sensitivity to individual character.

In 1907, Auguste Rodin invited Despiau to join his studio after encountering his work at the Salon. While he developed formidable technical skill under Rodin’s guidance, Despiau ultimately turned away from his mentor’s expressive intensity, favouring instead a more measured, archaic classicism. He became part of a generation of sculptors who reacted against Rodin’s emotional dynamism, seeking clarity, balance, and an inner stillness in form.

Despiau’s reputation, however, was clouded after World War II. His participation in a 1941 cultural “study tour” of Nazi Germany—alongside artists such as André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck—drew criticism and cast a lasting shadow over his legacy.

Ettore Ximenes - Boy with a Beret

Ettore Ximenes (1855–1926) was a prominent Italian sculptor and illustrator renowned for his realist and Symbolist works. Born in Palermo, he achieved international acclaim for his monumental public sculptures located across Europe and the Americas.

Notable castings of his Dante monument are located in New York City's Dante Park and Washington D.C.'s Meridian Hill Park. 

Herman van der Velden

Herman van der Velden (1942-2025) worked for the Dutch public broadcaster (NOS) for decades.

He was responsible for the music on iconic programs such as Met het oog op morgen, Radio Tour de France, and RadiOlympia.

Through his specific choice of records, he was instrumental in the creation of various hits and helped artists achieve national fame

He achieved mythical status with the line "We are interrupting Herman van der Velden 's music , because a goal has been scored..." during the radio broadcasts of (sports program) Langs de Lijn.

André Fonteyne

André Fonteyne is a Belgian filmmaker and production designer primarily known for his extensive work in art direction and set decoration within Belgian and Dutch cinema. 

Andre Fonteyne is known for De vliegende Hollander (1995), Mascara (1987) and Pallieter (1976).

Jules Fonteyne

Jules Joseph Fonteyne (1878 –1964) was a Belgian (Flemish) painter, draftsman, etcher, book illustrator, and art education teacher.

Jules Fonteyne was born in Bruges as the son of Hippolyte Fonteyne and Emma Doutrepont. He grew up in an artistic environment. Both his father and his uncle Renon Fonteyne were sculptors, who shared a studio.

Hippolyte Fonteyne; engraved portrait by Jules Fonteyne

As an artist, Jules Fonteyne mastered various techniques: oil painting, pencil, pen, and charcoal drawing, as well as engraving and etching. In addition, he experimented with ceramics. He was also a photographer, although he used photography primarily as documentation to support his graphic oeuvre, rather than as an art form in itself. Nevertheless, several beautiful cityscapes of Bruges from the early twentieth century by him have been preserved. 

Rembrandt

 

• Rembrandt, Harmensz van Rijn

Jos Degen

Jos Degen (1943) trained in photography and photonics in The Hague. He worked twelve years in optics at TNO, followed by 24 years in government as head of a photo and video department and later as an analysis specialist. He is now retired.

Influenced by masters including Paul Huf, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Ansel Adams, Jos captures fleeting impressions of landscapes, people, and culture. His work has earned both national (ANVV) and international (Leica) awards.

Since 1974, he has studied graphic techniques—etching, lithography, and linocut—at the Vrije Academie in Vlaardingen, drawing inspiration from Japanese printmakers like Hokusai and Hiroshige.

Today, Jos combines photography and digital tools in what he calls “digigraphics,” blending image, abstraction, and emotion into distinctive visual works.

June is National Indigenous History Month

June is Canadian National Indigenous History Month and remembers the First Nations, Métis & Inuit people who have served and sacrificed for Canada.

Sergeant Tommy Prince (right), 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, with his brother, Private Morris Prince at an investiture at Buckingham Palace London, England, February 12, 1945.

Serving as a reconnaissance expert in the Devil's Brigade, Tommy Prince posed as a local farmer to repair a severed communications wire in full view of enemy troops. He is one of Canada's most decorated Indigenous soldiers.

Alide Rõude

Alide Rõude (born Alide Rosalie Rosenfeld; 1895 – 1979) was the wife of Alfred Rõude, one of Estonia's most prominent art collectors and patrons.

She is primarily known for her role in preserving and donating her husband's massive art collection to the Art Museum of Estonia following his death in 1968. This collection, which includes thousands of works of Estonian and Baltic German art, is considered one of the most significant private donations in the museum's history.

Auguste Rodin

Naturally, Auguste Rodin featured on The Beret Project before. 

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) is widely regarded as the father of modern sculpture. Rejecting the polished, idealized conventions of the 19th century, he embraced raw human emotion and naturalism, often leaving the marks of his process—fingerprints, tool traces—visible in his clay models.

Rodin transformed sculpture from decorative allegory into a powerful exploration of the human condition. In his studio, models moved freely, allowing him to capture the body in natural, unposed motion. He was also among the first to present partial figures—a hand, a torso—as complete works in their own right.

Equally revolutionary was his treatment of surface. Rather than smooth, classical finishes, Rodin’s bronzes are alive with texture, their shifting planes catching and reflecting light in dramatic ways.

Many of his most celebrated sculptures originated as fragments within his monumental lifelong project, The Gates of Hell, a work that became a fertile source for some of the most iconic forms in modern art.

 

Aotearoa Again

Coffee with my friend Craig in Kitsilano

Our British Columbia discovery tour has come to an end, and we’re back in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Thank you for following along.

Lake Lillooet

I can’t quite say berets were everywhere, but it was a pleasure to spot a fair number out in the Canadian wild — temperatures up to 34oC didn't really help (except for the odd diehard of course).

Bon Macaron, Granville Island

After 16 days of sharing daily photo posts, it’s time to return to the usual rhythm. From tomorrow, expect the regular blog posts again.

Sunset Beach, Vancouver

Canada# 16

 

Vancouver International Wine Festival executive director Harry Hertscheg savours some wine by Chung Chow

Canada# 15

John Campbelljohn

 

Canada# 14

 

Fred Herzog

Canada# 13

 

Emile Benoit

Canada# 12

 

Canada# 11

 

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau

Canada# 10

 

Xavier Bonilla at Cherry Point Estate Wines

Canada# 9

Glenn Gould 

Canada# 8

St John

Canada# 7

 

Paul Reddick

Canada# 6

Mors Kochanski

 

Canada# 5

 

Canada# 4

 

Dr Norman Bethune

Canada# 3

 

March 19, 2010 in Sidney, British Columbia, CA

Canada# 2

 Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau

Canada# 1

 

The Beret Project is Heading Off on a Break!

The Beret Project is heading off on a break!

For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be exploring beautiful British Columbia—soaking up landscapes & culture, and perhaps even doing a little beret fieldwork along the way.

That means no full blog posts for a bit, but I won’t disappear completely: expect a daily Canada-inspired photo while I’m away.

Regular posts will return on 1 June. See you then!

Hans Theo Richter

Männliches Bildnis mit Baskenmütze (Man with beret), by Hans Theo Richter, 1961-1964